Today’s Oregon beer news starts out with collaborations—no less than three different collaboration beers are either being release or in the works. Exciting! I’ll be updating with additional news throughout the day, so please feel free to send me any items of interest.

Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene) has a couple of things going on today: firstly it’s the release of their collaboration beer with 21st Amendment Brewery, Allies Win the War!, at their Eugene brewery (not to be confused with the Portland release party happening tomorrow). Head down from 4 to 5:30pm to get in on that. Next, they are also doing a “tap takeover” and Meet the Brewer at Eugene’s Bier Stein as part of the collaboration release—starting at 6pm, Allies Win the War! and several other beers will be tapped, including Convenionale, Critical Hit Barleywine, Sleigh’r Dark Double Alt, Hells Bells, and Maiden the Shade.

And speaking of collaborations, Ninkasi is also brewing up a beer with Stone Brewing: Greg Koch twittered a photo of him together with Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi, and there’s Facebook evidence as well. The brew day looks to have been yesterday and joining Stone and Ninkasi was The Alchemist out of Vermont. The beer itself is a “More Brown Than Black IPA” that will benefit victims of Hurricane Irene.

Burnside Brewing and Breakside Brewery (Portland) are releasing their collaboration beer at Spints Alehouse in Portland for their Harvest Ale: the “malty golden ale brewed with 50 lbs of roasted Sauvie Island corn, 10 lbs of roasted New Mexico Hatch chiles, 25 lbs of roasted tomatoes, and lime zest.” The release party is from 5 to 8pm and will also feature Burnside’s new winter ale Permafrost and Breakside’s new Festbier lager, as well as food specials designed to pair with each beer.

GoodLife Brewing (Bend) is less than a week away from releasing their first stout; it has yet to be named and joins the lineup with GoodLife’s three other beers: Mountain Rescue Pale Ale, Sweet As Summer Ale, and Descender IPA.

Results from last night’s dart throw for next year’s Cheers to Belgian Beers fest in Portland are posted, along with the two yeast strains selected: Wyeast 3864 “PC Canadian/Belgian Ale Yeast” and Wyeast 3763 “Roeselare Ale Blend”. Ordinarily only a single yeast is selected but since this year’s win was a tie between Hopworks and Lodgdon, the two strains are available; I guess that means participating breweries get to choose which of the two yeasts to brew with.

The Green Dragon in Portland is hosting a new Brew Crew nano release today at 5pm, for “Black Hop Sun CDA”: “A crisp, clean Cascadian Dark Ale. Carafa and Munich malts lend dark color, light roastiness and a touch of residual sweetness while a smörgåsbord of hops including Nugget, Cascade and Willamette create a perfect balance. Dryhopped with copious amounts of Centennial and Columbus to give it a great aroma that shines through.” The beer is 7.8% abv and has 58 IBUs.

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): This Friday is their release party for their seasonal C-sons Greetings and the Bourbon Barrel-aged Old Tavern Rat (the Don Younger tribute beer) at their Sidebar tasting room. The release party is from 4 to 11pm, and writer John Foyston will also be on-hand to sign bottles of the Old Tavern Rat for which he painted the label.

Oakshire Brewing (Eugene): This Saturday is the official release of Hellshire II, Oakshire’s bourbon barrel-aged Imperial Stout; from noon to 4pm you can stop by their brewery in Eugene with no limit on the number of bottles per person. And, if you’re looking for lunch, they’ll be joined by Oregon Wood Fired Pizza at the Brewery. (Oakshire by itself doesn’t have a pub, it’s a production brewery with a tasting room.)