You’d be forgiven for lumping mead enthusiasts in with LARPers, because mead conjures images of women dressed as tavern wenches and men dressed as Robin Hood. But you can only envision these RenFaire types drinking mead out of horns, or horned Viking helmets, if you know what mead is in the first place. Its simplest […]
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.
Posted inFood & Drink
Frosé All Day
Confessions of a beer geek who forgoes crispy lagers for fruity frozen wine
The weather forecast says it will hit 96 this Saturday. If you plan to beat the heat floating on the river, by all means, take some cans of crispy rice lagers with you. But if you’re heading to a watering hole, consider making it a frozen-watering hole. Indulge me in a memory. When I found […]
Posted inNews
Oral History of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
The story of the beer that turned Oregon into a hop haven
Only a few beers can be considered truly emblematic of Bend—ones that sprang from, and also shaped, Bend’s beer culture. This is the story of one of those beers, told by the people who brought and continue to bring it to life. Gary Fish: Founded Deschutes Brewery in 1988, which he still owns independently. “I’d […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Rice Lagers are the Crushable Beers for Float Season
Japanese-style rice lagers represents a maturation of craft beer, and an ideal companion for your fancy-schmancy tube’s drink holder
In the lager world, we’ve got German pils and Czech pilsners. You’ll now find “Italian pilsners,” which mean they’ve been dry-hopped, something the Germans and other classicists would never do. Then there’s your Mexican lager, which actually has its roots in Vienna lager. I even found a handful of Polish pilsners in Market of Choice’s […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Bend’s Best Homer Simpson Doughnuts
Celebrate National Doughnut Day with pink frosted,
rainbow sprinkled morsels
Unlike National Corndog Day (1992), National Chicken Pot Pie Day (2002) and National Fried Crickets Day (I think I just made that up), National Doughnut Day, on the first Friday of June, has been celebrated since 1938. If there’s a singular image or visual cue for doughnuts, it’s a pink circle with multicolored hyphens scattered […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Barley Brown’s Brew Pub Turns 25
How a broken-down car more than a quarter century ago resulted in Baker City’s iconic brewery
Bound for Seattle, the Brown family’s car broke down in Baker City, barely east of the Idaho border. Most parents would simply get the car repaired, but Tyler Brown’s parents saw it as a sign to open a Mexican restaurant instead. When his parents’ Mexican restaurant went under, Brown saw it as a sign to […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Hedonistic Baker’s Dozen Festival Returns to Silver Moon
This festival features 13 beers infused with coffee, the coffees in the beers and—because of course—doughnuts
I got the idea for the coffee beer (and coffee itself) and doughnut festival called Baker’s Dozen back in 2015. The annual, migratory Craft Brewers Conference — a gathering for those in the craft beer industry to share ideas (and beers) — landed in Portland that year. Portland enjoys a reputation as a beer mecca, but […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Boneyard’s Been Pouring High Quality Liquids for 13 Years
As luck would have it, Boneyard Beer’s anniversary party is this Saturday
Elevators don’t go to the 13th floor, yet the number is good luck for Boneyard Beer founder Tony Lawrence, who’s certainly achieved great heights. The brewing industry veteran — who got his start in beer at Deschutes in 1988 — says of Boneyard’s baker’s dozen trips around the sun, “It’s aged me 26 years.” Born […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Oregon Beer Awards Feel Like Central Oregon Beer Awards
Bend area breweries nab nearly a quarter of all medals
The Oregon Beer Awards, first of all, are a real thing. In the beer world, earning a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival is the equivalent of earning an Oscar, but medaling at the OBAs is a bit like winning an Independent Spirit Award: not the same level of prestige, a meaningful recognition […]
Posted inFood & Drink
From the Crux of Bend to the Southeast of Portland
Crux Fermentation Project to introduce Portlanders to “Sundowners”
Crux is opening its first satellite pub in Portland later this summer, as Andre Meunier of The Oregonian reported Feb. 28. I used that breaking news as an excuse to sit down with Crux’s marketing director, Jason Randles, to learn more about one Bend brewery’s—make that three Bend breweries’—obvious response to the Portlandification of Bend […]
