Happy Friday! Here’s the news in Oregon beer for Friday the 8th and the weekend. As usual, I will be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often for the latest updates. If you have news you’d like to share, please contact me and I can get it updated as well.

Portland Beer Week continues with the Rye Beer Fest today from 4 to 10pm at the Spirit of 77: “The Rye Beer Fest is a celebration of the revival of rye beers brought to you by Taplister.com, and held at the Spirit of 77. The fest will feature special one off rye beers from a variety of NW favorite breweries to staples like, Upright’s Six and Oakshire’s Line Dry Rye to name a few. Plus Spirit of 77 will feature special Rye food pairings and even discounted Rye Whiskey pairings to complement the beers with profits to benefit charity. The fest is free to get into. It costs $1 for a 4 oz pour, $2.50 for a 10 oz pour and $5 for a 20 oz pour. There will be a meet the brewer from 4-6pm with a variety of brewers on hand. Also from 4-6pm there will be special rye cocktails.”  Great idea for a fest, one I don’t remember seeing before.

McMenamins Old St. Francis School (Bend) has a very cool “European Beer Tasting Flight” going on today, starting at 11am and lasting until closing: “Stop by the pub to sample this specially selected flight of ales made with various yeast strains, all brewed onsite, and paired with food specials. Our brewer Mike “Curly” White will be onsite from 5 p.m. ‘til 7 p.m. to talk beers with you.”  The three beers are Beach Bum Belgian Blond, My Sunshine Pilsner, and Immigrant Irish Red; check the page for the full writeup and story behind these beers.

The Molalla Brew Fest runs today and tomorrow in the town of Molalla, their second annual Fest, running in conjunction with downtown Molalla’s 2nd Friday Celebration. It starts today at 5pm and goes until midnight, and then picks up tomorrow at noon until midnight, featuring over 25 taps of beer and cider (plus wine), live music, and food of course. Minors will be allowed (with parents or guardians) until 8pm each night.

Belmont Station (Portland): Today as part of Portland Beer Week they’re featuring the bottle release of the official Beer Week beer, India Red Lager: “The official reserve release for this years Portland Beer Week is a collaboration between Deschutes and Hopworks Urban Brewery: the result is an organic dry-hopped India Red Lager using classic PNW hop varieties. Two different versions have been brewed with slight differences, one at HUB and one at Deschutes Portland pub. Join representatives from both breweries and taste the beers side by side. This is also your first chance to buy the limited number of bottles produced.”  The release is taking place from 4 to 6pm.

Medford Beer Week is starting on Sunday! It runs from the 10th through the 16th (next Saturday) and they’ve got a full week of events lined up. And Sunday they’re kicking the Week off with the release of the official Medford Beer Week Imperial IPA from Walkabout Brewing at their tasting room from 2 to 6pm. It’ll be a good week to be in Southern Oregon!

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland): They’ve posted a first look of their new cans on Facebook, the Lager and IPA. Pretty handsome designs actually, I like the look of those a lot.