Happy Friday! Here is the news in Oregon beer for the first full weekend of 2017. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Friday:

Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters): Today is the annual release celebration for McKay’s Scottish Ale, brewed in tribute to notable local Don McKay. “This Scottish style ale is brewed with loads of Caramel, Munich and Scottish base malts along with a touch of Smoked Malt. A 2-hour boil accentuates the rich caramel flavors while a hint of smoke inspires you to throw on your kilt, fire up the bagpipes and have a pint or (2)! 8.0% ABV. Available on draft. The night wouldn’t be complete without a Scottish meal to accompany this tasty brew. Chef Mark will be preparing Scottish Beef Stew over Potato Pancakes. Wear your KILT for FREE TCBC SCHWAG!” The party starts at 6:30pm.

Coldfire Brewing (Eugene) is celebrating their first anniversary with a party at First National Taphouse in Eugene starting at 6pm. They will be pouring five Coldfire beers, including two rare kegs, and there will be food specials, prizes and swag, and more. Big congratulations to Coldfire on one year, and cheers to many more!

Gigantic Brewing (Portland) is releasing their collaboration beer they brewed with Behemoth Brewing, Too Big to Fail Triple IPA, today starting at 5pm. “What happens when Gigantic meets Behemoth? Find out in the taproom at 5pm this Friday (Jan 6) when we release Too Big to Fail Triple IPA, a hop beast collabo with New Zealand’s Behemoth Brewing Company. It’s a hopped to the peaks with Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, Citra and Lemondrop and comes in at 10.6% abv.”

Monkless Belgian Ales (Bend) has their very first limited edition bottle release taking place Friday from 4 to 7pm: “Flights & Pints plus a Limited Edition Bottle Release of The Trinity. Naturally carbonated, bottle-conditioned, hand-labeled and numbered begins at 4pm. Come get them while they last! Due to frozen pipes, our food truck is out of commission for today’s normal Food Truck Friday event. So sorry folks! We’ll have extra munchies around for the launch today for FREE! We hope to see you!!”

Saturday:

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop (Portland) is hosting a Belgian Style Beer Bash all day Saturday: “We’re celebrating the incredibly unique idea that came from Belgium in the 12th century. Beer could non-conforming, and served in the right glass, it could be really good! Join us as we explore Belgian-style beers, some coveted & some that have yet to be discovered. Ask about our favorites! We have plenty to go around.” Taster trays featuring six great Belgian or Belgian-style beers will be available.

Great Notion Brewing (Portland): Their latest crowler release is featuring an IPA named Mandela: “Mandela (w/ Nelson) is an IPA brewed with Citra, Mosaic and dry-hopped 100% with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand. On tap today (Thursday) with 2 crowlers per person avail starting Saturday and 1 everyday thereafter.”

General:

Yesterday Portland’s Culmination Brewing teamed up with Charles Porter of the upcoming Little Beast Brewing to brew up a collaboration beer: “[Thursday] on the Culmination Brewing Company brew deck we have a great collaboration that we are doing with Charles Porter of Little Beast Brewing. We are all really excited about this and you should be too! He is in the process of building up his new brewery so make sure you follow his page to keep updated on his next moves.” Ideally this beer will pour at Culmination and also will be on tap at Little Beast when that goes online.

Climate City Brewing (Grants Pass) posted exciting (and big!) news: “Climate City Brewing Company is the first brewery in Grants Pass history to distribute beer to the Portland, Eugene and Bend markets! This has been made possible thanks to our new partnership with Point Blank Distributing! Excited to see where this new chapter leads and very happy to be getting our beer out in Oregon so the rest of the state can see what we have to offer! Keep your eyes peeled, and grab a pint at your local bar! Cheers!” I’m definitely looking forward to trying these beers when they get to town. Congrats Climate City!