Here is the news in Oregon beer for Thursday, January 21—I don’t know about you, but it feels like a Friday! As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that updated as well.

McMenamins Kennedy School (Portland) has an “Extra Credit” beer tasting today from 5 to 8pm, featuring Blood Orange Pale Ale: “We thought blood oranges would make a tasty addition to our Limited Release Pale Ale. Golden Promise & Cara-Vienna Malts were used to create a base that would allow the fruit to shine. Ultra Hops were used to help compliment the orange flavors. We then dry hopped this ale with Meridian Hops to blend in aromas of lemon, mixed berry, and tropical fruit. Cheers!”

Belmont Station (Portland) welcome’s Seattle’s Schooner Exact Brewing today for a tasting from 5 to 7pm: “Seattle’s award-winning Schooner Exact Brewery will be here providing tastes of 3-Grid IPA, Hopvine IPA and the Bourbon Barrel Imperial Porter. Plus, we will have their Hopvine IPA and Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter on tap. The Hop Vine IPA recently won best of show at the Brussels Beer Challenge, an international competition and the imperial porter was recently awarded gold in the Wood & Barrel Aged category at the Washing Beer Awards.”

The Green Dragon (Portland): Their meet the brewer event today is featuring Brewmaster Shane Watterson of Portland’s Laurelwood Brewing: “From the day they opened, Laurelwood Brewing was always about neighborhood brewpubs serving award winning craft beer. Starting with a 7-barrel system in the Hollywood district, this family run brewery now has pubs in four locations around Portland. Brewmaster Shane Watterson comes by Thursday with six brews that showcase Laurelwood’s wide range of styles, and his vision for making the brewery even better. Drop in to join us and Shane for a pint or two.” Starts at 5pm.

The Platypus Pub (Bend) is welcoming Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider tonight for a cider tasting from 6 to 8pm: “Join us Thursday night as Will Minderhout from Reverend Nat’s Cider will be here to sample a few of their Ciders. Revival will be on tap and Will will be sampling out Hopricot, Ginger Tonic and New Town Pippin.”

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is featuring the release for Eugene’s new ColdFire Brewing tonight from 6 to 9pm: “Come grab a pint or three from Eugene’s newest brewery! In advance of the taproom opening later this month, we’ll have three ColdFire beers on tap: American Wheat, St. James India Red Ale, and Oatmeal Stout. The brewers will be here– cheers to them!”

Imperial Bottle Shop (Portland): Today from 6 to 9pm they are hosting Colorado’s Trinity Brewing for a meet the brewer and tasting: “Meet our friend Jason Yester from Trinity Brewing and try some of his awesome beers on tap, including: Menacing Chokecherry Saison, Magical Brett Tour #7, 45th Parallel IPA, Chilly Water Bourbon Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter”

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop (Portland) is hosting a Meet the Maker with McMenamins’ own Crystal Brewery tonight from 5 to 8pm. They’ll be featuring three Crystal beers: CDA of Cain, Dying Embers, and Woods Witch Herbal Extra Pale, all three brewed with different varieties of tea. Definitely one to check out.

Cascade Brewing (Portland) has a new beer available on tap: “Vintage 2013 Diesel, a limited-release, barrel-aged Imperial Stout brewed with chocolate and roasted malts, organic black strap molasses and dark Belgian candi sugar, then aged five months in Bourbon barrels with vanilla beans before further aging in kegs for 29 months – 10% ABV”

Widmer Brothers Brewing (Portland) has one of their BIG beers on tap: “Kill Devil Brown Ale’s flavor comes from the use of ingredients traditionally used by Caribbean distillers. Sweet Barbados and Blackstrap molasses provide touches of toasted sugar, black licorice, and blackened toffee while the palm sugars invite notes of subtle sweetness. The traditional distiller’s ingredients are supported by a complimentary, complex and rich variety of malts. As the beer conditions in Puerto Rican rum barrels, the vanilla and subtle oak flavors and aromas develop and integrate themselves with the Calypso hop’s soft tropical and stone fruit aromas.”