Here’s the news in Oregon beer for Thursday, the 7th of March. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that updated as well.

Breakside Brewing (Portland) is teaming up with Lardo PDX today to present Cheese vs. Beer, a showcase of those two great things in life. “Any time between 2-5pm, join Breakside Brewmaster Ben Edmunds and acclaimed cheesemonger Steve Jones as they present and discuss the pairings. Lardo will have 8 Breakside beers on tap, including a number of small batch seasonals such as Battle of the Bulge Belgian Stout, Cedarbaumbier, Barberhop Quartet Double IPA, MacFischer’s Scottish Ale, Szechuan Blonde and French Fennel Farmhouse. The cheese pairing with Ben and Steve is a ticketed event with limited space, so please reserve a spot by emailingluke@lardopdx.com. Walk ins will be welcome if there is space remaining.” (Description from Oregon Brewers Guild.) Afterwards Breakside is doing a tap takeover of Lardo so if you didn’t make the “vs” event you can still score some great Breakside brews.

McMenamins Old Church & Pub (Wilsonville): Today they have a meet the brewer and special tasting that tickles my pumpkin beer fancy quite a bit: Lord of the Wood Pumpkin ImperiAle. “Pumpkinheads rejoice!  For the  March Meet The Brewer/special beer release Old Church brewer Mark Goodwin is going to do a side by side comparison featuring the Three Rocks rum barrel-aged Pumpkin Ale (barrel conditioned two months) coupled with a non rum barrel-aged pumpkin ale (cellared for four months).  Side by side, you make the call on whether it is a good idea to take the wood to an orange gourd…” Barrel aged imperial pumpkin beers OMG! The tasting starts at 5pm and when it’s done, it’s done!

McMenamins Fulton Pub (Portland) has a limited-edition tasting tonight as well, beginning at 5pm, for a beer with an, er, interesting name: Super Squirtie. “It’s a bear!  It’s a dog! No! It’s Super Squirtie.  Whatever he is, Squirtie is most definitely the beloved mascot of the Fulton pub.  In his present incarnation Squirtie dons a cape and medallion to signify his super status.  The Squirtie Pale Ale recipe was first brewed at the Fulton nearly 20 years ago.  This year for entry in the Hillsdale Brewfest, the recipe has been bumped up to fit the “American Style Strong Pale Ale” category.  What does that mean?  It means that this deep golden hued ale is chalk full of malty body and a citrusy assertive hoppiness.   It’s bigger, better, stronger.  And well…….Squirtie gets to wear a cape and medallion of course.”

Lompoc Brewing (Portland) has the latest in their Sci-Fi IPA Series on tap at the Sidebar today: “Today at Sidebar, 4-10, we’ve got “Calling All Monsters IPA.” Just as Godzilla called on Monthra, Rodan & Minya in the 1968 monster film, we called on all the monster hops we had at our disposal – over 30 lbs of 7 hop varieties – to come up with this intensely hopped, third installment in our sci-fi IPA series.”

The Green Dragon (Portland) is hosting Corvallis’ Flat Tail Brewing tonight for a meet the brewer and tasting starting at 5pm: ” Dave, FT Brewmaster, is bringing some great beers: “Yes” is a fruity Braggot, “No” is a strong brown porter brewed with ghost chili’s, and two Kolsch style brews “Wetsuit” and “Tailgater.” See you tonight.”

Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): They’ve got a new beer in their “Alpha Project IPA” series featuring southern hemisphere hops: “Announcing the release of Silver Moon’s 3rd Alpha Project IPA: SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: brewed exclusively with Australian Galaxy, New Zealand Green Bullet, Nelso Sauvin, and Motueka hops, this super charged IPA is hopheaven with intense tropical fruit, pine, gooseberry, citrus and passion fruit flavors. This beer will not last long. DO NOT let someone else tell you how good it was. Get yours ASAP. Cheers. 7.8% ABV /84 IBUs / I5 SRM”