Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Much of the Oregon beer news for the weekend will of course be on St. Paddy’s events and fun, but there are a few other tidbits too. 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.

Friday 3/17:

McMenamins of course does St. Patrick’s Day up right, and this year they are celebrating over two days, Friday and Saturday at a bunch of their locations—view their events page for the details on where and what. In addition to Irish Stout and Irish themed food specials, live music, and more, they have their Devil’s Bit Whiskey on special: “For the first time ever, on St. Patrick’s Day – March 17, 2017, we’ll be selling two versions of bottles of our 2017 Devil’s Bit Whiskey: one aged four years in a charred oak barrel from Cornelius Pass Roadhouse Distillery, and one aged eight years from Edgefield Distillery. Each 200ml bottle will be $23, and the limit is two per person.”

And there are (at least?) two Irish beer festivals kicking off Friday that run through the weekend:

• Feckin Brewery in Oregon City is hosting their 2nd annual Irish Craft Ale Festival: “The second annual Feckin Irish Craft Ale Festival will be featuring local craft brews with Northwest flavors and traditional Irish roots. The event highlights include- live music, Irish dancers, bagpipers, Irish bar food, and a plethora of local delicious beers.” Facebook page is here.
• Kells Brew Pub in Portland is hosting their first Irish Beer Festival concurrent with their annual St. Patrick’s Festival. “Event hours are 11am to 1am on March 17 and March 18, and 10am to 6pm on March 19. Early admission before 4pm daily is $10, which includes a souvenir logo pint glass and seven taster tokens. After 4pm, admission is $20, which includes the glass, tokens and the cover charge into the adjoining Kells Irish Festival. In addition to beer tasting, there will be Irish dancers, bagpipers, live music and Irish food specials all three days. Minors are welcome daily until 4pm. Attendees are encouraged to travel between the Irish Beer Festival and the Kells Irish Festival next door.” Facebook page is here.

Bend Brewing Company is throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party of their own starting at 4pm: “Eat, drink and BE IRISH at Bend Brewing Co.’s St. Patrick’s Day party! Good ole’ fashion green beer & Irish Car bombs are on the drink menu. We’ll also be cooking up classics like cornbeef cabbage and shepards pie, plus a brat & cheese platter. Cheers to the Irish!”

The BeerMongers (Portland) has their St. Paddy’s Day Open House going on Friday starting at 4pm: “Join us at The BeerMongers for our annual St. Paddy’s Day Open House. It is tradition in my family to host one and all on this special day and provide food, beer and music. The BeerMongers will provide FREE food: the classics corned beef, veggies, potatoes etc. We will have our friends the Lew Jones Trio providing the FREE music. And it is up to you’all to buy the beer! Slainte!”

Broken Top Bottle Shop (Bend) is hosting Sisters’ Three Creeks Brewing today (Friday) for a beer tasting form 5 to 7pm: “Three Creeks Brewing Company will be taking over our taps and offering tastings at Broken Top Bottle Shop. Now’s your chance to taste this Sisters, Oregon, brewery right here on the Westside at your favorite brew hub!” Hopefully Three Creeks will be bringing their Paddy O’Shea’s Leprechaun Stout for the day as well.

Bend’s Silver Moon Brewing is hosting a St. Paddy’s Fundraiser for the Children’s Museum of Central Oregon from 7 to 10pm: “Come celebrate, have some drinks, groove to some awesome tunes, and enter to win some incredible prizes… all while raising money for the Children’s Museum! Taste the brand new Irish Red released by Silver Moon Brewing – named for the evening Red Headed Sisters (all proceeds go to CMCO!) Grab one of our two limited release 22oz bottled beers.” All proceeds for the evening go towards the Museum. Should be fun night!

Steens Mountain Brewing (Burns) re-opens for St. Patrick’s Day: “Chili, Beer and a yard sale! We re-open tomorrow (St. Paddy’s Day 4-9 PM) and Saturday from 12-6 PM. We will also be hosting a yard sale and chili feed as a fundraiser for an adoption.of a young boy (Kolbe) that was abandoned at birth because he was born with spina bifida. Let’s help bring him to his new home and forever family.” Drink beer and eat chili for a good cause!

Cascade Brewing (Portland): They have a new release for St. Paddy’s Day! “Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We’re excited to release our collaboration beer with Tullamore Dew today! Quinn’s Irish Breakfast is a rich blond ale aged on Tullamore DEW whiskey soaked oak staves for four weeks, then infused with Oblique Coffee Roasters’ Landauer Blend coffee, organic cacao nibs and vanilla beans. Available at both the Barrel House and Raccoon Lodge & Brewpub PLUS this weekend’s Irish Beer Festival Portland.”

Vertigo Brewing (Hillsboro) has St. Patrick’s Day specials of course: “Come celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at Vertigo. Boro Burger will be here serving corned beef sandwiches and we will be pouring our O’Kinion Irish Stout. Pints of this beer are only $3.50 on Friday 3/17/17 only. No green beer, just great beer.” 4 to 9pm.

Fat Head’s Brewery (Portland) has a Dry Irish Stout release today (Friday): “We are releasing a Dry Irish Stout on Nitro, so come celebrate St. Patricks Day with a pint!” Of course!

