Are you ready for the weekend? I am pretty sure I am! Here’s the news and events in Oregon beer for this first weekend of March. 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.

General/fests:

The Lucky Lab‘s 20th annual Barleywine Festival takes place Friday and Saturday, taking place at their Beer Hall on NW Quimby. They will be pouring over 70 barleywines over the course of the two days, open from noon to 10pm each day. Cost $15 for the tasting glass and four tickets, with additional tickets costing $2. This is one of the long-running under-the-radar beer events that really should be on everyone’s list if you can make it. One of these days I will!

The very first SheBrew Beer Fest is taking place this Saturday, an event that I can’t believe hasn’t happened before now! “March is Women’s History Month so come join HRC Portland and the Oregon Brew Crew to celebrate with a fun filled day of enjoying some of the finest craft beer and ciders around! We will be featuring local female craft brewers, musicians, businesses and community partners. You might even spot a local celebrity! So come out to the Buckman Coffee Factory and raise a glass to the ladies. A great reason to fly the nest and support Women and Equality!” (From the Facebook event.) It’s taking place from noon to 8pm at the Buckman Coffee Factory, and admission is $20 which gets you the glass and ten tasting tickets.

Rogue Ales’ Firkin Fest is taking place on Saturday as well at their Eastside Pub (the former Green Dragon). It’s the 10th annual iteration of this event, featuring all casks ales, no mean feat! “The event will feature firkin beers from over 20 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 entrance to the fest, souvenir tasting glass, and 5 taster tickets)” Additional tasting tickets are $1 each. If you’re unsure about cask ales, this would be a great way to experience them.

Portland’s German Starkbier Fest continues through the weekend, taking place at Stammtisch and Prost restaurants. “This lent tradition dates back to the middle ages, when monks would fast from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday. Because the monks believed that liquids not only cleansed the body but also the soul, they would make plenty of liquid instead of solid bread from their grain, and then drink it in copious quantities…the more, the holier. While our fast won’t last 46 days, we can still honor their sacrifice by consuming delicous strong biers, and celebrate lent the old fashioned way.” Look for those German beers (doppelbocks!) and food specials thoughout the weekend.

Friday 3/3:

Bend’s Atlas Cider has the release of their seasonal Dragonfruit Cider on Friday with a party at their tasting room kicking off at 7pm. “Join us to celebrate our Dragonfruit Cider Release. Free entry with Dragonfruit Drink Specials at $4 a pint ( that’s $2 off ) Music by DJ ESUS, cider, beer, arcade, burn barrell, it will be a good night to visit whether you drinking the dragon or not!”

Great Notion Brewing (Portland): Their Friday Crowler Release is featuring Midnight Fluff: “Midnight Fluff is our Imperial Marshmallow Stout. In the mash we added a blend of dark malts, brown sugar, and chocolate/cinnamon graham crackers. We hand-toasted 50 lbs of jumbo marshmallows and even smoked some marshmallows over apple wood out back. At 10% abv, this Imperial Stout will take you back to the campground with a great buzz and some melted Smores!” They have a limit of two crowlers per person for the day, after which it goes to one per person.

Ecliptic Brewing (Portland): Friday, March 3 is the day Ecliptic starts to can their beers, so they’re hosting a Six Pack party all day long! “Starburst IPA and Quasar Pale Ale 6-pack cans will be available for the first time in the pub on Friday March 3rd. For every 6-pack purchased on this day you will take home a free Ecliptic Brewing pint glass! Tell your friends.” Definitely worth checking out!

Crow’s Feet Commons in Bend will be hosting a cheese and beer night with Hood River’s PFriem Family Brewers starting at 6pm: “The March First Friday has some fun stuff in store for Bend, Oregon. First off, our friends from pFriem Family Brewers will be pouring some tasty brews paired with some fun cheeses from The Root Cellar. Inside the cafe, sweet, soulful music will be played by Darin Gentry and David Hutchins, or collectively known as Hutch & Gentry.”

The Commons Brewery will be holding the Friday release party for their “Home & Home” strong saison with Culmination Brewing from 5 to 7pm: “The result is a complex and drinkable saison, with depth from the unique grains balanced by a rich fermentation profile from a blend of both brewery’s house saison yeasts. Details: 6.8% ABV, 15 IBU. Hops: Saaz, Mandarina Bavaria, eldorado and Crystal. Yeast: a blend of Culmination & Commons house saison yeast.” The Culmination party is Saturday (see below).

