RobInWrittenWord

At 5:00 p.m. on Friday the sixth, the KLCC Microbrew Festival begins in Eugene, Oregon. The event is not only a great way to have a good time tasting numerous beers, listening to and buying music, but it is also for a good cause.

KLCC 89.7 fm is a Eugene based public radio station licensed to Lane Community College. KLCC provides NPR News and a variety of music programs. All proceeds from the Microbrew Festival will go to support the KLCC General Fund.

According to KLCC event organizer Gayle Chisholm, the Microbrew Festival is now in it’s 14th year. It originally began as an Easter Seals fundraiser, but was turned over to KLCC over two years ago. Average profit for the festival is around $25,000.

The Microbrew Festival is always a crowd pleaser. The first year that KLCC took over, the festival had more visitors than in the past. Last year, however, there was another event competing for the same target audience. This year, the show has been moved from the performance hall to the exhibit hall, an area twice as big.

“I’m expecting a good turnout this year,” Chisholm said.

There is no set limit on the amount of brewers that can be in attendance at the Microbrew Festival.

“As long as we have room we’d let them keep coming,” Chisholm said.

The same year that KLCC took over, the festival had 27 or 28 brewers in attendance. The number jumped to 40 brewers last year, and this year has settled down to 30.

“I think 30 is a bit more manageable,” Chisholm said.

Microbreweries attending the festival come from up and down the West Coast, from California to Alaska, as far east as Vermont, and one Canadian brewery from British Columbia. One brewery, Oregon Trail, happens to be from Corvallis.

“We’ve been doing festivals since we were built back in ’87,” said Oregon Trail brewer Dave Wills. “We’ve been down every year since KLCC has been doing it.”

The Oregon Trail Brewery is located on three floors in the back of the Old World Deli in downtown Corvallis. Unfortunately, at the moment some of the tanks have had to be taken out of the brewery so a rotted floor can be replaced, and some beers are running low.

Between supplying beer to places like Club Platinum and The Co-Op, Oregon Trail just won’t have enough of some beers for the festival. The Ginseng Porter was planned to be at the Microbrew Festival, but will instead likely be replaced by Beaver Tail Ale.

“We have to keep it flowing,” said Wills, “We’re going to run out as it is.”

Besides supplying Corvallis with low cost microbrew kegs, Oregon Trail also sells beer pigs, as much beer as a full case for $24. All of this can be picked up directly from the brewery on Fridays.

A highlight for Oregon Trail at this year’s festival is the introduction of Smoke Signal, modeled after Schlenkerla, a smoked beer from Bamberg, Germany.

“This is our first time trying to make a smoked beer,” Wills said. “It’s pretty good.”

A 3 oz. taste of Smoke Signal or any other beer is just 50 cents, and is served in a souvenir glass that comes with a $10 admission fee. The souvenir glass is a 6 oz. mini pilsner glass with the festival logo on the front as well as three and six ounce lines.

Another special beverage that visitors will want to try is a “barley wine” collaboration brew. This year Steelhead, Wild Duck, High Street, West Brothers and Oregon Trader brewers all worked together on the brew.

“The collaboration brew was already established when we took over,” Chisholm said. “Local brewers did it for fun.”

On Friday the sixth, judging will take place for the home brew competition.

“Anyone can enter,” Chisholm said. “They just have to pay a fee.”

Festival goers will not get to decide who wins the home brew competition, however. The competition is decided behind closed doors by Brewers Guild judges.

“It’s all very serious,” said Chisholm, “and the judges give feedback to the brewers.”

Early in the evening beer tasters will be treated to music from CD’s and from live KLCC broadcasts, but starting at 8 p.m. there will be live music. ‘Celtic-mayhem’ band Toad in the Hole will perform on Saturday, and Friday will see gypsy/swing/jazz band The Café Ramblers.

“It’s like we have two different flavors,” Chisholm said.

“It’s a challenge to find the right bands,” she added. “We have access to so many bands.”

“We play old time string music,” said Café Ramblers band member Brook Adams. “Gypsy string music with spy music and cartoons.”

The band contains one violin, two guitars and a stand-up bass. The two guitarists also occasionally play ukulele and mandolin. The Café Ramblers enjoy playing Django Reinhart songs, tangos and cartoon songs like the theme from Spiderman.

“We’ll break out some of our more novel tunes,” Adams said. “Though we tend to be more background music at brew fests.”

Adams is a veteran of playing microbrew festivals. Ten years ago he did festivals up and down the west coast with a funk band. He played at the KLCC Microbrew Festival two years ago, and ran sound last year.

Live music isn’t the only type the festival will have to offer. Visitors can also take a look at the Mega Music Sale consisting of thousands of records and CD’s donated by listeners and straight from KLCC’s own library.

“We haven’t sold any in 10 years,” said Chisholm, “and we asked listeners to bring in boxes too.”

All things put together, the KLCC Microbrew Festival Friday and Saturday night will be an entertaining night. You’ll come away with souvenirs, perhaps some music and perhaps some new favorite brews. It starts at 5 p.m. both days at the Lane County Fairgrounds.

“The brewers see it as a really cool craft, and are excited to share the different varieties,” Chisholm said.

“I like KLCC,” Wills said. “They deserve my support.”