A working hop farm south of Portland is throwing open its gates this weekend for a celebration of the Willamette Valley’s late-summer harvest. The third annual Oregon Hop Festival returns to Woodburn on Saturday and Sunday, drawing beer fans, families and dogs to a fifth-generation farm where the region’s most time-sensitive brews get their moment in the spotlight.
The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days at TopWire Hop Project, located at 8668 Crosby Road NE, according to Travel Salem. Tickets cost $25, though anyone under 21 gets in free, and organizers are offering free parking, as reported by KATU. The event is both pet-friendly and family-friendly, with kids’ activities on site alongside live music and local food vendors, per the same station’s report.
Guests can wander through hop sensory stations and sample fresh hop beer, and tractor tours will carry visitors directly through the working hop fields, KATU notes. TopWire’s Nick Giles has been examining hops on site alongside Wesleigh Ogle ahead of the festival, the station reports. The tasting lineup will include fresh hop beers from more than 20 breweries, according to the same account.
A Taproom Built Inside a Working Hop Field
TopWire Hop Project isn’t your typical beer garden. It opened in summer 2020 as a seasonal taproom set directly inside an active hop field, and it remains the only public taproom of its kind on an Oregon hop farm, according to Travel Oregon. The farm sits about 32 miles south of Portland in Woodburn…