Preview: Brews for New Avenues 10th Anniversary

Having sustained a year at distance by holding an online-only auction and a live streaming event in 2020, the Portland based Brews for New Avenues – the largest known philanthropic rare beer auction, returns this week to celebrate its 10th Anniversary with both in-person events and online auctions.

Over the past 10 years, Brews For New Avenues has raised over 1.2 million dollars to benefit New Avenues for Youth: a non-profit dedicated to the prevention of, and seeking an end to, youth homeless. Over 75% of the total raised has come over the the past 4 years, including $220 thousand in 2020.

Despite the restrictive nature of gatherings in these cautious days of COVID, they’re once again pulling out all the stops by creating their most ambitious and inclusive celebration yet.

This year’s iteration features all the rare, vintage, and special beer offerings they’ve featured in years past, with some necessary changes expected during a pandemic. Despite this, Brews For New Avenues will feature more participating breweries at Saturdays sessions than ever before.

Black Is Beautiful Collaborations

The most exciting part of this year’s celebration is the alliance of Brews for New Avenues and the Black Is Beautiful national campaign, with the intent of furthering each group’s mission to showcase the impact the beer community can have in making a difference for social justice.

By combining their missions of raising awareness of racial justice and ending youth homelessness, they’ve brought together the country’s leading black brewers and the supporters of Brews for New Avenues to create one-of-a-kind-collaborations in honor of Brews for New Avenues 10th Anniversary Year. The following breweries have teamed up to create some special collabs that will be pouring this Saturday:

• Weathered Souls Brewing (San Antonio, TX) & Great Notion Brewing (Portland, OR)
• Cellarmaker Brewing (San Francisco, CA) & Assembly Brewing (Portland, OR)
• Jester King Brewery (Austin, TX) & Smittox Brewing (Dallas, TX) – pictured above
• Crowns & Hops (Inglewood, CA) & Fremont Brewing (Seattle, WA)
• Breakside Brewery (Portland, OR) & Urban Jungle Brewing (Austin, TX)
• Full Circle Brewing (Fresno, CA) & Block 15 Brewing (Corvallis, OR)
• Fair State Brewing Cooperative (Minneapolis, MN) & Khonso Brewing (Atlanta, GA)
• Green Bench Brewing (St. Petersburg, FL) & 18th Street Brewery (Hammond, IN)

Learn more about all the breweries listed above and connect with their online presence via the Brews For New Avenues website.

Online Auctions and Oysters & Gueuze

Over the years, Brews For New Avenues has evolved from being a one day event to becoming a week long series of events. As it’s grown in popularity, past events would often see travelers arriving in Portland from around the globe to participate in their signature live and silent auctions of rare, vintage bottles.

Being that the pandemic, and all the precautions it demands, is still with us, all of this year’s silent auction packages will be available online. The week kicks off with an online silent auction starting today and continuing until Thursday evening. These packages will be available to bid upon by anyone 21+, given they can either pick up at the event or find a proxy to pick up in Portland by the end of the year.

In addition to smaller live auctions during each of the VIP Sessions on Saturday (more details below) and the annual Oysters & Gueuze function on Friday (at the Leftbank Annex, 4-7pm), each session will also feature their own special set of packages available for silent auction online, but only for those in attendance at each event. While I’d love to go into detail about everything on offer for these silent auctions, suffice it to say, it’s chock full of rare offerings, vintage Lambic, sets of rare bottles from PNW breweries, and much more from around the country.

Stay tuned to Brews for New Avenues (Instagram, Facebook, Website) this week for updates and more info about the live online auction. For those with tickets, keep an eye on your email for detailed announcements and helpful links.

Saturday’s VIP Sessions & Guest Breweries

In addition to the aforementioned Black is Beautiful collaboration beers being available to all attendees, there will no doubt be some rare kegs tapped and bottles opened, plus a number of special treats specific to this 10th Anniversary celebration. Saturday’s sessions will be held at the Leftbank Annex, with Session 1 taking place from 11am – 3pm and Session 2 from 5pm – 9pm.

Each VIP admission provides for draft and bottle pours from some of the best breweries around the world, access to bid on dozens of rare beer auction packages, the Wall of Beer, a meal from Kee’s Loaded Kitchen (pictured below with the BFNA crew), glassware, and a 10th Anniversary Brews for New Avenues shirt.

This year’s featured guest breweries should be no surprise to BFNA regulars. In addition to being originally slated as guests last year, they’ve also become stalwart supporters of this event for years. They include The Referend Bier Blendery from Pennington, NJ, Great Notion from Portland, OR, and Modern Times Beer from San Diego, CA & Portland, OR.

Each will be providing special bottle pours for Saturday’s attendees, collaboration offerings (some may not be available until after the event), and some unique draft and auction items as well.

Additionally, Tim Decker from Altbrau will be back in attendance this year as a guest pourer and will feature his wonders of mixed-fermentation in bottles, plus Nat West of Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider will be pouring both his accessible lighter styles alongside his complex Tent Show specialties.

Lastly, please keep in mind the following, for all those attending Saturdays sessions, as requested by Brews For New Avenues:

Proof of COVID-19 vaccination will be required for admission. NO EXCEPTIONS. If you have a medical reason you are unable to get vaccinated, we are sorry that we are unable to welcome you this year, and hope to see you in the future. Additionally, in line with current state of Oregon health requirements, attendees must wear masks indoors when not actively eating or drinking.