Sometimes we can forget how freakin’ cool it is to have a Deschutes Brewpub in downtown Portland. Not long ago, you’d have to make the three hour trek out to Bend to get your paws on some of the exclusives that are now just a hop, skip, and a jump away. Even better, too, is that now that there are more locations, this means more tasty one-off Deschutes’ brews in general.

This week, as usual, we rolled into Deschutes Portland and were gladdened by the presence of some interesting new brews.

As you are probably aware (seeing as how you’re a beer geek reading this), there’s a lot going on craft beer-wise in Cascadia during the month of March. Really, there’s always a lot going on here. It seems the fun never ends. Here’s three can’t miss events that we recommend you attend for the love of great beer.

March 13 Double Mountain 3rd Anniversary Party

One of Hood River’s top three best breweries, Double Mountain, has been turning heads and captivating palates big time. Now just three years deep in the game, they’re throwing a blow out not to be skipped. Starting at noon on Saturday March 13 and lasting until 11PM, there will be lots of great DM beer, an array of great live music, and delicious food. All this under a heated tent outside of the brewpub. Read more at our earlier post here. We’ll see you there!

Brewpublic interviews Nick Arzner founder and brewer at Block 15 Restaurant & Brewery in the cellar of the old Gazette Times Printing Press where some dynamic barrel-aging is underway.

More from our cellar sampling:

In case you missed it, the Block 15 Restaurant and Brewery in Corvallis, Oregon has been flipping any and all switches when it comes to craft beer. Founder Nick Arzner continues to challenge himself through an ongoing process of designing not only imaginative brews that run the gamut of flavor, but what he’s making is simply delicious.

On Saturday February 27, 2010 Block 15 celebrated their 2nd Anniversary at their downtown brewpub where nearly 400 batches of beer have been brewed to date. With an impressive line-up of at least a dozen (usually more) beers on tap at any given time, Arzner operates on the Belgian brewers creed “Create something new based on age old traditions.” This is not only true of the beers that include high alpha hops behemoths, light session fruit infused pours, and funky farmhouse style wild ales, but it is also indicative of the delectable and sustainable menu options. Pastas, seafoods, salads, all that employ locally harvested ingredients whenever possible. Further, Block 15’s passion for community and art is evident in almost every aspect of the pub. Live music is a regular occurrence here. An ecclectic assortment of zydeco, blues, jazz, funk and blue grass and be felt resonating through the place.

Get your stunt liver primed for this coming Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6. You’re gonna need it. Lucky Lab is hosting the thirteenth annual Barleywine and Big Beer Festival at their NW Quimby brewpub. The spacious setting is the perfect venue for such an event. In the leading city for craft beer, this brewpub isone of Portland, Oregon’s finest.

A recent tour of the cooler thanks to brewer Ben Flerchinger revealed nearly 60 beers waiting to be tapped. More are still on there way. According to the Lab technician, the average alcohol by volume of all these brews is 9.89%. Hot damn!

Check out the New School blog’s preview and picks for this year’s festival. There’s a list of the beers there, too.

The Barleywine and Big Beer Fest will occur at 1945 NW Quimby in Portland, Oregon.

Portsmouth Brewmaster Tod Mott

Recently you may have read the New School Beer Blog’s post about the hype surrounding Russian River’s Pliny the Younger Triple IPA. To some, a highly sought after brew such as this should inevitably lead folks to extreme measures. For others, the hype repels those who believe firmly there are equal if not superior brews available that can be more easily obtained. Regardless of what your stance is on such a topic, there will continue to remain a fervent desire to possess such noteworthy specimens.

Relating to this sort of buzz for the next best beer, Portsmouth Brewery of Portsmouth, New Hampshire is preparing themselves for a whirlwind of beer geeks angling for their dibs on the brewery’s most anticipated brew, Kate the Great. Kate is an imperial stout that brewmaster Tod Mott has been making since his first days with the brewery in 2003. In 2007, Beer Advocate hailed the brew, named for Catherine the Great, a Russian Empress of the 18th Century, as the #2 beer on the planet, and the #1 beer in the United States. Mott, a humble brewer with a masters degree in ceramics, has brewed professionally with Harpoon, Commonwealth, Back Bay Brewing, Quincy Ships (where he was a founding partner) and, most recently, the Tap in Haverhill, where he designed and set up the brewing system. Many of today’s modern brewers in New England can thank Mott for his guidance in brewing and name him as an inspiration to their craft.

Brewpublic was storming the gates when the good folks at Migration Brewing made their official opening on Wednesday February 24, 2010. Right beside us was Portland Beer and Music’s Jason Wallace for the inaugural pours of Widmer’s Collaborator brew, the Hallucinator (Check out Wallace’s site for a nice write up on Migration and an update from Concordia’s Beer Brawl III). According to Migration brewer Mike Branes, the first brew will be coming sometime next week. It will be dubbed MPA (Migration Pale Ale), and promises to be a crisp, hoppy, and aromatic India Pale Ale somewhere in the ballpark of 5.7% ABV. Branes apprenticed at Barley Johns Brew Pub in Minneapolis, Minnesota before moving to Portland, Oregon, and says the inspiration for his first release comes from Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.

The much anticipated official opening of Migration Brewing is finally upon us. The brewpub located on Glisan Street at NE 28th (2828 NE Glisan) will open its doors to the public at 3PM today until midnight. Co-founder Colin Rath says “We have a great selection of beers currently and our MPA (Migration Pale Ale) will grace the handles as of one week from today. We just got a TV for blazer games, the sweet 16, Tour De France and the world cup which is just around the corner.”

Double Mountain, one of the best breweries in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, has just informed us of their third anniversary party (you have to say “par-tay” when it’s this cool).

Double Mountain co-founder Charlie Devereux says “Come on down to Double Mountain and help us celebrate three years of fantastic beers, tasty fare and good times with friends. We pay homage to our great family of fans every March with a big blowout party… It’s our way of saying thanks for supporting us all the year round.”

Another weekend has come and gone. This past one involved Spring-like weather in mid-February, something we are lucky to enjoy here in the Pacific Northwest. The cherry trees blossoming and several others budding made it clear that the coldest and darkest days of winter here are finally behind us. This lends itself to better accessibility to better beer. And, as you might expect, we took full advantage of this golden opportunity.

Friday

Friday kicked off with more of the same fantastic weather that would ensue all weekend long. The perennial crocuses made an appearance to soak up the warm sunshine along with a number of other budding plants that had remained dormant all winter. We enjoyed it the same, opening the glass facing on the screen door to let the warmth of this pseudo-spring in.