Happy (hoppy!) fresh hop Friday! Yes I just made that up but with this weekend’s fresh hop fests and more today is the perfect day to seek out and drink some fresh hop beers. Here also is the news for this last weekend in September; 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 let me know and I can get that updated as well.

The Portland Fresh Hops Beer Fest kicks off today (Friday) and runs through Saturday at Oaks Amusement Park. Friday’s session runs from 5 to 9pm and then Saturday the Fest goes from noon to 8pm. They are pouring 67 beers from as many breweries, so you will absolutely be able to drink your fill of this year’s hop harvest. Admission is free, cost to drink is $20 (available online) which gets you the glass and eight drink tickets, with additional tickets available for $2 apiece.

Cascade Brewing (Portland) is celebrating the 7th anniversary of their Barrel House this weekend, starting on Friday and running through Sunday. All weekend long they will be pouring special and vintage Cascade ales, including: “Cascade has teamed up with Stumptown Coffee Roasters for Stumptown Bourbonic, a variation of the brewery’s award-winning Bourbonic Plague. Stumptown Bourbonic features imperial spiced porters aged for up to 22 months in bourbon barrels with vanilla beans, then blended with coffee from Stumptown’s Cold Brew division just before packaging. This extremely limited anniversary project offers intense flavors of coffee, chocolate, bourbon and vanilla, with a mild acidity and warming finish.”

And Friday: “There will be a special live barrel tapping on Friday, Sept. 29 at 6pm of T’Art Larrance, a blend of our iconic Kriek and Vlad the Imp Aler projects. Dedicated to Cascade Brewing’s founder, Art Larrance, and his many contributions to the brewing industry, this limited project features sour quad and red ales aged in bourbon and wine barrels with a fresh addition of local cherries. Cheers to Art and many more years of sour beer!”

Friday, 9/29

Monkless Belgian Ales (Bend) is celebrating the one-year anniversary of moving into their 10-barrel brewing space! The party runs from 4 to 8pm: “Help us celebrate our one year anniversary with bratwurst pairings, can blowout deals, live music, and merch giveaways!! Brat Wars: Help us crown the best Monkless beer to pair with a We’re The Würst Bratwurst! $13 gets you a Brat, flight of 4 beers, and a voting card! The winning beer will go on tap at Spoken Moto (We’re the Wurst’s new weekday & Saturday location) so Brat lovers can get the best pairing throughout the week after our party! Live Music via The Cutmen: Jam out to a local eight piece Soul Jazz and Funk band from right here in little ‘ol Bend Oregon 5-8 pm! Shepplekofeggan Can Blowout: 4-packs of our zesty Wit are only $8 (regularly $11) for one night only!! Merch giveaways: Every purchase gets you a ticket into a merchandise raffle at the top of every hour!”

Pints Brewing (Portland) has a fresh hop release on Friday: Fresh & Funky. “It’s that time of year we’ve all been waiting for…fresh hop season! This year we sourced form Willamette Valley Hops and we got some Citra and Mosaic that we added in two different phases. It’s loaded with juicy fresh hop quality and a touch of funk from the Brett. You know fresh is best so join us on the day we tap this unique and limited release brew and savor the most precious qualities of fresh hops.” Now that sounds interesting…

Bailey’s Taproom (Portland) is hosting a “Regional Rumble” on Friday: “The Pacific Northwest is so rich in craft beer culture that you can break it up into different beer sub-regions. With the help of Point Blank Distribution, we’ll pit the Columbia River Gorge against Central Oregon for the debut of the Regional Rumble. Six breweries (pFriem, Double Mountain, Everybody’s, Wild Ride, GoodLife, & Boneyard) and four categories (IPA, Fresh Hop, Light, & Wild Card) make for a 24 tap smackdown to see which region will take home the trophy! Customers will hand in their ballots to vote for their favorite beer in each category which, when tallied, will determine the Regional winner for 2017.” It runs from 5 to 9pm.

McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery (Portland) is hosting a limited edition beer release Friday from 4 to 6pm, featuring two beers: Weiss Crackin’ Weissbier and “That’s a Peach, Hon!” Pale Ale. The latter is brewed with peach puree (though not a NEIPA styled beer).

Roscoe’s in Portland is hosting their 8th annual Fresh Hop Summit this weekend, starting on Friday: “Join Roscoe’s for the 8th Annual Fresh Hop Summit beginning on Friday September 29th at 2PM. There will be great fresh hop beer and cider on tap all weekend! The fresh hop summit will be featuring fresh hop beers in many different styles. Fresh hop beers, cask beers, cider, and sour beer will all be on tap. There will be over 30 fresh hop beers available and rotating throughout the weekend. Many of your favorite breweries will be on tap including Breakside Brewery, Little Beast, Fort George Brewery, Culmination Brewing Company, Gigantic, Deschutes, Laurelwood Public House & Brewery, 54-40 Brewing Co, pFriem Family Brewers, Flat Tail Brewing, and many many more! Taster trays will be available!”

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland) is releasing Abominable Winter Ale on Friday! (Along with a “secret TBA” beer.) “This Friday we release Abominable Winter Ale! Come grab one of the very first pints with our team. In addition to draft, you can now grab Abominable to go 12oz 6-packs. Also, we will release another very special new beer on Friday alongside Abominable. Stay tuned to learn more and we’ll see you Friday.” The release party kicks off at 5pm.

Baerlic Brewing (Portland) is hosting a bottle release in their WoodWorker series on Friday: WoodWorker Harshmellow Mtn 2017: “We are more than pleased to release the 2nd vintage of one of our absolute favorite beers we have ever had the pleasure of making! This is a pretty limited run this year at right about 100 cases, so when its gone its gone…until next year. ABOUT THE BEER: Harshmellow Mountain is a Belgian Blonde Ale aged in a blend of neutral and second use gin oak barrels on Brett Brux and dryhopped with Ella hops right before bottling! It is bursting at the seems with tropical fruit, tart candy and a touch of juniper botanicals in a dry, rustic and almost wine-like beer. We also blend in a bit of fresh beer at packaging with the intention that it will feed the Brett Brux yeast a bit more for some evolution while cellaring. This beer will age beautifully and certain flavors will intensify over time.”

Saturday, 9/30

The Sisters Fresh Hop Festival returns to Village Green Park in Sisters on Saturday starting at noon! 26 breweries will be on hand pouring one or two fresh hop beers each, and the cost to sample is $15 for the glass and 5 tickets, with additional tickets $1 each. I posted the full beer list here, so plan accordingly!

The 2017 Sasquatch Brew Fest is taking place in Eugene on Saturday starting at noon. Dedicated to the memory of Glen Hay Falconer, proceeds from this fest benefit the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation which supports the brewing industry. The $10 entry fee gets you the glass and two tasting tickets for this fest, which is a Eugene favorite. If you’re in town then make sure to check it out.

Portland’s Little Beast Brewing has their first limited seasonal bottle release on Saturday, from noon to 5pm at their brewery: “We’re hosting our first seasonal botlte release of Foeder-Aged Ale w/ Oregon Strawberries. Join us for an afternoon of celebration! We’ll have six beers on tap and bottles for sale.”

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop (Portland) is hosting a cider tasting with Schilling Cider on Saturday from 2 to 4pm.

