Happy Monday and I hope you didn’t get smoked out this weekend from the various wildfires around the state (Oregon is apparently on fire right now!). Also a heads-up, this week will be the last of the Oregon beer news posts for a while as I’ll be talking the month of August off (from the daily posts). Lots of things going on next month that will make staying on top of these difficult, so it’s my summer holiday. In the meantime, here’s the news for this Monday, July 23.

Oregon Craft Beer Month continues at all McMenamins Oregon locations, with a different beer special each week of July for $4.75 pints. This week’s beer “theme” is “50/50 Blends (Rubinator, Rubberhead…).” If you’re a fan of doing the blending thing, then hit up your local McMenamins this week and get a good deal on one to toast OCBM.

Belmont Station (Portland): Puckerfest continues today, featuring a rotating lineup of terrific sour beers from a swatch of great breweries. Today in particular, Belmont is featuring “The Culmination of Strange Loop” with Culmination Brewing: “Culmination brew crew members unveil their new side project, Strange Loop Brewing. Culmination will also have something sour on tap for us! Brewers on site 5-8 PM.”

The Oregon Brewers Festival starts this week! The 31st iteration of Oregon’s premier beer fest kicks off on Thursday, July 26, and concludes on Sunday, July 29 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland. “The OBF will serve 80 craft beers from small, traditional, and independent craft breweries located in 10 different states, as well as The Netherlands, and Baja, California. The festival will present more than two dozen different beer styles ranging from Berliner Weisse to Belgians, IPAs to IPLs, pales to Pilsners, and sours to stouts. The vibrant festival will also feature live music all four days with no cover charge, six food booths, a number of beer related vendors, souvenir sales, and homebrew demonstrations.” It gets crowded by the weekend but this is still simply one of the best brewfests going, so plan your week accordingly.

Saturday, July 28, the 3rd annual Kriekfest takes place in Hood River! This cherry beer festival features an impressive lineup of cherry beers and ciders that will be pouring in Hood River Waterfront Park (across from pFriem Family Brewers), plus it’s family friendly. Online sales have ended, but you can still purchase tickets at the gate for $45.

Kriekfest update! The event is being postponed to a later date to be determined, due to the heat advisory hitting Hood River for the weekend: “The welfare and safety of our attendees is our top priority and it is with that in mind with the extreme heat advisory slated for the week of and including the date for the 3rd annual Kreik fest that we have decided to postpone the event. We will let you know when the new dates are ASAP and we will honor all tickets purchased.”

Immersion Brewing (Bend) is having fun with a one-off cask today: “We can’t get enough of the #heat! So we took our #hazy-e and added #habanero for a #fun and #fiery #firkin available tonight only!”

Vanguard Brewing (Wilsonville) has a new beer on tap in time for the heat as well: “New beer! Hella Hefe – German Hefeweizen. ABV 5.1%. ​Wheat – Banana – Clove. Our cloudy, golden-colored Hefeweizen is a traditional Bavarian style beer, brewed with European grain and hops. The German yeast produces notes of banana, bubblegum and clove with a fine crisp finish.”

Chehalem Valley Brewing (Newberg) is a brewery I don’t hear much from so it’s nice to see a new beer update: “Be sure to try our new refreshing summer seasonal Peach Raspberry Ale on tap now before it’s gone!”