Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) is a four-day craft beer festival

Beer festival

A Beer Festival is an organised event during which a variety of beers are available for tasting and purchase. Beer festivals are held in a number of countries...

 held annually since 1988 at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park

Tom McCall Waterfront Park

Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located on the west bank of the Willamette River in downtown Portland, Oregon. It is , comprising 16 tax lots owned by the City of Portland....

 in downtown Portland

Downtown Portland

Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States, is located on the west bank of the Willamette River. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and is where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found....

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. In addition to beer, OBF features food vendors, live music, as well as exhibits from hop growers, home brewers

Homebrewing

Homebrewing is the brewing of beer, wine, sake, mead, cider, perry and other beverages through fermentation on a small scale as a hobby for personal consumption, free distribution at social gatherings, amateur brewing competitions or other non-commercial reasons...

, breweriana

Breweriana

Breweriana commonly refers to any article containing a brewery name or brand name, usually in connection to collecting them as a hobby. Examples include beer cans, bottles, openers, tin signs, coasters, beer trays, wooden cases and neon signs.- History :...

 collectors, and others.

Each invited brewery brings one beer. Admission is free; to sample the festival's beers, attendees purchase that year's plastic OBF mug as well as one or more $1 beer tokens—each token is good for a sample, while a full pour costs four tokens. OBF features a root beer garden

Beer garden

Beer garden is an open-air area where beer, other drinks and local food are served. The concept originates from and is most common in Southern Germany...

, which offers free root beer

Root beer

Root beer is a carbonated, sweetened beverage, originally made using the root of a sassafras plant as the primary flavor. Root beer, popularized in North America, comes in two forms: alcoholic and soft drink. The historical root beer was analogous to small beer in that the process provided a drink...

 for designated driver

Designated driver

The terms "designated driver" and "designated driving" refer to selecting a person to remain sober, as the driver of a vehicle, while others are allowed to drink to excess . A designated driver is a person who abstains from alcohol on a social occasion in order to drive his/her companions home safely...

s and minors

Minor (law)

In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...

; the latter must be accompanied by a parent.

History

Live music was introduced in 2001. In recent years OBF has anchored a month of beer-related festivals in Portland, including the North American Organic Brewers Festival, the Portland International Beerfest, and the Great American Distillers Festival.

The 2011 Oregon Brewers Festival featured 85 craft beers from 14 states; it attracted 80,000 people, a record for the festival. Nearly 2,000 volunteers worked at the festival, selling tokens and pouring beer, among other tasks.