Happy President’s Day! If you’re lucky enough to get the day off, treat yourself to a beer—I suggest a Porter in honor of George Washington. Those of us at work will just have to wait until later. In the meantime, here’s the news in Oregon beer for Monday, February 20th. I’ll be updating this periodically throughout the day, so please contact me if you have news to share.

Worthy Brewing (Bend): This Friday the 24th at 3pm is the groundbreaking ceremony for the new brewery and beer garden headed up by Roger Worthington and Chad Kennedy on their land on the east side of Bend. In addition to (I believe) a 30-barrel brewery there are also plans to build out an educational facility and—best of all, in my opinion—a beer garden. I’ll be in attendance and will be posting pictures, stop by if you’re in Bend!

Fire on the Mountain Brewery (Portland): This new entry into Portland’s brewing scene isn’t open yet but I noticed on the latest Oregon Brewers Guild 2012 guide it was listed to open this spring; looking it up (linked on the OBG) reveals that it’s going to be Fire on the Mountain wing company’s new Fremont location: “Under the guidance of Brewmaster Ben Nehrling, we strive to provide consistently high quality ales and lagers. Ben has been brewing professionally for seven years splitting his time between McMenamin’s Highland Brewery and the Concordia Brewery at the Kennedy School. He is very excited to be on board with long time friends at Fire on the Mountain. Together, they are committed to matching fine quality beer with fine quality food in a relaxed and communal atmosphere.” Should be interesting to watch this one develop.

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Tomorrow, Tuesday, is their Tart Fruit Extravaganza, celebrating tart fruits and tart beers all day long from when they open at noon. They have some 29 fruit beers to tap, and they’ll keep them on tap for a week or until they blow the keg. It’s a pretty amazing lineup they’ve posted, so be sure to get in there and don’t miss out.

Burnside Brewing (Portland): Also on Tuesday (tomorrow) they are having a Brewmasters Dinner with Trebol Mexican Restaurant in Portland from 6 to 8pm. It’s a 3 course meal paired with Burnside’s beers and costs $35; I don’t know much more about it, but it looks like you can get tickets at Trebol directly (or call 503-517-9347 to find out more).

Alameda Brewing (Portland): Tomorrow they will be doing a tasting at Thatcher’s Restaurant and Lounge in southeast Portland, featuring their newly-released Bad Bunny Imperial Cream Ale (great name, though I’m racking my brain trying to remember if I’ve ever had an “Imperial” cream ale). Head down there to meet the brewer and try the Bad Bunny from 5 to 7pm.

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): They have a “Leap Year for Beer” event coming up on Leap Day (Wednesday, February 29th) at Morton’s Steakhouse featuring food sampling and beer pairing. The cool thing is that there are other breweries involved as well: besides Oakshire, it looks like at least Laurelwood, Boneyard, and Double Mountain will also be involved. Cost is $50 per person, and it starts at 6:30.