Here’s the Oregon beer news for Friday, March 2nd, and going into the weekend. I’ll be periodically updating this news post throughout the day, so if you have news you’d like to share please contact me and I’ll get it posted.

McMenamins held their Hillsdale Brew Festival last Saturday, with brewers from different McMenamins locations sending beers to vye for the coveted role of representing McMenamins as the Oregon Brewers Festival this year. The winner is chosen by popular vote, and the results are in: the winner is “Freewill IPA”, brewed by Tim Proctor from John Barleycorn’s. “The first Hillsdale Belt victory for John Barleycorns in Tigard Oregon.  This is the fourth time that Tim has had his name added to the Belt.  He also took the prize with his partners from Concordia Brewery in 2006, 2009 & 2010.  This year’s battle was also the closet finish yet with John Barleycorns Edging out the Old Church by a mere 3 points (1 first place vote people.  Never let it be said that your votes don’t matter at this affair.)”

The Lucky Lab (Portland): Their annual Barleywine and Big Beer Fest starts today! From noon to 10pm both today and tomorrow (Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd, respectively) at their NW Quimby location you will have access to an amazing list of strong beers and barleywines, plenty for beer geeks to drool over. Pricing: “$9 gets you a glass and 2 tasters! The option to buy more tasters is always there too!” In Portland? Get over there!

Fort George Brewery (Astoria): They have a couple of meet the brewer events on the road this weekend: today at Collins Lake Resort in Government Camp, and then tomorrow the 3rd at the Volcanic Bottle Shoppe in Hood River. (Times weren’t posted, but I think it’s safe to assume late afternoon/evening.)

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): They are releasing their Kick Axe Pale Ale (brewed to support the Portland Timbers soccer team) to their year-round portfolio, and tonight they are holding a release party at the Sidebar to celebrate. From 4 to 10pm you’ll get a raffle ticket for every pint of Kick Axe purchased with a chance to win 2 tickets to the Portland Timbers season opener.