Happy Monday, and welcome back to the Oregon beer news posts! Now that my time isn’t mostly absorbed trying to plan a beer week I should be able to start writing these regularly again. So here is the news for Monday, June 3. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news as I find it, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Portland Beer Week kicks off this Thursday, the 6th, heralding 10 days of great beer and events through the 16th. The Week starts with the kickoff party at the Lucky Lab on Quimby, and then the Rye Beer Fest takes place on Friday along with the release of this year’s official beer, the Fruit Beer Festival on Saturday and Sunday, and much, much more! It’s going to be a great week of great beer with plenty to do, in one of the best beer cities in the world. Don’t miss out!

And it’s beer week month—on Saturday the 8th, Medford Beer Week kicks off on the southern end of the state, lasting through the 15th. They have a nice slate of events going on as well culminating with the Southern Oregon Craft Brew Festival on Saturday the 15th in Old Town Medford from noon to 8pm. June is shaping up to be a great month for beer in Oregon!

McMenamins is introducing growler fill specials to all their locations: Growler Mondays. “Head to any of our pubs, bring any 2-quart growler you have, and for $7 in Oregon or $8 in Washington, we’ll fill it up with the one beer we’ve deemed special for the day – that’s a $6 dollar savings! Check each pub’s Facebook page to see what they designate for that Monday’s special.  Locations will also announce the day’s growler special the low-tech way: on their chalkboards.”

This past Saturday the 1st the North American Beer Awards took place and it’s always nice to see a number of Oregon breweries bringing home medals. Our winners: 10 Barrel, Barley Brown’s, Bend Brewing, Caldera, Deschutes, GoodLife, Klamath Basin, Oakshire, Pelican, Silver Moon, and Worthy. (I can’t help but notice a large number of Bend brewers.) Congrats to all the winners!

De Garde Brewing (Tillamook): This brand-new coastal brewery will be doing a special meet the brewer at Portland’s The Beermongers this Saturday the 8th as part of Portland Beer Week, which will be the first taste of their beers for many people. “Celebrate Portland Beer Week with Trevor and Linsey from De Garde Brewing. Featured taps will include Cranberry Bu Weisse (spontaneous gin-aged berliner weisse with Oregon cranberries), Cherry Desay (barrel-aged spontaneous saison with cherries), Chenin Blanc Regards (barrel-fermented double india wild ale with wine grapes), a special Loak blend, and a special ‘Beermongers collaboration blend’ (young lambic with white pepper, spruce tips, and polaris hops). This will be a special event not to be missed!”

The Green Dragon (Portland) is featuring a meet the brewer this Thursday the 6th with Washington’s Backwoods Brewing Company. Backwoods is out of Carson, and is a 10-barrel brewery still in their first year of operation.