Event Information

Capes on for beer and cider strangeness

It wasn’t bitterly cold this year at the 15th Annual Strange Brewfest in Port Townsend—just cold enough to question your life choices if you were in spandex, which, dear gods, many were. This annual midwinter fever dream of a beer-and-cider bacchanalia leaned into its superhero theme like a keg-stand Batman on his third hazy IPA. Brewers and cider slingers from across the Pacific Northwest suited up in Lycra, capes, and questionable wigs to pour libations stranger than your ex’s dreams—Coconut Curry Saffron Cider? Carrot Cider with Beet Foam? Something involving ducks and goo and Urban Family’s apparent descent into delicious madness? Yes. Absolutely yes. Civilian drinkers cosplayed accordingly, and the rest of us mortals huddled near firepits, inhaled paella and pizza, and sipped our way through a cosmic carousel of 100+ beers and ciders, roughly half of which we tasted, which mathematically equates to “too damn many” and not nearly enough. The night blurred into sugar, smoke, spice, and suds, but there’s hope for redemption (or further depravity): Strange Brewfest rolls on today, 1 p.m. to midnight at the American Legion Hall. Tickets? $35. Our mission? Return to the scene of the unfiltered madness and decode the riddle that is Propolis Brewing’s Pickled Piper’s Pink Petal Power. God help us all.