Happy Friday! It’s a fest-y weekend with a number of localized beer fests, so without further ado let’s get into the Oregon beer news for the weekend of the 19th. 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.

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): Today is their Black Out Beer Fest taking place at their Sidebar from 4 to 10pm: “Get a taste of the dark side at the 4th annual Black Out Beer Fest! Taste nearly 30 dark beers from breweries around the Northwest. The event takes place Friday, Feb. 19 from 4 to 10pm at Lompoc Sidebar (3901 N Williams) and in the adjacent heated/tented parking lot. It’s FREE to hang out and enjoy live music by Train River. To drink, admission packages are $15 and include a souvenir glass tasting mug and 8 beer tickets. Additional beer tickets are available for $1 apiece. It generally costs four tickets for a full mug or $1 for a taste. Mugs and tickets are purchased at the door. This event is 21+.”

The Green Dragon (Portland) and Rogue Ales (Newport) are holding their 9th annual Firkin Fest Saturday the 20th at the Green Dragon: “The event will feature firkin beers from 30 of Oregon’s top breweries – Firkin beers are unpasteurized, unfiltered, naturally carbonated in the cask and served at cellar temperature. General admission session: 11am-6pm ($10) (General admission includes entrace to the fest, souvenir tasting glass, and 5 taster tickets) VIF session: 2pm-4pm ($25) (Very Impressive Firkin session includes general admission and access to 3 special Firkin tastings in the Green Dragon Barrel Room. VIF tickets are limited to 50 people) Additional taster tickets will be available for $1 each. Online tickets can be purchased here: http://bit.ly/1RAq81o”

McMenamins is holding their 23rd Annual Hillsdale Brewfest Saturday all day long at the Hillsdale Public House, where 22 McMenamins breweries are vying (via guest vote) to be the beer sent to the Oregon Brewers Festival in July. “Many of the finest beers from McMenamins’ breweries will be sent in to battle, their brewers vying for bragging rights as well as the notorious championship belt. Patrons order trays of beer samples, arranged from lightest to darkest. It is our guests’ official duty to decide who deserves the coveted title. The beers cover the spectrum of brew styles – from hefeweizen to oatmeal stout, barleywine to smoked amber ale and beyond. Each taster casts one ballot that lists his or her top three choices. (And beware the brewers’ shameless vote-mongering. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.)” I previously posted the beer list here.

Imperial Bottle Shop (Portland) has a fest of their own going on this weekend: their 2nd Annual Imperial Stout Fest! “Join us as we celebrate the darkest of beers at the 2nd Annual Imperial Stout Fest. A lineup of 17 decadent imperial stouts will be pouring all weekend long. Tickets cost $20, and include a souvenir 12 oz snifter glass and 6 beer tickets, each good for a 4 oz pour. Additional tickets will cost $2. Tickets are on sale now online here or by calling Imperial at 971.302.6899. Tickets at the door will be $25.” The list of stouts they will be pouring is impressive.

McMenamins Bagdad Pub (Portland) has their Feature Before the Film beer tasting today (Friday) from 5 to 8pm, featuring the Edgefield’s Cerberus Wild Ale pouring: “Tart and funky, this three headed beast is a blend of Saison, Wheat Beer and Berliner Weisse. All three were aged together in a Hogshead Whiskey Barrel from the Edgefield Distillery and inoculated with a Belgian Wild Ale Strain, Brettannomyces Bruxellensis, to create that pleasant and earthy tang that pervades this balanced Wild Ale.”

The Tin Bucket in Portland has got a fun side-by-side/versus match beer tasting going on Friday night starting at 6pm: EvilTwin vs. Mikkeller! (If you don’t know, the gypsy brewers/owners of each are twin brothers.) “We have been hoarding some rare kegs from both EvilTwin and Mikkeller and will be tapping them all at the same time. We will have sours, hoppy beers, barrel aged beers, and one off beers from both breweries. Also so limited bottles for sale that night.” The beer list from each is posted in the comments on that page.

Three Mugs Brewing (Hillsboro) has a new beer release today (Friday): “Come help us celebrate the release an awesome brew: KYA Imperial IPA. It’s an 8.3% IIPA with a bunch of Simcoe hops for a huge hop aroma and flavor and a big malt backbone. Plus, we’ll have a special edition of Free Burger Friday! Buy a beverage, get a burger.”

Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene): Saturday the 20th they are holding the 3rd annual release party for their Critical Hit Barleywine, taking place all day starting at noon: “The Third Annual Critical Hit Release Party is hitting the Tasting Room on Saturday! Several vintages of our massively-hopped Barley Wine will be flowing, limited release bottles will be available, and we’ll keep the good times rolling with lots of games and raffle prizes for D&D inspired costumes!”

Great Notion Brewing (Portland) has a release of their own Saturday: Root Beard. “Celebrate the release of our latest offering, Root Beard! Swing by the brewery for free tastes of our take on a hard root beer! There will be ROOT BEARD FLOATS (you heard us!) and maybe a few other surprises. We open at noon – see you there! Root Beard is our dark cream ale aged on a unique blend of herbs including wintergreen, sarsaparilla, birch bark, licorice root, and Vanilla. We back sweeten Root Beard with local wild flower honey.”