Happy Friday! I am definitely ready for this weekend to be here. Here’s the news in Oregon beer for this final weekend in January. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please let me know and I can get that updated as well.

Friday 1/27:

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is celebrating the first anniversary of ColdFire Brewing with a party from 5 to 8pm: “As one of Eugene’s youngest breweries, ColdFire has pretty much knocked it out of the park with their wide range of beers. But hey, we’re kind of biased because we’ve helped brew a couple of them! In fact, they asked us to collaborate with them on a beer for their first anniversary, and we’ll be tapping that (an Imperial IPA brewed with lupulin powder, a new hop product on the market) plus Firefly IPA, Belgian Dubbel, Stylish Kolsch, Citrus Solstice CDA, and Pale X: Amarillo to celebrate. We hope you’ll join us!”

Roscoe’s (Portland) is hosting their seventh annual New Breweries of Oregon Summit starting at 2pm: “Join Roscoe’s in celebrating the 7th Annual New Breweries of Oregon Summit on January 27th. Lots of great new breweries have opened in Oregon in the past year. This event will be your opportunity to meet some of the brewers and owners and to try their beers! The beers will all be tapped by 2pm and different brewers will be in the house throughout the night. Some of the Breweries will include: Great Notion with their new Mandela IPA, Ruse Brewing with their new Vernacular IPA, Alesong with a Hand selected Single Barrel Brett Saison that has never beer North of Springfield, Zoiglhaus, Ross Island with their new TNT IPA, Climate City with a Bourbon Porter and a Happy Endings Pils, and more!”

Bend’s Silver Moon Brewing has the release party for their new Ahh… Freak Oat! Oatmeal Pale Ale, starting at 9m: “Silver Moon Brewing is excited to release our newest beer in our Lunar Series. Hold your applause until after you’ve tasted it yourself. Ladies & gentlemen – Ahh… Freak Oat! The staff will show you how to pick out your 70’s fro! And DJ Mystik will spin the 70’s disco all night long. Polish your dance shoes & meet us at The Moon.”

Bend’s Tetherow Resort is hosting a beer dinner “Brewery Smackdown” event Friday evening, featuring “Bend vs. Seattle”: “Hailing from Seattle, the powerhouse duo of Fremont Brewing and Georgetown Brewing will face down two of Bend’s finest breweries, Crux Fermentation Project and Silver Moon Brewing! The battle will consist of five rounds of dishes prepared by Tetherow’s chefs. Each team will put their best beer pairing in the ring, hoping for a knockout punch. Spectators will start off the night with a warm-up beer provided by Deschutes Brewery, the winner of the last big fight. The crowd will choose the victor of each round based on how well the breweries paired it with the dish.” They’ve posted the event is full but if you’re still interested (and if there are any cancellations) get in touch.

The Platypus Pub (Bend) is hosting Portland’s Ex Novo Brewing from 6 to 8pm for a beer tasting: “Come on down to the Platy Pub and try out some exciting beers from Ex-Novo a relatively new PDX non-profit Brewery. they will have the flagship Eliot IPA that is offered in cans up in the brew shop, & a Imperial Stout called Kill The Sun. Brought to you by those cool cats at BigFoot. Free to sample!”

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop (Portland) is hosting an Edgefield Cider Tasting from 6 to 8pm Friday, featuring four of the Edgefield’s ciders: Edgefield Apple Cider, Coopered Cobbler Dry Peach Cider, Blackberry Cider, and Crangerine Dream Cider. “McMenamins has been crafting cider to serve in our pubs since 1992, offering clean, crisp flavors that highlight the bounty of the Pacific Northwest. Using quality juices pressed from neighboring orchards in the Columbia River Gorge, we craft this gluten-free cider year-round at Edgefield Winery. Come on down to the Bottle Shop while we pour samples of our latest seasonal cider. We’ll also be offering a taster tray, so join us and find your new favorite!”

Saturday 1/28:

Base Camp Brewing (Portland): Their annual Collabofest returns! “Join us in celebrating the collaborative spirit and creativity of Portland’s innovative breweries! Base Camp’s Collabofest pairs select local breweries together to create new and exciting collaboration beers especially for this event. By working with local breweries, local nonprofits, and Travel Portland, Base Camp’s Collabofest is a festival that not only celebrates great beer and great people, but also the unity and camaraderie within the Portland craft beer community. We are excited to announce that our nonprofit partners this year are SheJumps:PDX and Oregon Timber Trail.” Collabofest takes place from 2 to 8pm.

The annual NW Coffee Beer Invitational takes place at the Goose Hollow Inn in Portland Saturday from noon to 7pm: “Join us for the 4th NW Coffee Beer Invitational! 16 craft beers & ciders using locally roasted coffee. Music, flavors, food and fun outside at the Goose in our cozy heated tent. This year entries wil be judged with a winner announced during the festival. Family friendly. Tickets at the door only.”

Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider (Portland) is celebrating the Chinese New Year with the release of their New Moon Mandarin cider, with a release party from 4 to 11pm Saturday: “Celebrate Chinese New Year and the 2017 release of New Moon Mandarin! “Channeling the best champagne mimosas was my goal with this spring seasonal. Heirloom apples fermented with a champagne yeast, blended with orange & lemon zest, a complex background of chamomile, fennel, coriander & cardamom and finished with a touch of orange blossom honey.” New Moon on tap and bottles to go! Special Randall with fresh mandarins”

Culmination Brewing (Portland) is hosting their second annual Artisinful Beer & Chocolate Festival on Saturday, which will take place from noon to 5pm. “Artisinful is a festival to celebrate chocolate and beer and the artisans who craft both of these delectable delights. We will have local Portland area chocolatiers on hand providing samples for you to enjoy as well as chocolate that you can purchase and take home to have for Valentine’s Day happening just two weeks later. We will also have 10 plus beers on tap that pair well with chocolate or have chocolate in them.” Tickets are $21 and available online here.

Baerlic Brewing (Portland) has a “Stout Bout” beer taste-off and voting even taking place from 1 to 5pm on Saturday: “PBC • Portland Brewers Collective STOUT BOUT IV: Public Stout Tasting and Awards Ceremony. From 1 PM – 3 PM you can sample and vote on approximately 12 different stouts that were advanced from the Stout Bout Home Brew Competition. There is no cost to sample these stouts. This is the tie to purchase raffle tickets! From 3 PM – 5 PM is when the home brew competition award winners are announced as well as the People’s Choice Award. The multiple raffle winners are also announce during this time.”

The Civic Taproom in Portland is hosting their second annual Barrel Aged Beer & Cider Fest all day Saturday: “It’s our second annual Barrel Aged Beer and Cider Fest! Join us on Saturday, January 28 from 12pm-12am. The Civic is dedicating its entire tap system to barrel aged libations for a Saturday full of special beers collected over the last several months. Each keg has been hand-picked by The Civic’s Sean Hiatt and Chelsea Riedel. Drink Tickets are priced at $2/each and customers can sample a complete tasting flight of every barrel aged beer and cider on tap.”

Claim 52 Brewing (Eugene) is hosting a crowler release of Fluffy IPA and benefit for the Greenhill Humane Society from 3 to 7pm on Saturday: “Proceeds from all beer sales will go to the shelter animals at Greenhill Humane Society and First Avenue Shelter. Crowler’s of Fluffy will be available all day, no limit. We’ll have adoptable dogs on site, live music, a delicious food cart (thank you Hot Mama’s Wings Bus!), caffeinated beverages by Coffee Plant Roaster, and a performance by the amazing Agili-Chis at 4pm!”

And Portland’s Great Notion Brewing‘s weekly crowler release is featuring “Double Stack Double Crowler Day” this Saturday: “New batch of Double Stack double Crowler release day! Come and get 2 crowlers per person of Double Stack on Sat., Jan 28th!” Pancake-flavored beer…

Three Mugs Brewing (Hillsboro): They are releasing Red Rye IPA on Saturday: “We’ll be releasing our red-rye IPA, Rye of Providence 7%. This is probably the hoppiest thing to ever come through our brewery! Made with Rye Malt, Pale Malt along with some crystal wheat and others….oh yeah and a crap ton of dry hopping with Simcoe, Mosaic, and Galaxy! Enjoy”

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop continues their cider tasting weekend with a Bull Run Cider tasting Saturday from 2 to 4pm: “Located in Forest Grove, Oregon, Bull Run Cider produces fermented apple beverages commonly known as hard cider. “We strive to make the best cider by using the highest quality ingredients. All of the fruit we use in our Hard Ciders and Perries is grown within 100 miles of our Cidery, much of it we harvest ourselves. We do not use any artificial flavors or sweeteners in our ciders.” Head into the Bottle Shop for a few complimentary samples of the tasty beverages being made at Bull Run Ciders.”

Portland’s BTU Brasserie has a new beer going on tap Saturday for the Chinese New Year: “Join us [Saturday] for our celebration of Chinese New Year. We are releasing a new brew “Beer of the rooster” a smoked malt beer with ginger and Chinese chili.”

General:

The Raccoon Lodge (Portland) has a new sour beer alert: “Brambleberry quad. Spiced quads aged on bourbon barrels with black and red raspberries. A Perfect blend of fruit spice and oak. Who knows if or when they will make this “unicorn” again.”