Beer Camp: So Much Beer, Just Slightly Less Than Expected

Beer Camp Across America (BCAA), Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's seven-city traveling beer tour, arrives in Portland for one night only on Friday, August 1. It will be the first major event held at Thompson's Point, a location being developed frantically to prepare for the gigantic beer festival. From 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., for $65, beer enthusiasts will have the opportunity to sample hundreds of beers, poured by the breweries' staff themselves, thanks to a recent law change.

As of last weekend, food organizer Colleen Hanlon-Smith had eleven food trucks signed up to cover the inevitable munchies: The Squeeze, Harvest Moon Pizza, Three Leaf Foods, Wicked Good Street Kitchen, Kupcakes Inc, Pizza Pie on the Fly, Hella Good Tacos, Fishin' Ships, CN Shawarma, Annapurna's Thali, and Gusto's.

The Portland edition of BCAA lists 119 regional breweries attending, which Sierra Nevada rep Ryan Arnold says is the highest number for any of the events. Some of them might not make it after all, though. The owners of Barreled Souls Brewing Company, which opened just this month, tell Eater that because they haven't yet begun registering their beers for sale outside of their own tasting room, they can't attend. [Update, 7/31/14: Barreled Souls has since been assured by Sierra Nevada that it can indeed pour its beer at Beer Camp.]

Beer fans have been eager for the arrival of breweries that Sierra Nevada collaborated with for its 12-beer BCAA mix pack, which includes such renowned companies as Russian River and 3 Floyds. While each of the mix pack beers will be pouring at BCAA, a rumor has been going around that a lot of these big name brewers, many of which are not available normally in this state, and others such as Vermont's Hill Farmstead, have pulled out of Portland so that they can attend the Philadelphia edition the next day instead.

Arnold responded to the rumors via email:

"It's been our ambition to have all of our 12-pack partners provide additional beers for each festival outside of our collaborations, and there sometimes are hurdles that are beyond our control. Some had to pick and choose due to beer availability and a few won't make it to some festivals due to legal registration issues. 3 Floyds and New Glarus will not have other beers in Portland, and Hill Farmstead had to recuse themselves from the festival as well. In neither case are these breweries absent due to their intention of pouring at another event. There will be more than 100 breweries from all over New England putting on an awesome sudsy show in Portland, which is a remarkable snapshot of craft beer momentum. There's bound to be plentiful beers that will blow folks away, and we're excited to experience that with everyone who comes out." (Bolding is from Eater, not Arnold.)

Are you attending Beer Camp Across America?
· Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp, New England Edition [Website]
· Tickets to Beer Camp, New England Edition in Portland [Website]
· All Beer Here! Coverage [-EME-]