I dont’t know about you, but it’s been a long and busy week, so Friday couldn’t come soon enough! Here’s the news in Oregon beer for Friday the 1st of February and this weekend. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post with the latest news as I find it, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that updated.

The Portland Mercury’s Malt Ball is going on tomorrow (February 2), a cool beer-and-music pairing showcase that takes place at Portland’s Wonder Ballroom starting at 2pm and lasting all day. Many beers will be poured, and 12 breweries collaborated with the 12 bands playing to brew a special beer just for the Ball. Ezra at the New School has a great guide for the event. For cost, it’s split into 2 ‘showcases’, $15 each, from 2 to 7pm, and then 7:30 to midnight. $25 gets you in for the whole day, which Ezra recommends to get the maximum number of beer tickets (4 for each showcase, 8 altogether).

Broken Top Bottle Shop (Bend) is celebrating their first birthday this weekend, with a ton of free live music and good beer (of course!). And today they additionally have a special cask firkin of Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA on Friday (today) all day long. Congrats to a great year!

Fort George Brewing (Astoria): February is Stout Month at Fort George, with a number of stout-specific events include the Festival of Dark Arts on February 16. “This February, Fort George will put on the biggest, darkest Stout Month to date.  Over 40 Stouts will roll through the Fort George Brewery during the month, with at least 8 Stout taps pouring this black gold at any given time.  The Taproom will offer up some of the most exclusive Stouts to date.  A rum barrel-aged Pumpkin Stout, check.  Maker’s Mark barrel-aged Oatmeal Stout, check.  Oyster Stout, we’ll see…” If you visit the brewery during the month, and try the Blind Taster Tray of 8 stouts and try to guess what they are!

And, tomorrow (Saturday the 2nd) Fort George will be doing a tasting at N.W.I.P.A. bottle shop in Portland, from 5 to 8pm. “Tim Ensign will be in the house and handing out samples of there line of beers. There will be three special IPA’s on tap, Simcoe Dry Hopped Vortex, the newest Beta IPA and Bad Juju IIPA.”

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City) has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise money for their Tillamook brewery expansion. From the press release: “You can help by backing our new production brewery in historic downtown Tillamook. The project consists of building renovations and brewing equipment totalling $1.3 million and we have raised the bulk of the funding from various sources. We need a minimum of $100,000 from our Kickstarter campaing to the basics up and running. If we can obtain $200,000 from the campaign, then we get to buy EVERYTHING we need. It’s all or nothing at Kickstarter, so show your love of Pelican and become a Backer!” Be sure to hit the Kickstarter page and look at the pledge levels.