Here’s the news in Oregon beer for Tuesday, the 20th of August. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news as I find it, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Belmont Station (Portland) has a mead tasting today from 5 to 7pm featuring Kookoolan World Meadery: “Kookoolan Elegance Mead is a semi-sweet table mead started from a captured hive of wild honeybees on a working farm in Yamhill, Oregon. Made with honey from Coast Range wildflowers and components of the entire bee hive — including royal jelly, beeswax, bee pollen and propolis — this modern mead is one step closer to the primeval, wild-found meads of yore.” Mead, like cider, is on the rise right now, so this is a good opportunity to check it out if you haven’t yet.

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Today’s Tap It Tuesday event at their Barrel House at 6pm is featuring “Live” Dieter: “This NW style sour is the uber brother of Pater, barrel aged with 175 lbs of Bing cherries in 15-year-old Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels for 13 months, then aged in Pinot barrels for 13 more months. Fresh cherries were added just before serving for balance. Aromas of dark cherries and wine are noticed up front. Dark cherries, oak, leather and Bourbon on the palate are followed by tart notes of tart cherries and dried fruit on the palate. The finish is of dried cherries, leather and oak. Warning, Dieter will take you for a ride; you may hear techno music in the morning. Auf Wiedersehen! 13.5% | $8 glass | $3 taster”

Oblivion Brewing (Bend): This brand-new brewery is celebrating their official launch with a release party at Broken Top Bottle Shop this Saturday the 24th, from 5 to 7pm. They will be pouring samples of Backside IPA, Polar Star Pale Ale, and Knock Out Stout, and this would be a great time to meet owner/brewer Darin Butschy and find out more about Bend’s (and Oregon’s!) newest (nano?) brewery—don’t miss it!

Also this weekend is the first-ever Lagerfest taking place in Portland at the White Owl Social Club, on Saturday and Sunday (the 24th and 25th) from 11 to 7 each day. “Over 40 breweries will participate and each will provide their own sophisticated take on the classic lager beer. The twenty dollar entrance fee includes ten free tastings, a Lagerfest beer drinkin’ mug, and one epicly good time! Killer food provided by Eastside Deli and White Owl Social Club!” Tickets for each day are available online here, and they’ve got a taplist posted here. There are some good-looking beers on that list, and I suspect this will be a really fun event, one to definitely hit if you’re in Portland this weekend.

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene) has a new Single Batch series beer out today: Biere de Mars. “Tonight at 6pm we will be releasing our newest Single Batch Beer! The Biere de Mars is a 100% Brettanomyces Fermened Belgian Ale. A hazy golden color, tropical fruit and deep earthy aromas, Biere de Mars will quench your thirst on this hot august night!” 100% Brett-fermented is one I’d definitely like to try!

Are you an Untappd user? If so, you can now unlock a special Mirror Pond badge in conjunction with Bend’s Deschutes Brewery! Here are the details: “Starting [August 19th] and running through September 20th, this badge can be yours. To unlock it simply check-in to a Mirror Pond Pale Ale and share a photo of your beer, so all of your friends can see! Be sure to add the photo when you check-in as post check-in photos won’t count towards the badge.” I don’t have any Mirror Pond on hand so I’ll need to pick some up…