Here’s the news in beer from around Oregon for Thursday, March 8th. St. Patrick’s Day is a little over a week away, have you made your beer plans yet? I’ll start rounding up various Oregon St. Patty’s Day brewery events next week. In the meantime, I’ll be updating this news post throughout the day so if you have some news to share, contact me and I’ll get it posted.

A nice profile of Dana Robles, Ninkasi Brewing‘s first woman brewer, appeared in yesterday’s Eugene Register-Guard newspaper; following an interesting beer career path that started at the Bier Stein, then Oakshire Brewing, and brew school at UC Davis, she is now one of the three Ninkasi brewers. (Interesting tidbit: Ninkasi is brewing 60,000 bbl/year.) Good article, well worth a read.

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): The date for the closing of the New Old Brewery location is apparently fast approaching; they posted on Facebook yesterday that this Saturday they are brewing the last batch of beer at the NW 23rd Avenue location—Lompocalypse Double IPA—and the “Lompocalypse party” will be the week of April 23 through 28. It was revealed last year that the New Old location was “doomed” so I’m sorry to see the date is apparently nearly set. Hopefully they will be able to relocate the brewery (as hinted upon) without too much downtime.

Meanwhile, the Green Dragon is hosting Lompoc at tonight’s meet the brewer event from 5 to 11pm, where they’ll be pouring 2008 Barrel-aged Doppelbock, Cherry Bomb, 69 Baltic Porter, Kick Axe Pale Ale, and Flower of the Gods IPA. Lompoc brewers Bryan Keilty and Dave Fleming will be on hand starting at 6 to answer questions and chat about the beer.

Belmont Station (Portland) is hosting a meet the brewer and tasting with Portland’s new gluten-free brewery, Harvester Brewing, tonight from 5 to 8pm. “Harvester is a new exclusively GLUTEN FREE Craft Brewery in Portland and tonight they debut two new beers: Experimentale Red & Dark Ale to taste alongside their flagship Pale Ale. All gluten free and so tasty even those of us who are not restricted enjoy them! Let Brewers James Neumeister and John Dugan pour you a taste and tell you the story!”

Solera Brewery (Parkdale) brewer Jason Kahler will be at Saraveza in Portland tonight, debuting Solera’s IPA and Red Ale.

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River) has their March Brewmaster Dinner tonight, themed “Fiesta Mexicana”: four courses of Mexican-inspired food paired with Full Sail brews. The first-come, first-served dinner starts at 5pm and lasts until they run out; price is $30 per person.

McMenamins Edgefield (Troutdale) has a limited-edition beer tasting today with a beer that’s absolutely killing me: Coo-Coo for Coconut Brown Ale. “Our famous fall seasonal, Sleepy Hollow Nut Brown, spiked with toasted coconut flakes. We can almost taste the Aloha as spring approaches and thought this style would perfectly capture the anticipation for the coming warmth. The Sleepy Hollow, which usually pours during the cold, winter months, meshes well with the toasted coconut that reminds one of sunny beaches, clear skies, and fun.” Wish I could get some of this! The tasting starts at 5pm and when it’s gone, it’s gone.