Oregon Brewers Festival Started Wednesday: What You Need to Know

For the next five days, head to Tom McCall Waterfront Park for the Oregon Brewers Festival - celebrating the hundreds of craft breweries that operate in the state. More than 80,000 people are expected to descend on downtown to soak up the suds.

For roughly nine hours a day, the 29th annual festival will feature more than 100 beers - from Anchor Brewing's Anchor Mango Wheat to Drake's Brewing Company's Foraging Raccoon IPA to Y Market's Hysteric IPA. Whether you like American Style Fruit Beer, a blonde ale, or a Belgian style widbier, chances are there is something for you.

There will be more than styles of beers being offered by 111 different craft brewers 88 from the United States and 23 from overseas including companies from Japan, China, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Admission is free but a tasting mug is $7. Tasting tokens - four tokens are need to fill a mug - are $1. If you;re buying tokens at the festival - you must have cash. The sales booth does not take debit or credit cards though there are eight ATMS on festival grounds.

In addition to beer, there will be food, music, demonstrations and even a soda garden. Children are welcome at the festival though, obviously, not allowed to have beer. Festival organizers say that they encourage responsible drinking and urge people to take mass transit.

The taps shut off at 8:30 each night except Sunday when the taps close at 6:30 p.m..

Craft beer has come a long way in Oregon since the first festival in 1998. That year there were only four microbreweries in Portland - BridgePort, McMenamins, Portland, and Widmer. Now there are 65, the most of any city in the world. Of the 4,225 craft breweries operating in the United States - 234 are in Oregon, operated by 194 companies.

"You can now find craft beer in grocery stores and service station marts, on restaurant menus and airplane drink carts, in cans, bottles, growlers and kegs," says organizer Chris Crabb.

The festival runs through Sunday. Head here for more information.

Photo Oregon Brewers Festival