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(Oregon City, OR) - Quick update on the FredFest 2008 auction hosted by Liquid Solutions going on this weekend. We are at the halfway point on the auctions and the Midnight Sun Brewing lot pictured above leads with a $300 bid placed by Jimbowood. The Hair of the Dog Dave bottles, which were brewed 14 years ago, are going for $175 to $200 apiece. Will any of these auctions hit $500?

(Oregon City, OR) - Online beer retailer, Liquid Solutions, is in charge of running what will go down as one of the biggest beer auctions of the year. All proceeds from the Fredfest 2008 auction will go to Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon in honor of the late beer writer, Michael Jackson. The event started as a surprise birthday for Fred Eckhardt, the Dean of American Beer Writers (link?), according to OregonLive’s John Foylston. Highlighting the auctions are some truly special beers including three bottles of the elusive Hair of the Dog Dave, now the #2-rated beer in the world on RateBeer. Some of the other bottles involved:

There is a lot more up for bid from various breweries. Bidding starts on Friday afternoon and ends on Sunday. See the official website for more information.

The Beeryard, based in Pennsylvania, reported two interesting tidbits recently. First, Victory Brewing just completed renovations that it began back in February and is set to re-open the restaurant this Wednesday morning, May 7. Additionally, fellow Pennsylvania brewery, Weyerbacher, will be starting a super-limited production of a series of “Brewers Choice” beers that will be available at the brewery during Saturday tours. The first release will be a Belgian Pale Ale in mid-May. Each beer in the series will be limited to 50-60 cases.

Hair of the Dog Fred Fest 2008 will be taking place this upcoming Saturday, May 10 from 2pm to 6pm. Tickets are $50 (according to the brewery website but $20 or $25 at Ratebeer, hmm) for the event which features 16 breweries on tap. The tap list can be found at the RateBeer event page. Some of the highlights are Hair of the Dog Cask Fred and Deschutes Coffee infused 20K Imperial Bourbon Porter. Additionally, there is both a silent auction and an online auction associated with the event in which breweries contibute some rare bottles out of their collections. In honor of Michael Jackson, Hair of the Dog will donate proceeds to Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon.

The St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival begins on Friday (technically Thursday because of a beer dinner) and is a three (or four) day event. 60 beers will be available from area brewers, including the likes of O’Fallon and Schlafly. Click over to the official site for more details.

Captain Lawrence Brewing will be holding its 2nd Anniversary Party next Saturday, May 17 from noon-6pm. Tickets are $20 per person. More info here.

Lastly, Avery Brewing will be holding another Maharaja Double IPA release party this Friday from 4 to 7pm. Tickets are $10 apiece. More info is available at the website.

(Copenhagen, Denmark) - Mikkeller joins the foray of recent breweries to auction off beer for charity. Mikkeller has produced a special 40-bottle batch of its X Imperial Stout for Ølbutikken, a popular craft beer store in Denmark, which will be auctioning the beers over the next two weeks on its official website. The beer was aged in sherry casks for eight months and each bottle appears to be individually numbered and signed by the brewers. (Updated 3/31: Per Jeppe, co-owner of Ølbutikken, as reported on RateBeer, this starts today, 3/31) It is not clear exactly when the auction started but we know it was within the last few days. It is also unclear whether bidding requires credit card information (but do know that freight charges are NOT included in the bid price). The charity is called Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke in Mozambique (site in English); they appear to be working on a development project in Mozambique that promotes democracy and helps facilitate equal distribution of resources among the poor.

Mikkeller X Imperial Stout is the brewery’s highest-rated beer to date. It does not have the number of reviews necessary to qualify for the top 50 at Rate Beer due to the beer’s being divided by vintage. Without separation by vintage, the beer would be ranked among the top 25 beers in the world. Highest bidder not only gets “bottle number 1, but will also get one bottle of Mikkeller X Imperial Stout 2006 plus one bottle of Mikkeller X Imperial Stout 2007.”