Saturday in Port Orford, the Port Orford Rotary 5th Annual Oktoberfest is taking place from 6 to 10pm: “Come support Port Orford Rotary and all the great community service projects! Event starts at 6 pm at Port Orford Community Building (421 11th Street). LIVE MUSIC! PHS BAND / Harvest Basket Auction and Raffle! FAMILY FRIENDLY! APPLE PIE CONTEST! $15 per person. (Advance Ticket Includes Full Meal & Commemorative Glass on Entry). Tickets available from any Rotarian, Umpqua Bank & Langlois Market. TICKET INCLUDES: FULL PLATE OF BRATWURST, GERMAN POTATO SALAD, RED CABBAGE, SAUERKRAUT, AND A FRESH PRETZEL. Arch Rock Brewing Beers, Wine, Soft Drinks, and additional portions of German food available.”

Vanguard Brewing (Wilsonville) is celebrating their second anniversary on Saturday: “Come over and help us celebrate our two year anniversary. We’ll be barbecuing burgers and dogs, there will be corn hole and giant jenga to play. Music and entertainment provided by the phenomenal Findlay who will be DJ’ing for us for the night. You won’t want to miss the party!”

Ground Breaker Brewing (Portland) is hosting a Gluten Free Fresh Hop Festival on Saturday from noon to 6pm: “We are excited to host our first ever Gluten Free Fresh Hop Festival. Brewers will be coming and going throughtout the event to answer questions about their brews. While the event is scheduled until 6:00 the fresh hop brews will remain on tap through the night.” Looks like they have a nice lineup that would definitely be worth checking out.

Boardman’s Ordnance Brewing is hosting a Fresh Hop: Grower Meet & Greet at their Wilsonville pub on Saturday: “Come join Ordnance and BC Hop Farms as we celebrate the 2017 fresh hop season and the great collaboration between hop grower and brewery. BC Fresh MJ (Our fresh hop version of FMJ) & Citra Fresh RX (RX). Also try some of our area friend’s fresh hop beer creations too while you are at it. Good people, good drinks, good times! Food available too!” Starts at 4pm.

Widmer Brothers‘ 13th annual Oktoberfest is taking over Pioneer Square in downtown Portland on Saturday! “Portland’s longest running Oktoberfest is bigger than ever at Pioneer Courthouse Square on September 30th featuring musical guests Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Tango Alpha Tango, Melville, The Weather Machine, and Holiday Friends! It’s a beer lover’s paradise with all of your favorite Widmer brews, like Hefeweizen, Upheaval IPA, PDX Pilsner, and introducing specialty small-batch brews you can only sample at Oktoberfest!” Starts at 2pm.

Sunday, 10/1

Bend’s Tumalo Cider Company is participating in “Oktoberfirst” at the Riverhouse Hotel in Bend; the event also lists Wild Ride Brewing and 2 Towns Ciderhouse participating as well. “Sunday, October 1, 2017, from 12-noon to 7:00pm, Currents at the Riverhouse will be hosting its first Oktoberfirst beer fest. Along with some of best Oregon breweries, Chef Stanton will be providing bites influenced from his newly released Fall menu. To top it off, the entire event is FREE to attend! So come on through Currents at the Riverhouse and enjoy a Sunday on the river. Food and Drink specials will be available in the Currents Lounge all evening!”

Culmination Brewing (Portland): Sunday they are tapping their Momentary Lapse Of Reason New England Double IPA: “Come by the taproom and get a taste of Momentary Lapse of Reason. This New England Style Double IPA was brewed and dry hopped with Polaris, Cascade, Citra, Eldorado, & Mandarina Bavaria. Its ABV comes in at 8.4% with a low bitterness of 26 IBU. It is very juicy and easy drinking. This beer can be described with notes of Orange, Citrus, & Dank. Come and enjoy this fresh and before it’s all gone! Enjoy!”

Oregon City’s Bent Shovel Brewing is celebrating their second anniversary on Sunday: “Join us Sunday October 1st for Beer, Food, Raffle and such as we celebrate our 2nd year at Bent Shovel Brewing! We’ll be releasing a special Anniversary beer for the event along with pouring some very special beers from the cellar. We’ll have delicious food for purchase from our friends at Danwei Canting from 2-6pm, prizes throughout the day. We look forward to seeing you all!”