Here’s the Oregon beer news for Thursday, August 23rd. I’ve got a late start on the news today, so I may only update a handful of times. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get it updated.

Alameda Brewing (Portland): Today is their 16th birthday! Alameda is serving up all their house beers for only $1.60 all day long today, so be sure to swing by and enjoy some beer with them and wish them a very happy birthday!

Deschutes Brewery (Bend) has a great blog post up todaygoing behind-the-scenes of the brewing of this year’s Black Butte XXIV anniversary ale. It definitely reads like a comedy of errors and provides a great glimpse into the brewing process for a specialty beer even for the big brewers. “Almost 600 pounds per brew of figs and dates were diced up and tossed into several 55 gallon plastic buckets. When it came time to dump them in the kettle it required three brewers just to lift the buckets. If it had ended there we wouldn’t have had to break the blender out at the brewer’s meeting. However, as the lucky three were holding the bucket over the kettle door they quickly realized the fruit had no intentions of leaving. It was like getting an enormous can of refried beans to slide out of the can into a pot.”

Coalition Brewing (Portland): This is a development I didn’t know was in the works: “Ask and ye shall receive…Coalition will be releasing its first line of canned beer in a few days! Get ready for Wheat the People in cold, portable, and sustainable 16 oz cans, available next week and the pub and local retailers all over town!”