Welcome to February! For a short month there’s certainly plenty of “X Month” things going on, so let’s kick off the first of this week/month and jump right in. I’ll be updating this throughout the rest of the afternoon with the latest as I find it, so keep refreshing.

Oregon Craft Beer Month returns

Even amidst the pandemic, Oregon Craft Beer Month, organized and hosted by the Oregon Brewers Guild, returns for February and kicks off today, albeit in a much more virtual sense. Brewpublic has some details:

Zwickelmania, the premiere event of the month will make its return, but in a virtual format. The Guild plans to host two virtual events with Zwickelmania Portland on Saturday, February 13 and Zwickelmania Statewide on Saturday, February 20. Expect to virtually visit your favorite Oregon breweries for brewery tours, special tastings, live music, and more. Events will be live via the Oregon Craft Beer Facebook Page, along with Meet-the-Brewer panels and virtual tasting panels via the Zoom platform that will also be broadcast to the Guild’s YouTube Channel. Additional details are forthcoming.

In addition to Zwickelmania, the latest State of Excitement beer will be released on the 13th. It’s a West Coast IPA brewed by StormBreaker Brewing in collaboration with 25 other breweries from around the state.

Silver Moon Brewing reveals 2021 F* Cancer label, opens up label name submissions

Each year, Bend’s Silver Moon Brewing releases F* Cancer IPA, a fundraising beer that celebrates cancer survivors and donates proceeds to a number of non-profit beneficiaries. Each year’s labels featured hundreds of names of people who’s lives have been impacted by cancer. This year’s beer is slated to hit the market in May, and the brewery has opened up the form for label name submissions.

A lot has happened since we last collected names for our F*Cancer program. We have faced a global pandemic, restaurants and businesses have had to close their doors, our communities were decimated by wild fires, and the fight against cancer has continued through it all. This program has grown and stretched to communities across the country. We are passionate about making 2021 the best F*Cancer year yet.

We are so excited to announce that we are beginning the name submission process for the 2021 F*Cancer beer label. This is your opportunity to feature the name of an individual (including yourself) who has been directly impacted by the fight against cancer. We take great pride in featuring the names of the fighters as our way of paying respect to their legacy and battle.

The brewery also released a preview of what this year’s label will look like, which I’ve included in the banner at the top of the page.

Stout Month (at Fort George and beyond) begins today

February is Stout Month at Fort George Brewery in Astoria, and like every other pandemic event, things are different this year—but still goes on, and today is the first day. Fort George has a month of releases lined up, with online sales available starting February 6, as well as an impressive taplist lineup (for pandemic-safe drinking, of course!).

However, nothing will stop Fort George Stout Month! And for the very first time, you’ll be able to reserve Matryoshka variation bottles online, with direct shipping to Washington & Oregon homes. Or make the trip to Astoria. There will be a separate and safe location in the Lovell Brewery for Stout Month pre-order pick-ups, and you might be able to enjoy a taste or two from the Lovell Taproom, open for the first time in almost a year.

You can also visit Fort George anytime during February and find a tap list full of 2021 Matryoshka variations, cellared stouts, and a few one-offs brewed just for Stout Month. There will be hats, t-shirts, and hoodies available at the pub and online, all with the 2021 Stout Month logo, and limited gold Matryoshka glassware.

Of course you don’t only have to drink Fort George stouts to celebrate Stout Month; The New School reports that Portland’s Laurelwood Brewing is getting in on the action with variants of its Space Stout:

Portland, OR’s Laurelwood Brewing is getting in on the February Stout Month celebrations with their own lineup of four different adjunct heavy and pastry stout inspired variations of Space Stout. The award-winning Foreign-style Space Stout is a longtime favorite of the brewery which is making it’s return this month, the 7% ABV base beer has been split up into four small batches each with their own special ingredients added. Laurelwood Public House will be tapping one of these variants each week for the rest of February, with very small amount on draft and in 16oz cans.

Block 15 celebrates Bourbon Month

Meanwhile in Corvallis, Block 15 Brewing celebrates its Bourbon Month in February. Details from the email newsletter:

Bourbon Month, a most glorious time of the year! Our love for bourbon simply cannot be contained in one weekend or a week—so every February we devote the entire month to a spectacular lineup of select bourbon offerings, barrel matured beers, and bourbon-inspired food specials. As with other events throughout the year, the annual Bourbon Month Bottle Release and Brunch is going to be a little bit different this year. But if you joined us for our Late Fall Bottle Release, the experience will feel very familiar. Alongside the release of Super Nebula 2021, we will be releasing two variants, Super Nebula, Breakfast with Hayden and Super Nebula, Dulce de Leche. We’re also adding our yearly release of Kriek, a Spontaneous Cuvee. A truly epic lineup indeed! In addition to the bottles of barrel aged beers, there will also be two hop-forward can releases: Nugg Hugg and Billy Breathes!

The keystone event is a seated brunch (hopefully pandemic-safe) on February 6, but the lottery for that is already closed, but there are also options to acquire these beers during the brewery’s drive-thru sales, and via UPS delivery in Oregon. The online ordering option will run from February 2nd (tomorrow) through the 4th (Thursday), and I assume you’ll be able to order here.

New beers from Wayfinder

Portland’s Wayfinder Beer announced a handful of new beers available today for pre-order (to be picked up on Saturdays over the next several weekends). The beers include Gravity Drop (Baltic-style porter), Russian circles (black pilsner), Chronokinetic (cold IPA), Kellerbier (rustic lager), and Doomtown (west coast IPA).

Ex Novo introduces “Pacific Southwest-Style” IPA

Perhaps tongue-in-cheekly, Ex Novo Brewing is introducing its “Pacific Southwest-Style” IPA:

Our Oregon and New Mexico breweries teamed up to brew this classic “Pacific Southwest-Style”™ India Pale Ale brimming with dank, piney, lemongrass and grapefruit zest notes!

Pleasant, refreshingly smooth bitterness along with a medium body help create a crushable IPA perfect for socially-distanced patios, be it in the desert or the rainforest. Our Corrales brewery released their iteration of this brew last Friday and now it’s our turn!

Available for order online.