When folks think about beer culture in Oregon, they might think of Portland first. But Eugene’s beer scene is alive and growing. You can experience it firsthand June 9 to 15 at the 15th annual Eugene Beer Week, which will also feature the Sasquatch Brewfest. Hosted by 30 different local breweries, the event is guaranteed to have at least one beer you like, even if you’re not a regular beer drinker. 

Beer Week started in 2011 when a few local brewers gathered to find a way to unite the Eugene craft beer community and bring new, local flavors to the Eugene area. It quickly turned into an annual festival that attracts people from across the state and even the country. “We were all kind of looking for a way to get together and celebrate what craft beer brings to Eugene,” says Kiley Gwynn, Oakshire Brewing marketing director. 

This year, Beer Week will feature a brand new beer to debut at the festival. Brewed locally at Falling Sky Brewery in collaboration with all participating Eugene breweries, the Kölsch, which is a German light pale ale, is made with hop terpenes to give it that “special” Eugene flavor. “​​So all it will do is add some really nice, fun, terpene style aromas to the beer,” says Dana Garves, founder of Oregon Brew Lab. The Kölsch will also be available in different flavors on tap at Eugene breweries after the festival while supplies last.

Gwynn says organizers are working to make this year’s festival special. Participants can expect a number of new and lively, beer-themed happenings across the city. “This year is kind of a big year for us, and we’re trying to build it back up into a big celebration,” Gwynn says. 

You can head to a local Eugene brewery or bar to pick up a BINGO card to keep track of the venues you visit, and if you fill it out, you can win a special prize, which is yet to be announced. The festival will also feature a home brew competition where you can put your skills of brewing to the test. “In the past, we’ve had some pretty crazy events,” Graves says, “The Bier Stein used to put on a ‘family feud’ where the brewers would have to compete against each other.” Some of the events for this year’s Beer Week are still in the works, but Graves says the fun is guaranteed.  

The festival is the perfect opportunity to learn more about new breweries in town and the best way to introduce someone to the Eugene craft beer community. “We’re a really unique industry in that we work together to help sell each other’s product, and that’s not something you see in pretty much any other industry,” Graves says. 

Breweries in Eugene don’t work directly against each other to make better beer, but rather work with each other in friendly competition to keep the scene fresh and alive. 

“You’re both competing and collaborating at the same time, and that’s like a really unique aspect to the beer industry, and especially in Eugene,” Graves says. It’s this competition that allows for Eugene to produce award winning beers on a regular basis. Just this year, ColdFire, Viking, Alesong, Falling Sky and Oakshire breweries all won awards from the Oregon Beer Awards for their special Eugene brews. 

While the festival draws in the big names like Oakshire, Falling Sky and Ninkasi, it also features smaller operations in Eugene, as well as companies that have locations in Eugene but brew their beer out of town like Xicha Brewing, Sunriver Brewing and Silver Falls Brewing. 

As Beer Week winds down, it finishes with Sasquatch Brewfest, which is a longstanding Eugene beer tradition and fundraiser for the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing educational scholarships to aspiring brewers to give them a head start in the field. Established in the memory of Eugene Brewer Glen Hay Falconer, the nonprofit has awarded over 50 brewing educational scholarships throughout the PNW since its inception. 

Sasquatch Brewfest is meant to feature a wider variety of beers from not just Eugene, but the PNW as a whole. “So that’s kind of a cool way to make it a little larger than Eugene, because the Sasquatch Foundation has touched a lot of brewers throughout the Northwest and country,” Gwynn says. 

Eugene’s Beer Week is June 9 to 15. For more information, visit EugeneBeerWeek.org.