Happy National Pickle Day! Nope, nothing else nominally to do with beer or today’s news other than I am amused by it. Perhaps I’ll run across some Oregon beer and pickle news to share today; nothing on the immediate radar but I will be updating this post throughout the day with news as I find it so you never know—check back from time to time to see!

Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland): Today HUB is releasing the first of its Holiday Beer Series with release parties at all locations starting at 5pm: “On November 14th, we’re kicking off the Holiday season with our first beers of our Holiday Beer Series: Noggin Floggin and Kentucky Christmas. Starting at 5pm we will be tapping both beers at all 3 pubs. A limited batch of bottles will be available for sale at all pubs.” Noggin Floggin is a big, burly barleywine, and Kentucky Christmas is Abominable Winter Ale aged in bourbon barrels. And there will be more coming in the Holiday Beer Series in December.

Caves Bier & Kitchen (Corvallis) is welcoming Portland’s Level Beer for its monthly tasting series tonight from 5 to 7pm: “Join us for our Monthly Tasting series with Level Brewing Company from Portland! The fun runs from 5-7pm November 14th! See you there! We’ll have small plates from our kitchen paired with with four of their awesome beers on tap. A representative from the brewery will be in house to talk all things beer and be able to answer any questions!” You can check out the beers that will be pouring on the Facebook event page here.

McMenamins Thompson Brewery (Salem) has its monthly limited-edition beer tasting tonight from 5 to 7pm, with brewer Jen Kent on hand pouring a specialty beer: Shattered Pumpkin. Kent says: “We are doing the Shattered Pumpkin tonight! It’s a fun twist on an altbier that we brewed up. It’s got pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg blended with a classic altbier malt bill. On tap at 11 when we open and from 5 to 7 you can grab your limited edition beer stamp and grab a brewery tour to boot.” You will definitely want to stop by!

ABV Public House (Hillsboro) is a Speedway Stout night, featuring Alesmith Brewing’s eponymous stout, from 5 to 8pm: “Come celebrate Alesmith’s amazing Speedway Stout in many of its beautiful forms! Tap List:
2018 Celestial Dawn: Modern Times Cold Brew
2016 Hawaiian: Coconut, Vanilla, Ka’u Coffee
2016 Mokasida: Ethiopian Coffee
2017 Nibs ‘n’ Beans: Vanilla, Cocoa Nibs, & Colombian Coffee
2017 Thai: Coffee, Coconut, Ginger, Lime, Lemongrass, & Basil
2017 Vietnamese: Blend of four Vietnamese coffees, known in Vietnam as cà phê sa đá
2018 Barrel-Aged Mexican
And of course the OG Speedway Stout”

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is teaming up with Bend’s Worthy Brewing to give away a special snowboard, the drawing for which will take place on December 31; but the kick off party is tonight: “Worthy Brewing is giving away a Strata IPA branded snowboard from Sno Planks on New Years Eve! Starting on Thursday, November 14th you can enter to win every time you enjoy a pint of Worthy beer. Raffle tickets are also available for $1 each and all proceeds will benefit A Family for Every Child. The kick off party is from 5-7pm and the first 24 patrons to enjoy a Worthy brew, will get to take home a branded pint glass. The final drawing for the snowboard will take place on December 31st at 8pm and you must be present to win. Happy Holidays!” (It appears you can also stop at Worthy Brewing to enter.)

Belmont Station (Portland) is hosting AleSong Brewing this evening for a “Blender’s Circle” pickup and chance to meet owner and blender Matt Van Wyk: “If you are a Blenders Circle member this is your Portland opportunity to pick up your allocation of this quarter’s beers. If you are not a member but have questions or have been meaning to sign up, come down chat with Matt and do it!” There will be four AleSong beers on tap as well as two available in a limited number of bottles. The event runs from 5 to 8pm.

Misty Mountain Brewing (Brookings) recently relocated, and this Friday the 16th is the grand opening of the new location. The new address is 625 Chetco Avenue, Suite 120.

Osmo’s Alehouse (Medford) has new beers on tap: “What’s new? The Honey Nut Brown and an Old School IPA now on tap.”

Stickmen Brewing (Lake Oswego) is expanding and installed new hardware: “Three new tanks! Recently we signed on with 2 more distributors, one in the Bay Area (@geyserbeverage) and another (@bigfootbeverages) to expand our reach in Oregon. We’re proud to grow into these new areas and thank all our great fans for continuing to drink our beer!”

MadCow Brewing (Portland) has its seasonal Nordic Highland Winter Saison on tap: “Inspired by the brisk winter nights on the farm, we created this dark saison with the many shades of winter in mind. It begins with aromas of roasted toffee, with a touch of espresso to back it up. Using a combination of light and dark wheats, in addition to Abbey-style malts you get a medium bodied dark farmhouse ale with roasted notes of dark stone fruit, coffee, molasses, and a hint of cocoa in the background. It has a dry finish and is warming to the palate. It will pair well with any holiday meal.”

Portland’s Ruse Brewing put a special beer on tap this afternoon: “Surprise! We just tapped our 2018 Foeder Aged Sour Blonde Ale with Peaches. This is the one and only keg of this beer that will available until 2019. When it’s gone it’s gone!”

De Garde Brewing (Tillamook) posted an update about new beers available: “We have an addition to our to-go list, with a new favorite… The Blackberry! Beautiful and spicily layered Oregon blackberry character lends some further nuance to the funky and nearly two year old spontaneous base. It is darn delightful. It is delicious. We are also adding a little brother to our Frederiksdal cherry wine demijon; Rancio will now be available by the glass! a multi year aged tart cherry wine that begins its life in glass jars in the Rancio tradition, and is then further aged in Cognac barrels after. Damn good. We are excited to share.”

Evasion Brewing (McMinnville) has a new specialty beer out this week: “We couldn’t be more excited to release YAMHILL PUNCH in 750mL cork and cage this week. An American Wild Ale over a year in the making. Starting as a Millet Saison with Mosaic hops, aged in red and white wine barrels from around the county, aged on Pinot grapes and Riesling juice. Yamhill Punch rested a year in barrels and was finished with foraged blackberries and plums.”