It’s Tax Day! I hope you have all of your taxes squared away, and hopefully a refund is coming. If not, maybe the beer news for this week will help ease that pain… As usual, I’ll update this post throughout the day with the latest news for this Monday, April 15, so check back from time to time to see the latest.

Belmont Station (Portland) is hosting a Tasting of Gigantic Proportions today with Gigantic Brewing, which will include a new collaboration IPA with Holy Mountain Brewing. “We welcome the good folks from Gigantic brewing for a night of collaborative awesomeness. We will be featuring a tasting of the new seasonal offerings as well as some tasty beverages on draft in our Biercafe. Gigantic will be pouring samples of: The Hustle – Tropical IPA; Corpse Reviver #2 – Cocktail Inspired beer; The Time Warp – Dank IPA; Maximum Comfort – Juicy IPA collaboration w/ Holy Mountain. The bottle shop will also have a limited number of bottles for purchase of the 1st HELLBOY release.”

This Saturday in Hood River, the 6th annual Hard-Pressed Cider Fest returns for a day of cider celebration. “The Hood River Hard-Pressed Cider Fest gives seasoned and novice cider drinkers alike the chance to sample cider from Hood River County’s very own cider makers, as well as a variety of additional Northwest cideries. More than twenty-five cideries will be participating, with more than 50 ciders on tap.” Cost is $15 if you purchase online, or $20 day-of.

The Deschutes Brewery Pubs are holding their annual Sour Fest on Saturday all day long with a lineup of at least six specialty sour ales. “Come in any time on 4/20 and get a sour flight or snifter of your favorite, all the candy, and amazing food specials created by our culinary team!” In addition there is a Boozy Brunch for the fest in Portland (ticketed, $60 per person) starting at 11am, and a Sour Fest class in Bend in the afternoon.

Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene) has been in the news lately for getting into hard seltzers and selling a majority stake to Legacy Breweries Inc., and today announced a brand refresh on its bottled beer lineup, as well as reintroducing Oatis. From the release: “[The brewery] has refreshed the packaging for its bottle beer lineup to match the new brand vision rolled out last year with the introduction of Ninkasi beer in cans. The new packaging coincides with the release of Ninkasi Pilsner and the re-release of Oatis, brought back by popular demand. The redesigned packaging brings a bold, iconic look to the brand. A chevron badge is consistent across all of the packaging. ‘The chevron represents the mountains in our backyard,’ said Sarah Johnson, Ninkasi’s Chief Customer Officer.”

Crux Fermentation Project (Bend) is hosting a [BANISHED] Tasting Experience this Thursday the 18th featuring the release of In the Pocket, a red wine barrel aged imperial saison. “Our second [BANISHED] Series release of the year, In The Pocket is a rustic imperial saison aged in NW red wine barrels brewed with brettanomyces, lambicus & bruxellensis. Wondering what the inspiration behind this beer is and why it’s so misunderstood? Come to our exclusive tasting experience to find out first hand from one of our brewers.” There are three years of variants to sample, and the event starts at 6pm. Cost is $20 and you can purchase at the link.

Bend’s Boneyard Beer has a new beer coming out this Thursday as well: “The newest addition of our STICKY ZWICKEL series is ready to be released this Thursday! STICKY ZWICKEL with POMEGRANATE & RASPBERRIES is a classic kettle sour that is pitched with Lactobacillus in the brew kettle and allowed to naturally sour for approximately 24 hours. When the desired level of tartness is achieved, we then send the wort to fermentation like many of our other ales, with the exception being, a generous addition of pomegranate and raspberry puree added at the beginning of conditioning. The tart base beer and the sweet and sour flavors from the fruit combine to create a crisp, tart refreshing beer reminiscent of a German Berliner Weiss.”