My freinds Tom and Becky and I have headed west for the 13th Annual Holiday Ale Festival in Portland, OR. This is my 4th trip to this festival and I can not say enough good things about it. I would recommend it to any beer lover.
On December 3rd, we flew into Seattle and planned a leisurely drive down to Portland. Along the way we did stop for a beverage or two. Our first stop was Fish Brewing Company in Olympia, WA. We had a nice lunch and sampled several of the products from Fish, including Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Fish Tale Organic India Pale Ale, as well as several beers from the Leavenworth brand of beers, also made by Fish. If you get the chance to visit the Fish Brew Pub, enjoy their beers and the good food too. 
A few miles down the road, in Centralia, Dick's Brewing Company, shares space with Northwest Sausage and Deli. While not the standard brewpub, Dick's does offer a tasty selection of smoked meats and sausages. And then there are the over 20 different brews made through out the year. While there we tried Dick Danger Ale, Dick's Cream Stout and several Belgium style brews.We arrived in Portland later that evening, and after checking into our hotels, went straight to Pioneer Square for the Holiday Ale Fest. The festival features over 40 strong, winter brews. Several of the beers featured were vintage barrels, which often were limited to a keg or 2. That evening we had the oportunity to taste beers from Hair of the Dog, Brasserie Dubuisson Freres, BridgePort Brewing Company and Firestone Walker Brewing Company. Some of the specialties were tapped out before our arival, however there were still too many beers to sample that evening. The small crowd allowed easy access to the servers and gave us the opportunity to be selective. This was the first year for a Wednesday session, creating more midweek festival time with small crowds, something which would soon be lacking.
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