Here’s the Oregon beer news for Thursday, September 24. The Great American Beer Festival starts today, so with half the beer community in Denver it might be a bit slow, but we’ll soldier on! As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that updated as well.

McMenamins on Broadway (Portland) has a special beer tasting tonight starting at 5pm, featuring School Daze Altbier. I don’t have further details on the beer, likely brewed at the Edgefield (or perhaps Kennedy School) but I do know the Alt is a tasty style (a favorite of mine).

The Bier Stein (Eugene) welcomes Eugene’s Claim 52 Brewing for a Belgian-style beer tasting and cheese flight event tonight starting at 5pm: “Eugene’s own Claim 52 has taken their brewing program on a ride through the Belgian beer-scape, and you can taste a handful of them at this event. In addition, our beer stewards have chosen four cheeses to pair with the flight of four beers, and will be offering bites of each cheese alongside the flight at an affordable price (check back for more details as the date closes in). We hope you will take the trip!” You can check out the beer list on the events page here.

Belmont Station (Portland) is hosting Portland’s Fringe Mead for a meet the maker event tonight from 5 to 7pm: “While many producers treat mead more like a fresh cider or ale, Fringe Mead is set firmly in wine territory. Care is taken to procure the finest varietal and regional honeys, each with their own flavor profile. A common assumption is that meads are quite sweet (and many are), but Fringe Mead is fermented almost dry. This retains the original honey flavor and aroma while leaving just a hint of sweetness. Meet founder Nathan Mattis and learn more about his meads! He will be pouring Sparkling Raspberry and Orange Blossom.”

The Green Dragon (Portland): Their meet the brewer event tonight is featuring Head Brewer Chris Baum of Snipes Mountain Brewery of Washington starting at 5pm: “Located in the heart of Washington’s hop growing region, Snipes Mountain Brewery doesn’t have to go far to find inspiration for its beers. Head Brewer Chris Baum created a line up of brews featuring bright, aromatic hop flavors that showcase the bounty of the Yakima Valley. Come to the Green Dragon this Thursday and join Chris on an adventure in hops.” Beers pouring include Loza Farms Fresh Hop Pale, Paquero Double IPA, Oktoberfest, Chocolate Oatmeal Mild (aged in bourbon barrels).

One Nation Brewing (Portland): This brewery-under-development has run into a naming conflict (presumably with the already-established Natian Brewing, also in Portland) and are renaming the business: “As some of you know we have had to change our operating name because of a current legal conflict. While we feel like in the long run we will work it out, we need to move forward as we are very close to completing the brewery. So while we will be keeping the One Nation brand, we are launching our first brewery in Portland under our new name Grixsen Brewing Company. Grixsen is derived from the family names of our three founding partners and defined as a person of high character and integrity.”

Fresh Hop Watch:

• Leikam Brewing (Portland): Their first fresh hop is out: “Yom Kippur is officially over and our first keg of “I’m Fresh”, this years fresh hop was just delivered to Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom! CSB members, come get your fills while we still have some in the cooler!”
• Pints Brewing (Portland): Fresh hop coming up tomorrow: “It’s Oktoberfest again and tomorrow we’re tapping the last fresh hop beer of the year. It’s time for Oktoberfresh. As always Marzens are known for high quality malt but we are taking it a step further with fresh Crystal hops as well. Get it while you can.”
• 7 Devils Brewing (Coos Bay): They posted 2 days ago about their fresh hop beer: “We just brewed our 2015 Coos Head Co-Hop with 42 pounds of fresh, local, backyard hops! It’ll be ready in a few weeks.”
• PFriem Family Brewers (Hood River): They have a fresh hop pale on tap now: “Our pFriem Fresh Hop Simcoe Pale is ready to delight your tastebuds! Come by the Tasting Room to take in those aromas of bright, ripe melon and fresh citrus and enjoy flavors of black current, berries, and pine. This brew finishes resiny, hoppy and oh so fresh! 5.5%, 35 IBU’s”

Lompoc Brewing (Portland) has a new beer release this weekend: Join us at Sidebar & 5Q this Saturday, 9/26 at 2:30pm for the release of 107st Ryeght Strike Mosaic Rye Pale Ale. Bizzy Gross was the winner of the Best of Show in the Duane Graf Homebrew Competition, and got to brew his recipe at Lompoc. Enjoy the beer, then stay and watch the Timbers v Columbus Crew!”

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland): They have a new pumpkin beer coming out that piques my interest: Udder Madness Pumpkin Milk Porter. “This beer is Udder Madness! Our latest beer on tap is a milk porter, brewed with 150 lbs of pumpkins and a touch of cinnamon. You’ll enjoy this sweet and smooth counterbalance to the crisp fall evenings while you wait for the Great Pumpkin to appear in the pumpkin patch.” Um, yum!

Deluxe Brewing (Albany): New season, new beer! “Fall is here and so is our seasonal Festbier! 3 malts and 3 hops make this fall lager a truly delightful experience, way better than this pumpkin flavored everything everyone is raving about. ;)”