Olympia Brew Fest returns to the Port Plaza on Saturday

The Olympia Brew Fest — which, like most every other festival, didn’t happen last year — will be back at Port Plaza Saturday for its ninth year.

The beers and other libations on offer represent an evolution of the trends of 2019, when the festival featured lots of fruity beers along with ever-popular IPAs, or India pale ales.

Those styles are well-represented again, with examples including Pink Guava Sour Ale by Everybody’s Brewing of Salmon River and Kreamsicle IPA by Pelican Brewing of Tillamook, Oregon.

The 2021 event also continues to branch out beyond beer. In 2019, mead at was available for the first time. This year, hard seltzer — a wild blackberry one by Seattle’s San Juan Seltzer — is the new beverage on the block.

“That was just kind of a wild card,” said event organizer and beer aficionado Mike Marohn. “It’s something different.”

Marohn and his team taste tests the work of every brewery that wants to participate, and Marohn enjoys trying some of their latest offerings at the event, too.

“I have to make a list,” he told The Olympian. “There are a whole lot of beers that are of interest.”

In some ways, the festival will look a bit different than it did before COVID. Organizers are expecting 22 breweries, including Olympia’s Headless Mumby, Hoh River and Well 80, instead of the typical 35. Many breweries that have participated in the past don’t have enough employees to staff a booth for an event, Marohn said.

Attendance is limited, too, in an attempt to keep down the crowds. This year, there’ll be a maximum of 1,500 drinkers instead of the typical cap of 3,000.

That means the festival might sell out, Marohn said. So far, it’s selling as briskly as it did in 2019, when nearly 3,000 people turned out.

As usual, the event features not only drinks and food but also music — by Olympia’s Stir Crazy, which plays both classic rock and current pop, and Seattle’s Latin-flavored Los Flacos — and games, including a water-balloon toss and a hula hoop obstacle course.

“It’s a riot,” Marohn said. “There are some people who are just really good at it, and then there are other people who are there for our entertainment, let’s put it that way.”

Olympia Brew Fest

• What: The ninth Olympia Brew Fest features not only beer but also ciders, mead and hard seltzer. Proceeds benefit the Thurston County Chamber Foundation’s Small Business Development (Incubator) Program.
• When: 1-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7
• Where: Port Plaza, 701 Columbia St. NW, Olympia
• Tickets: $30 in advance, $35 at the door, $5 for designated drivers
• More information: https://olybrewfest.com/

This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.