Today is National Cocoa Day, which is tangentially related to beer in that cocoa is sometimes used by brewers—so enjoy a cup of hot cocoa or seek out a chocolate-infused porter or stout to commemorate the day. In the meantime, here’s the news for this December 13, which I’ll be periodically updating throughout the day.

Bailey’s Taproom (Portland) is hosting an evening with Jester King at The Upper Lip tonight from 4 to 8pm: “We’ll be featuring a few limited draught offerings along side several bottles available for on site consumption only. We look forward to seeing you! Draught: 2017 Vague Recollection, 2018 Vague Recollection, Colonel Toby. Bottles: SPON, Raspberry & Cherry, SPON Three Year Blend, Correlation, Meowzah!, Das Wunderkind, Snorkel.” If you missed Jester King at Belmont Station last week, this is a great chance to check out the uber-popular Austin, Texas brewery.

And speaking of Belmont Station, today they are holding Jim Parker Appreciation Day and fundraiser, an Oregon beer industry veteran: “Our good friend and longtime beer industry maven, Jim Parker, is recovering from a stroke and needs our help! On December 13–Jim’s birthday–we will be pouring beers from some of the breweries that Jimmy has been involved with, including Baerlic, Wayfinder and Asher David, with all proceeds from those taps going straight to help Jim with his mounting medical bills. We also will have giant birthday & get well cards for us to sign which we will take to Jim while he’s rehabilitating! Please come and enjoy a pint or two, sign the cards and help one of the most enthusiastic and passionate beer people on the planet!”

Bend’s newest brewery, Spider City Brewing, has a write-up in today’s Bulletin newspaper with a focus on the entirely women-owned aspect of the new operation. “Twin sisters Melanie and Michele Betti and Tammy Treat opened their brewery and taproom without fanfare a week before Thanksgiving. On a recent tour of the 3,150-square-foot facility, the five tanks were filled with beer called Widow Stout, Blonde Ale, Hazy IPA, Zygoballus and Resilience Butte County Proud IPA, a recipe being made by craft brewers to support the victims of the Camp Fire in Northern California. Those 15 barrels are just a sampling of the 22 beers Spider City makes and has on tap. Their business plan calls for the southeast location, self-distribution, $4 and $5 pours, a crowler (32 ounce canned beer) station and a larger-than-needed brewing facility for future expansion, Betti said.”

Wild Ride Brewing (Redmond) will be at The Brown Owl in Bend tonight for a clothes drive and tasting and will bring two new beers: “Wild Ride Brewing will be releasing 2 brand new beers tonight at the Owl as part of our December Clothes Drive initiative! Please bring any extra coats, beanies, thermals, etc. etc. and enjoy the following Wild Ride lineup:
Brain Bucket Imperial IPA
Laughing Face Imperial Coconut Porter (NEW)
Hoppy Pilsner (NEW)
Phoenix of Flanders Barrel Aged Sour Red”

Bend’s Silver Moon Brewing is tapping its fundraising Resilience IPA tonight: “Surprise! We are tapping our #ResilienceIPA tonight during #TriviaNight! We’re supporting those impacted by the Camp Fire by brewing Resilience IPA. We will donate 100% of Resilience sales to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund to help Butte County rebuild its community.”

Sunriver Brewing announced its 2019 limited-release draft IPA lineup, as I reported here. “The two categories released so far are what the brewery is calling the IPA Factory and the Double IPA Factory. The IPA Factory will be composed of a different IPA each month. This will be a range of West Coast, Hazy, Fruited and Brut IPA’s. The new beers from the Double IPA Factory will be released every other month throughout the year.” Each month a new IPA is released for 2019, with DIPA’s dropping every two months.

Modern Times (Portland) has new beer now pouring: “NOW POURING: Sea of Cleverness. We collaborated with the legendary Ruse Brewing team to create this incredibly unique and uncommonly delicious 8.1% DIPA. We started with a grain bill of pilsner malt, spelt, and puffed red rice before generous additions of Mosaic & Nelson hops and Viognier grape must, topped off with a light dry-hopping with Nelson & Galaxy. The end result is an intensely aromatic murk-monster with assertive notes of mango, peach, and tangerine. We are extremely pleased. You can taste the magic for yourself at Belmont (crowlers are a go).”