Oregon Beer News, 03/15/2012

March 15, 2012 By Jon Abernathy | Filed in News

Oregon Beer Here’s the beer news for Oregon for Thursday the 15th of March (the Ides of March!). I will be updating this post throughout the day so if you have additional news you’d like to share, please contact me and I will get it posted.

Belmont Station (Portland): Today is Belmont Station’s 15th Anniversary and they are celebrating all day in style, breaking out some of the good stuff to sell (including such luminaries as The Abyss ’07, ’09, and ’10, Roots Epic Ale ’08, Stone Vertical Epic Ale, and more!) with $2 from every vintage beer sold being donated to the Oregon Food Bank, and both Ted Sobel from Brewers Union Local 180 and Shawn Kelso from 10 Barrel Brewing (formerly with Barley Brown’s) will be on hand for the festivities, and they’ve brought beer: cask-conditioned firkins of Wotcha a La Citra Bitter (4% abv) and 15-15-15 aka The Ides of Belmont Station from Sobel, and Speed Wobble IRA and a small keg of Tankslapper Imperial IPA from Kelso (both brewed while still at Barley Brown’s). This is going to be a fantastic day at Belmont Station and if you’re a beer geek in Portland it should be a required visit for the day.

And, Belmont Station is planning to expand, as reported by the New School. “Trusted sources indicate Owner Carl Singmaster has purchased the house sharing the back wall of the bottleshop and bier cafe and located in the same building. The new addition could provide for expanded bier cafe seating and an outdoor patio area, plus expanded bottle selection to the 1,200 varieties the Station already carries. The new expansion will likely also add a full kitchen, so there may be no more stock deli food made by the bartenders. At this point it is still conjecture, though, as phase 3 of Belmont Station is still being planned.” Even only conjecture, that’s great news for Belmont Station on their anniversary!

The Green Dragon (Portland) is welcoming Portland’s Alameda Brewing for a Meet the Brewer event tonight from 6 to 11pm. Come by to meet Brewmaster Carson Haney and sample one of the four Alameda beers they’ll be pouring: White Peppercorn Saison, Beaumont Bock, Yellow Wolf Imperial IPA, and Black Bear Stout XX.

Heater Allen Brewing (McMinnville) has several tastings over the next few days, and tonight’s is taking place at the Hoppy Brewer in Gresham from 5 to 7pm.

Southern Oregon Brewing (Medford): Their new Holy Water Maibock I blogged about earlier in the week is seeing its official debut this Saturday the 17th at the Brewery’s taproom. It is indeed a spring seasonal: “Exclusively brewed with German specialty malts, our Maibock is a refreshingly crisp, spring festival beer with a pleasant malt character and a mild spicy hop twist expected from the style. This German style lager is conditioned for 12 weeks to ensure the perfect flavor profile.” (7.1% abv)

BridgePort Brewing (Portland) has a group of tastings over the next few days where you can get the chance to try a number of beers in the BridgePort lineup, including Hop Czar, Kingpin, and Dark Rain. Today they are at Market of Choice on Willamette Blvd. in Eugene from 4 to 7pm.

We’ve got brewery anniversaries coming out of the woodwork this month! This Sunday, the 18th, Fort George Brewery in Astoria is celebrating their 5th anniversary all day with much fanfare: “Fort George turns 5 years young this Sunday! Come celebrate with us ALL day. We will be releasing a special 5th Anniversary XVIth Chapel: Roses on Roses Edition. (Aged in Four Roses Bourbon Barrels, and conditioned on Rose Hips). There will be live music all day, birthday cake, raffles, the facebook scavenger hunt, and if you’re wearing your Fort George gear it will be a little easier on your pocket book.” Sounds fantastic, and it’s hard to believe Fort George is 5 years old—partially because to me it seems like they’ve been around longer! Congrats Fort George!

And, other breweries celebrating their anniversaries that are coming up this month: