–Killer Beers, Food, Art, Music in the Heart of the Gorge
–Final Beer List Includes 33 Flavors of Fresh Hop Goodness
–More Tents!

Fall is here, which means it’s time for some hoppy harvest beer! Fresh Hop beer, to be sure! The 6th Annual Hood River Hops Fest will feature a cornucopia of more than 50 delicious brews from 28 Northwest breweries, including 33 Fresh Hop beers. In addition to the flowing suds, Hops Fest features live music all day, local food and art vendors, and a Kids Zone to keep the young ones happy. It’s a great downtown party with fun and frolic for everyone.

For those who don’t know, Fresh Hop beer is made during the short window of hop harvest every year, with straight-from-the-vine hops. Instead of the usual process of immediately drying and sending baled hop cones to cold storage, the fragile fresh hops are taken straight to the brewery and, in most cases, tossed into a brew that very same day. Fresh hops possess a whole range of aromatics, flavors and resinous textures that are often changed during drying. Northwest brewers have made harvest time their own Fresh Hop Extravaganza, and Hops Fest is the first place to check out all the special brews.

And new this year: More Tents! We have doubled the tent order for this year’s Hops Fest. Come rain or shine, we will have you covered.

The 6th Annual Hood River Hops Fest runs from Noon to 9pm this Saturday, October 3rd in the Downtown Lot (enter at 5th & Cascade) in Hood River, Oregon. Free admission; $5 mug purchase required for sampling; $1 tokens for 4-ounce samples. Minors welcome until 6pm when accompanied by an adult.For more info, visit www.hopsfest.com.

The Beer List:

Fresh Hop Beers:
Amnesia “Fresh Hoppalata”
Astoria “Hoptimus 2.0″ Imperial IPA
Big Horse ” Vernon the Rabbit Slayer” Imperial IPA
Big Horse “The Strange” Hemp Ale
Bridgeport “Hop Harvest Ale”
Cascade Lakes “Fresh Hop Pale Ale”
Deschutes “Fresh Hop Mirror Pond” Pale Ale
Deschutes “Hop Trip” Pale Ale
Double Mountain “Killer Green” Fresh Hop IPA
Double Mountain “Fresh Vienna ”
Ft George “Cohoperative Ale”
Full Sail “Lupulin Ale” ( Crystal )
Full Sail “Lupulin Ale” (Cascade)
Hopworks “Sodbuster” Pale Ale
Laurelwood “Hop Bale” Pale Ale
Laurelwood “Organic Goodness” Pale Ale
Lucky Lab “The Mutt” Ale
Lucky Lab “Das Moot” Pilsner
MacTarnahan’s “Fresh Hop MacTarnahans” Ale
New Old Lompoc “Harvest Man” Red Ale
New Old Lompoc “Fresh Hop Crystal Wheat”
Ninkasi “Nugg E. Fresh Wet Hop Ale”
Oakshire “Fresh Hop Harvest Ale”
Pelican “Elemental Ale”
Rock Bottom “Hoodwinked Integrity-Style Ale”
Rock Bottom “Octoberfist”
Roots “Hoppopotamus”
Rogue “Chatoe Rogue First Growth Wet Hop Ale”
Sierra Nevada “Harvest Ale”
Three Creeks “Santiam Harvest” Farmhouse Ale
Upright “Fresh Hop of Bel Air” Saison-style Ale
Walking Man “Fresh Hop IPA”
Widmer “Hopturnal Emission”

Other Beers:
Amnesia “Copacetic” IPA
Astoria “Bitter Bitch” Double IPA
Bridgeport “Hop Czar” Imperial IPA
Cascade Lakes “Kolsch”
Elliott Glacier “Gnarl Ridge Double Dry-hopped IPA”
Elliott Glacier “Belgian Espresso Stout”
Everybody’s “IPA”
Everybody’s “Common Ale”
Ft George “Divinity”
Full Sail “Nate’s Ubergehopft Fest Bier”
Hopworks “7 Grain Survival Stout”
Lazy Boy “Big Trouble” Imperial IPA
Lazy Boy “Red Head” Imperial Red
MacTarnahan’s “Humbug’r Winter Ale’
Oakshire “Overcast Espresso Stout”
Pelican “Doryman’s Dark” Ale
Three Creeks “Desperado Imperial IPA”
Upright “Four”
Walking Man “Hoptoberfest”
Widmer “w’10” Black IPA

Live Music Schedule:
Noon - 2pm : traditional German “Oompah” band!
2:30 - 4pm : blues legend Norman “The Boogie Cat” Sylvester
4:30 - 6:30pm : Geno Michaels and Soul City
7pm - Close: local rockers Speedqueen Underground

Hood River Hops Fest is a benefit for the Downtown Business Council of the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce. Sponsors include Amerititle; Andrew’s Pizza; Bob Stone AutoCenter; CH2MHill; The City of Hood River; Columbia River Insurance; Crazy Pepper Cantina; Double Mountain Brewery; Full Sail Brewing; Gorge Networks; Hood River Bagels; Hood River Hotel; Hood River County Commission on Children & Families; Hood River Supply; Mt. Hood Meadows; Oregon Bounty; Oregon Brewers Guild; and Your Rental and Party Center.

Also be sure to check out the next two stops on the Fresh Hop Tastival series, sponsored by Oregon Bounty and the Oregon Brewers Guild:

Sat Oct 10: Oaks Park. Portland, noon-9pm
Sat Oct 17: Downtown Eugene noon-9pm

For more info on these events, visit www.oregonbeer.org/fhbt09.

The annual Hood River Hops Fest is this Saturday, October 3rd. This is a chance to drink a variety of beers in downtown Hood River and catch up with friends.

Learn more at the Hops Fest Blog

This weekend the Gorge Games come to town bringing competitions in every outdoor pursuit imaginable. Expect tons of athelets, visitors, live music, and parties!

The games are striving to be green with recycling stations everywhere, mandatory use of reusable water bottles, strict use of wind energy, and strict adherence to leave no trace wilderness ethics. If you can’t make it, be sure to catch it on Fox Sports Network.

Last week the 2008 Gorge Games were announced for July 17-20. The games are base around Hood River and include competitive wind surfing, kayaking, adventure racing, mountain biking, skateboarding, trail running, and riverboarding. This year’s games focuses on being “green” and the word on the street is that plastic water bottles won’t be allowed. Great idea!

For more information about the games, visit www.gorgegames.net. Registration begins March 21st.

For those of you that like beer, Hood River will be hosting the Hood River Hops Fest on Saturday, October 6th. This is an annual celebration in downtown from noon to 9 PM with music, 30 breweries, and 9 wineries.

Click here for the official site

The Pilgrims beat the Indians 49-42 in a championship football match yesterday. The pilgrims dominated the first half, heading into the beer break with a 35-14 lead. The second half was dominated by the Indians, until the last few minutes when the Pilgrmis pulled out the win.

The play of the game was a 30 yard diving catch on fourth down which tied the game 42-42 with just seconds left. This was quickly followed by an interception and touchdown for the Pilgrims to win the game in sudden death overtime.

We arrived in Hood River last week in time to be a part of the biggest flood anyone can remember with the Hood River near it’s banks, with dark brown water, and huge trees floating down. By the afternoon, the Columbia had a huge debris field just below the confluence with the Hood River.

Adam and Hata went to go check out the White Salmon. Where they “got to watch 30 f*$&# foot longs surf Big Brother. [They] also got to watch the upstream dam spill.” We then joined kayak water polo at the pool.