Happy Friday! I hope you’re ready for the weekend as well as for the month of December to start tomorrow, because that means it’s Christmas music and winter/holiday beers all month long! While you cringe at that thought, reach for a beer instead and read the Oregon beer news for this weekend. I won’t be online to update this as I normally do, but this should be a good snapshot of the various things to know for the weekend. And of course, always feel free to contact me with any news or information.

Friday, Nov. 30

The Bier Stein (Eugene) is hosting Garden Path Fermentation, the Washington brewery project hitting Oregon for the first time, with a tasting and meet the owners event from 5 to 8pm: “Garden Path Fermentation Project is the creation of Ron & Amber Extract (formerly of Jester King Brewing). On Friday, November 30th they will be making the trip down from Skagit Valley, WA to taste their brews with us. With a focus on local ingredients, the couple has created a house flavor that includes subtlety, nuance, and balance in every concoction. We will have cheese flights available to pair with the beer, and you can chat with Amber and Ron about their products and the pairings from 5-8pm.”

The BeerMongers (Portland) welcomes Drake’s Brewing for a Drake’s fun night from 5 to 8pm: “We love Drake’s. They send beers to our little town on the occasion and we’re happy to provide a venue for them. Taplist…
2018 Santa’s Brass-Barrel Aged Blended Barleywine 14.8% ABV
Cult of Sun-Sour Blonde with Yuzu and Buddha’s Hand 5.4% ABV
Brut IPA-Ultra Dry 7% ABV”

The Holiday Ale Festival continues through the weekend in downtown Portland, bringing over 50 specialty winter beers, many brewed just for this event, to Portland’s Living Room—Pioneer Courthouse Square. The fest runs through Sunday, 11 to 9pm most days except for Sunday which will be 11 to 5pm.

Cascade Brewing (Portland) has a new beer dropping at both its locations: “Releasing Cocoa Rojo on draft-only [Friday] at both pubs! Cocoa Rojo is a new blend of sour red ales aged in oak barrels for up to 24 months with pure liquid cocao, dried elderberries and spices. This specialty project features flavors of dark chocolate, raisins, dried figs and hint of baking spices.”

The Upper Lip at Bailey’s Taproom continues its Dark Days Pastry Stout celebration, with Friday’s theme of “spice” invoking the following beers: Fremont Dark Star: Spice Wars, Fort George All Seeing Pie, Deschutes Black Butte XXIX, and Prairie Christmas BOMB.

Saturday, Dec. 1

Portland Cider Company hosts its annual Wassail Holiday Party all day Saturday at its Clackamas cidery: “Our annual Holiday Wassail is a night not to miss! Morris dancers, a toasting of the trees, caroling & live music, and more festive fun. Features the release of our fan favorite Santa’s Sauce with some extra SAUCE – an imperial version for our first ever IMPERIAL SANTA’S SAUCE, a delightfully toasty, winter spiced cider. Plus two taproom releases: FRUIT & SPICE, a marionberry rhubarb cider infused with juniper & spices, and SUGAR PLUM FAIRY, a plum & honey cider. And of course we’ll have our popular HOT MULLED CIDER ready for the masses! Our favorite event of this year, we’ve moved to Saturday to keep the fun going longer! NEW for 2018: A kids area complete with bouncy house, Santa’s visiting from 12-4pm & hot apple juice.”

And McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop will be hosting a Portland Cider tasting from 2 to 4pm, so if you can’t get to Clackamas then head over to Northwest Portland to try some of the ciders.

Later that day, the 23rd Ave. Bottle Shop hosts Sisters’ Three Creeks Brewing for a Barrel-Aged Stampede Strong Ale Night: “Three Creeks is coming back to the Bottle Shop for a side-by-side sampling of two vintages of their Barrel-Aged Stampede Strong Ale. If we’re lucky, they’ll have a few other tasty treats for us to try. Rye Whiskey Barrel-Aged Stampede Strong Ale: This award winning Strong Ale was aged for a year in Rye Whiskey barrels, delivering dark, plum-like malt flavors with notes of oak, spice and vanilla! Don’t get run over!” That runs from 6 to 8pm.

