Happy Thursday, hopefully the penultimate day of your work week! It’s a “beer release” kind of day, with news of beer releases dominating my list of items so far. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Double Mountain Brewery (Hood River): Tonight at The BeerMongers in Portland, Double Mountain is releasing their Pale Death Belgian Style Imperial IPA in bottles with the event starting at 5pm. From OregonBeer.org: “Open the Fourth Seal and partake in the luminous pungency of dank tropical forest. Aromas of ripe kiwi, mango, and pineapple consort with the coriander and orange peel of the Ardennes yeast. A noticeable bitterness hangs in balance with a hint of malt sweetness hiding in the vast, pale orange foundation.” The beer itself is a 9.5% abv with 93 IBUs. Should be a great party, so make sure to stop in a grab a few bottles.

McMenamins Edgefield (Troutdale) today has a limited-edition beer tasting starting at 5pm, featuring Saison Noir: “Saison is a Belgian ale style that is traditionally brewed to be light, refreshing and spiced. This is a darker and richer version to celebrate the black nights and the cold afternoons. Gather inside with friends and family around a warm fire with a cold pint. Cheers!” This particular Saison is spiced with grains of paradise and vanilla beans, and brewed with midnight wheat malt to give it its dark appearance. If you’re looking to try it, be sure to head over because once the beer is gone, it’s gone!

Breakside Brewery (Portland) has the new release of their seasonal Salted Caramel Stout hitting the shelves again, and tonight from 6 to 9pm Portland’s N.W.I.P.A. beer bar is hosting a release party for the beer with a few extras: “We will be hosting this year’s release of Salted Caramel Stout from Breakside in collaboration with Salt & Straw! It will be available on draft and in bottles. In addition to that, we will have the IPA, Woodlawn Pale, La Tormenta and few other suprises on draft. Quite possibly a free scoop of ice cream too!” Yum.

The White Owl Social Club (Portland) tonight starting at 6pm is hosting California’s Sierra Nevada Brewing for a special release party of the 2015 edition of Bigfoot Barleywine (a favorite of mine!). In addition to the beer, they’ll be hosting a talk on Sasquatch—the mythical creature—as well. From Brewpublic: “For 2015 the Bigfoot Barleywine Release Party will feature celebrity guest speaker and cast member of the hit Animal Planet TV series on Finding Bigfoot, Cliff Barackman. He will be at White Owl to deliver a live presentation! Also speaking will be Marc Myrsell of the Washington-based Dark Waters Paranormal Group. Hosting this live event will be Guy Edwards of the local beer & Bigfoot enthusiasts group HopsSquatch.” Time to go Bigfoot hunting!

McMenamins Old Church & Pub (Wilsonville) has their monthly special beer tasting going on tonight from 5pm onward, featuring Java Jolt Porter: “Need a pick me up from the rainy winter blues? This chocolate and coffee infused robust porter is the perfect pick me up for those wet Oregon afternoons. Java Jolt is loaded with flavors of fresh ground coffee, dark chocolate, and toffee. Fresh Cacao nibs ensure nothing but the finest and richest chocolate flavors in each sip. Cold soaking our house coffee overnight preserves all the delicate aromas without extracting any of the bitterness associated with hot brewed coffee. This guarantees that each pint overflows with big coffee flavors while still going down smooth.” At 6.71% abv, it’s a nice evening sipper without being too strong.

The Green Dragon (Portland): Tonight they have a meet the brewer event starting at 5pm (beers start at 5, the brewer portion starts at 6), featuring Lake Oswego’s Stickmen Brewery & Skewery. “Tonight we welcome Stickmen Brewery & Skewery’s Owner/Brewers John Turner & Tim Schoenheit and Brewer Cobi Brother. As they pour and tell us about some of their latest brews: F-Bomb IPA, Brown Dn’Unda, Oatmeal Stout, and Emilia.”

Bridge 99 Brewery (Bend): Owner/brewer Trever Hawman has been working on opening a tasting room for his small (nano) production brewery, and a date has been set for the opening: January 22. In today’s Bend Bulletin newspaper there’s an article about the new tasting room: “Until now, Hawman, a carpenter and building contractor, has brewed his assortment of beers at home in a 1.5-barrel system with a two-barrel fermenter. That part will remain the same for the time being. But starting Jan. 22, he’s opening a tasting room with nine beers on tap and moving production out of the 400-square-foot attachment to his home and into the 2,000-sqare-foot commercial space at 63063 Layton Ave., Bend.” It’s across the parking lot from Wubba’s BBQ Shack, which is the primary outlet for his beers, and Hawman is also working on building out a 7-barrel brewery nearby. Nice to see the local beer scene still growing!