Happy Hump Day, what’s your beer of choice today? Here’s the news in Oregon beer for Wednesday the 21st of August. 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 updated as well.

Ashland’s Swing Tree Brewing, whom I wrote about in April, is getting close to opening and was featured in an article yesterday in the Ashland Daily Tidings: “With its first official batch of handcrafted brew going into fermentation this week, newly founded Swing Tree Brewing Co. plans to win over thirsty Ashlanders one pint at time, the Overstreets say… Set to open near the end of October, the tap house and brewery is nestled just inside the entrance to Hersey Street Business Park at 300 E. Hersey No. 7.” They also posted updates on their site about the progress of the brewery, and I’m glad to see that an opening is imminent (even if a couple of months away)—with beer going into tanks shortly, it won’t be long before Ashland’s newest brewery is packed with drinkers.

McMenamins Oak Hills Brewpub (Portland) has a limited-edition beer tasting today starting at 4pm, featuring Hellish Habanero Stout: “At first taste you will assume this ale was concocted by Lucifer himself. Far too many Habanero peppers were conditioned for way too long with this hellish style of stout. Thirty pounds of Black malt gives this sinister Ale its jet black look. Lightly hopped, nothing is getting in the way of the most violent pepper available; recommended side dish, a glass of water. Cheers.” (Probably a better recommended side dish would be a “glass of milk”!)

Rat Hole Brewing (Bend) has launched the new website for their new brewpub located in Bend’s Old Mill District in the space formerly occupied by Old Mill Brew Werks. It’s a cleanly designed site, minimal and gets the job done: they have a simple but tasty menu with six beers on tap. Time for a visit!

Fresh hops season is looming, and Oregon brewers are already starting to brew this year’s batch of fresh hop beers! Here are some:

• Deschutes Brewery (Bend) brewed up Fresh Hop Pine Drops IPA last week, possibly the first brewer I’ve seen to start in on the freshies. Not only that, they are apparently also going to be “dry” hopping that beer with fresh Amarillo hops too!
• 10 Barrel (Bend) made a run today, posting a photo of brewmaster Jimmy Seifrit on his way to pick up the hops.
• Double Mountain Brewery (Hood River) had a van load of Perle hops ready to go for Killer Red, one of their annual fresh hop favorites.
• Base Camp Brewing (Portland) today posted: “80lbs of fresh Centennial wet hops going into a single-batch brew of our Belgo Golden. More hop-harvest-celebration brews coming soon, including our In-2-Tents Double Wet Hop Imperial IPL!”
• Old 99 Brewing (Roseburg) is picking “Cascade and Centennial for a fresh-hopped Billy Bad Ass and Infrared,” though I don’t know specifically what types of beers those are.
• Sasquatch Brewing (Portland) has 60 pounds of fresh hops to brew with.

Fort George Brewery (Astoria): Looks like they are all set to release a new canned beer offering, Next Adventure Black IPA, for release in late September. Should be interesting!