Happy Friday and almost-St. Patrick’s Day! I don’t know about you but I’m definitely looking forward to this weekend, I have some homebrewed Irish Stout that’s been bottle conditioning for two weeks that I’m going to try out tomorrow for St. Paddy’s; and of course nearly every brewery, brewpub and bar will be having some sort of St. Patrick’s Day festivities! And there’s plenty of other Oregon beer news going into the weekend; I’ll update this post periodically throughout the day, so if you have something to share please contact me and I can get it updated.

Today of course is the first day of Seaside’s Pouring at the Coast Craft Beer Fest; with a Brewer’s Dinner tonight and beer and food tastings tomorrow, it should be a good time at the coast this weekend. Plus, the debut of Seaside Brewing! (I also wrote up a summary post yesterday which should help navigate the Fest waters.)

Double Mountain Brewery (Hood River) is celebrating their 5th Anniversary tomorrow, combining a day-long party with St. Patrick’s Day and live music from the Meat Puppets! “[T]he taps will be chock full of reserve DM beers, including a special bourbon-barrel-aged brown ale which will see its debut; the Taproom kitchen will feature some St. Patrick’s Day specials; and it’ll all take place under a massive tent right in front of the brewery. The Anniversary Party will be family-friendly until 8pm, with our regular food menu available in addition to the specials. Best of all, admission is FREE. It is truly our pleasure to say thanks to everyone who’s supported us over this half-decade… hope to see you on the 17th.” (Also, Double Mountain has a killer Irish Stout that I’ve seen on tap a few places, hopefully they’ll have some on-hand tomorrow as well!)

Fort George Brewery (Astoria): This weekend is also their 5th birthday bash! Sunday is the big 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.” But festivities start today, with “Happy Hour for Higher Ed” taking place at their Taproom from 3 to 6 featuring Vortex IPA that’s been cask conditioned with raisins and hazelnut agave nectar, and $1 of every pint donated to CCC (Clatsop Community College?) staff fund. Then tomorrow, it’s “The Emerald Pearl Green Tea Pale Ale” release, with live music in the Taproom starting at 8pm. And then of course, Sunday!

Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City) today has a tasting taking place at Portland’s Uptown Market from 5 to 7pm; Uptown will also be serving Pelican’s Doryman’s Dark Ale on tap as well.

Heater Allen Brewing (McMinnville) has a couple of events today and tomorrow: today they will be at the New Seasons Market, Orenco Station in Hillsboro from 4 to 7pm with a number of other breweries for New Seasons’ “Big Brew Pre-St. Paddy’s Day Event.” And tomorrow, the actual St. Paddy’s Day, Heater Allen will be at The Blue Goat Restaurant in Amity, who will have a “tasting menu paired with Heater Allen beers.”

BridgePort Brewing (Portland) also has a couple of tasting events this weekend: tonight they will be at Brewligans in Troutdale from 6 to 8pm pouring a variety of their beers (including the newest, Dark Rain)—and Brewligans will additionally have Hop Czar on tap. Tomorrow (Saturday) they will be at the New Seasons on Hawthorne in Portland from 3 to 6pm.

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene) has a couple of events taking place tomorrow: Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk will be in Central Point for the 8th Annual Oregon Cheese Festival, which sounds like there will also be other breweries represented and overall I’m wishing I could go to this! Beer and cheese, what’s not to like? Oakshire’s other event is a “holiday tasting” at the Tanasbourne Whole Foods (in Hillsboro) tomorrow from 4 to 7pm.

Pyramid Brewing (Portland) is hosting their (first annual) Pyramid Pub Crawl 2012 in Eugene tomorrow for St. Patrick’s Day: Benefiting the nonprofit “Together We Rise” organization, the $10 fee gets you on the bus and a goody bag and part of the pub crawl from noon to 7pm. Along the way you’ll be visiting some great pubs including The Bier Stein, and of course you’ll get deals on Pyramid brews ($2 pints!). Sounds like this should be a fun day!