Tap Season Wrap Report

EXPLORE TUALATIN

JANUARY 15-MARCH 15, 2026

TAP SEASON 2026

In 2026, Explore Tualatin Valley took Tap Season to the next level, expanding it from a one-month promotion into a dynamic, two-month celebration. Running January 15 through March 15, the extended season didn’t just grow, it thrived. Awareness and engagement surged, Ale Trail Mobile Passport downloads doubled, and a full calendar of events drove customers into partner breweries, cideries, and taprooms. The result: a meaningful boost in traffic and sales during what is typically a slower season.

Backed by a strategic $235,025 investment in advertising and PR, Tap Season spotlighted the makers and stories behind Tualatin Valley’s craft beverage scene, bringing its culture to life and leaving a lasting impression.

DALE THE “ALE-PACA”

Once again, Dale the “Ale-paca” was our “spokesanimal” and the face of Tap Season. With his friendly face and quirky charm, Dale and friends made appearances throughout Tap Season at events and locations across Tualatin Valley, as well as an appearance at a Winterhawks game in Portland.

Dale helped bring the Tap Season campaign to life, giving it a fun and memorable identity that resonates with locals and visitors alike. Having a recognizable mascot return for a second year helped create an instant connection, making the campaign more engaging and shareable while reinforcing brand awareness. Whether posing for photos or popping up at breweries, Dale ensured Tap Season left a lasting impression, one pint and picture at a time!

T APSE ASON

ALE-PACA IPA

COLLAB BREW

Tap Season 2026 also marked the return of the Tap Season collab beer, which was created by 16 Tualatin Valley brewers and brewed at BinaryBrewing. co. Headed by Binary’s Josh Johnson and Roger Wood, 16 brewers from a variety of Tualatin Valley breweries gathered to brew the Ale-paca IPA, which was served at 40 breweries and taprooms across Tualatin Valley. In addition to being served at area taprooms, cans of the IPA, with custom artwork featuring Dale the Ale-paca, were available at New Seasons grocery stores around the region.

COLLABORATORS

787 BREWING ∙ ANCESTRY BREWING

∙ BETHANY PUBLIC HOUSE ∙ BINARY BREWING CO. ∙ BEARKAT BREWING ∙ BULL RUN CIDER ∙ CENTRAL STATION

TAPS ∙ COOPER MOUNTAIN ALE WORKS

∙ CRAFT POUR HOUSE ∙ GOLDEN VALLEY

BREWING ∙ HILLSBORO DOWNTOWN

STATION TAPHOUSE ∙ HOPS ON TAP ∙

LAZY DAYS BREWING ∙ LOYAL LEGION ∙

RAINDROP TAPHOUSE ∙ STEEPLEJACK BREWING ∙ TALL TREES TAPHOUSE ∙ TAPPHORIA TAPHOUSE & BOTTLE SHOP

∙ TAPS ON SCHOLLS ∙ THE GROWLERIE

∙ LAKESIDE TAP HOUSE ∙ OLD MARKET

PUB & BREWERY ∙ UPTOWN BEER CO.

VERTIGO BREWING ∙ WALTZ BREWING

“IT WAS A HUGE WIN AND A GOAL OF MINE TO CAN THE ALE-PACA IPA,” SAID JOSH JOHNSON, OWNER OF BINARY BREWING.CO.

“IT WAS THE FASTEST SELLING BEER IN BINARY’S HISTORY!”

ALE TRAIL PASSPORT

For the fourth year, the Ale Trail Mobile Passport successfully drove consumers to more than 40 participating breweries, cideries and taprooms through exclusive deals and discounts, gamification and prize incentives. The free passport encouraged visitors to check in at locations and earn entries toward a Tap Season prize giveaway: “Mug Club” membership at a local brewery or cidery or a “six pack” of $50 gift cards to local breweries.

The interactive and engaging passport made it easy for participants to discover new spots while tracking their visits in one convenient place. By leveraging gamification and rewards, the passport boosted foot traffic and increased customer spending at participating locations.

Launched on January 15, sign-ups in the first week nearly surpassed the total number of passports issued during the entire 2025 Tap Season. Throughout the life of the campaign, ETV saw increases in both downloads and usage.

In addition, check-in data provided valuable insights, allowing us to measure overall performance, track year-over-year growth and inform future promotions.

*

1,117 (+102%) App Downloads • 1,608 (+74%) Check-ins at Partner Locations • 544 (+37%) Partner Promotions Used

*With compared year-over-year growth vs. 2025

SMS MESSAGING

This year, ETV engage passport holders with SMS/text messages sharing campaign updates and Ale-paca Pop-ups.

“(BUSINESS AT BINARY) WAS UP BY 30% IN THE TAPROOM,” SAID JOSH JOHNSON.

EVENT ACTIVATIONS

In-person engagement is a powerful tool for building awareness and fostering authentic connections. By bringing the campaign directly to the people at events throughout the region, ETV introduced Tualatin Valley’s craft beverage scene to new audiences in an engaging and memorable way. These activations ensured we connected with craft beverage enthusiasts who are likely to visit Tualatin Valley’s breweries, taprooms and cideries.

