On Halloween weekend, Saturday the 29th, a new beer fest is taking place at the Midtown Yacht Club: Beers from the Dead, a celebration of classic Oregon microbrews. It’s a non-ticketed, pay-as-you-go event featuring the classic styles of the early American craft beer (or “microbrew”) movement, such as golden ales, red/amber ales, porters, and more.

In addition, there will be free pumpkin painting (great for the kids) and Bend Ale Trail passports and swag if you’re early.

Details:

Beerfest Sponsored by Visit Bend Promotes Bend Ale Trail Month

Before Oregon was home to roughly 300 craft breweries, before India Pale Ale dominated the craft beer landscape, pioneering microbreweries offered adventurous beer lovers more rudimentary styles such as golden ales, red ales, black ales, and beers of/named after other colors. Micobrewers were more inspired by English styles such as Extra Special Bitter (ESB) than New England IPA. To kick off Halloween weekend and in advance of Bend Ale Trail Month which is all November long, attendees are invited to take a sip back in time to taste—again or for the first time—what small batch beers tasted like back in the twentieth century. The festival takes place at Midtown Yacht Club (1661 NE 4th St., Bend) on Sat, Oct. 29, from noon to 6 p.m.. Tickets are not required as all beers will be available a la carte in full or half pints. Free pumpkin painting and treats will be available for kids and Bend Ale Trail passports and event glassware will be free for the first 200 customers.

Halloween is many people’s favorite holiday. As a fermented twist, instead of Bend being populated by zombies, it is the beers themselves that are the un-dead. From beloved Oregon brands to once-popular styles, guests will be able to revisit beers back from the dead. The lineup, which is subject to change, includes the following Oregon breweries and beers:

Deschutes Brewery’s debut release born in 1986, Cascade Golden Ale. McMenamins Brewery at Old St. Francis resuscitates Mars Ale, the 1985 pastry stout 30 years before the term pastry stout was coined. Boneyard Beer revives Black 13 black from the dead. Steelhead Brewing, which opened in Eugene in 1991, reanimated as McKenzie Brewing and ushers back red ales with Raging Rhino Red among the brewpub’s first offerings created by legendary brewer and Pink Boots Society founder Teri Fahrendorf. Silver Moon Brewing, Central Oregon’s fourth-oldest brewery, brings Voodoo Dog India Red Ale back from the pet sematary, er, beer cemetery. From Redmond’s Porter Brewing, where ESB never died, guests can try Infamous ESB on cask. A pair of Portland breweries, Breakside and U-Brew (Unicorn), will treat attendees to Lunch Break ISA (among the first ever India Session Ales) and Grapefruit IPA (the first-ever grapefruit infused IPA), respectively. As a mega throwback, Hop Valley Brewing brings the original Pacific Northwest macro lager, Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve, back to life. And while The Ale Apothecary is only a decade old, its wild ales were and remain groundbreaking so attendees will find dusty bottles loosed from the Apothecary morgue.

This event, sponsored by Visit Bend, benefits the Bend Sustainability Fund, taking care of the places that take care of us by investing in what makes Bend such a special place.

Seeing as it’s the holiday weekend, I’m sure no one would bat an eye if you showed up in costume, either.