I mentioned the other night how Rogue is brewing Oregon’s sesquicentennial beer for the 150th birthday of our state coming up on February 14th. In fact, that’s not the only "beer and Oregon’s birthday" thing going on next month—there’s also Zwickelmania.

This President’s Day weekend, dozens of Oregon breweries and brewpubs will open their doors to visitors for the state’s first annual Zwickelmania, a one day event similar to the open houses held by Oregon wineries over Memorial Day and Thanksgiving weekends.
Zwickelmania, hosted by the Oregon Brewers Guild (OBG), is a free statewide event that offers visitors a chance to tour Oregon breweries, meet the brewers and sample their favorite beers – all during Oregon’s Sesquicentennial weekend.

(A "zwickel" is the "sample valve" in the side of a fermenter or barrel, used, naturally enough, to draw samples of the beer for tasting.)

Sounds like a neat statewide effort to promote Oregon beer. Hopefully more breweries (besides Rogue and Deschutes, which I know of) will brew up a Sesquicentennial Ale to go along with it. (I’ll start inquiring.)