TGIF! I hope you’re looking forward to the weekend, I know I am. And tonight I’ll be at Bend Brewing’s anniversary (see below), with books to sell, so it’s definitely starting off beery! Here’s the Oregon beer news for the final weekend of April. 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.

Bend Brewing Company is celebrating their 21st anniversary today (Friday the 29th) with a block party in front of their brewpub from 4 to 10pm! “There will be a huge tent outside with FREE live music featuring Elektrapod, Moon Mountain Ramblers & Broken Down Guitars Trio. We will be pouring 21 different styles of BBC beer to commemorate 21 years ! Come down and celebrate with us!” They also post that the event is all ages. And if you want to know a bit more I have an article on the party and their anniversary beer in today’s local Bulletin newspaper. Come on down!

Great Notion Brewing (Portland) is releasing a new collaboration beer they brewed with Tillamook’s De Garde Brewing this Friday, Sometimes a Great Cow: “de Garde and Great Notion Brewing’s collabo beer, a Passionfruit IPA named Sometimes a Great Cow will be released shortly. Crowlers of Great Cow will be available to the first 100 people in line. Limit two per customer. Then it’s draft only.” The crowlers will be available from 11am to noon, then the beer is generally available.

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is hosting Redmond’s Wild Ride Brewing Friday for the release of their summer seasonal, Quencher: “Whether or not the sun’s out, a little refreshment is always welcome. Redmond’s Wild Ride Brewing makes Quencher, a pale beer with a dose of wheat and the bright flavors of lime and ginger. That will be the feature beer on draught alongside Stand Up and Shout Stout on nitro, Electrifly IPA, and Ride the Rail Pale. Reps Cora and Ingrid will be on hand with free samples and swag to raffle off.” The event runs from 5 to 8pm.

The Belgian-themed Abbey Bar in Portland is hosting the grand opening of a second location today (Friday), located at 1650 NW 23rd Avenue: “Come check out our new location on NW 23rd next to Lompoc, St. Jack’s and Pacific Pie. We’ll be serving up pan-European beers (German, British, Belgian and more) in the same beer geeky way you’ve come to love at our original location. The original location will continue to carry its huge selection of delicious, rare and cellared Belgians.”

And speaking of 23rd Avenue, McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop is hosting a spicy beer and hot sauce tasting, featuring the Edgefield’s Mayan Apocalypse and Conan’s Hot Sauce: “The latest in our Edgefield Barrel Series is a Three Rocks Rum Barrel Aged Nut Brown with Cinnamon and Chili Peppers. Dark brown with a fluffy white head, this beer has aromas of spice, a little heat, and vanilla. Flavors of chilies, cinnamon, and Rum pair well with the underlying bready character of the Nut Brown. Sit back with this great sipper and enjoy!” Not sure exactly how that’s paired with hot sauce but if you can’t take the heat then it might not be for you! It runs from 5 to 8pm.

Broken Top Bottle Shop (Bend): This Friday kicks off the weekend of their fourth annual April Showers Bring May Sours event, highlighting many sour beers from the Pacific Northwest. “Join us for a night of sours from a variety of Oregon and Washington breweries! Sour Ales from The Bruery, Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, and pFriem Family Brewers just to name a few!” It will run through Sunday.

Griess Family Brews (Grants Pass) is celebrating their second anniversary this Saturday the 30th with a party from 5 to 10pm: “Come celebrate our Anniversary as we head into our 3rd year! Catering by Buddy Buckles Bistro, Music by Rogue Rage Duo, Prizes, fun and more! Free food, free music and free prizes, it doesn’t get any better than this!!” Congrats on two years and to many more!

Arch Rock Brewing (Gold Beach) is doing a free beer tasting at the Homegrown Public House in Florence on Friday from 4:30 to 6:30: “On April 29th we will welcome the folks from Arch Rock Brewing to Homegrown Pub for another of our Free Beer and Wine Tasting. These free tastings highlight breweries and wine makers from Oregon. Arch Rock currently offers a Lager, a Pale Ale, and a Porter as well as any single batch brews that James’ creates.”

Claim 52 Brewing (Eugene) has a new beer out this Friday: “4/29 we are releasing our newest beer, a Mosaic single hop pale ale. This beer is fairly dry allowing the complex Mosaic spectrum to shine. We detect notes of tropical fruit and a dank earthiness. At 5.6% ABV and 45 IBU’s this is the perfect beer for the spring.”