TGIF! We are heading into a busy, beautiful weekend with a ton of beer things going on, I hope you make the most of it! Here’s the news in beer for the weekend of the 12th. 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.

Medford Beer Week starts today and runs through June 20th, highlighting the great beer of Medford and Southern Oregon! Yes, along with Portland Beer Week there are now two beer weeks running concurrently at opposite ends of the state (opposite ends of I-5, even!) so I’ll do my best to keep track of everything going on each day (with events listed below the fold).

Beers Made By Walking is taking place in Bend with Worthy Brewing today, doing a hike in the Oregon Badlands east of Bend. Hikers will join a brewer from Worthy and they will craft a beer inspired by (and including) plants found along the hike. And then tomorrow, June 13, is the next Portland BMBW, featuring a hike with Ecliptic Brewing, Hopworks Urban Brewery, and Lompoc Brewing on Springville Hill.

The Molalla Brew Fest kicks off today at 5pm to run through the weekend, taking place in downtown Molalla. There will be 30 taps of beer, wine from St. Josef’s Winery, draft root beer from Crater Lake Soda, live music, and of course food, with a cost of $20 which gets you the commemorative glass and drink tickets. Proceeds will benefit the Wheeler Family Cancer Fund.

Portland Beer Week is into Day 2 with the signature Portland Fruit Beer Fest kicking off the weekend (I wrote about the Fruit Beer Fest last night). Other events for the day include:

• All Weekend
• GoodLife Brewing Tap Takeover
• Bunk’s Beer Week Beer Braised Brisket Sandwich
• pFriem Beer & Dessert Pairing Flight
• Palate Palooza
• Breakside & Oso Market + Bar Pairing Menu
• Friday:
• Rye Beer Fest
• The Lion and the Dragon
• Breakside Brewery & Fremont Brewing collaboration Bottle Release Party
• Southern Washington Staycation
• Oyster Shucking + Beer Pairing Class with Ethan and Tobias from EaT + The Parish
• Hopworks Urban Brewery Beer Dinner @ Zupan’s Burnside
• Free Beer after the Fruit Beer Fest
• Saturday:
• Washington Beer Invasion
• Crux Tap Takeover at Lardo (Hawthorne)
• Portland Fruit Beer Festival
• Fremont Brewing & Breakside Brewery: Beer, Ice Cream, Donut Party
• Bourbon & Bacon Fest
• Beer Specials after the Fruit Beer Fest
• Sunday:
• Washington Beer Invasion
• Kolsch Karnival (Kolsch and Brat Fest)
• Crux Tap Takeover at Lardo (Hawthorne)
• Portland Fruit Beer Festival
• Pint-Athalon
• The Rural Brewer
• 4th Annual Battle of the Belgians
• Ninkasi Dawn of the Red Pint Night

The Medford Beer Week events for this weekend are:

• Friday June 12th
• Medford Beer Week Kick Off Party @ Walkabout Brewing: 5pm-Close
• Iron Pint Competition @ Portal Brewing: 2pm
• Beers and the Bees with the Bee Girl @ Portal Brewing: 4pm
• “Shadow Opp” Beer Release @ Opposition Brewing: 4pm – 9pm
• Goodlife Brewing Tap Takeover @ Beerworks: 5pm – 8pm
• Meet the Brewer with Rusty Bucket Brewing @ The Growler King at Quality Market: 5pm – 8pm
• Beau Berry Band Live @ Southern Oregon Brewing: 5pm – 8pm
• Food and Beer Pairing @ Wild River Pizza: 5pm – 11pm
• Get a Taste of a Real SOB with Southern Oregon Brewing @ Mr. Smiths: 5pm – 7pm
• Saturday June 13th
• Brews Burgers and Bluegrass – Brought to you by Thrive and the Buy Local – Buy Rogue Campaign @ Eden Vale Winery: 12pm – 8pm
• “Kegs and Eggs” with Buttercloud Bakery and Café @ Beerworks: 10am – 2pm
• 5th Annual Schoolhaus Brewhaus Kickball Tournament with Deschuttes Brewing @ Bigham Knoll: 11am – Dark
• “Char and Chug” @ Opposition Brewing: 12pm – 9pm
• Enjoy the Good Life with Goodlife Brewing @ Mr. Smith’s: 1pm – 3pm
• One Handed Triathlon and Meet the Brewer @ Walkabout Brewing: 3pm – 8pm
• Tap Takeover with Arch Rock Brewing @ The Burger Spot: 3pm – 6pm
• Sunday June 14th
• Homebrews and Blues @ Biologic Brewing Supply: 10am – 5pm
• Pint and a Pretzel @ Wild River Pizza: All Day
• Family Day @ The Growler King at Quality market: All Day
• Victory Dog @ Southern Oregon Brewing: 12pm – 6pm
• Beer Pong Sign-up and Practice @ BricktownE: 1pm
• Pliny the Elder Sunday @ Beerworks: 3pm
• “Ring the Bull” Tournament @ Opposition Brewing: 4pm – 6pm

Deschutes Brewery (Bend): Today at their Mountain Room in Bend is their annual Barrel Aged Beer Tasting starting at 6pm. This is a terrific event and… it’s sold out. If you have tickets, congrats! You are in for a treat tonight!

McMenamins Thompson Brewery (Salem): Tomorrow, Saturday the 13th, is their 18th Annual Barley Cup Brewfest! It takes place all day starting at 11am and features amazing beers, live music and more! “We’re featuring beer from 7 McMenamins brewers and 4 Salem-area guest brewers on tap for the Barley Cup Brewfest. What could be better than a selection of distinctive and flavorful brews at the start of summer, all vying to be your favorite? This year we welcome local guests: Vagabond Brewing, Ram Brewery, Sasquatch Brewing and Seven Brides Brewing. McMenamins breweries participating are: Hillsdale, Roseburg Station, Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, Monroe, High Street, Crystal and our own, Thompson!” Order up a taster tray of all the available beers and vote on your favorite—the winning beer/brewery will have their “name and beer name forever engraved on the coveted Barley Cup Brewfest trophy.”

Ground Breaker Brewing (Portland): Saturday all day they are celebrating a new can release: “We will have cans of IPA No. 5 and Olallie Ale available at the Ground Breaker Gastropub.”

Belmont Station (Portland) is hosting Breakside Brewery and Seattle’s Fremont Brewing for a “Beer, Ice Cream, Donut Party” with their Portland Beer Week beer Back to the Future IPA: “Help us kick off the first weekend of Portland Beer Week with the draft release of the official Portland Beer Week beer, Back to the Future IPA – a collaborative effort between Portland’s own Breakside and Seattle’s Fremont Brewing. Of course, we will have bottles of this special release for sale in the bottle shop and, in addition to the collaboration, we will be pouring several selections from each brewery. We also will be serving scoops of the official Salt & Straw Portland Beer Week Ice Cream and Blue Star Donut’s official Portland Beer Week donut!” It runs from 5 to 8pm Saturday.

Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider (Portland) has a special, rare Whiskey Sour tapping tomorrow (Saturday) at their tap room: “We will be tapping the ONLY KEG IN OREGON of our newest barrel-aged project, ‘Whiskey Sour’, on Saturday June 13th at opening. We will serve 8oz pours until we run out. There are no growler fills available, but the cider may be bottled at some time in the future. Whiskey Sour is approximately 6.9% ABV and was soured in a variety of Kentucky Bourbon barrels. The cider was then infused with fresh lemon and lime leaves. It bears an uncanny resemblance to a Whiskey Sour, but is far more drinkable and refreshing. This is a unique cider to be savored.”