Happy Hump Day! Halfway through the week and I know you’re excited for Oregon beer news, so here you go: remember I’ll be updating this periodically throughout the day with the latest news as I find it, so check back often for updates. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that updated too.

Belmont Station (Portland) has an event I’d be all over if I was in Portland: Pumpkin Party and bottle tasting from 5 to 8pm tonight: “Gorge yourself with gourds and celebrate Autumn with us at the Pumpkin Party. We will tap an array of pumpkin selections, including Uinta Punk’n, Southern Tier Pumking, Elysian Imperial Great Pumpkin & Blight Pumpkin Ale (the 9th beer of the Apocalypse series), and maybe more- stay tuned! Curious about the pumpkin brew you haven’t tried? We’ll also have a free tasting in the bottle shop, including Elysian’s Night Owl, Great Pumpkin, and Dark of the Moon Stout, Southern Tier Pumking, Shipyard Pumpkinhead & Smashed Pumpkin, Wasatch Pumpkin Ale, Blue Moon Harvest, Uinta Punk’n, Epic/DC Brau Imperial Pumpkin Porter, Dogfish Head Punk’n, and Buffalo Bills Original Ale, plus Ace and Woodchuck Pumpkin Ciders! Wow, that’s a lot of Pumpkin!”

The Green Dragon (Portland): Tonight they are holding a retirement party for John Heasley, starting at 5pm. If you’re wondering who John Heasley is: “Tonight at 5pm we will be celebrating John Heasley and the Green Dragon Brew Crew’s dedication to the craft of home brewing. John has been the Green Dragon Brew Crew President for 3 years and after brewing over 120 batches on the Buckman Botanical Brewery Nano System he’s decided to retire. We are also celebrating the homebrewers by presenting each club their proceeds for the year and welcoming Rich Hawthorne as the new GDBC president.”

Fort George Brewery (Astoria) is lining up their seasonal schedule of Brewer’s Dinners, with the first coming up on Saturday, October 20th, a Wild Mushroom Harvest Dinner. They are all multi-course meals paired a variety of beers (not just Fort George’s!). “The dinners will be held on Saturdays in the Fort George Lovell Showroom + Taproom.  Dinners start at 6pm and last until 9pm.  Tickets are $65 for one and $120 for a pair.  You can make reservations + pre-order future dinners by calling the Fort George Public House at 503.325-7468, or order online.”

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): This Friday the 5th Lompoc is holding the release party for their Monster Mash Imperial Porter from 4 to 10pm at the Sidebar; a Bourbon Barrel Aged edition of the beer will be available as well; both will be available both in bottles and on draft. “Monster Mash is an imperial porter featuring strong chocolate and roast flavors with a touch of red fruit (8.1% ABV). Bourbon Barrel Aged Monster Mash was brewed in Sept. 2010 and aged for two years in Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels; it has a vanilla aroma with flavors of oak, chocolate and coffee (8.1% ABV).” Free appetizers will be available as well, always a nice touch.