Saturday 3/4:

Coin Toss Brewing (Oregon City) is celebrating their first anniversary with an all day party! “The event will feature a special release of Ace In The Hohl Double IPA, brewed to celebrate the occasion with all “A” hops: Amarillo, Azacca and Aurora. It comes in at 7.7% ABV and 77 IBUs. The brewery will also tap two limited release kegs: Coffee Pie Hohl, its seasonal cherry ginger stout blended with local cold pressed coffee, and Double Up the Apricots, a new twist on its popular Apricot Saison. Coin Toss is using the anniversary party as the launch for its Crowler Club. Crowlers are 32 oz. cans sealed with a cap on site; unlike a glass growler, the crowler’s aluminum packaging helps keep beers fresher for longer and maintains the quality by creating a barrier to light and oxygen, which prevents off flavors from developing. Coin Toss currently sells its non-imperial beers in crowlers for $8 each, with an offer to buy two at regular price and get a third for $5.” Congrats to Coin Toss on a successful first year!

Yachats Brewing is releasing their very first bottled beer and hosting a release party all day Saturday for it: “We are pleased to announce our first bottle release party in our little slice of paradise on the central Oregon Coast, here at Yachats Brewing + Farmstore. We will be releasing our Salal Sour bottles on Saturday March 4 from 11:30am-9:00pm. Join us for many delicious beers on tap, a special food menu, live music from Slipshod 5:30-8:20pm, raffle, “bonfire” in the parking lot, and of course availability to enjoy our Salal Sour and Cetacea in bottles.” And about the beer itself: “Our Salal Sour is a mixed-culture saison highlights local, wildcrafted salal berries, used by the indigenous people of Cascadia for generations. It reveals a bright, tart, and earthy flavor.”

Culmination Brewing and The Commons collaborated on a “Strong Saison” and all day Saturday Culmination is hosting the release of the beer: “Culmination Brewing and The Commons Brewery united to create an outstanding collaboration. This beer is called “Home & Home”, and it is a Strong Saison. Using Mecca Grade floor malted barley, wheat, spelt, and Raw Farro (ran through our adjunct cooker), we were able to create a very special beer. Enjoy!”

Albany’s Calapooia Brewing is hosting the second annual Beards and Brews Festival Saturday from 2 to 5pm: “Come celebrate beards – with brews! No holds barred competition (ballot box stuffing encouraged) for either top vote getter or “judges choice.” Entering a beard costs $20. Vote tickets are $1 and $5. Otherwise, admission is free. All funds go to the Santiam/Scio Youth Services Team – helping kids and families in the Scio/Santiam Canyon region for over 30 years.”

Three Mugs Brewing (Hillsboro) has a new beer releasing for spring: Meanderin’ Mandarin Pale Ale. It will be on tap at their taproom starting on Saturday.

Block 15 Brewery (Corvallis): Saturday is their 9th anniversary celebration and special beer release! “Join us Saturday, March 4th, for our 9th Anniversary Celebration, alongside the release of freshly packaged cans of The Incredible—our Imperial Double IPA. For this anniversary edition of our monthly packaged beer release, we will be offering cans at both our south Corvallis Tap Room and downtown Pub!” The Incredible DIPA is 10.5% abv and will cost $4.25 / 16oz can, plus deposit (with a 12 can limit). Congrats to Block 15 on 9 great years!

Sunday 3/5:

Eugene’s ColdFire Brewing is hosting a fundraiser to benefit WellMama all day Sunday: “Join us at Coldfire Brewing on Sunday, March 5th where $1 of every drink purchase will be donated to WellMama to support families in our community! Huge thank you to Coldfire Brewing and Mustache Face Painting for making this a great event for the whole family!”

Great Notion Brewing has a Sunday crowler release for Strawberry Cream—not quite what it sounds like: “This 7% hazy, juicy IPA is brewed with Galaxy and Citra hops and then married with locally-grown Oregon strawberries and lactose. 2 crowlers per person on this day, 1 every day after.” I don’t know about this starting out as as IPA…