Here’s the news for Oregon beer for Wednesday, December 14th. We’re halfway through the week! I’ll be updating this page of news throughout the day, so if you have news to share please contact me and I’ll add it.

Full Sail Brewing (Hood River) has big things going on all around: first off, they are expanding their Brewer’s Share program to bottled releases starting in January. The Brewer’s Share series allowed each of their brewers to create a pub-exclusive brew reflecting the individuality of that brewer; for 2012 these small-batch brews will be released in 22-ounce bottles as well as on draft. The line-up of beers will be Extra Special Barney (ESB), Phil’s Existential Alt, Chris’s Summer Delight Berliner Weiss and Big Daddy J’s Malt Liquor. Look for the first of those to be released next month.

Next, their December Brewmaster’s Dinneris taking place tomorrow, the 15th, at their Hood River Pub & Tasting Room. The dinner starts at 5pm and costs $30 per person (a great deal), and features four courses of Christmas-themed dinner paired with great beers—capped by a dessert of Stout Buche de Noel with Whipped Cream paired with 2011 Black Gold Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

And, January also sees the release of LTD 04, a single-malt, single-hop addition to the “LTD” series lineup. This lager is brewed with only pale malt and Willamette hops and is 7% abv; it will be available from January to March. (The LTD series is a small-batch series of lager beers that are released periodically.)

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): Their 8 Malty Nights release party is tonight, celebrating the release of Portland’s only Chanukah beer (“8 Malty Nights” of course, “Lightly hopped with English style hops, this dark brown chocolate rye features a roasted chocolate flavor and a sweet finish”), and they are also featuring the Schmaltz Brewing release of Jewbelation 15, their 15th anniversary beer “brewed with 15 robust malts, 15 unique hops, and weighs in at 15% ABV.” The release party takes place at the Sidebar and kicks off at 6pm, and of course will also feature plenty of Lompoc’s other holiday beers. This one’s not to be missed!

10 Barrel (Bend): Progress on the new 50-barrel brewery is coming along, as evidenced by this (first) silo that is nearing completion, if a bit slow: “The Manufacture told us that is would take 3 days to assemble each Silo. I guess that was a joke because Chris, Jake and I are on our seventh day and it is still not completed.” We all know how projects like that can go—hopefully the next silos will go up much quicker!

Alameda Brewing (Portland) has a Hazelnut Porter on tap that simply sounds delicious: “50 pounds of locally grown, pressed hazelnuts combine with notes of chocolate to create this robust porter. It is a smooth drinking ale that is only available at the pub.”

Upcoming tastings, releases, and “Meet the Brewer” events:

• McMenamins Old St. Francis School (Bend) has a Limited Edition Beer Release tonight starting at 5pm: “The Bad Boy Brown is a bigger version of a brown ale.  Lots of malt flavors with hints of toffee, caramel and just enough hops to balance the sweet malt tones.  On top of all that the ABV sits at just over 7%!  But wait there’s more, the extra special aspect of the Bad Boy, an oak spiral was first charred over open flame and then soaked in some of our Hogshead Whiskey.  This spiral was placed into 1 pony keg of our brown ale and steeped for a couple weeks!” This will be available in the main pub and their Fireside Bar.
• Breakside Brewery (Portland): Tonight is the bottle release of Bourbon Barrel Aztec and Soursop Wheat, their strong ale with chocolate and chiles, and Belgian wheat beer blend aged on soursop fruit, respectively. The release runs from 3 to 6pm and in addition to having bottles available, both beers will be on (limited) tap.
• Migration Brewing (Portland) is releasing an Imperial Stout this Saturday the 17th: Sassy Lass Imperial Stout. The release is from 5 to 8pm but I don’t (yet) see any details on the beer itself.
• Ninkasi (Eugene) is doing a tasting in Medford tonight: “Come and taste Ninkasi Beers tonight at Beerworks on Main Street in Downtown Medford from 5-7pm. Troy will be there pouring beers.”

Happy hours, specials, and cheap pours:

• Cascade Lakes (Redmond): At their Lodge in Bend, every Wednesday is Locals Night from 6 to 10pm, featuring $3.25 pints.
• Occidental Brewing (Portland): Every Wednesday Occidental offers $8 growler fills.
• Silver Moon Brewing (Bend): Their Growler Power Hour continues today featuring Oktoberfest Lager and Hound’s Tooth Amber Ale. The Growler Power Hour runs on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and offers $5 growler fills on the two featured beers.