Four-Fest Saturday, Fresh Hop Releases and More

This week brings us a four-fest Saturday, fresh hop releases and lots more. Here are the craft beer events for the week of September 22nd.

Fresh Hop Pop-Up Beer Fest
11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday Sept. 22- Saturday Sept. 24, Burnside Brewing Co., 701 E. Burnside; Free Entrance. $5 Pints, $3 half Pints. All ages. Cash is best; ATM onsite.
The event sponsored by Portland Beer Week and my friends at Burnside Brewing features an outdoor beer garden, sunny and shaded seating and a rotating daily selection of the finest and freshest hop harvest beers of the season from some of the regions best breweries – eight taps devoted to the latest, dankest fresh hop releases, plus Oktoberfest style street food options in an all-ages environment. Each day will feature at least one brewery tapping this year’s fresh hop beers, so there will be something new every day starting Today with Seattle’s Fremont Brewing.

Thurs. Sept. 22 – Breakside Brewery
Tapping last years ‘Beer of the Year’ as chosen by Willamette Week: ‘Fresh Hop Simcoe IPA’ and ‘Fresh Hop Cascade Wanderlust’ and an uber-fresh 3rd fresh hop beer ‘Tall Guy Citra IPA.’

Friday Sept. 23 – Fort George Brewery + Ecliptic Brewing
Fort George releases Fresh Hop IPA with Amarillos and CoHoprative (mixed fresh hop).Ecliptic Brewing Altair Fresh Hop Pale Ale and run it through a Randall of Grapefruit and Amarillo hops!

Saturday Sept. 24 – Burnside Brewing Co.
The host brewery releases both of their 2016 hop harvest beers ‘Hold the Cone’ a fresh hop Cascade Pale and ‘Keller Couch’ an unfiltered, fresh version of Couch Lager with fresh Sterling hops.

Tolkien Trivia Night Sept. 22
7:30pm Thursday Sept. 22, Lompoc Sidebar, 3901 N Williams Ave.; 21+ only.
Tolkien Trivia Night tests your knowledge of J.R.R. Tolkien’s most popular works and their film adaptations. This multi-round event will feature trivia questions on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson’s film trilogies, and general Middle Earth arcana. Prizes will be awarded to the teams with the highest scores at the end of the night.

Two New Beers at Gigantic
Gigantic Brewing Co. 5224 SE 26th Ave.;
Beer number one is a collabo beer with Toby Munn from The Kernel Brewing: Null Space is a Tiny ISA, coming in at 3.1 percent, brewed with Marris Otter malt and flaked oats and hopped with Mosaic, Simcoe and Centennial hops. Toby is currently on a North American tour and is joining the Gigantic crew for a few days. Beer number two is the return of Gigantic’s much loved fresh hop beer – Sodbusted Simcoe IV: The Goblet of Simcoe. Loaded with all the fresh citrusy, floral, and spicy hopiness only fresh hops can provide. Made with fresh Simcoe hops from Sodbuster Farms in Gervais, OR.

North Bank Beer Week Kickoff Party
5 p.m. Thursday Sept. 22, Kiggins Theater, 1011 Main St, Vancouver, Wash.;
North Bank Beer Week is a celebration of Southwest Washington beer, from North Jetty Brewing at the mouth of the Columbia to Everybody’s Brewing upstream in White Salmon. They’ve banded together for a week of unique and fun beer events at your favorite northside pubs and taprooms everyday through September 30 and twenty local brewers collaborated on a special beer for NBBW. You can try it at Kiggins tonight while watching a short documentary screening of “Brewcouver” on the history of Vancouver beer followed by the feature 1983 classic comedy, “Strange Brew” in which Bob and Doug McKenzie bumble into crazy adventures while trying to save the world from a murderous evil brewmaster. Join your friends from Great Western Malting, plus all the Washington brewers from the north side of the Columbia River (coast to Mount Adams) at Kiggins Theatre tonight. Doors open 5 pm, movie at 6 pm.
(Great Western Malting bought out every seat at Kiggins, just to give them away for charity. Enjoy the collaboration beer or buy a snack. All the money goes into the pot for the Give More 24! ) http://northbankbeerweek.com/events/

McMenamins Thundercone Release
Friday Sept. 23, McMenamins 23^rd Ave. Bottle Shop, 2290 NW Thurman St.;
The McMenamins brewers take their fresh hop beers seriously and for the seventh year, they kicked off their “The Running of the Brewers” where brewers start at Sodbuster Farms in Salem, Ore. in the early morning hours, load their trucks with freshly harvested hops and drive them straight to 22 McMenamins breweries so they can immediately begin their batches of fresh hop beer. The result is Thundercone Fresh Hop Ale in which five pounds of fresh Cascade Hops per barrel were added in three different additions in every batch. These overwhelm Thundercone with an earthy, raw hop decadence that can only come from fresh hops – a greener and more unadulterated flavor and aroma than from dried hops. Thundercone goes on tap Friday at all McMenamins properties including the bottle shop, where it’ll be tapped Friday morning.

