Northbank Beer Week moves to new dates, Brewing Bridges collab fest tix on sale
The official craft beer week of Southwest Washington is moving to a new schedule, but the marquee event the Brewing Bridges collaboration festival will go on as planned this September.
The 6th annual Brewing Bridges Collaboration Festival by the Northbank Brewers Alliance returns to Pearson Airfield & Museum in the shadow of Fort Vancouver on September 21st from 3PM-7PM. Over 20 breweries from SW Washington will collaborate exclusively with breweries from outside of the region in a showcase of beers all debuting the day of the event. Marquee collaborations include Irrelevant Beer & Ruse Brewing, Trap Door & Xicha, Victor-23 & Wayfinder, Fortside & Little Beast, Brothers Cascadia & Living Haus, Heathen & Gigantic, and Vice Beer & Fast Fashion.
Tickets to the all-drinks-included event are $49 and an additional $20 gains fest-goers VIP Lounge access and a food voucher. DD Tix for only food and root beer can be purchased in advance for $20, but will not be available the day of the event. Register here.
The annual event is a crowd-favorite and has historically served as the cherry on top for the Northbank Beer Week that precedes it. However, due to changes in consumer habits and the rush of summer events now extending into September, Northbank Beer Week will set up shop November 7th-17th for its 9th annual week celebrating SW Washington beer.
Northbank Beer Week organizer, Michael Perozzo, said, "When we started the beer week, we placed it in early-September strategically. We wanted to lure folks back out to the pubs and taprooms after school had started to avoid the typical Autumn lull in foot traffic."
But both the beer climate and actual climate have changed in the last 10 years. It's sunnier more days in September than not and events around fresh hop season and Oktoberfest are more plentiful in SW Washington and the Portland area than they were before. Said Perozzo, "We just weren't seeing the participation from breweries and taprooms like we were 3 and 4 years ago, mostly because the taprooms are busy in September and the events of summer still take up a lot of time and effort."
Northbank Beer Week will still kick-off with 300 free T-shirts to the first 300 attendees of the Launch Party at 3Peaks Public House on November 7th. Fans of Northbank beer can also look forward to the return of notable events like Trap Door's Pro/Am Cornhole Tourney, Victor-23's Paper Airplane Races, and the quintessential Beer Can Derby Races at Ben's Bottle Shop.
But, everyone will have to look forward to a new Northbank Beer Week end-cap event on November 17th as Brewing Bridges will continue as planned on September 21st.