So today is a… momentously weird day in the history of our country. All I can ask right now is, where and what will you be drinking? Maybe the weekend Oregon beer news will help you decide. 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 1/20:

Imperial Bottle Shop (Portland) is hosting a Russian (River) Inauguration Party tonight from 5 to 9pm: “On January 20th, Donald Trump will become our 45th president. Whether you’ll be celebrating or lamenting, we figured you’d want to do it with some really delicious beer in hand! So we put together an awesome lineup of Russian River beers and some Russian Imperial Stouts for you. We’ll also have bottles of Temptation, Consecration, and Supplication for sale, and hopefully some other fun treats!” Drown your sorrows.

Eugene’s ColdFire Brewing is celebrating their first anniversary this weekend, starting today (Friday)! They will have live music on Friday and Saturday, special anniversary pilsner glasses, beer specials, and of course cake. Be sure to swing by this weekend and help them celebrate! Congrats ColdFire on one full year!

Coin Toss Brewing (Oregon City): Friday they are celebrating the release party for their latest beer, Imperial Pilsner: “Inaugurate your taste buds with our biggest beer to date. We got a little crazy and put 32 pounds of noble hops into this beautiful beer. It clocks in at 8.4% ABV & 58 IBU. Join us for the very first pours. We’ll have some schwag giveaways, complementary snacks & some surprises too. See you in the OC on Friday.” The party starts at 3pm.

Portland’s Occidental Brewing crafted a special Helles Lager for Lardo Sandwiches‘ relatively new beer bar, Beer Belly—Lardo Lager. Today (Friday) from 4 to 7pm is the release party at Beer Belly for the beer: “Join us Friday January 20th at the newly opened Beer Belly Portland as we debut the new Lardo Lager brewed by yours truly! Occidental has brewed a Helles Lager exclusively for Lardo and it’s participating Chef’s Table restaurants. Hang out with the Occidental crew and drink a Lardo Lager out of glasses made just for this event!”

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland): Friday evening from 5 to 7pm, HUB has the release party for their Secession CDA at all of their pubs: “January 20th is an important date for us – Secession CDA will be released at all three Hopworks pubs! It’s going to be great. We’re serving up Secession on draft and we’ll have very limited quantities of bottles. Come to any of the pubs to grab a pint, or stop in to the Powell brewpub to join some of the HUB brew crew.”

Great Notion Brewing (Portland): Their crowler release for Friday is featuring Pure Guava: “Pure Guava Crowler Release Day! 2 per person on this release day only, after that, 1 per person. Pure Guava is a 7% IPA with lactose, fermented with 150 lbs of pink guava and dry hopped with Motueka, Azacca and Mosaic.” Interesting that there’s a lactose (milk sugar) addition.

Freebridge Brewing (The Dalles) has a beer release starting at 6:30pm, for their Bake Oven Black Lager: “Bake Oven Black Lager is the most recent release from Freebridge Brewing. This classic German Schwarzbier pours coffee black with a creamy khaki head. Delicate malty aromas boasting intense flavors of smoke without the combined bitterness of stouts and porters. Don’t be afraid of the darkness…she finishes crisp and clean.”

Saturday 1/21:

Bailey’s Taproom (Portland) is celebrating their eighth annual CellarFest all day long! “We debuted CellarFest in the winter of 2010 with the idea of gaining more knowledge about the aging process and cellaring capability of certain beers. We tuck away a handful of kegs yearly that we think will evolve in some way over time. Oxidation and time are two elements that may allow beers to open up and unveil new flavors. Sometimes, harsher alcohol notes mellow out over the years and we get a product with rounder edges and softer tones. Either way, we love to see how some of our favorite beers change and gain further insight into the lifespan of certain styles & labels. Now in it’s 8th year, CellarFest has become one of our most anticipated annual events. This year’s iteration is the official kickoff for our year-long 10 year celebration. Join us for a day of exploration into the fine art of cellaring beer. Don’t forget to share your tasting notes with us!”

McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse (Hillsboro): Saturday starting at 3pm they are going cider-centric with their Wassail Cider Fest, featuring a terrific lineup of cideries that will have cider pouring. “Join us in the Octagonal Barn as we celebrate cider in the British tradition as a Wassail Festival. We’ll feature more than 40 local ciders for tasting, live music and parade to “toast” the apple trees. Commemorative glass and tasting tokens can be purchased online or at the event. Wassail costumes are encouraged!” Tickets are $17 which gets you the keepsake glass and ten tokens and can be purchased online here.

Saturday is also the Portland U-Brew & Pub‘s fifth annual Westmoreland/Sellwood Winter Brew Fest, taking place all day starting at noon: “You are invited to join us for our 5th Annual Winter Beer Festival! Treat yourself to 6 Unicorn Winter Warmers and 4 local winter beers. A live local Reggae and Jazz band will be playing original songs, and we will donate a portion of sales to Veterans of Foreign Wars #4248. $20 gets you 10 4oz samples and a Logo glass to take home. Winter Guest Taps:13 Virtues, Lompoc,Gigantic, Uptown Market, and Laurelwood Brewing Company!”

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop (Portland): Saturday night they are hosting “A pFriem Dream” night starting at 6pm, highlighting Hood River’s PFriem Family Brewers: “Lift a glass to the Pfriem family of artisanal beers – rife with complexity and elegance, influenced by the great brewers of Belgium, but unmistakably true to their homegrown roots in the Great Pacific Northwest. Join us as we try five fantastic pFriem beers. See what all the buzz is about!”

Portland’s Bridgetown Beerhouse is celebrating its eight anniversary this weekend starting on Saturday. They’ll be pouring from a terrific taplist so make sure to swing by and congratulate them on eight years.

Sunday 1/22:

The Growler Guys Ashland location will be celebrating the arrival of Boardman’s Ordnance Brewing to southern Oregon, with a kickoff event from 4 to 7pm: “The wait is over, Ordnance Brewing is coming to Southern Oregon. We are kicking off with our friends at Growler Guys in Libation Engineers’s (Logan Mayfield) home town of Ashland on Sunday 1/22. Fun starts at 4pm. Come down, meet our team, learn about Ordnance Brewing, and sample our tasty brews. Cheers!”