TGIF and happy Friday! Here’s the Oregon beer news for this weekend of July 21. I’ll be away from the computer much of the day so I won’t get a chance to update this post as I normally do, but still feel free to please let me know about any news and events coming up to make it into a future post.

Friday, 7/21

Sisters’ Three Creeks Brewing kicks off their 9th anniversary with a weekend-long celebration on Friday! “Join us as we celebrate 9 years AND Oregon Craft Beer Month. Check out our fun-filled weekend of activities! July 21st, 6 pm – Anniversary Cake & Special Beer Pairing. July 22th – All Day Free Raffle for Swag. July 23rd – Around The World photo/video contest winner announced!”

McMenamins Old St. Francis School (Bend) is featuring a specialty beer tasting for Oregon Craft Beer Month from 5 to 8pm, featuring four of their popular house beers. “It’s Oregon Craft Beer Month! To celebrate, Old St. Francis’ Brewer Mike “Curly” White is ready to talk brewing, and take you on a tour of the OSF Brewery. Grab a specialty taster tray of beers featuring varying yeast strains that he brewed just for the occasion. Take some time to look around this awesome property and don’t forget your passport!” The beers pouring will be My Sunshine’s Pilsner, Sister Jane’s Kölsch, Immigrant Irish Red, and Kaleidoscope IPA.

The Gallon House in Silverton is hosting the latest beer release from Silverton’s Belgian Underground Brewing, Sabotage IPA: “An excellent middle ground between a Belgian pale ale and a NW IPA. The aroma has citrus notes, mango, and pineapple, mixed with flavors of ripe grapefruit and blood orange, all balanced with Belgian yeast notes and spices. Truly unique and unexpected.” It runs from 6 to 10pm.

Belmont Station (Portland): Their Puckerfest week-long sour celebration continues, with International Night on Friday from 5 to 8pm: “It’s Belgian Independence Day! Join us for a fabulous variety of international flavors from around the world! Belgian beer expert and author Luc De Raedemaeker will be on site 5-7 PM to talk about Belgian sours and sell and sign limited quantities of his book! He will make a short presentation on Belgian sours around 6 PM on the back patio.”

Montavilla Brew Works (Portland) has a beer release for their Low Key Saison starting at 3pm: “Join us Friday, the 21st for a special one-off Saison release! We collab’d with Imperial Yeast to create a unique and very summery Saison. “Low Key” is a very light, subtle, quenching and somewhat peach-fruit Saison, fermented with a special Norwegian Farmhouse yeast. 4.5% ABV and 21 IBU’s.”

Saturday, 7/22

The second annual Oregon Trail Brewfest returns to Downtown Oregon City, “as the only Brew Fest to celebrate breweries along the Oregon Trail! Taste beers from Kansas City, to Boise, to Oregon City, the official end of the Oregon Trail!” It starts at 11am and tickets are $20 which gets you entry, the festival glass and ten tokens. The majority of the breweries that will be pouring are from Oregon but there are a few others in there including Boulevard Brewing, Melvin Brewing, and Payette Brewing.

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is hosting Lagunitas for their Pinewood Derbeer Derby on Saturday starting at 3pm: “Build a pinewood derby car and race for a cause– proceeds from sales of derby car kits and Lagunitas Brewing Co beer during the event go toSpringfield-Eugene Habitat for Humanity! Get your kit here for $10, build your racer according to the pinewood derby rules (link below), and check in at 3pm to display your wooden masterpiece before the race begins at 4:20.”

Bend’s Monkless Belgian Ales is releasing their first beer in cans on Saturday from 3 to 6pm—their Shepplekofeggan witbier. “The wait is finally over!!! Get your first crack at Shepplekofeggan in CANS! Our super drinkable Witbier is perfect for hot summer days, river hangs, and any occasion that calls for a sessionable beer!”

Belmont Station’s Puckerfest for Saturday is featuring “The Saturday Tradition: Block 15 & de Garde“: We started featuring two Puckerfest-favorite breweries in tandem five years ago, and now it’s become a time-honored tradition to put Block 15 and de Garde together on Saturday afternoon!”

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop (Portland) is hosting a Hi-Wheel Fizzy Wine Tasting from 1 to 3pm: “Hi-Wheel Fizzy Wine Company creates fizzy wines using citrus as a base. That’s right, move over grapes, apples, and pears! They ferment lemon, lime and grapefruit juices with fresh fruit & vegetable juices and purees along with culinary herbs and spices—come sample their unique creations.”

Alesong Brewing (Eugene) has the grand opening of their new tasting room taking place on Saturday! “Come celebrate our first birthday and the grand opening of our new tasting room!! Located at 80848 Territorial Highway, 20 miles southwest of Eugene – the new brewery allows us to finally open our doors to the public on a regular basis, initially Friday through Sunday from 12 – 8 p.m. Beers will be available for tasting and to enjoy by the glass, and bottles will be available for on-site consumption and to-go depending upon availability. Light food will be served and customers are also invited to bring their own picnics.”

Sunday, 7/23

McMenamins West Linn is hosting an Oregon Craft Beer Month beer tasting, for Cacao Crackdown Porter from 1 to 3pm: “A veritable cornucopia of malts set an opulent backdrop for the raw Ecuadorian cacao nibs added at the end of this brew’s fermentation. Subtle hopping lends just a hint of bitterness while retaining a malt-forward balance. Vanilla beans suggest a sweetness expected from chocolate confections, without contributing a saccharine sweetness that would otherwise mask the ethereal experience within.”

Belmont Station’s Puckerfest continues on Sunday, with “The Freshmen” all day long: “With the ever growing world of beer, we invited a few first-timers to our annual Puckerfest party. These are breweries that we’ve been impressed with over the last year or so and we are excited to welcome them to this annual tradition that is Puckerfest.” Among these “freshmen” breweries are included Alesong, Little Beast, Yachats Brewing, Culmination, Royale, and Loowit out of Washington.