Here’s the Oregon beer news for Tuesday, the 15th of January, the halfway point of the month. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news as I find it, so check back often for updates. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that updated.

Belmont Station (Portland) is featuring Upright Brewing today for a special bottle tasting from 5 to 8pm: “Our friends at Upright Brewing are always up to great things. Tonight, remember their flagship line up of Four, Five, Six, and Seven with samples in the bottle shop, and introduce yourself to their newest releases, Bad Brains & Fatali Four (Upright Four brewed with Fatali Peppers). The tasting will be hosted by Bobby Birk, the newest addition to Upright’s brewing team. Come meet Bobby and try some excellent beer.”

Gigantic Brewing (Portland) has two new bottle releases coming out soon: The End of Reason, number 6 in their bottle series, a “petite Quad” that is 8.3% abv; and The Time Traveler, number 7, a 5.8% abv porter. Both should appear in early February. (Via New School)

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Their Tap It Tuesday tonight at the Barrel House at 6pm features 2008 Oude Rouge: “2008 Oude Rouge is a blend of vintage draft and barrel aged Northwest style sour red ale that’s been sleeping in our cellar for almost five years; it’s essentially a vintage version of the Sang Rouge. Dusty aromas of dark cherries, dark caramels and currants come alive as the glass warms in your hands. Rich red malts and tart dark cherries on the palate give way to notes of dark caramel and dried fruits that linger in the dry finish. This is a special celebratory barrel to announce the new oak tank, or Fodre, that we just received, which we will be filling with Sang Rouge; we hope to have this version of the Sang series always on tap. 7.5% ABV, $8 glass, $3 taster.”

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River) announced yesterday a new Brewer’s Share beer, Vendell Veizen Weizen Bock. “This is a new addition to our Brewer’s Share bottle line-up brewed by Wendell Bryant, our Assistant Packaging Supervisor. Wendell is an accomplished home brewer who loves to share his creations with friends. We were so impressed with his Weizen Bock recipe, we let him loose in the brewhouse to work his magic on a supersize scale. Congrats, Wendell: looks like your circle of friends just increased by 100 fold.  Wendell enjoys German style biers, is a big bock fan and likes malty beers, so he decided to make a Weizen Bock. Vendell Veizen is a bock style wheat bier, that is reddish amber in color and has tropical fruit flavors with a slight malt sweetness. “It’s got a good amount of body and flavor,” says Wendell. ABV 7.2% IBU 21.” It will be hitting draft as well as 22-ounce bottles.

Build-out on the new Portal Brewing in Medford is underway: they posted a photo of the space yesterday (though no real clues on much more about when they’ll open and such). (And no, I’m not the “Jon A” they thank in the comment.) Looks like it could be a cool location, with old brick walls and lots of wood (maybe?). The location is 6th and Front Street in Medford.

Widmer Brothers (Portland) is rolling out five new beers for the new year: the new Columbia Common Spring Ale, a return of the Rotator series O’Ryely IPA, and what I’m most excited about, a trio of Imperial Stouts: KBG Russian Imperial Stout, Raspberry RIS ’13, and Chocolate RIS ’13. I’ll see about getting a hold of the stouts at least and I’m thinking—side by side reviews!

Roscoe’s (Portland) has a special collaboration night this Friday from 5 to 11pm, dubbed “Collaboration a Trois” and featuring Stone Brewing, Evil Twin Brewing and Stillwater Brewing and their recent collaboration beer, The Perfect Crime. “Roscoe’s will be featuring a rare keg of the three-way collaboration between Stone, Evil Twin, and Stillwater. It is a Black Smoked Saison with a hop kick. We will also be featuring additional specialty kegs from each of the three breweries. Some of the other beers will be: Stone Enjoy By IPA, Stone 16th Anniversary IPA with green tea leaves, Stillwater 2011 Debauched, Stillwater Premium ‘Post Prohibition’ Style Ale, Evil Twin 2011 Soft Dookie Imperial Stout, and another specialty keg from Evil Twin.” This is going to be quite an evening!

Golden Valley Brewery (McMinnville) is readying this year’s release of their Geistbock spring seasonal, which is hitting the taps this Thursday: ” This is one of our rare lagers brewed in the style of the German Heiliges Geist Bock, or Holy Ghost Bock. The name refers to the lighter nature of the beer as opposed to the darker and heavier Doppel Bock and Mai Bock also brewed during the spring in Germany. There is a rich malt flavor, a firm German style lager head, and a clean lagered finish to this beer.” If it’s like their other Thursday releases, I expect the first keg will sell for $3 pints.