Happy Wednesday—and OBF day! Here’s the news from around Oregon for July 24. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often for the latest news. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Today is the start of the Oregon Brewers Festival in Portland! The gates open at noon and the pre-Fest parade is leaving at 11:30 from BridgePort Brewing to march down to Tom McCall Waterfront Park where the OBF is taking place. 84 beers, $7 for the tasting glass, $1 per token—you know the drill. Check out my must-try beer picks and Jeff’s Ultimate Guide. And enjoy!

McMenamins on Monroe (Corvallis) has a meet the brewer and “suds sampling” today from 3:30 to 5;30pm, featuring Safeside Wheat. From their beers page I see Safeside is 4.15% abv and described as: “A classic American Wheat ale, not as yeasty as the more common Hefewiezen. A barley to wheat ratio of 60/40 make this beer a challenge to brew. Gluten makes wheat great for bread, however difficult to lauter.”

The Bier Stein (Eugene) tonight has a free tasting featuring Belukus Imports, kicking off at 5: “Try a half and half of Young’s Double Chocolate Stout and Well’s Banana Bread Beer.” I have to admit I wouldn’t have thought up that combination but it sounds like it could be pretty good! There will also be Lefebvre Blanch de Bruxelles on tap.

Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters): They posted details about their Backpacker Brown Ale that I hadn’t seen yet. Backpacker Brown went on tap last weekend during their 5th anniversary and sounds like a nicely-built Brown—not something a lot of breweries can quite get right sometimes: “At 5.3% ABV and 33 IBU’s this old school brown ale has raw, earthy notes from the Irish Pale we used for the base malt, grown and malted in heritage fashion in Southern Ireland. Hop character from Cristal and Willamette Hops blend woody, floral tones with a pinch of chocolate to finish things off.”

Mazama Brewing (Corvallis): Tomorrow their newest beer, White Wedding (a White IPA) is going on tap: “We’re releasing White Wedding tomorrow in the tap room at 5:30. Stop in to grab a glass of this refreshing white IPA and enjoy some Mazama wedding cake. We’ll have some giveaways throughout the night as well. So stop in for the party! *soundtrack will be provided by Billy Idol.” We visited Mazama this past weekend and were impressed with the beers and the brewery, so I’d definitely look forward to this if I were in the Corvallis area—make sure to stop by!