Happy Friday, and President’s Day weekend! Here’s the news in Oregon beer for this weekend, though you should already have Zwickelmania plans, right? As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Zwickelmania Part 1 takes place this Saturday for the Portland Metro area! Oregon’s beer holiday returns with open houses taking place at 64 locations (at last count) around PDX from 11am to 4pm. Check the Zwickelmania site for the updated list of participating breweries, plus be aware there is a shuttle service running through the day for free—three Portland routes by Brewvana Tours, and a Hillsboro bus route as well. Stay safe and use the shuttles!

Friday 2/17:

Gigantic Brewing (Portland) is releasing their latest edition of Massive! Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine today (Friday): “Aged barley wine! It spent almost 2 years in Kentucky Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels where it soaked up notes of maple syrup, burnt toffee, plum, boysenberry, vanilla, and spicy wood. This is a brewery only release, with 22oz bottles ($20) available and a limited amount on tap. Taproom opens at 2pm.” I can guarantee this is a beer you will want to show up for.

McMenamins Bagdad Pub (Portland) has their Feature Before the Film beer tasting from 5 to 8pm, featuring Ginger Kumquat Lemondrop Sour from the Edgefield brewery: “This is a kettle-soured German-style Berliner Weisse that was shortly aged on fresh ground ginger, Meyer lemons and pureed kumquats. Bright, citric and tart fruit flavors, with a hint of ginger spice, provide a unique easy-drinking experience.”

Reedsport on the Oregon Coast is hosting Confluence: Wine, Beer, Seafood & Music Festival this weekend, taking place Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th. “This award winning Wine, Beer, Seafood, and Music Festival offers different styles of music merging and flowing together throughout the two day festival. Oregon wineries and breweries vend their respective products and food vendors serve culinary delights of the Oregon Coast. A variety of musicians perform.” They have 13 breweries pouring listed here, including Reedsport’s local Defeat River Brewery. Time are 4 to 10pm on Friday, and noon to 10pm on Saturday.

And then a little farther down the coast, in Bandon, the Gorse Blossom Festival is taking place all three days this weekend. “Beautiful Bandon-by-the-Sea hosts it’s first-ever Gorse Blossom Festival over Valentine’s week! This festival is all about craft beers, wineries, Brewmaker Dinners, Winemaker Dinners, and the Oregon Coast Film Festival. In a joint effort between the Greater Bandon Association and Bandon Chamber of Commerce, as well as our community’s restaurateurs, merchants, and non-profit organizations, Bandon brings you three days of fun-filled festival activities. All three days of our festival include concessionnaires for food, wine, beer, and more.” No, I didn’t know what a “gorse” was before today, but this fest sounds intriguing not least of which for the presence of Bandon Brewing Company (new!) and Bandon Rain Cider. Among other fest events, look for a Pub Crawl on Friday night, and a couple of Brewmaker Dinners on Saturday.

Great Notion Brewing (Portland): Their Friday Crowler release is featuring Black Math (Black IPA): “Crowler release day – 2 per person today of our new “hazy” Black IPA called Black Math. Joking about the haze. Kind of ;). This beer was named in honor of Sandlady who contributed to our Kickstarter! 6.5% ABV. Brewed with Simcoe and Amarillo.”

Culmination Brewing (Portland) has a new beer tapping today: Urizen Pale Ale. “This Friday, 2/17 @12pm, we will be tapping a keg of Urizen in our taproom. This is our easy drinking pale ale. This beer is delightful and comes in at 4.5% abv. This pale begins with a robust aroma thanks to a generous dry hop addition. From there a well-rounded body with notes of citrus peel body leads into a dry lemongrass finish. Enjoy!”

Saturday 2/18:

Migration Brewing (Portland) is celebrating their 7th anniversary this weekend, concurrent with Zwickelmania, with an all-day party featuring new beers and live DJ as well as the zwickel tours. “Come and celebrate Migration Brewing’s very special 7th Anniversary with us! Zwicklemania tours and events start at 11am and continue all day. Featuring 2 brand new beer releases: 7th Inning Stretch coffee milk stout, a collaboration with Nossa Familia Coffee and Loyal Legion; and our new Imperial IPA! Special food menu and new bottle releases! Live DJ in the evening.” BIG congrats on seven years to Migration!

Salem’s Vagabond Brewing is celebrating their third anniversary on Saturday with an all day party of their own: “Vagabond Brewing is turning 3 years old! Come celebrate with us with cake eating contests, live music, awesome food, giveaways, bouncy house and much much more! So everyone can enjoy, MINORS will be welcome!” Congrats on three years!

Bailey’s Taproom (Portland) is celebrating UK Fest all day long on Saturday starting at noon: “UKfest: A Nod to Our Crafty Forefathers where Irish, Scottish, & English styles get a day of appreciation. Bailey’s Taproom has curated a draft list of American interpretations which blend traditionalism with twists on the classics for a mix that plays to a wide range of tastes. Join us Saturday, February 18th as we continue celebrating our 10th Anniversary Year with UKfest and debut the next beer in our Hausbier series, All Gold Everything. We teamed up with the fine folks at Baerlic Brewing to whip up our take on a British Golden Ale. Also known as an English Summer Ale, this light-drinking session ale will debut on firkin, live most of it’s life on a regular CO2 tap, then we’ll tap the final bit on a cask inoculated with wild yeast to replicate the Stock Ale of England’s pub past!”

Fort George Brewery‘s Festival of Dark Arts is taking place on Saturday—it had long been sold out but if you were lucky/early enough to buy tickets, you will definitely be in for a treat. A carnival of stout taking over a whole Astoria city block, with crazy entertainment like fire dancers and live ice sculpting along with live music and more. One of these years…

McMenamins Raleigh Hills Pub (Portland) is celebrating its 30th birthday on Saturday! They’ll be serving birthday cake all day long, with food and drink specials and a special beer — Sixth Corner ESB from McMenamins John Barleycorns’ Brewery: “When you come to the intersection of Beaverton Hillsdale Highway and Scholls Ferry, things can be confusing. But right around the sixth corner, you’ll find Raleigh Hills Pub, one of my personal favorites. This year, Raleigh Hills is turning 30, so something special had to be made! This Extra Special Bitter was brewed with a touch of dark Crystal Malt to add a bit of caramel sweetness, along with a copper hue. Sterling Hops were used to add classic spicy, floral flavors and hop aromas. Happy Birthday Raleigh Hills Pub!” HUGE congrats and “happy birthday!” to Raleigh Hills on 30!

Burnside Brewing (Portland) has a big beer release taking place during Zwickelmania: Saga Imperial Stout. “We are thrilled to be releasing a new and very limited whiskey barrel aged imperial stout in collaboration with our friends at Bull Run Distillery. The story of the Saga began in 2010 when we did the whiskey wash for Bull Run’s “all Oregon single malt whiskey.” The whiskey was aged in oak barrels for 5+ years, before those same barrels were brought back to the brewery and filled with an imperial stout 5 months ago. We will be pouring samples of the Saga in addition our other Zwickelmania offerings. Bull Run will also be on hand with samples of the whiskey as well.” I love to see this kind of collaboration at different tiers of the beer and spirits world, this would be a great stout to get your hands on.