Three Mid-Valley Fests offer Tastes of Beer and History

Saturday is a great day for beer lovers! There are great beer festivals in Salem, Independence, and Corvallis this weekend. Ones in Independence and Salem even make a happy nod towards our hoppy history.

The Salem Beer and Cider Festival is at Mission Mill. It is $15, and includes a sampling glass and 5 tokens, additional drink tokens also $1.They'll have:

Gilgamesh Brewing
Seven Brides Brewing & Vitis Ridge Winery
Migration Brewing
Captured by Porches Brewing
Pale Horse Brewing
Fearless Brewing
Lucky Labrador Brewing
Cascade Brewing
Alameda Brew House
Klamath Basin Brewing
Golden Valley Brewing
Wandering Aengus Ciderworks
Carlton Cyderworks

In honor of the fest, over at Poetry and Popular Culture, Professor Mike has a terrific set of riffs, hermeneutical and historical, on the 1911 Salem Beer acrostic and the "sale on ale in Salem." That's a dactylic treat!

The Independence Hop and Heritage Festival is also Saturday. They've got ghost tours, music - and beer. Rogue is a lead sponsor, and according to Brewpublic

The Rogue Shuttle will depart from the Festival Beer Garden in downtown Independence, Oregon every hour on the hour, and take festival attendees to the Micro Hopyard just six miles away.

Chatoe Rogue will host the following events:
* Free tasting of Chatoe Rogue Wet Hop Ale
* Tours of the Hop Bed, Chatoe Rogue Tasting Room, and 55,000′ hop processing facility
* Ribbon cutting and ground breaking of Chatoe Rogue Farmstead Brewery at 3PM on Saturday
* Homebrewing demonstrations on Saturday
* Helicopter tours for fly-overs of Rogue Micro Hopyard
* Picnic in Rogue’s private beach on the banks of the Willamette River across from Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge

(For more on the Rogue farm, see our expedition notes!)

And if you can't get enough, and have a devoted designated driver, Septembeerfest is in Corvallis, at the Benton County Fairgrounds. Ninkasi, Block 15, and Calapooia headline. Admission is $10 and includes a pint glass and two drink tickets, additional drink tickets are $1.

So go taste something new this weekend!