How to Drink at a Beer Festival | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

How to Drink at a Beer Festival

A Little Woody preview: Silver Moons Conquistador.

In between Bend Brewfest and sampling beers for the upcoming Little Woody (this Friday and Saturday), it occurred to me that there's probably a smart way, and a less smart way, to go about drinking at a beer festival (less smart ways can be fun, but don't expect to be able to accurately or articulately relay any tasting notes to your friends the next day). We turned to Silver Moon's new brewmaster, Stuart Long, for advice. A lot of this stuff is common sense, but it's worth repeating since it is easy to get wrapped up in tasting and then, Oops! You're drunk! And, if you're like me, a beer's subtleties are lost.

Water:1 Drink equal amounts water and beer. As in for every three, four-ounce tasters you should be consuming 12 ounces of water. That's a lot. Get to it.
Food: There's plenty of options inside the event (Real Food Street Bistro, Dump City Dumplings, Mauna Kea Grill). Use 'em—a couple dumplings ought to sober you up just enough to actually enjoy your next pour. A few bites of food is also like hitting your mouth's reset button. Boneyard's Bourbon Barrel Aged Suge Knite is a fantastic beer, but at 13% this burly stout will require a palette cleanser before you move on to, say, their wild yeast beer, Funky Bunch, a fruity, effervescent 6% sour. Which takes us to our next tip...
Whiskey: Drink it. Long said it's also a good way to refresh the palette. A novel idea—we're sold! Duck into the Des Chutes Historical Museum for a sip (we suggest Blanton’s Original Single Barrel Bourbon and Maker's 46).
Little Woody Barrel-Aged Beer and Whiskey Festival

5-10 pm Friday, Aug. 30; 12-10 pm Saturday, Aug. 31

Des Chutes Historical Museum, 129 Northwest Idaho Ave.

$15 (includes glass, entry and 10 tokens; additional tokens $1 each; beers cost 2 to 5 tokens).

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