Happy Monday! I hope your Thanksgiving was stellar, and you’re now ready to tackle December, which starts tomorrow! Here’s the news in Oregon beer for the last day of the month, November 30. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news as I find it, so check back often. And if you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that posted as well.

The big event this week is the Holiday Ale Festival taking place in Portland from Wednesday the 2nd through Sunday the 6th! As always it is taking place in Pioneer Courthouse Square downtown, where they will be serving up a great list of winter and holiday beers. Price is a bit steep(er) this year—$35 for general admission, which gets you the commemorative glass and 12 tasting tickets, but you can re-enter at no extra cost all weekend (as long as you have the wristband). And as a bonus—this year there is a Writer’s Table where a number of Oregon beer authors (myself included!) will be on hand at various times throughout the Fest, selling and signing books! Make sure to check it out while you’re enjoying those great winter beers.

And this week during the HAF, both Portland’s Lardo locations will be hosting Baker City’s Barley Brown’s and Corvallis’ Block 15 Brewery for total tap takeovers of their respective beers for a week. Barley Brown’s will be at the east location and have 15 beers on tap along with swag to sell, and Block 15 will be “featuring daily surprise taps from our Cellar Stash program as well as some of our most popular year-round beers.” Should be a good week at the Lardos.

Lompoc Brewing (Portland): Tonight is their Holiday Beer Extravaganza featuring the release of a staggering eight beers at their Sidebar from 4 to 10pm. “Join us on Monday, Nov. 30 at Sidebar from 4-11pm for our annual Holiday Beer Extravaganza, where we’ll be releasing 8 different holiday beers, including Brewdolph, 8 Malty Nights, Jolly Bock, C-Sons Greetings, Cherry Christmas, Whores & Amateurs, Old Tavern Rat & Blitzen. Holiday beers will be tapped at all Lompoc pubs beginning December 2. Preserve Holiday Cheer With Lompoc Beer!”

The Commons Brewery (Portland): They are celebrating their fourth anniversary this week, on Thursday, December 3rd, taking place all day from when they open at noon. “We hope you can join us to celebrate our birthday in our Tasting Room on SE Belmont. Throughout the day we’ll debut some new limited release beers as well as have beers on tap from our cellar. There will be cheese pairing specials and maybe even some special bottles too!”