Inspired by a passion for old school smoke beers and traditional BBQ as well as the devastating fire season this year, Diff’rent Smokes returns to celebrate a wide range of beers made with smoked malts or other smoked ingredients. Cocktails featuring smoky or peaty spirits such as Islay Scotch or Mezcal will also be included as well as smoked meats and more from Luckey's Woodsman, Susan's BBQ, and host GoodLife Brewing. The event takes place outside yet under the tent in GoodLife's ideal beer garden on Saturday, October 14 from 1 to 7 p.m. Tickets are now available online for $20 and will be $25 at the gate.

Everyone is welcome, but the smoke beers will only be available to ticket holders.

Admission includes five (5) drink tickets for sample pours, while full-glass pours will require three tickets. Additional drink tickets will be available for $1 each.

Participating breweries include (and are subject to change):

10 Barrel Brewing

1188 Brewing

Ale Apothecary

Boneyard

Boss Rambler

Bridge 99

Cascade Lakes

Deschutes

Dovetail (from Chicago)

GoodLife

Heater Allen

McMenamins Old St. Francis

Oblivion

Schlkenerla (from Bamberg, Germany)

Steeplajack

Switchback's Flynn on Fire (from Vermont)

Tiger Town

BBQ provided by Susan's BBQ, Luckey's Woodsman, and GoodLife Brewing

Up until the late 18th century, all brewing malts were dried over open-flames so the finished beer ended up infused with smoke flavor and aroma. The throwback style survives as the BBQ equivalent of beer, from traditional Rauchbier lagers to smoked porters and ales. The festival will include a keg of Schlenkerla Märzen imported from Bamberg, Germany. Schlenkerla, founded in 1405, is so famous for its Rauchbier (“Rauch” means smoke in German and you can figure out what “bier” means) that malts smoked over beechwood are commonly referred to as Bamberger malt, which also happens to be where the family-owned malting company is located. Modern smoke beers may use alderwood, oak, hickory, or cherry wood for smoking.

Diff’rent Smokes is a celebration of the end of our extreme wildfire season as well as a show of gratitude to our firefighters. A portion of proceeds will go to benefit the Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Assoc., established in 1957, to train volunteers.