Brewpublic will be heading south this weekend to visit the beer hot spots in Eugene and Corvallis. As expected, the weekend here in Beervana promises a slew of great tasting opportunities that you might regret missing out on. Even if you don’t happen to find a keg much hyped Russian River Pliny the Younger before it blows, you might want to seriously consider making it out for the following pours:

Upright Brewing’s Oyster Stout Release Party

As always here in Beervana, the weekend was chock full of wonderful brews to enjoy. For us, we were lucky to also enjoy said brews with great folks who live and breathe craft beer here at craft brewing’s epicenter.

The weekend sometimes starts on Thursday (heck, sometimes it never really ends), and this past one was such a doosie.

One of our favorite beer websites, BeerNews.org, has a detailed report on the latest beer/tragedy over at Widmer Brothers Brewing. A large quantity of the latest imperial IPA from the brewery was lost to an unfortunate power outage. BeerNews points us to various links including Jeff Alworth’s Beervana blog and the Portland Mercury. Here’s the dig:

Widmer confirms that this will be a year-round brew. It uses Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand. Rob Widmer disclosed the reason for dumping the beer on the Beervana blog: “The batch was stuck in the kettle for more than 8 hours. Color development continues, DMS becomes an issue and we’d miss our hop bitterness target. That and the unknown so we didn’t want to fool around.”]

The people have spoken. Here’s what some brewers, beer geeks, and bloggers have to say about the best beers of 2009.

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Sarah Pederson – Owner, Saraveza Bottle Shop & Pasty Tavern. Portland, Oregon.

More Top 5 lists. You gotta love it!

Looks like fellow blogger, Jeff over at Beervana, has posted his own short list of highlights/trends in beer in 2009. Here is our own take on the matter.

Top 5 Oregon Beer Stories of 2009

1. The announcement of 19+ breweries and brewpub opening in Oregon in 2010 (Beer Around Town, Beervana)

2. Representative Ben Cannon’s 1900% beer tax increase fails

Brewpublic’s Quebecer correspondent Marc Demeule recaps a malt-filled weekend in October where he returns to Portland for more of what he loves…craft beer. This time Marc does it fest-style with Brewpublic’s 1st Brewniversary at Saraveza, The Portland Fresh Hop Tastival at Oak’s Park, and the KillerBeerFest at Bailey’s Taproom. We just wonder if he will make it back for the Holiday Ale Fest. Well, there’s always something exciting brewing in Beervana.

Our friend Alison Grayson put this video together from our Brewniversary party at Saraveza.

Brewpublic Brewniversary Party from Brewpublic on Vimeo.

Lately our heads are spinning with new beers expand our palates and old seasonals to revisit. As we welcome fall and the cooler darker days ahead, we’ve got a whole heap of sexy malted tipples to turn us on. With still some warmth in the air during the day and a nip at night to foreshadow the wintry months to come, a heterogeneity of brew species rear their heads for more pleasurable possibilities. This, like all things beer, is even more prevalent in the Pacific Northwest where the cup runneth over.

Here’s a look at some of the best new beers we’ve tried recently and strongly recommend:

Once again it is September and this means the curtain is drawing closed on summer and the hops are ripe for the pickin’. At the Lucky Labrador, the annual Mutt Hops Pickin’ event was underway with a greater turn out than ever before. People from the community and friends of the Lucky Lab hauled in their homegrown bines to share not only in the labor and its fruits, but in an atmosphere of community and friendship at the heart of craft beer.

Folks like Daniel Klug make the event what it is today by showing up and selflessly contributing to an environment that has maintained Lucky Lab as a true public house where house made beer flows to dedicated patrons. Klug, an ornamental iron worker and traditional blacksmith began helping with the picking ceremony eight years ago when his business White Hart Forge was a stone’s throw away from the Hawthorne pub. Today, he works eight miles south of the pub but remains loyal to the semblance of local color that continues to define the event. “It’s as much about the people and the friendships as it is about the beer and the hops” says Klug. Like Klug, Lucky Lab brewer Ben Flerchinger carries much of the same sentiment. “I love it.” he says. “(The picking event) is awesome. It’s a very community-oriented event. People know each other and those who don’t make new friends. It brings the community together.”

July is undoubtedly the most festive month regarding beer in Oregon, as it is most other places in the Northern Hemisphere. The hot weather this week has beckoned us to indulge in the refreshing brewhas like no other time throughout the year. This week, the weekend started a bit early. The Oregon Brewers Guild Dinner kicked off the week of grand brews on Wednesday. We pulled an early shift in pouring to help out, and were reciprocated by receiving the t-shirt/glass/tickets to enjoy the latter half of the wonderful event. From the pouring end, it was great to see the pillars of the Oregon brewing community congregate to celebrate the freedoms that spawn creative and flavorsome brews unlike those from most anywhere else on the planet. Serving folks like Deschutes Brewmaster Larry Sidor, Fifty Fifty Brewmaster Todd Ashman, Beer Valley Brewmaster Pete Ricks, and Oakshire Brewmaster Matt Van Wyk. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. This who’s who event was pretty fun and the only down side of the pouring portion was people asking for samples without providing tickets.  Still, it was a hoot. On the tasting end, the five tickets I received were redeemed for the following brews:

Double Mountain Red Pilsner, Wakonda Sneaker Wave Imperial Pilsner (I was fortunate enough to snag the last pour from this 1/6 barrel keg…very bold), Ram Big Horn Pauliny Pils (from Salem, very nice!), Upright Flora Rustica (some fool from Shelton Brothers import company said Upright was terrible…more reason to distrust importers), and Rogue’s Maierfest lager (very smooth and enjoyable).

On Thurdays, the early weekend proceeded with a stop at Bailey’s Taproom for a Chuckanut meet the brewer special event. Brewer Josh Pfriem and beer guru Jim Parker were on hand to talk beer and share some phenomenal German-style brews from the Bellingham brewery. On hand for the first time in Oregon was a Dunkel, a Marzen, a Kolsch, and a Helles. Chuckanut also had a Dortmunder on tap at the big fest (OBF) on the Waterfront. Legendary Rogue Brewmaster, John Maier was on hand at Baileys during the Chuckanut event. At this point it was obvious the OBF weekend was getting rolling.