It takes a bold character to take on the biggest brewery in the region, but that’s what Kobold Brewing has done in opening The Lair—the new Bend taproom of this Redmond-based brewery—directly across the street from the Deschutes Brewery Public House. OK, maybe Kobold isn’t trying to take down Deschutes (especially considering the former brews […]
Brian Yaeger
Brian Yaeger is a beer author (including "Oregon Breweries"), beer fest producer and beer-tasting instructor at COCC. Because he’s working on doughnut authorship, you’ll find he occasionally reviews our local doughnut scene. Yes, he absolutely floats all summer long with a beer in one hand and a doughnut in the other.
Wild Ride’s Wild Ride
When Redmond’s Wild Ride Brewing was an unnamed project in the planning stage—it opened in 2014—one of the five original co-owners remarked that the process itself was “a wild ride” and the concept stuck. Eight years and one global pandemic later, the ride now flows into Prineville. In addition to the original 20-barrel system, the […]
Over a Pint: With Bridge 99’s Trever Hawman
In a continuing effort to get to know brewers (or winemakers, distillers, bakers, chefs or anyone who makes our lives tastier) more holistically, I sit down with them and get to know them better. Over a pint. To do this, I invite someone out for beers—just not the ones he or she makes, because this […]
Which One’s Your Jam?
From Berlin’s Berliners to Polish Paczki, fruit-filled fried balls of dough are a hallmark of springtime, owing in large part to the Lenten tradition of clearing out sweets and fats from cupboards. Religious traditions aside, these colorful treats come in a variety of fruit flavors, so for this season’s doughnut roundup, instead of deciding which […]
Bend Brewfest Gets a Refresh
The world is spinning again and that means beer festivals can return. While beers pair extremely well with tacos (see this week’s Chow story for more on that), they also pair perfectly with friends, strangers and (what should be) a warm, sunny day. Bend Brewfest returns May 13 and 14, but not to the amphitheater. […]
Bend’s Best Tacos y Cervezas
Cinco de Mayo, to many Gringo-Americans, is simply an excuse to drink more-than-usual amounts of margaritas. Just like you don’t need St. Paddy’s Day to drink Guinness, you don’t need Cinco to drink copious quantities of Corona. To that end, no one needs an excuse to eat tacos. But we know you’re gonna anyway, so […]
Your New Favorite Bakery May Be Found Right Next Door
Imagine coming home from a full day of work and instead of putting your feet up on the coffee table in front of that super comfy couch as you prepare for a Netflix marathon, you instead work ’til midnight baking a cake for someone else. Maybe the details are slightly off. Maybe it’s Hulu and […]
Boss Rambler Gets Its Own Brewery
Boss Rambler Beer Club has pulled off a lot in its brief run that, this Saturday, April 16, celebrates three years since opening its doors on Galveston. (The beer debuted a year before the taproom.) That means two-thirds of the operation overlapped a world-paralyzing pandemic. To survive, Boss Rambler did what virtually everyone did: pivot. Originally […]
Bend’s Avid Cider Levels Up
When Samantha Roberts and her then-husband Dan McCoy attended Bend Brewfest in 2011, something eyebrow-raising struck them: the longest line for samples didn’t belong to a single brewery, but rather to the lone cidery in attendance. Roberts was no stranger to hard cider. She’d gotten hooked on the stuff in her mother’s native England, where […]
Bar Fiori’s Wine-Music Pairings Seek to Turn Tables
Bar Fiori is not a bar. For that matter, it’s not a flower either, but it does offer a bouquet of colorful, natural wines. It’s a business project started by Bendite Kelsey Kuther, who got turned onto the vibrant world of natural wines in, of all places, Los Angeles. For the moment, Bar Fiori is […]

