Here’s the Oregon beers news for Thursday, the 7th of May. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

The collaboration brew between Bend’s GoodLife Brewing and Enterprise’s Terminal Gravity Brewing, G-Two Imperial Red Ale, won a gold medal at the recent 2015 LA International Beer Competition (in the Imperial Red Ale category, naturally). Congrats! I don’t which which version won the medal—the one brewed at GoodLife, or at Terminal Gravity (though it was entered under GoodLife, so likely that version)—but either way that’s a nice piece of hardware to have.

(Two other Oregon winners at the LA Beer Competition were Widmer Brothers and Deschutes Brewery—congrats to them as well!)

Burnside Brewing (Portland): Today is the release of the first of their new Elemental Scale limited beer series, Blueberry Mint Saison, being tapped at Burnside’s pub and hitting the market in 22-ounce bottles and 1/6 barrel kegs around Oregon. “Blueberry Mint Saison is a French style saison that has been kettle soured to yield an intensely aromatic beer that pays proud homage to it’s rustic roots. Inspired by a Kombucha drink with a similar profile, Burnside’s brewers set out to create a refreshing but complex beer with an interesting flavor profile. This ale is fermented at slightly higher temperature than normal with Blueberries and local Honey added at conditioning along with a cold side infusion of a ‘mint tea.'” Look for bottles of this on the shelves, and if you’re in Portland swing by Burnside today to check out the beer on tap.

The High Desert Museum (Bend) has their final beer tasting event (in conjunction with their “Brewing Culture” exhibit) tonight, with the featured theme of “Sours & Belgians.” Entry fee is $5 for non-members and $3 for members of the Museum, and to get a tasting package (souvenir glass plus five tasting tickets) costs $10 (with additional tickets for $1). Breweries that will be pouring beer include Bend Brewing Company, Deschutes Brewery, Fort George, Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, Monkless Brewing, RiverBend Brewing, and Worthy Brewing. The event runs from 4:30 to 8pm.

McMenamins Old Church & Pub (Wilsonville) has a special beer tasting today starting at 5pm, featuring The Queen of Hearts: “This month we’ve infused our Amber Waves wheat with a healthy dose of rose hips. Rose hips provide a pleasant apple like tartness with a hint of citrus while adding a beautiful sanguine color to the beer. Queen of Hearts is both light and complex, making it a perfect warm weather beer.”

Belmont Station (Portland) has a mead tasting tonight from 5 to 7pm, with Washington’s Ethereal Meads: “Please join Ethereal Meads for a tasting in the bottle shop. Gary from Ethereal Meads will be on hand to provide samples of his two meads: Mist, a spiced cyser and Ruby Sunset, a strawberry-cranberry sweet-tart melomel.”

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is hosting BridgePort Brewing for the release of their Stumptown Tart: “Each year, Bridgeport uses different berries to tart up their Belgian-style ale. This year it’s raspberries– come on down and have a sample! We’ll also have a keg of Hop Czar on tap.” The event runs from 6 to 8pm tonight.

The Green Dragon (Portland): Their weekly meet the brewer event tonight is featuring John Harris of Ecliptic Brewing: “An icon of Oregon Craft Brewing, John’s brewed for some of the best known breweries in the state including, McMenamins, Deschutes and Full Sail. Now with Ecliptic Brewing, he’s combining his passion for craft beer with his passion for astronomy.” Brews pouring will be Spica Pilsner, Orbiter IPA, Capella Porter, OORT Imperial Stout, and Helix Hoppy Lager. Keg(s) gets tapped at 5pm, and the meet the brewer portion starts at 6pm.

Upright Brewing (Portland): They have a beer coming out soon you’re going to want to check out: Barleywine! “This is only the second take here at Upright, although the first from years ago was English style while this one is American. That means higher abv and more hops. In this case, 6 different varieties were added to an overnight boil, which produced a very deep malt character from a grist of nearly 98% Thomas Fawcett halcyon pale malt. The concentrated wort was fermented with one British and one American ale yeast, then split 60% into rum/bourbon casks and 40% into stainless steel for 4 months. The resulting blend shows remarkable balance for such a potent beer, with a very ingredient driven profile that doesn’t fight with higher alcohols. 12%”

Golden Valley Brewery (McMinnville): They have some new bottles out that I can really get behind: “Kentucky Monky is the newest addition to our bottle conditioned line up! An abbey style strong ale aged in Kentucky and Oregon bourbon barrels for several months. Find it at Cheers to Belgian Beers this weekend and at the pubs on draft today!”