Happy Friday, and I hope it’s a good one! Here’s the beer news from around Oregon for August 24th and the weekend. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get it updated.

Cascade Brewing (Portland): Today’s the release day for the bottled Figaro, Cascade’s Northwest-style sour ale, a “strong blond ale barrel aged in fresh Chardonnay barrels for 3 months, then further aged with dried Adriatic white figs and Spanish lemon peel for an additional 6.” Bottles will only be available for sale at the Cascade Brewing Barrel House, the Raccoon Lodge, and at City Beer Store in San Francisco; there’s a 2-bottle per person limit, and the 750ml bottles are $25 each.

Laurelwood Brewing (Portland): Tomorrow, Saturday the 25th, is Laurelwood’s annual Laurelfest, taking place all day from noon to 10pm! (Facebook page) Featuring live music, special beer, wine, and and spirit tastings from 2 to 6, a kids’ bouncy house, mini-golf tournaments, a special BBQ menu, beer, and more, all taking place at their 5115 Sandy Blvd. location. It’s going to be a great time, don’t miss out!

Buckman Botanical Brewery (Portland) (AKA Rogue, located in the Green Dragon) is holding their Great American Nano Festival (Facebook event page) this weekend, the Fest that highlights “small Breweries and Brewers who limit their output to 412 barrels or less per year.” It runs Saturday from noon to 9pm and Sunday from noon to 7pm, and costs $10 admission which includes 5 taster tickets (additional tickets are $1 each). It’s kid friendly, dogs are welcome, and there will be (nano) food carts on hand—not to mention at least 25 nanobreweries featured! I haven’t seen a brewery list but this sounds like a lot of fun. And a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School.

Fresh hop season continues to roll out. Some of the latest items:

• Fort George Brewery (Astoria) is planning on brewing their annual Co-Hoperative Ale on September 4th similarly to Lucky Lab’s Hop Harvest: by inviting folks to drop off their own hops to be used in the beer. “What are you doing with all of those hops?! We want em for our annual Co-Hoperitive Ale. Just drop them off on Tuesday September 4th, or the morning of the 5th. Any variety, on the vine OR picked, we want them! Join us on the patio Wednesday September 5th for a picking party.”
• Golden Valley Brewery (McMinnville) is planning to release their St. Paul Fresh Hop Ale at next Thursday’s release in their Harvest Series of releases.
• Full Sail Brewing (Hood River) has a batch of fresh hop beer going: “Scored a batch of Fresh Perle’s from the hop farm today. And we’re brewing up some Hopfenfrisch Fresh Hop Lager! Added bonus they are Salmon-Safe hops!”
• McMenamins Breweries are gearing up for their annual fresh hop beer, Thundercone: “Here are a few of our brewers, checking out the Cascade hop vines at Sodbuster Farms, in preparation for… THUNDERCONE FRESH HOP ALE. Pouring in mid-September, at all McMenamins locations.”