Happy Friday! There are a bunch of things going on this weekend so let’s get right into it for this weekend of December 9. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Let’s start with the festivals: The sixth annual St. Johns Winter Beer Fest in Portland kicks off today (Friday) and runs through the weekend, taking place in the St. Johns neighborhood: “We will be open from noon to midnight Friday and Saturday, and Sunday noon to six P.M. We’re very excited to announce a new venue in the former Central Hotel location (8608 N Lombard) at the Plaza in St Johns! This allows us more capacity, extra bathrooms, and space to stretch out and enjoy the seasonal brews! We are very proud to say a portion of the proceeds go to the St Johns Center for Opportunity!” Glasses are $10 and a 3-ounce taste costs $1.

Saturday is the big day, with Occidental Brewing‘s annual Humbug Lager Fest in Portland taking place from noon to 9pm: “It’s time to celebrate cold weather and lager beers, Occidental Brewing style. Our yearly Humbug Lager Fest will be stocked with lagers from Occidental and other great breweries from Portland and beyond. There will be a wide range of beers, light to dark, easy drinking to strong and bold. The event will take place indoors in our taproom and adjoining spaces which will be decorated with a tree and plenty of festive lights! Admission: $10 will get you a logo taster glass along with six tokens for samples. Samples are 4oz each. If you go through your six tasters and would like more it is $5 for four more additional tokens. If you’ve sampled a beer you really loved we will be pouring full pints as well which will be four tokens. If you bring a can of a non-perishable food item you will recieve one extra token with your initial purchase of glass and tokens!” It is a 21-and-over event only and of course ugly holiday sweaters are encouraged!

In Bend the fourth annual Central Oregon Winter Beer Festival is taking place at GoodLife Brewing from 2 to 9pm. This fundraiser for the Central Oregon Brewers Guild will feature 22 local breweries and cider makers: “COWBF is a showcase for seasonal and specialty beers brewed in celebration of the holiday season. Admission to COWBF will be $10.00 and attendees will receive a commemorative COWBF glass, as well as 4 drink tickets. Each additional ticket will cost $1.00. The festival will be in a heated tent, and there will be food carts available on-site.”

Oakshire Brewing‘s annual Single Batch Festival returns on Saturday the 10th, from noon to 8pm, and features a terrific line-up of single batch beers from a lineup of 32 breweries (plus Oakshire’s of course). The cost is $25 at the door, but if you buy online by today (Friday) you save $5 and pay only $20. Entry gets you the special glass plus five tokens. There will be live music and food carts on-site and this event is kid friendly (but will need a $5 entry pass).

Salem’s Vagabond Brewing is hosting their Winter Ales Fest on Saturday as well, from noon to 10pm. “HO! HO! HO! Come enjoy the release of ous seasonal winter beers and a few special guest beers at our anual Winter Ales Fest! Entry gets a flight of 6 beers and a limited edition Winter Ales glass. $12 presale and $15 at the door, tickets available at Vagabond Brewing and Victory Club.” And some additional beer details: “We’ll be releasing 3 winter ales with special guest winter beers from Santiam Brewing Co., Three Magnets Brewing Co. and ColdFire Brewing Company. Entry includes a limited edition Vagabond Winter Ales glass!”

The Bier Stein (Eugene) welcomes Portland’s Old Town Brewing on Friday for a beer tasting from 5 to 8pm: “Join us to welcome Portland’s Old Town Brewing to… town! We’ll tap up a bunch of their beers and a rep will have free samples, just like a good beer tasting should. The list: Kolsch, Red Ale, IPA, and two more TBA.”

Kells Brewpub (Portland) has a beer release on Friday from 5 to 8pm, featuring their Coffee Porter: “Exciting things are happening this Friday we will be tapping our newist Winter beer and we could not be more exctied! After working with our friends Caffe Umbria to find the perfect brew to ad to our Porter we found a locally sourced single origin Sumatran blend Coffee leading us to a rich and robust Coffee Porter. Kells Coffee Porter 7% A.B.V. 21 I.B.U.s The hefty aroma from this blend lends to the full bodied, smooth nature of this style. a sweet character with notes of chocolate, dark fruits, caramel, and toffee. Perfect from breakfast to dessert, enjoy!”

