Matt Katakura, one of the brewers at Wild Ride Brewing in Redmond, had been extra busy concocting a dozen unique porters for the brewery’s 6th Portermania festival on Feb. 10.

The event was chock-full of beer drinkers who got out to take advantage of the sunny Saturday to sip a number of interesting porter beers from tiny souvenir glasses. The porters, Katakura said, ranged in flavor from raspberry to maple bacon, banana nut, and pistachio chocolate vanilla. During the festival, Katakura was taking things slow, sipping a horchata porter.

“This is my second one. I’ve got to take it easy. I am still walking around and talking to people,” Katakura said. “I’m going to be here all night.”

Katakura, originally from Hawaii, said he came to Oregon for a very specific reason.

“I moved to Oregon is because Oregon has some of the best beer in the country, if not the world. We have good water. We have good hops. Good malt. We have great people that make beer. I love the community in Oregon,” Katakura said. “In Washington and California too, they are making some good beer. But Oregon is where it’s at.”

Katakura said his favorite types of beers are balanced, hoppy IPAs and lagers. But he said his beer tastes change with the seasons, and winter is for porters. He said he gets his inspiration from his love of cooking.

“I’ve been in the kitchen a lot longer than I’ve been brewing. So I like to take a lot of those flavors from cooking as well,” Katakura said.

Brian Mitchell, the general manager and co-owner of Wild Ride, said Portermania is sort of the last chance saloon to taste some of the brewery’s most interesting porters.

“I’d imagine we’ll have some kegs left over after (Saturday) and they’ll go on tap. We’ll see the porters funnel through the taps in the coming couple of weeks, but for the most part, probably by March we’ll be through most of them,” Mitchell said. “They will be around a little bit, but today is fun because you get a cool little glass and you get to go enjoy all of them.”

Mitchell said he was trying a lot of the porters for the first time at the festival. He said one of his favorites was the horchata and the Gone Bananas porters.

“It tasted like banana bread. Banana and beer is an odd combination. It was like liquid banana bread. It was great,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said working in the beer industry is different than any other because of the camaraderie and community among the craft beer makers in Central Oregon and around the region.

“At the end of the day we enjoy all the other breweries and their beers,” Mitchell said. “It is just fun. I mean that is craft beer, right? It is centered on having a good time.”

Brian and Lorna Houston of Eagle Crest came out for their first time to Portermania and were both enjoying a small glass of porter out on the patio by the fire.

“It’s a great venue. And a great opportunity to taste 12 different porters,” Brian Houston said. “I mean where can you go and do that, right?”

At the time, they were about three porters in with nine left to go.

“We can tell the differences between each one. I love that,” Brian Houston said.

Brian Houston, originally from Portland, said he has found that beer is part of Central Oregon culture and that he loves how it brings people together.

Lorna Houston said porters are her favorite style of beer, so the festival was right up her ally.

“I just like the dark yumminess of them. Black Butte Porter is my favorite over all, but these are fun to taste,” Lorna Houston said.

Diane Cheyne from Kaiser was decked out in San Francisco 49ers gear in anticipation for the Super Bowl. She said she was in Central Oregon with her husband to visit her son and daughter-in-law. The family plans to watch Kansas City versus San Francisco together on Sunday, but decided to come to Portermania first because she and her son both love porters.

“Hats off to Wild Ride for doing this event. It’s very nice. We love beer fest events. Especially when its themed,” Cheyne said.

Floyd Newton of Redmond got a ride to Portermania so he could partake in the festival the proper way. He stood outside playing a game of Jenga as he sipped porter out of his small glass.

He said he loves all the porter varieties and he said he had lost count of how many times he’s come to Wild Ride and Portermania. At the time, he was four porters deep, and said he planned to finish all 12.

“Because I got a ride home, so I don’t have to drive,” Newton said. “I just like this place. I like being out here like this.”