Here’s the Oregon beer news for Friday, the 6th of January, and going into the weekend. What beer will you be drinking this first full weekend of 2012? As usual I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, so if you have some news you’d like to share please contact me.

This weekend seems to be “Greg Koch storms Oregon” as the Stone Brewing founder is making at least two appearances to promote both his new book and the collaboration brew with Ninkasi Brewing and The Alchemist: tonight, Koch is appearing with Ninkasi’s Jamie Floyd at Eugene’s The Bier Stein for the draft release of “More Brown than Black IPA” as well as a Tap Takeover; the Takeover starts at 5pm and the MBtB will be tapped about 7pm.

And then tomorrow, Saturday the 7th, Belmont Station in Portland is hosting Koch in a “Meet the Founder” and book signing event from 2 to 4pm. In addition to meeting Koch, there will also be several Stone beers on tap (the Vertical Epic 11.11.11, Double Bastard Ale, and Stone IPA confirmed) and there will be copies of The Craft of Stone Brewing Co. for sale.

The Commons Brewery (Portland) has an interesting set of releases this weekend, in a series dubbed “Yeast Series” (fermenting the same base beer with different yeasts): “We have two new beers we going on tap for this weekend. Both use the wort from a recent batch of Urban Farmhouse Ale, but were fermented with different yeasts. One with Wyeast German Ale yeast (reportedly Uerige) and the other with Wyeast Schelde (reportedly DeKoninck). The resulting beers show the significant impact the yeast has the beer. You can taste all three beers side-by-side for $5.” This is the kind of thing that would definitely be of interest to homebrewers (I know I’d be all over it). The Commons tasting room is open from 5 to 9 on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Lucky Lab (Portland) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of their Public House on SW Capitol Highway tomorrow: “From 7pm till Midnight there will be 2002 prices on Lucky Lab beer starting at $3.50!! Plus a special release of Winter Wonderdog.” John Foyston describes Winter Wonderdog on his Beer Here blog today: “a new winter brew described as brick red, smooth, and malty — a winter beer with a sweet and nutty profile.”

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

• Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City): This evening at the New Seasons Market in Happy Valley (southeast of Portland) from 4 to 7pm Pelican will be pouring their beer, and at the New Seasons Hawthorne tomorrow (Saturday) they’ll be pouring from 4 to 7pm as well.
• Elysian Brewing (Seattle) will be in Portland at the Uptown Market holding a tasting: “Join PDX Dave for an Elysian Beer Tasting at Uptown Market from 4-6:45pm! Order an Elysian Dragonstooth Stout on draft and walk away with your very own Elysian pint glass.” And then, across town at the C Bar, Elysian is featuring “6 beers at 6pm on January 6. A handful of tasty selections from New Belgium, including NB/Elysian collaboration brews Trip 10 ’72 El Dorado’ & Trip 11 ‘Nigel’! The fine folks behind the recipes of these tasty treats will be on hand to join in the jovial revelry.”
• Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): Tuesday, January 10th as posted on Facebook: “Oakshire Brewing and Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss will create their one-of-a-kind delicious floats, a combination of Oakshire Overcast Espresso Stout and Coconut Bliss’ organic, vegan ice cream. Join us for this uniquely Eugene treat. Free!” This is taking place from 4 to 6:30pm at the Eugene, Cascades & Coast Adventure Center in Springfield.