Beannachtaí na Féile Padraig Ort! It’s St. Patrick’s Day this weekend so that of course means Irish-themed beer and everything green! With that in mind, here’s the roundup of news and events in Oregon beer for this St. Paddy’s Day weekend. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news, so check back occasionally. And if you have news to share, please let me know and I can get that updated too. Sláinte!

Friday, Mar. 16

Portland’s Kells Brewery kicks off the weekend with two festivals: the 27th annual St. Patrick’s Irish Festival and the 2nd annual Irish Beer Festival. The longer-running Irish Festival celebrates Irish heritage with traditional food and drink, music, and dancing, and spans four locations: “inside the original downtown Kells Irish Pub at 112 SW 2nd Ave.; in a festival tent located in the parking lot directly behind the pub; at Kells Brewery at 210 NW 21st Ave.; and in a festival tent located in the parking lot adjacent to the brewery.” The Irish Beer Festival will occupy the tent at the brewery on NW 21st Street so fest-goers can travel between the two. A number of Northwest breweries, and two from Ireland, will be pouring Irish-styled beers and ciders. Cost: “General admission, which includes a souvenir festival glass and seven tokens, will cost $10 for Friday between Noon and 5pm; $20 for Friday from 5pm to 1pm; and $20 all day Saturday. Most beers will cost one token for a taste or five tokens for a full glass; both ciders and select beers will cost additional tokens.” Cheers!

McMenamins also kicks off its weekend-long St. Patrick’s Day across the land at all locations on Friday. Look for Irish Stout, food specials, Devil’s Bit Whiskey, live music, and more. The locations hosting multi-day events are the Old Church in Wilsonville, the Gearhart Hotel, the Edgefield, the Grand Lodge, Old St. Francis School, Hotel Oregon, and Kennedy School.

Bend’s Broken Top Bottle Shop is hosting Ancestry Brewing for a beer tasting on Friday from 5 to 7pm: “Ancestry Brewing will be pouring samples from 5-7pm at Broken Top Bottle Shop! We will have Ancestry Porter and Tiny Umbrellas IPA on tap for the evening. Come for the brews, stay for the live music performance by Stacie Lynn Johnson starting at 7.”

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is hosting GoodLife Brewing Friday evening for the can release of Comatose Imperial IPA and a Bike Raffle Kick Off Party: “GoodLife Brewing is releasing their heavy-hitting “Comatose” Imperial IPA in cans! To celebrate this momentous occasion we will have Comatose, Sweet As! Pacific Pale, Secret Stash Hazy IPA, and Puffy Coat Porter on tap all day and the fine folks from GoodLife will be handing out samples from 5-8pm. Not only will there be plenty of GoodLife swag to raffle off throughout the night, you will also have the opportunity to enter to win a cruiser bike! The bike will be raffled off on April 13th at 8pm and you must be present to win! Tickets are $1 each or 8 tickets for $5. You can also acquire tickets by simply enjoying a GoodLife beer anytime from March 16th – April 13th! All proceeds from the raffle tickets will be donated to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.”

Belmont Station is unveiling the renovated Biercafe on Friday! “Our Biercafe has undergone some updating (including 10 more taps!) and a little TLC over the last handful of weeks, and we are excited to show it off. We will have a stellar draft list, and, as always, great company. Come check out out new biercafe any time, but we’d love it if you’d join us around 5:30 p.m. on Friday March 16 as we “christen” the new bar — and help us raise a pint to a new and improved Biercafe!”

Draper Brewing in Roseburg has live music and a stout release on Friday, the return of its Shillelagh Stout in time for the holiday.

Saraveza (Portland) is hosting BarrelHouse Brewing on Friday, from 5 to 9pm: “Come and meet the awesome folks from BarrelHouse Brewing Company! We’ll have 4 of their beers on tap including their IPA, Juicy IPA, Mango IPA, and Othello. We’ll also have plenty of bottles you can take home with you. Come say hi, have amazing beer, and welcome Barrelhouse to town.” BarrelHouse has been making the rounds in Portland this week.

Saturday, Mar. 17 – St. Patrick’s Day

The ninth annual Pouring at the Coast beer festival returns to Seaside on Saturday, taking place at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. With more than 30 breweries pouring over 30 beers, this fest featues a nice selection of coastal and western Oregon breweries. It runs from 3 to 8pm and you can buy tickets online here.

Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River is celebrating its 11th anniversary on Saturday! With a tented outdoor block party, live music, specialty beers, and more, it’s sure to be a great time for only $5 admission. Additionally, Double Moutnain is releasing Eleven, a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine in bottles. Cheers to more than a decade of great brewing!

McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop (Portland), in addition to the St. Paddy’s Day festivities, is hosting a beer tasting for Bad Luck to The Rolling Water, described as, “Our Dying Embers Smoked Imperial Stout transformed into a sea shanty inside of an American Oak Three Rocks Rum Barrel!” It runs from 2 to 4pm.

Portland’s Baerlic Brewing is conducting its Baerlic Beer School, with an intro to how beer is made: “This one-hour class offers participants an introduction to brewing, fermenting and cellaring beer. Attendees will be force fed as much beer knowledge as we can cram into 1 hour. You’ll learn about the four main brewing ingredients (and a proprietary 5th ingredient) and complete the class with a guided taster flight to fully wake up your beer sensors. By the time we’re done with ya, you’ll be a Grade A Baerlic BS’er! All classes are the 3rd Saturday of every month from 12p-1p. Cost: $20 per person.”

General St. Paddy’s Day events are taking place all over, and while I can’t into detail about every single one, here’s a rundown of the events for the day that I’ve come across:

• Ancestry Brewing, Tualatin, all day long
• 7 Devils Brewing, Coos Bay, all day specials and music 5 to 8pm
• Deschutes Brewery, Bend, live music in the evening, food specials and Irish Stout
• The Bier Stein, Eugene, all day long
• Three Mugs Brewing, Hillsboro, starting at 6pm
• Calapooia Brewing, Albany, specials and music after 4pm
• Vagabond and ColdFire in Albany at Vagabond Outpost, starting at 5pm
• Silver Falls Brewery, live music and specials

Sunday, Mar. 18

Immersion Brewing (Bend): From 2 to 4pm Sunday, the brewery’s Firkin for a Cause is benefiting the Deschutes Land Trust, with proceeds from the special firkin sales. “The Land Trust is Immersion Brewing’s Firkin for a Cause designated beneficiary in March! Join us on Sunday, March 18th for great beer for a cause. Immersion Brewing will donate all the proceeds from the firkin that day to the Land Trust. What is a firkin? It is a special, small-batch beer that has to be tapped and finished in one day. The firkin itself is a type of keg that cask conditions beer.”