This year, ETV held several public event activations throughout the region to promote Tap Season.

ALE-PACA IPA LAUNCH PARTY

Tap Season kicked off in standout style with the Ale-paca IPA Launch Party at Hillsboro Downtown Station on Saturday, January 24. The high-energy event drew approximately 300 attendees, including local beer and culinary media and influencers, generating early buzz for the season. Guests enjoyed a live DJ from iHeartRadio, pours from a lineup of standout breweries: Ancestry Brewing, BinaryBrewing Co., Cooper Mountain Ale Works, Golden Valley Brewing, Vertigo Brewing, and Waltz Brewing - plus a crowd-favorite appearance from the Ale-pacas themselves, creating a memorable and highly shareable opening moment.

“THE ATMOSPHERE WAS JUMPING RIGHT FROM THE GET-GO,” SAID ALEX KIRCHER, GENERAL MANAGER OF GOLDEN VALLEY BREWERY & RESTAURANT. “THE STAFF WERE HAVING A GOOD TIME, TOO!”

BACON & BEER

In the final weeks of Tap Season, 105.9 “The Brew” brought its crowdfavorite Bacon & Beer event to Golden Valley Brewery and Restaurant on Friday, March 6. More than 200 beer enthusiasts turned out, with eager fans lining up as early as 6 a.m. - a testament to the event’s draw. The live broadcast, contests, giveaways, and indulgent bacon-forward experience kept energy high throughout the morning, while also driving engagement with 38 Ale Trail Passport check-ins tied directly to the event.

ALE-PACA POP-UPS

Throughout the two-month campaign, six different “Ale-paca Pop-ups” provided opportunities for face-to-face interactions, allowing beer lovers to sample local flavors, hear brewery stories firsthand, and learn how to participate in the Ale Trail Mobile Passport.

ALE-PACA POP-UPS & ALE TRAIL

PASSPORT CHECK-INS

Tap Season Kick-Off Party at Hillsboro Downtown Station (January 24): 101 check-ins

Ale-paca Pop-Up at Old Market Pub & Brewery (February 5): 25 check-ins

Winterhawks Partner Night at Memorial Coliseum (February 12)

Ale-paca Pop-Up at 19 Acres Cider Co. (February 14): 44 check-ins

Ale-paca Pop-Up at the Beaverton Brew Games and Loyal Legion (February 28): 21 check-ins

Ale-paca Pop-Up at Forage Grove (formerly Pelagic Brewing) (March 7): 20 check-ins

By immersing Tap Season into the community through these events and activations, we turned awareness into action, driving interest, conversations and, ultimately, brewery visits.

PAID ADVERTISING

Tap Season was amplified by a high-impact, multi-channel advertising campaign designed to maximize visibility and drive action. Running January 15 through March 15, the campaign strategically combined digital, broadcast, social media, and out-of-home placements to keep Tap Season top-of-mind and inspire exploration across the region.

DIGITAL ADVERTISING

Limited digital display advertising helped expand the reach of the Tap Season campaign by targeting craft beverage enthusiasts across the region. These eye-catching ads, created in partnership with Advance Travel & Tourism Media, raised awareness and drove people to the Tap Season website. Key placements included Here is Oregon/ OregonLive, where Tap Season launched with a homepage takeover, along with a custom video featuring the Collab Beer, and a sponsored article to further promote the campaign.

ADVANCE TRAVEL & TOURISM MEDIA RESULTS

CO-BRANDED SOCIAL POSTS (OREGONIAN & HERE IS OREGON)

• 19,849 Views

• 658 Engagements & Link Clicks

• 42,247 Total Reach

DISPLAY ADVERTISING

• 520 Clicks

• 2,008 Video Views

• 302,323 Impressions

WATCH THE VIDEO

OUT-OF-HOME ADVERTISING (OOH)

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising was a key component of the Tap Season campaign, providing high-visibility placements that reached both locals and visitors in real-world settings. Tap Season transit ads (bus tails) and signage on kiosks at Washington Square helped build brand awareness and reinforced the campaign’s presence beyond digital channels.

• 45 Bus tails in the Portland Metro Regionmore than 825,000 impressions

• 12 digital billboards in the Portland Metro Region - total of 7,402,759 impressions

• 3 Washington Square Backlit Kiosks56 QR code scans

• 1 Washington Square “Digital Spectacular”581,186 impressions

PAID ADVERTISING

(CONT.)

BROADCAST ADVERTISING

For Tap Season, we leveraged our continued partnerships with KOIN 6 and iHeartRadio to bring Tualatin Valley’s craft beverage scene to a wider audience through a dynamic broadcast campaign.

TELEVISION

KOIN 6 ran an updated Tap Season ad, which aired throughout the campaign, showcasing the region’s breweries and taprooms. As part of ETV’s sponsorship with KOIN/CW, Anna Buxton, a brewer from Steeplejack Brewing Co., appeared on a live on-air segment on EverydayNW (brought to you by Explore Tualatin Valley) to promote Tap Season, while encouraging viewers to explore the Ale Trail.

