TGIF! Nothing like the prospect of a cold beer to finish a busy work week! (Unless you work on the weekends, in which case, well… have a beer anyway!) Here’s the Oregon beer news for Friday the 15th and the weekend; as usual I’ll be updating this post periodically throughout the day so check back often for the latest updates. And if you have news to share please contact me and I can get it updated.

The Sisters Wine & Brew Festival is this weekend, starting today and continuing tomorrow (3 to 9pm Friday, 11 to 8pm Saturday) and taking place at the Village Green Park in Sisters (obviously!). There’s a bit more emphasis on the “wine” part of the Fest, with only five breweries and a cidery listed, but it should still be a good time and a beautiful weekend for it; there will also be plenty of food, vendors, and live music to enjoy. Entrance is free and tasting tokens cost $1 each.

PINTS Brewing (Portland) is the guest of honor at the Platypus Pub in Bend tonight, with head brewer Zach Beckwith on hand to talk about his beers and bringing three to pour: the flagship Tavern Ale, Next Generation Strong Ale, and seasonal Green Line Organic Summer IPA. The event is from 6 to 8pm and will be a great introduction of PINTS to Central Oregon!

Deschutes Brewery (Bend): Tomorrow night (Saturday) is their annual Barrel Aged Beer Tasting, one of their premier events featuring excellent small-plate food paired with amazing barrel-aged brews both sour and non. Cost is $45 per person and as of this writing there are still 32 left! This is a fantastic event, one you don’t want to miss if possible!

Portland Beer Beek continues through the weekend with such things as the Middle Ale Fest today which is celebrating the “greatest neighborhood brewpubs” that are “middle aged” (clever) like Lucky Lab, Amnesia, Laurelwood, and so on; and on Sunday the first-ever Portland Beer & Cheese Fest caps the week, taking place at The Commons Brewery from 1 to 6pm. That should be a cool event!

And Medford Beer Week wraps it up this weekend as well, capping their Week most excellently with the Southern Oregon Craft Brew Festival tomorrow in Old Town Medford from noon to 8pm. With 25 breweries pouring some 47 beers, live music, food, and beer-related vendors, this is going to be a great event! It’s 21 and over only, and pricing is: “$14 gets you a commemorative pint glass, program and pencil, other goodies, and 5 tasting tickets. Additional tasting tickets available: five for $5, twelve for $10.”

Belmont Station (Portland) is celebrating their 15th anniversary today (which happens to fit nicely with Portland Beer Week)! As a special treat Corvallis’ Block 15 Brewery brewed a special 15th Anniversary Beer that will be tapped today as part of their celebration: “Brewed by Block 15 this amazing beer is a strong Scottish Ale matured in 15year Pappy Van Winkle Barrels and blended with 11% Oud Bruin aged for 2 years in Bourbon barrels and 11% Oud Bruin aged for 9 months in Bourbon barrels. We’ll tap the 15 on draft at noon so you can get a glass to try it before bottle sales begin at 1PM. Bottles will be limit 2 per person. We cannot guarantee it, but we expect the bottles to last for hours.  From 5 – 8PM Block 15 owner and brewer Nick Arzner will join us as we tap some other great Block 15 beers in our Biercafe, including the Bourbon barrel-aged Pappy’s Dark Strong ale and Super Nebula Imperial Stout.” Big congrats to Belmont Station for 15 years!

The 2012 Oregon Brewers Games takes place tomorrow in Hood River! “The Oregon Brewers Summer Games will be a gathering of brewers, distributors, families and beer fans, centered around a team competition featuring tests of strength and skill. Teams from dozens of breweries and distributorships will compete at events including the Keg Toss, Server Relay Race, Handtruck Obstacle Course and many more. The winning team gets a big trophy and bragging rights for the year.” This is the event that was held for a number of years over at the Pelican Pub & Brewery in Pacific City. It’s taking place tomorrow at the Marina Park in Hood River from noon to 5pm, and besides the games it will be a “festival-style beer concession” with free admission, $5 mugs and $1 beer tastes. Should be a lot of fun.