Lompoc Brewing kicks off a weekend-long St. Patrick’s Day celebration at all of their pubs: “All five Lompoc pubs (Lompoc Tavern, Fifth Quadant, Hedge House, Oaks Bottom & Sidebar) will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day from Friday, March 17 through Sunday, March 19. We’ll have corned beef & cabbage on the menu, Irish cocktail specials, McHugh’s Drye Irish Stout on tap, and real Irish music (on the stereo)! All this, and NO cover charge!”

Claim 52 Brewing (Eugene): They are hosting the can release party for their new 16-ounce cans starting at 3pm: “Kolsch, Westside IPA, and Juice Station Flash Pale Ale will be available in 16-oz cans! 4-packs for sale at the brewery this Friday. Dirty Spoon will be playing at 6! Food cart – Sammitch. Always family and dog friendly. Always a darn good time. Come join us!”

Crux Fermentation Project (Bend) is hosting a “Battle of the Reubens” for the day: “Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day by helping us determine which is the better reuben: Baxter’s Cold Pastrami: Crux made pastrami piled high, PCT Porter mustard and lacto-fermented sauerkraut, with havarti dill on pickle rye bread. VS. Dropkick Rueben: Crux made pastrami piled high, Schwarzbier Russian dressing, sauerkraut slaw, with swiss on marble rye bread. Try them both and cast your vote or savor the one you think sounds best. Both will be served with our barrel aged pickles and chips.”

Saturday 3/18:

Hood River’s Double Mountain Brewery is celebrating their tenth anniversary! They’re throwing an all-day party starting at 11am, featuring specialty beers, a souvenir mug, live music, and more! Admission is $5 before 6pm, $10 after; kids are free and welcome until 8pm. They’ll also have a Brewer’s Lounge with special brewer’s reserve beers pouring for $5 half pours. Big congrats to Double Mountain on making it a decade!

Seaside’s annual Pouring at the Coast beer festival returns on Saturday, taking place at the Seaside Civic And Convention Center from 3 to 8pm. This year is the seventh annual fest, and they’ve got a nice lineup of brewers, many from the Coast and a focus on the western half of the state. Online ticket sales have ended but I’m not sure if you can get in at the door, worth getting in touch if you’re interested in going.

Sunriver Brewing is releasing their Vicious Mosquito IPA in cans, and Saturday from 4 to 8pm is the can release party at their Galveston pub in Bend! “We are celebrating this much anticipated release with $1 cans of Vicious from 4pm-8pm! We’ll also be giving away a bunch of Vicious Mosquito IPA schwag. Take Vicious to-go for $1 per can (limit of 2 cases aka 48 cans per person) Fire pit and covered heated area on the patio!”

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is hosting Ecliptic Brewing for Ecliptic’s can release, from 5 to 8pm on Saturday: “Soon it’ll be easier to bring Ecliptic on your stargazing treks into the mountains! Pack in (and pack out) cans of Starburst IPA and a seasonal rotating can (Phobos Red, Quasar Pale, and more…). Our rep will be here tasting out cans of Starburst IPA and Quasar Pale and playing a game for prizes. We’ll tap Phobos Red Ale, Comet Calala Imperial Wit w/ Passionfruit, and Barrel-Aged Oort Imperial Stout!”

Portland’s Bailey’s Taproom is hosting their BrettFest Saturday all day starting at noon: “It’s no secret, we love Brettanomyces! The versatility of this yeast strain ranges from kicking off flavors of pineapple juice to barnyard funk. Brett has a voracious appetite and loves sugars, which can dry out a beer during it’s slow fermentation. It can also be added at conditioning to extend a beer’s shelf life. Brett is living on the skins of your favorite fruit and can even be found on the human body! Join us Saturday March 18th as we sample through our collection of beverages featuring a spectrum of Brett characteristics. Some beverages will be 100% Brett, others will feature Brett in secondary fermentation, and some may be mixed culture to examine how Brett interacts with fun bacteria like Lactobacillus & Pediococcus.”

Worthy Brewing (Bend) is taking their new experimental hop tasting on the road, and Saturday the 18th they will be at Product Row Cafe in Portland to sample their beers: “Help us choose the next hop varieties. We’d love your feedback on beers brewed with experimental hops from the Indie Hops/OSU Experimental Hops Breeding Program. You’ll be able to try pale ales brewed with experimental hops 1007-35, C1002-37, G9-1-374 & C115L-1.” The event runs from 5 to 9pm.

Occidental Brewing (Portland): Saturday the release of their Barrel-Aged Lucubrator and they are celebrating with a pig roast starting at 1pm: “Please join Occidental in welcoming Spring with the best way we know how, a delicious pulled pork sandwich paired with Barrel-aged Lucubrator. Admission is free and $15 will get you a smoked pork sandwich, potato chips and a pint. We’ll have indoor and outdoor seating, everything taking place at Occidental. Hope to see you there!”

Bend’s Red Tank Cider is holding a Spring Cider sale Saturday from noon to 4pm: “It’s a party! We’re opening up the cider house to celebrate spring! Cases of Happy Cider or Roughneck Cider $50. That’s $2 a can people! Growler fills from 12pm-4pm $8 We’ll have food, games (yes corn hole) & prizes. It’s a 100 square feet of fun!”