One of McMenamins‘ most popular beers, the raspberry-infused Ruby Ale, is turning 26 on Wednesday the 21st and they are celebrating company wide with a number of specials all day including:

• Pints of Ruby for $2.50 (all locations)
• Bottles to go of Ruby for $4.50 (Oregon only)
• 20% off all Ruby merchandise at shopmcmenamins.com. Hotel gift shops & Hillsdale Pub will have $15 Ruby shirts.
• Ruby-Marinated Chicken Sandwich w/ Herbed Goat Cheese and served with choice of side and a pint of Ruby $12 (without pint, $9.50)
• 15% off all treatments 3/21/12 only at Ruby’s Spas at Edgefield and Grand Lodge; just say “Happy birthday, Ruby!” when making your appointment
• Fun contests and giveaways all day on the main McMenamins Facebook page, as well as individual pub pages

Ruby was first brewed on March 21, 1986 at the Hillsdale Brewery & Public House—the first McMenamins location. As an interesting bit of trivia, Ruby was the 67th batch to be brewed, and apparently the original recipe was extract-based (which makes me wonder how much of those first beers brewed were extract?).

These days it’s all-grain, of course, and brewed with 42 pounds of Oregon raspberries (pureed) in each batch. It’s a light 4.39% abv and is, well, pink. Or pink-ish.

And in addition to the above company-wide events, you might find an individual location doing something special with Ruby as well. Such as:

• The Crystal Ballroom has brewed an “Imperial” Ruby (7.35% abv and presumably doubling up on the raspberry) that will be served as a limited-edition tasting at Lola’s Room and Ringlers from 6 to 8pm.
• The Oak Hills Brewpub has a Vanilla Ruby limited-edition tasting from 4pm on; Ruby brewed with the addition of vanilla beans.

26 years. That’s longer than most craft breweries have been around!