#pdxbeergeeks Present “The Mix Tape”
6 p.m. Friday, September 23, Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St.; $10. 21 and over
#pdxbeergeeks meld their two favorite worlds, craft beer and music, in The Mix Tape Series. Each Mix Tape event features invited breweries to make a one-off beer inspired by songs from a chosen artist or band. This time, the inspiration is the Man in Black, the late, great Johnny Cash. Try beers being by Mt. Tabor, McMenamins Wilsonville, Fort George, McMenamins West Linn, 54-40, McMenamins on the Columbia and Rev Nats while Get Rhythm plays the music of Johnny Cash. Featured beers include:
Man in Black CDA
A Beer Named Sue
Folsom Prison Bluesberry Stout
Don’t Take Your Guns To Town
Hurt
Ring of Fire
Cowboy’s Lament Dark Lager

Occidental Oktoberfest
Noon-10 p.m. Saturday Sept. 24, Occidental Brewing Co. , 6635 N. Baltimore Ave., St. Johns; Free admission, $10 for a glass mug and first beer, $4 beers after that. kids welcome but no dogs in the taproom or Wursthaus.
This is a fine fest – one of my favorites – with a great view of the St. Johns bridge, a taplist of Occidental’s fine German-style beers including Kölsch, Altbier, Hefeweizen, Dunkel, Pilsner, Dunkelweizen, Kellerbier and Festbier. Also: live music, and food by Urban German. In fact, the brewery has recently teamed up with Urban German Grill to create Occidental Wursthaus and Saturday is the grand opening.

Buckman Kerns Brewfest
3-10 p.m. Saturday Sept. 24, EastBurn, 1800 E. Burnside St.; Free admission, all ages.
This popular fest features beers from neighborhood breweries – tasters for $1 and pints for $4 – as well as a dunk tank, raffle prizes, live music and games to name just a few attractions. EastBurn has joined with Bridge City Paddle Club to raise money for The Children’s Cancer Association. !Admission is free and it is an all ages event. At 10 p.m., special guest band The Von Howlers will kick off the after party inside the main room of Eastburn.

Hood River Hops
Noon-8 p.m. Sept. 24, Fifth St. & Cascade Ave. downtown Hood River; $15 includes a commemorative mug and 5 tokens; addl. tokens $1 ea. Kids OK until 5 p.m.
Now in its 13th year, this one-day festival features one of the largest fresh-hop beer selections in the nation, showcasing more than 75 varieties from 50 Pacific Northwest breweries – the most breweries ever to be featured at Hood River Hops Fest…also, live music, food and vendors.

Willie Wonka Night
7-11 p.m. Saturday Sept. 24, Growler House, 21319 SW Sherwood Blvd., Sherwood,
Growler House pays tribute to the late, great Gene Wilder with an evening that feature a screening of “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” trivia, candy and a prize for the best Wonka hat.

Saraveza Closes Briefly for Kitchen and Menu Update
3 p.m. Sunday Sept. 25, Saraveza, 1004 N. Killingsworth St.;
One of Portland’s most popular taprooms and bottle shops, will close temporarily after the Packers game on Sunday to revamp kitchen and menu. “It’s exciting to focus on food with the same energy and passion we’ve directed at beer all these years,” says Saraveza publican, Sarah Pederson. “Our customers pay attention to what they eat and drink and it’s important to me that Saraveza is giving them the best of both worlds.”

Led by Chef Dustin Gettmann (pFriem, Pok Pok NY and Meriwethers), Saraveza’s kitchen will announce a new menu in early October. Saraveza will announce its re-open date in early October and host a grand re-opening party on Saturday, October 15th, Saraveza’s 8th anniversary. In the meantime, fret not beer loves: Saraveza’s next door neighbor and sister speakeasy, Bad Habit Room, will open its bar and kitchen from 4pm – 10pm during the closure (except for Thursday, Sept. 29th). And will feature the largest beer garden yet – a combination of Saraveza and Bad Habit Room’s outdoor seating.

Best of Intentions Release Party
4-7 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 27, Migration Brewing, 2828 NE Glisan St.;
Migration’s Best of Intentions Ale is a limited-release fresh hop saison with a big message — a low-carbon-footprint brew made to encourage carbon-conscious, place-based brewing practices. Come toast to the fall harvest and to Oregon’s remarkable environment with this locally-sourced, collaboration between Hopworks Urban Brewery and Migration Brewing Co. A portion of the evening’s proceeds will benefit Oregon Environmental Council’s work to act on climate change.

Cribbage Night
5 p.m. Tuesday, The BeerMongers, 1125 SE Division St.;
Bring your cribbage board and your thirst: Tuesdays are new cribbage night at the Mongers and all levels of players from beginners to grandmasters are welcome.

Gayle IPA Release
Wednesday Sept. 28, Groundbreaker Gastropub, 2030 SE Seventh Ave.;
Ground Breaker Brewing is ensuring that those with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivities don’t miss out on the season’s bounty of fresh hop beers. Every year around this time, the crew at Ground Breaker make the pilgrimage to Goschie Farms to collect hops that are fresh out of the field. This year the journey was the same, but the hops and the beer will be different. In years past, Ground Breaker has showcased a pale ale brewed with Meridian hops. For 2016 they’re rolling out an IPA made with 180 pounds of fresh Crystal hops. Gayle IPA is brimming with Crystal hops and named in honor of longtime Oregon hop grower Gayle Goschie. The Ground Breaker Gastropub will be hosting a Fried Chicken Dinner Wednesday, September 28 to coincide with the release of the beer. Gayle will be distributed in a 22 ounce package and should begin making its way onto store shelves in the first week of October in Oregon and Washington.

Shrimp Boil & Brewers BBQ Sept. 28
4 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 28, Lompoc Fifth Quadrant, 3901 N Williams Ave.
Lompoc is having a Shrimp Boil in the brewery and BBQ specials in the pub when you can get a bowl of shrimp, corn, sausage & potato and a pint of Lompoc beer for only $5, plus the opportunity to hang out with the brewers in the brewery. Or look for BBQ specials on the 5Q restaurant side including pulled beef brisket, baby back ribs and sides such as pepper jack mac, herb mashed red potatoes, succotash and bacon and onion wilted greens.