The COVID-19 pandemic has made this a tough year for breweries, with quarantine, social distancing, and other restrictions having a huge impact on beer sales and brewpub operations. Beer events have been affected as well, resulting in cancellations of major festivals, including Portland’s Oregon Brewers Festival and the Bend Brewfest.

For fans who look forward to attending beer festivals, what are the alternatives?

Virtual events are a possibility, and the Oregon Brewers Guild organized the Stay Home, Drink Beer Virtual Beer Festival in May, followed by the Drink Beer, Be Kind Virtual Beerfest last month. In both cases, the focus was on online presentations and seminars from brewers, chat rooms- and special raffles. Attendees provided their own beer.

While both events were well received, they lacked one of the key elements of traditional beer festivals—the chance to sample a variety of (often special) beers from different breweries.

Silver Moon Brewing Company decided to do something about it. The brewery reached out to its Central Oregon peers to organize the Central Oregon Take-Home Brewfest to fill the void. The concept is simple: participants will pick up a mixed case of 20 local canned beers and ciders to take home and “host (their) own brewfest in the comfort and safety of (their) home or backyard,” according to the press release.

“Originally, we had the goal of 24 breweries/cideries to make a full mixed case,” said Finn Leahy, Silver Moon’s Director of Marketing, via email. “Due to COVID, the industry was in an unfamiliar place. While we had a lot of initial interest from local breweries/cideries, several were concerned that they did not have the resources to make it happen. We worked hard and accommodated where we could to make sure we included everyone who was able. It was so great to see the community come together to make this unique 20 pack happen.”

The brewery made tickets available for purchase in June, and participants who paid the $50 fee will be able to pick up their mixed case over two days, July 24 and 25. They can enjoy the beers at their leisure, and Silver Moon encourages sharing photos of themselves and the beers on social media, and to vote for their favorites.

This voting period will take place over two weeks starting on July 27, and Silver Moon will announce the “people’s choice” favorite beer on Aug. 11, according to Leahy.

True to brewfest tradition, many of the beers are specialty offerings.

“Around 40% of the beers/ciders were brewed specifically for the event,” Leahy said. “In total 80% of the beverages are unique one-off styles that are fresh releases to the market.”

The box will contain 31 12 -ounce and seven 16 ounce cans, as well as two themed pint glasses, and 20 of the boxes will contain special “Golden Tickets” to win custom branded growlers from DrinkTanks.

Among beers to be included in the Take-Home case, Leahy is looking forward to Sunriver Brewing Company’s Alluvial IPA, a West Coast India pale ale brewed with hops grown in the alluvial fields at Coleman Agriculture in Independence. Boss Rambler Beer Club collaborated with Silver Moon to brew Apricot Astronaut, a fruit infused hazy IPA.

“Of course, I have to mention that for our entry we did a new version of our classic Passionfruit Sour Bangarang that is made with fresh Prickly Pear Nectar,” said Leahy.

The rest of the lineup had yet to be revealed at the time of this writing, though I expect there will be a rounded variety of styles with some unique inclusions.

Despite being conceived as a pandemic replacement event, Silver Moon is planning to bring the Take-Home Brewfest back next year. “We believe that as the world gets back to a sense of normalcy, this event will continue to carry value,” Leahy said. “How else can you get 20 unique beers from 20 different Central Oregon breweries packaged together?”

Sippy Cup Hazy Pale — GoodLife Brewing

Irish Redmond Ale — Porter Brewing

Bohemian-style Pilsner — Chuckanut Brewery

Hop Venom — Boneyard Beer

Field 41 Pale Ale — Bale Breaker Brewing