It’s Thirsty Thursday—what’s going to be in your glass today? Perhaps one of many fine beverages pouring at the myriad of events taking place around the state. Here’s the news for October 29; as usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Today at Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider in Portland, beer writer and blogger Jeff Alworth is launching his new book, Cider Made Simple, with a special event starting at 6pm. “I’ll begin by talking about the book and giving an overview of cider’s terrain, including European archetypes as well as modern American expressions. I will be aided in this endeavor by four of the best cider-makers in America who will be in-house with their ciders as examples of this terrain.” A great line-up of cider makers and ciders are highlighted, and with Jeff’s talk and knowledge of the drink it’s going to be a great event. And you should absolutely buy a copy of the book too!

McMenamins Highland Pub (Gresham) has a special beer tasting and meet the brewer tonight starting at 5pm, featuring Headwaters Witbier: “A Witbier to kick off the rainy season. With a mild hint of pumpkin and spices this beer should be a nice break from the standard wheat. Pumpkin in the mash and spices in the hop sack, this beer will only grow on flavor.” This was at The Rams Head yesterday and I completely overlooked the pumpkin addition! A good beer for the fall season.

More cider in Eugene tonight at The Bier Stein, with a tasting with WildCraft Cider Works from 5 to 7pm: “Harvest time has set in, it’s time for another lovely cider tasting event with our local cidery! The love and sweat that goes into pressing and fermenting the (literal) fruits of WildCraft’s labor really shows when it comes out of the tap. We hope you will join us to taste some of the newer flavors of cider, AND sample some of the apples that WildCraft uses in their unique ciders!”

Saraveza (Portland) is hosting a Great Pumpkin tap takeover all day today starting at 11am: “We’ll have the following hand picked pumpkin beers on draft starting at 11am: [Almanac – Pumpkin Sour, Anderson Valley – Pinchy Jeek Barl, Doc’s Draft – Pumpkin Hard Cider, Dogfish Head – Punkin, Southern Tier – Warlock, and Uinta – Jack B Nimble.] Our kitchen is even getting in the mood. They’ll have plenty of perfectly pumpkin pasty, soup, and salad offerings for your enjoyment. I mean, when one of the cooks in the kitchen has a pumpkin tattoo, they’re pretty excited about joining in on the festivities.”

The Platypus Pub (Bend) is hosting Portland’s Base Camp Brewing tonight for a tasting from 6 to 8pm: “Tim Clark from Base Camp Brewing will be here Thursday night to sample out and discuss the beers. We will have a three of their beers on tap: Pilgrimage Saison, Fresh Hop Trailside ESB and a collaboration beer named First Revolution.”

And more cider! The Green Dragon (Portland) is hosting Swift Cider’s Aidan Currie for tonight’s meet the brewer (or cider maker, rather) tonight starting at 5pm. “We’re breaking from the usual Meet The Brewer tradition to introduce you to Aidan Currie of Swift Cider. Think you know ciders? Guess again. Aidan will be here to show you how the burgeoning draft cider movement is challenging expectations and winning converts. Aidan hand crafts all of his ciders from locally grown apples, whole fruit, hops and spices – but no added sugar and no water. The result? Something he calls, “dry, balanced, complex and profoundly quaffable.” Head over to the Green Dragon Thursday evening and find out if he delivers on that promise.”

16 Tons (Eugene): Their Halloween candy pairings and pumpkin beer tapping event rolls on today, and it’s a Jelly Belly day! Here’s the lineup: Pineapple Jelly Beans & Saison, Caramel Corn Jelly Beans & Scotch Ale, Neon Sour Worms & Imperial IPA, and Rootbeer Jelly Beans & Gose. Definitely an interesting selection.