Here’s the first Oregon beer news for April—fortunately didn’t fall on April 1st or I’d have had to fill it with fake news of course. (I actually hate April Fools Day on the internet though, so maybe not!) We spent the weekend in Baker City and Barley Brown’s Brewpub—which I’ll have much more about later. For today I’ll be periodically updating this news post so check back for the latest. And if you have news to share please contact me and I can get it updated.

Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene): The first Monday of every month is Ninkasi’s “Pints Gone Wild” event where they donate $2 for every pint sold at the tasting room to Cascadia Wildlands: “The first Monday of every month is Pints Gone Wild benefitting Cascadia Wildlands. They educate, agitate, and inspire a movement to protect and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems. The Sean Peterson jazz trio is lined up to play and trivia to follow. Come on down to the tasting room and have some fun!” It’s a generous benefit for a good cause and you get to drink Ninkasi beer—win/win!

Widmer (Portland): Apparently today is the 28th anniversary of Widmer! “Today’s a big day at the brewery…Widmer Brothers Brewing opened on this day way back in 1984! Prost, to 28 years!” 1984 was the year, and you can view the history/timeline of all of that here. Big congrats to Widmer! Hopefully they’ve got some anniversary specials at the Gasthaus today!

Cascade Brewing (Portland) has been bottling a number of their beers lately, and Sang Noir will be the latest: “We will be doing the first ever bottling of Sang Noir later this week. It may be on sale in early May, though no guarantees – we’ll keep you posted!” Sang Noir is their “NW-style sour ale [that] is a blend of red and double red beers that were aged in Bourbon and Pinot Noir barrels for 12 to 24 months then blended with barrel aged Bing and sour pie cherries.”

The Commons Brewery (Portland) is likewise releasing a new bottled beer, this Wednesday: “We’re releasing our Biere de Garde bottles this Wednesday, 6PM at Cheese Bar on SE Belmont and 60th. It’s also Brewer DJ night and Sean Burke will be spinning some old country western favorites starting at 7PM.” This is a bottle-conditioned, 5.3% abv offering in 750ml bottles.

Bend Brewing (Bend) has growler deals today: “Monday GROWLER Madness! Discounted growler refills on any of our 5 signature beers. (Hefe, Golden, IPA, Outback & Porter) ALL DAY MONDAY!” I don’t know what the discounted price is, but those are good beers and growler discounts are always nice.

Upright Brewing (Portland) has a beer dinner taking place on April 24th at Les Caves in Corvallis (home of Block 15 Brewing): “Join us along with owner and Head Brewer Alex Ganum of Upright Brewing for a fantastic night of craft beer and food! Enjoy five courses and six Upright Beers for $60. Limit of 30 seats available. Please email your reservation to reservations@biercaves.com.” Five courses of delicious-sounding food paired with Upright brews—and dessert features a vertical of their Four Play from 2010 and 2011.