This Friday the 15th marks the Ides of March as well as the start of St. Patrick’s Day weekend which is sure to be full of beer and merriment. Much of this news post will be a roundup of the St. Paddy’s events for the weekend, but I’ll do my best to slip other Oregon beer news in there as well. I’ll be updating this throughout the day on Friday, so check back occasionally for your weekend updates.

Friday, Mar. 15

St. Patrick’s Day festivities kick off Friday at a number of places, including:

• McMenamins is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day Across the Land at its larger properties, with three days of Irish Stout, food and drink specials, and live music. These property-wide celebrations are taking place at the Edgefield (Troutdale), Gearhart Hotel (Gearhart), Grand Lodge (Forest Grove), Hotel Oregon (McMinnville), Kennedy School (Portland), and the Old St. Francis School (Bend).
• Kells Irish Festival takes place in Portland at Kells Irish Pub and Kells Brewery, the largest St. Paddy’s fest in Oregon that’s been going on annually since 1991. In addition to food, drink, and music, look for events such as The Smoker (boxing) and The Ride for Gold.
• Silver Moon Brewing (Bend) is hosting its St. Paddy’s 3 Day Extravaganza, with concerts each day as well as the usual beer, food, and merriment.
• Feckin Brewing (Oregon City) has its Irish Craft Ale Festival all three days, with live entertainment including axe throwing and arm wrestling, and pouring dozens of locally-crafted Irish style ales, lagers, and ciders.

The 10th annual Pouring at the Coast brewfest takes place in Seaside this weekend, beginning with a “Brewers B-Ball Tournament” on Friday with the main festival taking place Saturday from noon to 6pm at the Seaside Convention Center. Over 40 breweries are promised to be pouring their wares. Sunday finishes the weekend with a Brewer’s Brunch at 11am. Tickets are available online here.

Portland’s Ecliptic Brewing is releasing its latest, Flamingo Planet Guava Blonde Ale, at its pub on Friday starting at 5pm: “We’re turning the pub into a tropical paradise as we celebrate our newest seasonal beer. Join us for the release of Flamingo Planet Guava Blonde Ale with live music, tiki drinks, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and of course delicious beer!”

Cascade Brewing (Portland) is releasing Tropical Embers on Friday: “A blend made in partnership with our friends @beachwoodblendery, Tropical Embers features sour wheat ale brewed with smoked malt—a tribute to Beachwood’s reputation for renowned BBQ—then aged in oak barrels for up to 18 months with additions of whole pineapple and mango. This limited collaboration project offers a unique combination of wood smoke aroma and tropicalfruit flavor.”

Lookingglass Brewery (Winston) has a collaboration beer release party on Friday: “We had the honor of brewing with the great guys from McKenzie Brewing. We are releasing our collaboration brew this Friday. It is call RiverTime Hazy IPA and it is very much brewer(s) approved!!”

Saturday, Mar. 16

The Bier Stein (Eugene): Its St. Paddy’s celebration takes place over two days, starting Saturday with food specials and an appropriate tap list of Irish reds and stouts. “Corned Beef with Cabbage and Potatoes, Irish stew, and classic Irish beer selections on draft! Stop in for our 2 day St. Patrick’s Day celebration featuring Irish beer styles from some of the best breweries around!”

Alesong Brewing (Eugene) is hosting its Alesong and Friends event on Saturday, starting at 4pm, which sounds like a fun event with great events: “This time around we’re bringing out spirits barrel-aged beers from some of our favorite breweries around the country! We’ll have various offerings from Fremont, Ale Apothecary, Fifty Fifty, Cigar City, The Rare Barrel, Crooked Stave and more. Tickets include 4oz pours of unique and unavailable beers with bus transportation from town to the tasting room and back! The shuttle out to the tasting room will leave from the Hult Center at 3:00PM from 7th St. side of the Hult garage. The event will begin at 4:00PM at the tasting room (for those taking the shuttle as well as anyone working out their own transportation) the event will conclude at 7:00PM when the shuttle will leave, and should arrive back in Eugene by 7:45PM.”

Beergarden (Eugene) has two days of St. Patrick’s celebration with its 4th annual Tunes, Tots and Tankards kicking off on Saturday: “Irish Tunes, Tots, & Tankards: The St. Patric’s Day Party you don’t want to miss! What is more Irish than potatoes, beer, and Celtic music? We will have it all at beergarden. We will be pouring tankards of classic Irish ales, nitros, and American takes on styles like Irish red, stout, and so on. What is a tankard? Why, it is the traditional pub glass of Ireland. Moonlight Jubilee will perform on the patio at 730 on Saturday night, and Kells Bells will be out on Sunday from 4-6pm.”

Sunday, Mar. 17 – St. Patrick’s Day!

St. Paddy’s Day is on Sunday, and you’ll find no shortage of places to celebrate. I won’t even try to list every possibility, but here are a few that have specific events listed:

• The BeerMongers in Portland has a St. Patrick’s Day Open House: “At The BeerMongers we celebrate St Patrick’s Day in Campbell Family Tradition. As a kid I remember my grandparents having an Open House on St Pat’s Day…they would invite friends and family into their home for free food and music. This year we have the bonus of our Portland Timbers playing at 2pm. We will have a FREE food buffet all day long (until the food runs out) prepared by our friend Chef Katherine. There will be FREE live music starting at 6pm! Slainte!”
• Portland’s Look Long Brewing features its Irishish Red Ale and full day: “Irishish Red Ale is back with a Sunday of party times that will make your day-drinking a celebratory mash-up of pizza, live instrumental/DJ music jams, and a delicious, traditional Irish Red. Stop in for the sweet combo of Look Long Brewing, dinner by Woodlawn Coffee and Pastry, and Hugo Bond to get your St Patty’s Day rolling. All ages, as always. Check your email for St Patrick’s Day discounts on beer. Irishish Red goes on at 12, food and music at 4.”
• Bend Brewing Company celebrates all day with food specials and live music throughout the day.
• Boneyard Beer‘s Pub has appropriately-themed menu specials, “Boneyard Bombs” (Nitro Black 13 and whiskey), and limited green merch for sale.
• Oakshire Brewing is pouring its Dry Irish Stout at the Public House and is serving up food specials with afternoon music.

General News

A bunch of breweries have new beers on tap for you; here’s the rundown:

• Culmination (Portland) — Culmodelo: “Our Amber Mexican Lager. 4.9% with notes of European breads, spice, and toasted pecan. A perfect early Spring lager.”
• Boneyard — The Stallion: “The Stallion is a classic NW Style IIPA inspired by a Ween song. Brewed with copious amounts of Amarillo and Simcoe hops, as well as a new experimental variety 9326 from HOPSTEINER.”
• Wayfinder (Portland) — Gravity Guji Coffee Baltic: “Our Gravity Drop imbued with blueberry-forward Ethiopian coffee from Spella Caffé.”
• Baerlic (Portland) — Dream Life Meyer Lemon and Sea Salt Farmhouse Ale: “Dream Life is a Farmhouse ale brewed with @jacobsensaltco Oregon coast sea salt, Meyer lemons and dryhopped with French Triskel hops. A subtle balance of hay, fresh cut spring flowers and sweet citrus lay over a rustic malt bill of doughy wheat and pilsner malt.”
• Ex Novo (Portland) — Paddy Wagon: “Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Paddy Wagon, our take on a traditional Dry Irish Stout is pouring beautifully on nitro at both locations today!”