The weekend is nearly upon us, as is the end of June, and next week (already!) is the Fourth of July holiday! Lots of things going on, so let’s get to it—here’s the news in Oregon beer for Thursday the 28th. As usual I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often to get the latest updates. If you have news you’d like to share, please contact me and I can get it updated.

Hair of the Dog (Portland): If you’ve been following along on HotD’s Facebook group page, you know that they’re brewing up a collaboration beer with Belgium’s De Struise Brouwers, and today is the Day of De Struise (via Oregon Brewers Guild): “Hair of the Dog’s Alan Sprints is doing a collaboration beer with Belgian brewmaster Urbain Coutteau of De Struise. They will be brewing two of his beers, both will be barrel aged and blended together before release. To celebrate a very special brewday, he’ll have eight beers on tap from De Struise Brouwers all day and some Belgian food specials, plus brewmaster Coutteau will be at Hair of the Dog from 5-8 pm.” It’s taking place all day today, from 11:30 to 8, so get on down to Hair of the Dog’s tasting room and check it out!

Belmont Station (Portland): Tonight they are featuring Corvallis’ Flat Tail Brewing for their meet the brewer and tasting event from 6 to 8pm. “Dave Marliave returns to pour tastes of his bottled lineup: Licentious Goat herbed Imperial IPA, Rough Cut IPA, Tailgater Kolsch, Big Fin Baltic Porter, and Lovin’ Hoppin’ Squeezin’ Hoppy Pale Ale. Some delicious drafts in the Biercafe including Raspberry Beret (barrel-aged Big Fin with raspberries, soured), Tailgater Kolsch, and Licentious Goat.” (See my review of Flat Tail and some of these beers from last month.)

Broken Top Bottle Shop (Bend) is celebrating “Medal Mania” all day today, dedicating all 12 of their taps to World Beer Cup winning beers. “Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal winners will be featured, such as Bend Brewing Company’s Ching Ching, Hop Valley’s Double D Blonde, Russian River’s Supplication, Piraat from Belgium, and more! There were 95 categories with 3 winners each, so this is a small yet impressive sampling of these best-in-the-world beers, including 2 Gold medal winner!”  Taster trays will be available, and the beers will be on tap until they run out.

Burnside Brewing (Portland) is releasing their summer seasonal today, a Lime Kolsch: “Burnside Lime Kolsch is brewed as a German style Kolsch made with premium pilsner malt and a touch of wheat and Munich malts. We then add Tettnanger hops, and ferment with the German ale yeast at 59 degrees to create a crisp, dry, and thirst quenching beer. Then the Burnside twist; we hand zested 200 limes, steeped a pound of Kaffir Lime leaf in the kettle, and added lemongrass to the bright tank. The result, a highly drinkable summer ale with hints of exotic ingredients from the east. Drink it with a lime!” It’s 5.4% abv and sound like the perfect summer drinker.

Rock Bottom (Portland): Today they are featuring a new release being tapped: Dirty Hippie Organic Brown Kolsch. “Come try a free sample of our new Dirty Hippy Organic Brown Kolsch today at 5:30 with our Brew Master Charlie Hutchins.” I think I saw something online recently (maybe related to this?) that called a “Brown Kolsch” an “Alt”…

The Green Dragon (Portland): Their foray into ciders continues today with a meet the maker tasting event featuring Wandering Aengus Ciderworks starting at 5pm. “Join us for a pint and meet the brewer- this week featuring Wandering Aengus Ciderworks from Salem, OR. Nick and James will be discussing Anthem and Wandering Ciders brewing process, blenders, and philosophy. Cider tapped at 5pm and Meet the Brewer begins at 6pm. They will be pouring a new single varietal – Golden Russet.”

GoodLife Brewing (Bend) is having a tasting at the Whole Foods in Bend to promote their newly-bottled Descender IPA, today from 4 to 6pm.