Remember when living in a city with lots of craft beer was considered unique? Bend may have been at the forefront of the idea, creating one of the world’s first Ale Trail atlases, but now it has tons of company. As of the end of 2017 there are more than 6,000 breweries operating in the […]
Kevin Gifford
Posted inFood & Drink
The Beer Giants of Ashland
Two old standbys near the Cascade foothills
To visitors, the town of Ashland, Ore., about 15 miles north of the California border along Interstate 5, is known for majestic mountains, quaint old architecture and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Anyone who forgets about the beer scene down there, however, is missing out—because in this little town nestled among the mountains, two breweries have […]
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A Blast from the Prairie
Why beer from Oklahoma is worth caring about
When fans of good craft beer think about great places for the beverage of their choice, a few international hotspots come to mind. Germany. Belgium. The great city of Bend. Tulsa, Okla., would not be atop anyone’s list, except for people exceptionally attuned to local beer scenes across the U.S. That’s thanks in part to […]
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Madras Wants Beer
One town’s plan to bring beer to Jefferson County
Madras, a little under an hour from Bend, is a prospering town. Its population has grown to around 6,700 people, it’s cheap to live in, it’s conveniently nearby Indian Head Casino, and it hosted nearly 100,000 visitors during the solar eclipse in August. Despite that, to many Bendites, it’s known simply as some place to […]
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Old Ale is New Again
Samuel Smith makes its second U.S. “debut”
In recent days, craft beer-bar patrons across the Northwest have been surprised and bemused by a “new” British stout on tap that not only isn’t new at all, but in fact predates the birth of the United States. Samuel Smith Brewery was founded in 1758 under the name “The Old Brewery” in the town of […]
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Irish Death from Above
The mysterious dark ale that took over Washington
Beer from the Pacific Northwest has a certain reputation, and that reputation involves hops. The plants are grown in droves in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Washington’s Yakima Valley, their flowers used copiously in ales brewed across the entire region. There’s not just one fresh-hop beer festival, but several across the whole of the state. IPA […]
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Piloting New Beer
Looking into Deschutes’ new test brew system
I n the brewing industry, a “pilot system” usually refers to a small brew setup, run separately from the company’s main system, used to create smaller batches of beer. This can be used for research purposes, or—in the case of setups like the five-barrel system situated behind the glass at Worthy Brewing—they produce one-off brews […]
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Joining the Club
In local beer, membership has its privileges
I t’s Saturday afternoon and the largest craft-beer bottle share event in Bend is underway off Century Drive. The attendees number in the three-figures, and it seems like they’ve all brought their big guns—heavy stouts, delicate sours and selections from beer-nerd favorites such as Tired Hands, Monkish and Scratch. It’s enough good fermentation to make […]
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A Trip to the Cider Farm
Washington’s Finnriver is a delightful excursion
T he concept of a farmhouse or estate brewery isn’t new—places such as Logsdon in Hood River, Wolves and People in Newberg and Agrarian Ales in Eugene are local examples. In this region of the U.S., however, Finnriver—whose ciders and fruit wines have been available in Bend for several years—takes the cake in sheer atmosphere. […]
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Rainy Skies, Hoppy Glasses
Bellingham, Wash., follows in Bend’s path
I t’s a typically rainy fall afternoon at Structures Brewing in Bellingham, Wash., and a native of Vancouver, B.C. is there, berating his city’s brewing scene. “It’s huge in size,” Michael Oughtred says, “but the quality’s really hit-and-miss, and I feel like it’s just trying to copy what works in Washington and Oregon. That’s why […]