Here’s the Oregon beer news for Monday, December 12th. We’re now less that two weeks until Christmas! (I hope you’re getting your beer shopping done!) I’ll be updating this news page throughout the day, so feel free to contact me if you have something to share.

Burnside Brewing (Portland): Tonight is their “Bones, Brews and Brown Spirits Dinner” (their very first in-house beer dinner) which blends food, beer, and “brown” spirits like Scotch and Grand Marnier in what looks to be a seven-course dinner with one of the most unique menus I’ve seen. The cost is $75 and there may yet be seats available, but you should contact Molly@BurnsideBrewCo.com to be sure.

Likewise, Deschutes Brewery (Portland Pub) is hosting their Chef’s Challenge Dinner tonight in Portland starting at 6pm; this events teams up Portland’s finest chefs with Deschutes beer and celebrity judges in an “Iron Chef-style” beer and food pairing competition. There’s a $95 fee per ticket to this event, though oddly while the EventBrite page says there are 8 tickets left, it also says the sale has ended and tickets aren’t available for purchase. If you’re interested in this event you should probably contact the Brewery directly.

Bend Brewing (Bend) is closed today for their annual employee holiday party. Don’t worry, they’ll be open again tomorrow and you can get down there to try some of the Sexi Mexi, the collaboration brew between Brewer Tonya Cornett and Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton—I had some this weekend and it’s delicious.

Vertigo Brewing (Hillsboro) has a great holiday deal on growlers through the end of the year: “From tomorrow through the end of the year we will be having a growler sale. ANY 1/2 gallon fill for only $8.00! This includes Friar Gone Wild and Arctic Blast Vanilla Porter. Sure to make any holiday party all that much merrier. Our dock sales hours are weekdays from 4:00 – 6:30 and Saturdays from 9:00 – 3:00.” You can’t pass up deals like that!

Coalition Brewing (Portland) is giving away free malt in conjunction with their latest release, a CDA: “Hey Homebrewers…who like free malt? Tomorrow we release our brand new CDA “Apollo Creed”. It was brewed in collaboration with Briess Malting with their new Midnight Wheat malt. We wil be giving away a pound of midnight wheat to the first 10 people to come in and ask for it. Use it in your next batch of beer! Apollo Creed goes on tap at 3 pm!” That’s tomorrow, Tuesday the 13th that this is going on.

Seven Brides Brewing (Silverton) is are also offering growler deals in conjunction with a local food drive: “Want to help out a great cause, and get a little something for yourself at the same time??? From now until Christmas, bring in 6 cans of non-perishable food for the Silverton Fireman’s Annual Food Drive and get $6 off your growler fill!” Seven Brides fills growlers for $12 (they sell the new growler for $20 if you don’t already have one) so this is a great deal—basically $6 growlers. Plus you’re helping out a great cause for Christmas.