Welcome to the start of a new week! I hope your Monday is going well. Here’s the Oregon beer news for May 9th; as usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news as I find it, so check back often. If you have news to share, please let me know and I can get that updated as well.

Roseburg Beer Week continues today, with a four-course beer and food pairing dinner at O’Toole’s Pub, featuring beers from Old 99 Brewing. Unfortunately it’s already marked as sold out, but if you’re really interested you could always call O’Toole’s at (541) 673-5152 and see if you can get in. And look for other beer specials around town as well.

Portland’s Gigantic Brewing is celebrating their fourth anniversary today! “On May 9th, 2011 Ben Love and Van Havig opened the doors of Gigantic with the premise to start small and stay small, brew the best damn IPA in the city, and release some deliciously creative one-offs. We have had an amazing time doing that these last four years and would love for you to join us as we celebrate our 4th anniversary! We will be releasing Holy Oak, a spiritual concoction of barrel aged and kettle soured beer designed to mimic a gloriously refreshing Whiskey Sour. The beer is a collabo brew with our mates from Magic Rock Brewing out of the U.K. Holy Oak will be available on draft and in 22oz bottles. Also, all other draft beers will be just $2. We look forward to celebrating with you!” The party takes place today from 3 to 9pm, be there! And big congrats to Gigantic!

Crux Fermentation Project (Bend): Tonight’s BEER’ducation series event is featuring a “Battle of the Kilts“: their Bert Scotch Ale vs. their Peated Scotch Ale. From 4 to 9pm, you can try each of their Scotch Ale variants side-by-side, the one a tribute to brewpub pioneer Bert Grant, the other with a peaty smoky character. Regardless of which you prefer, either way you win!

This weekend is the annual Cheers to Belgian Beers fest taking place in Portland, their tenth anniversary! “This year’s 10th annual event will take place May 13 and May 14 at The North Warehouse, 723 N Tillamook St. Hours are 1 to 9pm on Friday and Noon to 8pm on Saturday. The festival is unique in that it features up to 70 Belgian-style beers all brewed by Oregon craft brewers using the same single yeast strain. Admission to the event is free. In order to drink, it costs $20 for a souvenir glass tasting goblet and 10 drink tickets. Beers are available by taster only; most beers cost one ticket for a taste, though some may cost double. Additional tasting tickets are available for $1 apiece.”

This Saturday, Redmond’s Wild Ride Brewing is celebrating their second anniversary! All day long after they open at 11am on the 14th they will have live music, “all day fun” and I’m sure a special beer selection and anniversary beer lined up. It will be a great day! Congrats on two great years!

And speaking of anniversaries, Astoria’s Buoy Beer Company is celebrating their second anniversary as well on Saturday! They will have food and beer specials and I’m quite sure a special beer or two as well. Cheers to two years!

Vertigo Brewing (Hillsboro) has a new release out today: “Coffee and Cream Ale. Did you miss the Holiday Ale Festival last December? If so, here is your chance to try our blonde ale infused with Insomnia Coffee Company’s cold brewed Tortoiseshell blend coffee. If you did try it, come enjoy it again. We have 2 kegs. We will be filling grenades and growlers as well as pints. So come in before it’s gone. Taproom opens at 4:00.”

Zoiglhaus Brewing (Portland): They are brewing their first in-house beer today (previously all the beer was being brewed at Pints): “First Beer officially in haus fermenting as we speak! A lot of work put in from our Brewmaster Alan and many others to get the brewing started on location! More pictures and updates to come!”

This past weekend at the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia, the bi-annual World Beer Cup was held, judging and issuing awards to some 1,907 breweries from 55 countries—so to win medals at this competition is a big deal. Well Oregon breweries brought home 19 medals, and even more impressive, Arch Rock Brewing from Gold Beach won Very Small Brewing Company! Brewpublic has the full results posted.

And the big Oregon winner was Portland’s Breakside Brewery, bringing home four awards—as many as the entire state of Washington alone! And, as the press release on the New School points out, not only the most medals in the state were won by Breakside, but that’s also the most medals of any brewery in the world. “Breakside won silver medals for Smoked Porter and Lunch Break ISA and bronze medals for Will’s Alt and ESB. Breakside is usually known for its two year-round IPAs and other limited-release hoppy beers, including the flagship IPA Wanderlust, India Golden Ale, and Safeword IPA, but it’s good to note that the brewers put the same effort into dozens (over a hundred styles) per year.” Congrats to Breakside—those are terrific beers, well deserved.