On Saturday, April 14th, brewers, beer lovers, and environmental advocates alike gathered to celebrate the forests and public lands that house our watersheds and to support their protection by raising a pint. Great beer begins with clean water after all!
This second-annual event at Sprout! Marketplace in downtown Springfield was co-hosted once again by one of our charter Oregon Brewshed® Alliance Partners, Claim 52 Brewing, with support from Bigfoot Beverage Distributors. In addition to Claim 52, twelve additional Alliance breweries and one cider partner came from across the state to adorn the church-like interior of the Sprout! hall with their banners and brews, including Allegory Brewing and Deschutes Brewery (two of our newest Alliance partners!) as well as Mazama, Oakshire, Ninkasi, Widmer Brothers, Portland Cider Co., Sunriver, Stickmen, GoodLife, Falling Sky, Breakside, and Worthy.
With the spring rains holding off that day, over 150 people joined in the festivities, drinking great brews, voting for their favorites, and winning raffle prizes – with one lucky fest-goer winning a Year of Beer from Widmer! Congratulations too to our partners who won Brewshed Best awards by people’s choice that night:
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1st Place – Stickmen Brewing for their Socks & Sandals Hazy IPA
- 2nd Place – Allegory Brewing for their Reach Out Stout (a collab with Reach Break Brewing)
- 3rd Place – Sunriver Brewing for their Hop Shop Nelson IPA
With all this wonderful support from our Alliance Partners, over 20 volunteers that helped make the whole event go smoothly from start to finish, and all the Eugene-Springfield area community members that turned out that day, this second-annual Brewshed Brewfest raised over $2,500 to support Oregon Wild’s efforts for forest watershed protection across the state.
Read more about Oregon Wild’s forest campaigns here.
Read more about Oregon Wild’s water campaigns here.
And the good news doesn’t stop there. Our amazing partners at Claim 52 created a benefit tap post-fest for all the leftover, donated beer to further support the cause throughout April while they were still in their Sprout! Abbey space! Thank you Claim 52, all our volunteers who donated their time, and all the partners who donated their brews to this event!
And if you missed this fest but will be in the Portland area on Wednesday, May 16th, come on out to McMenamins Kennedy School for the 3rd annual Portland Brewshed Brewfest! From 5:30 – 9:30 p.m., 36 Brewshed Partners will be pouring special brews, including five extra-special collaboration beers and ciders inspired by Oregon’s Wild & Scenic Rivers in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act! You won’t want to miss it. Get your tickets here today.
Cheers to clean water and great Oregon craft beer!
