For many Portlanders, summer isn’t summer without a beer festival (or five). If you’re fantasizing about outdoor beer gardens and the simple pleasures of brews and BBQ, the first annual Portland Fruit Beer Festival has what you’re craving and more. Featuring special, one-of-a-kind fruit beers from more than 15 breweries, the Fruit Beer Fest is doing the unimaginable: bringing something new to Beervana.

Specialty beers are set to include Breakside Brewing’s Mango IPA, Alameda Brewing’s Huckberry Hound (Yellow Wolf Imperial IPA aged and "dry-hopped" with huckleberries) Beetje Brewing’s Zure Krenten (A blend of fresh farmhouse ale and a pale ale stored in Pinot Noir barrels, with champagne currants and lambic), Block 15 Brewing’s Psidium (Rustic farmhouse ale matured with guava fruit), Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche (neo-BerlinerWeisse fermented with "honest-to-goodness" peaches), Hopworks Urban Brewing’s Red Delicious Belgian AppleBiere, Ninkasi Brewing’s Pinot Barrel-Aged Oatis with Cherries, and plenty more refreshing, extremely limited edition brews.

The event is free to enter and open to the whole family. In addition to the 15+ breweries pouring their special summer fruit beers, the Fruit Beer Fest will feature beer ice cream from new scoop stars Salt & Straw, 100% Organic fruit juice selections, and an outdoor barbecue featuring Tastebud pizza and Burnside Brewing grill specials.

Power-to-the-People Bonus: Thanks to the recent overturn of legislation limiting homebrew competitions, the Portland Fruit Beer Festival will host a fruit beer homebrew competition. Home brewers can enter their best light beers, dark beers, and sours for a chance to win gift certificates to Burnside Brewing. This is a great opportunity to get out to local farmers’ markets and turn that Oregon berry bounty into quality Oregon suds.

Where: Burnside Brewing – 701 E. Burnside
When: Saturday, June 11th (11 to 9 pm) and Sunday, June 12th (11 to 6 pm)
How Much: Free to enter, All ages. $6 Tasting Glass (required to taste), $1 per drink ticket (4 tickets for a full glass). Buzz Tent beers 2-3 Tickets for 4oz pours; Special Package: 1 Tasting Glass and 10 Tickets for $15

For more info about the event and homebrew competition, call 503-946-8151, follow the Fruit Beer Fest on Twitter at @FruitBeerFest, or visit their website.