Tin Bucket (Portland) today has a tap takeover—Tap Them if You Got Them—featuring Corvallis’ Block 15 Brewery going all day long. Here’s the draft list they posted: Fluffhead IPA, Lupulin Gold IPA, 2016 Figgy Pudding, Hoppy Holidays IPA, Ol’ Saint Nick, and Chocoalte Porter.

Cascade Brewing‘s 18th anniversary continues and wraps up this weekend, with specialty tappings and bottles available at both the Barrel House and Raccoon Lodge locations. If you haven’t been yet this week, now’s your chance!

Likewise, Boneyard Beer‘s and Lardo‘s pop-up pub tap takeover wraps up this Saturday, with 13 Boneyard beers on tap and “Keep the Pint” day at both Lardo locations for the final day of the pub.

Uptown Market (Beaverton) is celebrating their fifth anniversary on Saturday the 10th from 2 to 11pm, with three new special release beers, a pig roast, live music, and prizes and giveaways. There will be guest taps and specialty beers from other breweries as well, and they’ve posted that list here. Congrats on five years!

Ecliptic Brewing (Portland): Saturday the 10th is “The Return of the Orange Giant” — their Orange Giant Barleywine release! “On Saturday, Dec. 10th we will release our Orange Giant Barleywine Ale and our Batch No. 3 Barrel-Aged Orange Giant Barleywine Ale with a celebratory tapping and limited bottle release at the pub.” Bottles of Orange Giant and Bourbon Barrel-Aged Orange Giant will be available for sale, and they will even have a limited amount of 2015 Bourbon Barrel-Aged on hand for purchase.

Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters): Their sixth annual vertical tasting dinner of Rudolph’s Imperial Red Ale takes place on Saturday from 3 to 5pm, featuring four courses paired with years 2013-2016 of Rudolph’s. “Join us for our 6th Annual Rudolph’s Imperial Red Vertial Tasting. Four BIG vintages complete with appetizers. Head Chef and Brewer will be tableside talking you through this perfectly paired menu. This is truly a fan favorite. Get your seats while you can. $25/person (gratuity included.) Call 541-549-1963 or sign up in the pub.”

Oregon City Brewing is celebrating their two-year anniversary on Saturday all day: “Come join us for our (slightly belated) second anniversary party! It’s free and will be going on all day Saturday, December 10, and the music will start at 5 pm. We’ve got Poor English, Nicolai Carrera & the Celebrators, and Santiam ready to rock! Plus Olympia Provisions OP Wurst will be cooking up great things, and there’ll probably be a surprise or two. That’s just how we roll! All ages welcome (minors allowed in taproom until 9 pm, and outside all hours). See you there!”

Breakside Brewery (Portland) has their B-Sides bottle release #2 taking place on Saturday at their Milwaukie brewery and taproom: “Breakside is releasing 3 new beers in the B-Sides series this upcoming Saturday Dec 10 at the Milwaukie brewery along with Consummation (pinot barrel sour) $15, Fourth Wave (Coffee Beer Aged in Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels) $12 and Mid Century Modern (Abbey Dark Ale) $11. Unlike the last B-Sides release, we will not be doing this as a ticketed party, but rather we will be releasing the beers during regular hours. The B-Sides that we are releasing this time around are bottle-only, so we will be doing complimentary samples of the bottled beers for anyone who wants to taste before buying.” You’ll probably want to go somewhat early to make sure you get the bottles you want.

On Sunday, Portland’s Imperial Bottle Shop will be hosting Festivus with NW Cider Brokers from 3 to 6pm: “Join Imperial and Northwest Cider Brokers for Festivus, a Seinfeld-themed holiday celebration for the rest of us!!! We’ll be playing Seinfeld episodes, airing our grievances around the Festivus pole, performing feats of strength, and of course pouring a great lineup of cider and beer from NW Cider Brokers. Everyone who purchases a cider/beer from those choices will have a donation to the Human Fund submitted by NW Cider Broker’s on their behalf, and receive an official certificate, and possibly even a black & white cookie. Look to the cookie!!!”

McMenamins Edgefield (Troutdale) has their Lord Snow Imperial Stout tasting going on today (Friday) from 5 to 8pm! (I had incorrectly had it on the calendar for yesterday.)