Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but this weekend has been a long time coming—the sooner I can relax with a beer, the better! With that in mind, here’s the news in Oregon beer for this first day and weekend of March. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news as I find it, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted also.

Double Mountain Brewery (Hood River): Today at 5pm at Portland’s Horse Brass Double Mountain is holding the release party for their latest bottled seasonal: Molten Lava Imperial IPA. They describe Molten Lave on their website as: “This year’s offering is stronger than the last and features a more complex hop bill, with citrus notes dominating. Dry-hopped with enormous bagfuls of whole hop flowers, which provide added aroma and flavor without harsh bitterness. Watch out, this brew is deadly!” And 9.4% abv with 90+ IBUs.

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Their Fruit Fest which kicked off yesterday continues throughout the weekend, offering an incredible rotating tap list of their fruit sours at the Barrel House: “We will be talking over nearly all the taps of the Cascade Brewing Barrel House with our own tart fruit beers (plus a Pale and an IPA for the new to sour folks). Look for more than three dozen beers to rotate through the taps during the weekend.” All of the beers have tasting prices of $2-3, and you can view the full list on the event page.

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene) is now canning, and the first canned beer rolling off the lines is their Watershed IPA! To celebrate they are holding a release party at their taproom today from 3 to 8:30pm, and tomorrow The Bier Stein is having another special release party from 6 to 8pm: “Eugene’s own beloved Oakshire Brewing is releasing their Watershed IPA in 12oz. cans! We are planning a special launch party to celebrate this milestone in which we will have draft and can specials and swag giveaways! Come down to support Oakshire, pick up some tasty cans of Watershed IPA and talk to the Oakshire crew about their expansion into The Whitaker!” This is definitely a big move for Oakshire and it’s nice to see yet another Oregon craft brew coming out in cans!

Widmer Brothers (Portland): Tomorrow (Saturday the 2nd) Widmer is celebrating the Timbers Army (soccer) season opener with a new, special Widmer-brewed homebrew beer: “Join the Timbers Army at its season opener Saturday, March 2nd, at 7:01 PM. We’ll be at one of our favorite partner bars, Beulahland!! With DJ Bogman, DJ Glow, and DJ Tic Toc spinning! This event will showcase the official release of our very own Abram Goldman-Armstrong’s Green and Gold Kölsch, the Timbers Army Home Brew Competition-winner!! Which is being produced by Widmer Brothers Brewing. 107ist members can show off their nifty new membership cards and receive happy hour prices on well drinks and beer and $1 off food.”

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City) announced today a partnership with distributor Bigfoot Beverages which will greatly expand Pelican’s reach throughout more of Oregon. From the press release: “The Pelican has developed and grown a successful self-distribution network over the last several years in these areas and increased demand has rendered the self-distribution model challenging to maintain. After interviewing various distribution companies the Pelican chose to partner with Bigfoot based on their level of service and professionalism, the reach of their distribution networks, and their commitment to providing fresh, quality product to the customer. Look for Pelican beer in more quality markets in the near future.”

Block 15 Brewing (Corvallis): Tomorrow is their 5th year anniversary, and they’re going to be celebrating! “Please join us Saturday March 2nd to celebrate these past five years of local craft beer and food at Block 15! We are releasing a couple gems from our wild cellar, featuring an awesome Anniversary burger, dancing to the live music of The Bon Ton Roulet, discounting apparel, and featuring Hoppy Hour all day long!” They also have 3 specially-bottled ales (two wild cellar ales and a special anniversary IPA) available tomorrow (limit 1 bottle per beer). Big congrats to Block 15, a terrific brewery, and here’s to many more!