Happy Bacchanalia (and the Ides of March) — think of it as the Roman pre-gaming fest to St. Patrick’s Day this Saturday. Here’s the Bacchanalian news in Oregon beer for this Thursday, March 15; as usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted too.

McMenamins Kennedy School (Portland) has its limited-edition beer tasting today from 5 to 7pm, featuring Limey’s “Zest in Show” Lager: “If you’re showing up to the MKC Dog Show with eight (count ’em) kimonos and a Shih Tzu, this beer is for you. Months of training and cold conditioning ensure there will be no Flecks (nor Norwich Terriers) in sight. Citrus zest provides a fun twist, and you’d be wrong not to post this pint in a photo re-enactment of Casablanca. By the way, this beer can bench press 315 pounds!” That’s a colorful description…

Imperial Bottle Shop (Portland): The Division Street location is hosting Stone Circle Cider for a cider tasting tonight from 6 to 8pm: “Stop by to check out Stone Circle Cider from Estacada! We’ll be pouring their Farmhouse Semi-Dry and Sour Cherry ciders on tap. Get an 8 oz pour of both for only $6! We’ll also have bottles of both of those ciders plus their Farmhouse Dry and Sweet ciders for sale.”

Montavilla Brew Works (Portland) is hosting a tasting of Ben’s Barleywine tonight starting at 5pm: “Please join us as we gather together on March 15th to remember and celebrate the life of our old friend, Ben Flerchinger. Barleywine samples will be available for purchase and bottles will be available at a discounted price all day. Come and raise a toast!”

Eugene’s Beergarden and Tap and Growler have their March Madness Blind Hazy IPA taste-off continuing: “Each location will host 8 Hazy IPAs from the region, hand selected by teams comprised of their staff members. Each flight will come with the opportunity to vote on which brews move on to the next stage. The selection criteria for the Hazy IPAs were fresh (hazy IPAs must be served as soon as possible) and between 6% & 8% ABV.” This is only their first week of the blind tasting, so there’s plenty of time to check it out.

And Portland’s Civic Taproom has a similar IPA Madness taking place every Thursday for a few weeks, starting today: “Help us find your favorite IPA! On March 15th we will be tapping eight IPA’s to be tasted blindly and then voted on all weekend. The winners will be announced the following Monday (19th) and will move on to the second round which will start on Thursday the 22nd. The winners from that round will face off in a final round to be tapped on Thursday the 29th and can be voted on until Saturday the 31st. The winner will be announced Monday April 2nd.”

Belmont Station is welcoming BarrelHouse Brewing tonight with a beer tasting and meet the brewers event from 5 to 8pm: “Straight out of Paso Robles, California! The owners of BarrelHouse Brewing will be here with super fresh beer for your enjoyment. While making a wide array of flavors and styles you’re bound to find something you like.”