Happy Super Bowl weekend! What beer will you be drinking on Sunday? Here’s the beer news for the final day in January and the first weekend of February. 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.

Portland’s newest brewery, StormBreaker Brewing, is set to open Saturday (tomorrow), and the New School has the details. You should remember that StormBreaker bought the north Mississippia brewpub location of Amnesia Brewing (now only brewing in Washougal, Washington). “The food options are one of the things everyone wants to know about, since previous tenant Amnesia Brewing only offered items like brats from an outdoor grill. StormBreaker is partnering with friends at Grand Cru Hospitality to offer the best food possible without the addition of a full kitchen. The grill will stay, but a deli case and the ability to cook on a few burners will allow fresh prepped food with more options. Of course, what everyone is most interested in is the beer, and that is what has taken me from intrigued to excited. Even though Rob Lutz is a relatively young brewer and is manning the brewhouse himself for now, his first batches right out of the gate are very impressive.” StormBreaker is set to open at noon tomorrow, so be sure to check them out.

De Garde Brewing (Tillamook): Tomorrow from 2 to 6pm at their brewery is their first bottle release of the new year: “This will be the first time we have been able to accomodate visitors to our brewery, and we plan on hosting future releases and events here. There’s a lot more space! We will also be tapping a number of delicious kegs, including beers being released, and you can enjoy glasses amongst the barrels containing future releases.” They have a big selection of beers to check out and drink, and for cost: “We are changing the format for this event somewhat. In lieu of having everyone go to the same register/person for draft beer as well as bottle sales, we are separating the two. Hopefully this well help expedite any line. In addition, to facilitate the best customer service we can offer, we are instituting a $5 charge for a custom logo’d crystal glass ONLY for those wishing to partake of draft pours. This will be used for any beer you decide to consume, and it is yours to keep. After that, draft prices will be a mere $3/glass in an attempt to keep pricing as fair as possible.”

Solera Brewery (Parkdale) and Logsdon Farmhouse Ales (Hood River) are collaborating on a beer that sounds like will be blended; I don’t know much except what Solera posted yesterday: “Brewing our half of the Solera Brewery/Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, LLC. collaboration today. The individual beers will be interesting enough on their own, but we can’t wait to imbibe on the blend.” Given both breweries’ penchant for wild/funky beers, this should be interesting.

Santiam Brewing (Salem) has some big things in the works. First, tomorrow they have a smoked Marzen lager coming out, named Potzdorf Rauchbier: “That means a new pint punchcard will be available at both our locations on just that one day. Do not miss them. We’ll also have Sample this BBQ serving a smoked German sausage as a delicious compliment to our new brew-a perfect pairing. Plus, live music from Rich Mc Cloud that night from 7-9:30.”

And, Santiam is expanding! They took a shipment of new equipment yesterday: “50 barrels of fermenting capacity and 30 barrels of brite tank capacity!” Congrats!