Kevin Gifford
Posted inFood & Drink

Crow’s Feet Launches Monthly Beer Tastings

The shop by the river goes stout-mad on St. Patrick’s Day
Kevin Gifford

For more than two years, Crow’s Feet Commons has been a go-to spot for skis, snowboards, bicycles, coffee, beer, breakfast sandwiches, and anything else one would possibly need living in Bend, save maybe for toilet paper and cold medicine. The bottle and tap collection has been particularly stellar from the get-go, offering everything from enormous […]

Posted inFood & Drink

The Wild Wizards at de Garde

Or why Tillamook really should be your next weekend roadie
Kevin Gifford

When de Garde Brewing held its first public event at a bottle shop in Portland nearly two years ago, they had just a few beers on hand; the bubbly, sparkly, 2 percent-ABV Bu Weisse serving as its flagship. Time, it cannot be denied, has rewarded de Garde well. That much was plain at de Garde’s […]

Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides

The Cowboy’s Six-Pack

Want to be as rugged as possible? Drink this.
Kevin Gifford

What’s the difference between a beer…and a cowboy beer? A sort of weather-beaten, leathery manliness, perhaps? Well, craft beer’s got you covered there—have you seen some of the beards people lining the Crux bar are sporting these days? Ignoring the fact that real cowboys would likely prefer cheap whiskey, a good cowboy beer should involve […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Get Your Freak On

Crux celebrates 2014 Freakcake release with surprise four-pack
Kevin Gifford

Ever since its debut in 2013 with the Tough Love barrel-aged imperial stout, Crux Fermentation Project’s [BANISHED] series has represented the most avant-garde experimental side of the brewery. The 2014 version of Freakcake officially came out last week—and to celebrate, Crux also offered a four-pack at the brewery. Freakcake is a barrel-aged Oud Bruin ale […]

Posted inFood & Drink

An Ode to the Bend Brewing Company

Bend’s second-oldest brewery celebrates 20 sweet, surprisingly sour years
Kevin Gifford

Bend Brewing Company, that humble brewpub in the oddly-shaped building on Brooks Street which has a knack for collecting beer-fest medals, is turning 20 this Friday. It’s a tough milestone for any restaurant to reach, but considering how consistently avant-garde and tasty the BBC’s releases have proven to be over the years, they have every […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Oregon’s Statewide Brewery Open House

Zwickelmania offers must-see beer events across Central Oregon this weekend
Kevin Gifford

Not to alarm you, but Valentine’s Day is Saturday. Made any plans with your significant other yet? If not, here’s a suggestion: Dump the roses and candlelight dinners. That stuff isn’t “Bendian” enough. Instead, show your true love how much you really care by taking him/her out on an event-packed whirlwind tour of breweries around […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Craft Beer: Officially Mainstream

Even in the far corners of Nebraska, local beer is never far away
Kevin Gifford

Living in Central Oregon, where we are one step away from having the water company just pipe IPA directly to our kitchen taps, it’s easy to think the beer scene here is incomparable to anything else in America. And that’s pretty true, actually, though Asheville, North Carolina, undeniably comes close. But as my beer-themed road […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Surly But Happy in the Twin Cities

How an ex-abrasives salesman revolutionized beer in Minnesota
Kevin Gifford

Less than a decade ago, if you wanted a decent locally-produced beer in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, your only choices were Summit—a ubiquitous standby, founded in 1986—and maybe a couple things from Surly on tap, if you were lucky. A few years, some key changes in Minnesota alcohol laws, have changed everything. Surly is […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Heady Topper and Beyond

The story of Vermont beer goes far past its most famous IPA
Kevin Gifford

“It’s kind of weird sometimes,” said Travis, one barside regular at the Prohibition Pig brewpub in Waterbury, Vermont. “People come in from Massachusetts, from New York, and it’s like all they can think about is how many cases of Heady they can get before they return. I want to tell them, like, there’s 30 other […]

Posted inFood & Drink

From a Strip Mall, a Craft Revolution

Mekong Restaurant the unlikely standard-bearer of beer in the South
Kevin Gifford

One of the neatest things about craft beer is the way it forms spontaneous new communities wherever it goes, often in completely unexpected places. Case in point: In Richmond, the capital of Virginia, Ground Zero for the entire region’s beer scene is…a strip-mall Vietnamese restaurant. Mekong Restaurant was founded in the ’90s by a family […]

Verify your email

We'll send a verification code to .

Sign up for newsletters

Get the best of The Source - Bend, Oregon directly in your email inbox.

Sending to:

Gift this article