Happy Friday, the last weekend before Thanksgiving! Because next week is the holiday I may be taking some time off from the blog, though I’m not sure yet. In the meantime, here’s the news in Oregon beer for the weekend of November 19th. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news, so check back often. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

Tonight is Silver Moon Brewing‘s grand opening of their new Redmond production brewery as well as their annual “One Beard To Rule Them All” fundraising event, taking place from 6 to 10pm. The night will feature beers and cocktails, live music, food, and of course crazy beard competitions (real and fake) with a portion of the proceeds going to the St. Charles Foundation to aid in prostate cancer prevention and research. It’s going to be a fun evening and I’ll even be there to sell some books!

McMenamins Bagdad Theater (Portland) has their monthly “Reel Beer Series” special beer tasting tonight starting at 5pm, featuring the Edgefield’s Lord Snow Imperial Stout: “Black as a crow, this strong, dark beer was brewed with wintergreen and peppermint candies to give it a hint of the chill of winter, but its massive, thick body and warming strength help to ward that chill off. A huge supporting cast of dark malts- including a hundred and fifty pounds of rolled oats to add a smooth mouthfeel- provide a great depth and complexity of flavor accentuated by the herbal, faintly sweet undertones of wintergreen and peppermint. Grab a pint and bundle up. Winter is coming…”

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is hosting an evening of Double Mountain Brewery “Sours & More” starting at 6pm: “You have the rare opportunity to taste three lovely sour ales from Hood River’s Double Mountain Brewery, plus Hop Lava IPA, Falalala Winter Ale, and Chaos Reigns Imperials Stout on tap! Brewer Kyle Larson and David Alan will be here to schmooze.” Beers include 2014 Devil’s Kriek, 2014 Tahoma Kriek, and Peche Mode, their 2015 Belgian Style Sour Ale with Peaches.

Bend’s Crux Fermentation Project will be at The BeerMongers in Portland today starting at 5pm for the release of Crux’s Tough Love Barrel Aged Imperial Stout: “We’re bringing back the Crux crew to celebrate the release of their delicious barrel aged imperial stout. Tough Love is described as bold but nuanced, a homage of sorts to the traditional Russian Imperial Stouts. Constructed with Dark Roasted Malts, malted rye, and oak-smoked wheat, and then banished for 9 months in Kentucky bourbon barrels. Tough Love is big but smooth with hints of vanilla. Also on draft this night…Sugar Daddy Pale Ale, Farmhouse, Pre Prohibition Lager and, of course, Tough Love. Tough Love bottles to go as well.”

Feckin Irish Brewing (Oregon City) has a bottle release party for an imperial porter kicking off at 5pm today: “Come help us celebrate- the 2015 Top O’ the Feckin Mornin, Imperial milk espresso porter, with notes of Irish Whiskey and vanilla bean will now be available in 22 ouncers (praise the powers that be)! We will also have our number one selling IPA available in bottles as well… Get your Holiday shopping done early at the Feckin taproom.”

Portland’s Ecliptic Brewing has teamed up with Astoria’s Fort George Brewery to brew up a special collaboration, JH² IPA: “Ecliptic and Fort George have more than great beer in common. John Harris and Jack Harris share the same initials and both got their brewing start at McMenamins. These two have teamed up to create JH² IPA. This beer is brewed with Pale malt, Munich malt, and Pinot Noir and Syrah juice giving it a subtle wine taste. Mosaic, Calypso, Simcoe, and Centennial hops add a wonderful hop aroma and flavor to the beer. We are celebrating with a release tour around Portland, with both John and Jack along for the ride! The schedule is as follows:
Saraveza (1004 N Killingsworth St) 4:30pm-5:30pm
Roscoe’s (8105 SE Stark St) 6:00pm-7:00pm
Horse Brass Pub (4534 SE Belmont St) 7:15pm-8:15pm
C Bar (2880 SE Gladstone St) 8:30pm-9:30pm”

Atlas Cider (Bend): Today they are holding the release party for their Cinnamon Pear winter cider from 7 to 11pm at their Old Mill tasting room: “Join us to celebrate the 1st batch of our Cinnamon Pear Winter Seasonal Cider. Enjoy finely crafted songs by acoustic duo “Honey Don’t” while enjoying a pint of our finely crafted pear cider.”

Oregon City Brewing (Oregon City): They are celebrating their first birthday tomorrow, Saturday the 21st, and from 4 to 10pm they are holding the first OCBrewfest: “We’re turning one! Thanks so much for putting up with us and all the support. We owe you big, so here’s what’s in store: BEER: We will have 10 of our own beers on tap and 2+ beers from each Oregon City brewery: Feckin, CoinToss, Portland Cider, Shattered Oak, Bent Shovel, & Drinking Horse. Now is your chance to try all Oregon City breweries under one roof! Golden Tickets get a 1st anniversary .3L Kolsch glass and 5 beer tickets. Almost VIP get 1st anniversary .3L Kolsch glass and 2 beer tickets. One ticket = one fill of the OCBrewfest glass.”