Oregon Craft Beer Month kicks off at SteepleJack Brewing
The 2022 Oregon Craft Beer Month kicks off on Tuesday, February 1st at Portland’s new SteepleJack Brewing. An expanding guide to state-wide events big and small like Zwickelmania, brewery anniversary parties, vertical tasting flights, and dark beer and cask nights are detailed below.
A cautiously optimistic Oregon Brewers Guild is hoping to buoy the industry enough to get through winter. January - February are always an especially rough time for bars and restaurants and this one has been more difficult than ever with the rise of the COVID-19 Omicron variant putting increased pressure on the hospitality industry. Breweries and beer bars are hoping that a February Oregon Craft Beer Month will aid in the recovery, yet are hesitant on how big and bold of celebrations they should be throwing with acute staffing shortages already forcing reduced hours and closures.
Oregon Craft Beer Month moved from July to February in 2020 partly because the annual Zwickelmania event of brewery open-houses and tastings event had become widely popular throughout the state. That event was held virtually in 2021 but will be back in-person this year for it’s 14th year. As in previous years, the event will be held on two separate weekends, highlighting Portland breweries on Saturday, February 19th and then statewide on Saturday, February 26th. However the originally announced kickoff event for OCBM has already been rescheduled, the return of the Central Oregon Winter Beer Fest was planned for Bend, OR on February 5th but because of the surge of Omicron has already been pushed out of February and onto March 5th.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
2/1 - Official Oregon Craft Beer Month Kickoff Party
Portland’s hottest new brewery SteepleJack Beer has gamely stepped up at the last minute to put together an official kickoff event that alludes to the craft beer scene past and present with cask beer, namely 5 gallon pins from 7 Portland breweries. SteepleJack’s church set brewpub has been pouring hand pumped cask beer since day one, and hosted a cask beer seminar & tasting back in August. For the OCBM kickoff they will be featuring $5 pints and $10 burgers and $10 dirty fries on special starting at 11am, and then at 2pm they will tap gravity pour firkins from the following breweries:
Upright Brewing Winter Warmer
Gigantic Brewing IPA (w/ Simcoe hops in the cask)
Great Notion Brewing ESB
Away Days Brewing ESB
Ex Novo Brewing English-style Dark Mild
Modern Times Beer Real Chill italian-style pils
SteepleJack Brewing Chai Tropical Stout (a special version of their Sailor’s Delight Stout)
MORE 2022 OREGON CRAFT BEER MONTH EVENTS:
2/1 - 2/27 Fort George Stout Month
Nineteen unique Fort George Stouts will tap throughout the month, including 4 Matryoshka variations. Come out anytime during February and enjoy a tap list overflowing with dark and delicious beers. More details here.
2/5 Dark Beer Fest @ Valley Public House
The Happy Valley food hall and taproom is highlighting special and rare dark beers from the likes of Block 15, Boneyard, Alesong, Fort George, Reuben’s and Crux (to name a few) from 11am-10pm.
2/11 Labyrinth Forge Brewing Tasting Room Grand Opening
Portland nano brewery Labyrinth Forge is opening a tasting room from the same garage they produce the beers in NE Portland. Come by to taste available beers in a very casual setting with the brewer/owner, buy some to go in 16 or 32oz crowlers, cans or bottles.
2/12 Buoy Beer Love, Lost at Sea Barleywine vertical tasting flights
Astoria, Oregon’s Buoy Beer is pouring vintage flights of their annual Love Lost at Sea barrel-aged barleywine. Taste years 2018 through 2022 with 5x 3oz glass pours for $20 a flight, get your own specialty Sprey Dram glass to take home with the flight included for $25. You can also purchase bottles of the new 2022 barleywine to take home.
2/18 - 2/19 Migration Brewing 12th Anniversary
Portland’s Migration Brewing celebrates 12 years over two days with two beer releases, limited edition merchandise, firkin kegs, and live music. On day 1 of the celebration the party takes place at Migration Williams Pub in N. Portland and on day 2 at their original NE Glisan St. pub. Check out the FB event page for more deets.
2/18 - 2/20 Suttle Lodge Boathouse Winter Beer Festival
A three day Bavarian-inspired outdoor beer festival with 30 craft breweries, beer food + snacks, live music and ALL the cozy winter lodge vibes. Benefitting CASA of Central Oregon. This is an outdoor event at the lakeside lodge in Central Oregon with on-site rooms available, advanced tickets for each day are on sale now.
2/19 PDX Zwickelmania
Portland-area breweries celebrate Zwickelmania a week ahead of the rest of the state with brewery tours and tastings from 12-5pm. This ecent is all about celebrating all things Oregon craft beer, but also celebrates the “zwickel”, which is a German word for the sample port found on fermentation vessels. For years, brewers have participated by opening their brewhouses to the public and offering things such as beer samples right from the zwickel, specialty beer releases, brewery tours, educational talks, food and beer pairings, and meet-the-brewer opportunities.
2/22 Stickmen Brewing Customer Appreciation Day
Join us for our annual Customer Appreciation Day at our Tualatin Beer Hall and Production Brewery! As a thank you for your continued support, all pizzas and all 28 taps (beer, cider, wine) will be 50% off, all day!
2/25 - 2/27 Coin Toss Brewing 6th Anniversary
The Oregon City brewery is planning tons of fun new beer releases and food specials all weekend long.
2/25 Roscoe’s Stout Summit
Rare and vintage stouts on tap.
2/26 Zwickelmania Statewide
On this day all of the non-Portland metro area breweries celebrate Zwickelmania with special tastings and tours from 12-4pm.
“Zwickelmania® is an opportunity for the public to get a sneak peak into brewery operations that they may not normally have access to. You may get to pull a sample right off of barrel-aged cask or meet your favorite Oregon craft brewer,” says Oregon Brewers Guild director Christina LaRue.