WATCH THE BROADCAST SPOT

PAID ADVERTISING

RADIO

105.9 The Brew (iHeartRadio) was a key broadcast partner in amplifying Tap Season across the Portland market. To further elevate and showcase the makers behind the region’s craft beverage community, on-air storytelling and “Brew Crew” integrations brought Tualatin Valley’s tap scene to life, while supporting digital and social content highlighted activations like Bacon & Beer and the Ale-paca IPA launch.

105.9 THE BREW / IHEARTRADIO CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Pre-recorded interviews featuring Josh Johnson of BinaryBrewing Co., Carlos Pabon and Will Ortiz of 787 Brewing, and Ian Eytzen of Waltz Brewing

• 986 radio spots aired, delivering 6.7M+ impressions promoting the Alepaca IPA, Ale Trail Passport, and events

• Pathtracker targeting: 640,041 impressions and 988 clicks via locationbased display

• Streaming audio: 1.77M impressions through :15 and :30 spots

• Added value: 11 custom “donut” ads + 100 bonus radio spots amplifying brewery partners and campaign reach

“I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY THE FREQUENCY AT WHICH THEY NAME-DROPPED GOLDEN VALLEY, TAP SEASON AND THE BACON & BEER EVENT! I HEARD IT 2-3 TIMES DURING MY 1-HOUR COMMUTE ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS. THIS WENT ON FOR NEARLY A MONTH LEADING UP TO THE EVENT. I KNOW THAT WE HAVE NEVER PUT UP THE MONEY TO GET THAT LEVEL OF PROMOTION ON ANY MANNER OF MEDIA. GREATLY APPRECIATED!”

SAID ALEX KIRCHER, GENERAL MANAGER OF GOLDEN VALLEY BREWERY & RESTAURANT.

In addition to our collaboration with iHeartRadio, ETV ran live-read spots throughout the campaign on OPB radio.

These broadcast partnerships provided invaluable exposure, driving awareness and engagement, resulting in visits to participating locations from the wider Portland market, as well as southwest Washington.

PARTNERSHIPS

For the second consecutive year, ETV partnered with the Portland Winterhawks, to bring attention to the region’s craft beverage scene. As a season-long partner, ETV connected with fans at Veterans Memorial Coliseum throughout the hockey season, including hosting a VIP tasting area featuring local wineries. Through in-arena promotions, digital signage and fan engagement, we encouraged attendees to check out the many breweries, cideries and taprooms in Tualatin Valley.

The Partner Night game was a great way to thank brewery partners for participating in Tap Season while also introducing the promotion to a larger audience. The event featured fun touches like an Ale-paca pop-up at the stadium entrance and Tap Season ads on the big screen. Additionally, the event provided our brewery partners a chance to see firsthand ETV’s Tap Season promotional efforts.

OWNED MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA PERFORMANCE

Explore Tualatin Valley promoted Tap Season on its own social media channels from February through mid-March, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. These ads helped drive a strong number of people to the website, while also increasing awareness and video views.

SOCIAL STATS:

• $9.2K total spend

• 1.9M+ impressions across platforms

• 10.3K link clicks / 7.5K landing page views

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Traffic campaigns efficiently drove strong site visitation

• Awareness efforts (Instagram + YouTube) reached a broad, highly engaged audience

• YouTube delivered 275K impressions and 42K views (~15% view rate), with strong cost efficiency

• A balanced cross-platform strategy successfully attracted new audiences and moved them toward action

The Ale Trail Mobile Passport was ETV’s primary communications vehicle for Tap Season. The app does not track visitation to tualatinvalley.org.

Tap Season Landing Page Performance

• 12,038 organic landing page visits

• 150 outbound clicks from landing page

• 41 seconds average length of stay

PUBLIC RELATIONS & MEDIA RESULTS

Explore Tualatin Valley’s public relations and media outreach efforts included pitching stories to local news and media outlets about Tap Season and how to experience it in the Tualatin Valley.

Tap Season generated 24 earned media placements, reaching nearly 379.4 million total impressions. Coverage spanned beerfocused outlets such as TheBrewSite.com, BrewBound.com and NewSchoolBeer.com, along with broadcast features on KPTV (Fox 12) and KOIN 6. Highlights included a KPTV interview with Shawn Bayer and Jill Katsis, owners of BearKat Brewing, and a live, on-site morning segment on KOIN 6’s “Kohr Explores,” featuring Josh Johnson of BinaryBrewing.co.

SEE FULL MEDIA RESULTS

“OUR PARTICIPATION IN TAP SEASON INCREASED BUSINESS AT OUR TAPROOM,” SAID SHAWN BAYER OF BEARKAT BREWING. “AT LEAST 40 NEW CUSTOMERS VISITED BEARKAT. INCLUSION IN THE MOBILE PASSPORT WAS THE MOST IMPACTFUL FOR US, BUT WE ALSO APPRECIATED THE KPTV NEWS APPEARANCE.”