Baerlic Brewing (Portland) is hosting its annual WoodWorker Holiday Market on Saturday from 11 to 6pm: “The WoodWorker Holiday Market is a celebration of all things inspired, made and evolving from nature’s most honest material—wood. From furniture to housewares; syrups to aged cheeses; jewelry to pizza; coffee to beer, wood has inspired scores of artisan makers in and around Portland. This is a celebration of them. A few times a year, we design and brew beers destined to lead double lives—first as a brewery fresh beer and second as a beer that will aged in oak barrels for months or years at a time. This working of the wood, the evolution of liquid and solid, is the foundation for our ongoing WoodWorker Beer Series and the inspiration for The WoodWorker Holiday Market.”

Great Notion Brewing (Portland) is releasing cans of its Double Stack at its Northwest Portland location from noon to 1:30pm: “Saturday Can release! Double Stack, our Imperial Breakfast Stout, fermented with an irresponsible amount of maple syrup & aged on whole bean Sumatra from @clutchcoffeepdx . Saturday December 1st at 2444 NW 28th 12-1:30pm! We canned up a double batch for y’all this time to share over the holidays!”

Block 15 Brewery (Corvallis): Saturday is a big release day at Block 15. First, the new seasonal IPA, Fresh Pow, will be released in cans at both locations: “Fresh Pow is a winter IPA featuring resinous, citrusy, and tropical American and New Zealand hop varietals alongside a warm malt base designed to balance this wintry hop experience. Brewed in cooperation with Ashland artist Chris Herbst, Fresh Pow will be brewed often and released fresh throughout the winter.”

Then, Block 15 has its December packaged beer release at the Tap Room starting at 11:30am: “Join us at our Tap Room on Saturday, December 1, for the release of Hoppy Holidays in 16oz cans alongside Hypnosis and Turbulent Consequence, Huckleberry in 500mL bottles. Packaged beer will be available to purchase when the Tap Room doors open at 11:30am.” Hoppy Holidays is its Imperial IPA with citrus and spruce tips; Hypnosis is a Barleywine matured in cognac barrels; and Turbulent Consequence, Huckleberry is spontaneously fermented with, well, huckleberries. Check the Facebook event page for prices and limits on each.

Belmont Station (Portland) is hosting a special tapping with Drake’s Brewing and a meet the maker event: “Meet the Barrel Program Manager for Drake’s Brewing, Travis Camacho, who is in town for the Holiday Ale Festival. Each year, Travis works with HAF director Preston Weesner to create their collaborative Vin Drakonic Grape Fermented Imperial Stout. We’re lucky enough to get one of those kegs, plus we will be putting their Brut IPA and Denogginizer DIPA on tap too!” Note, it takes place from 2 to 5pm in the afternoon.

10 Barrel Brewing‘s Portland Pub is preparing for its upcoming Pearl Ball event, and on Saturday the brewpub is releasing Black Pearl CDA: “Swing by the pub this Saturday at 4PM for the second Pearl Ball release. The first 50 people to order a Black Pearl IPA will receive a “golden ticket” for a discounted ticket to our annual Pearl Ball holiday party. Get here early to snag one of our Pearl Ball signature IPA glasses (first 15 Black Pearl orders).”

Saturday is the final day for the Dark Days Pastry Stout event at The Upper Lip in Portland, and “vanilla” is the theme du jour, with these beers pouring: Ballast Point High West BBL Victory At Sea, Barrelhouse Curly Wolf, Perennial Abraxas, and The Bruery Share This: OC.

General News

Sunriver Brewing is at Lardo Sandwiches in Portland all weekend long—through Wednesday in fact—for a pop-up pub tap takeover. Don’t forget to check it out.