I n five scant years, the beer scene has changed dramatically in the United States. The number of operational breweries now exceeds 5,500. Massive, vibrant craft scenes have emerged in cities including Miami, Tulsa, and Bellingham that would never have been associated with beer before this millennium. And the mega-brewers that defined the beverage in […]
Kevin Gifford
Posted inFood & Drink
Bend Brewfest ’17: The Cheat Sheet
A few tips for making the most out of this weekend’s bash
F or beer fans, August will be a difficult month to go on a diet. That’s because the local area will play host to two separate enormous beer festivals—the Bend Brewfest, starting Thursday and going ’til Saturday late night, and the Redmond Brewfest next week, just in time for eclipse traffic. The year 2017 marks […]
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Redmond’s Growing Beer Footprint
Kobold Brewing’s new taproom adds to a fun new scene
Y ear after year, Redmond is striking more of its own presence in Central Oregon, becoming much more than simply “not Bend.” That’s the case with the region’s favorite drink as well, to the point that one can now do a mile-long walking tour and visit three fine beer locations in the space of an […]
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Looking Over Ancestry
Portland’s newest beer giant invades town
When the Blackberry Wheat from Ancestry Brewing is first poured out, the unwitting drinker might wonder if something is wrong with the keg. The beer is a distinct shade of dark purple, looking a bit like something that might be enjoyed after hours aboard the USS Enterprise. Dare a taste, however, and it’s remarkable how […]
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Mexican Lager All Summer
Craft breweries turn south of the border for inspiration
Whole Foods’ annual Brewfest, held in early July each year and benefiting the High Desert Museum, can always be a bit of a challenge. It’s a small, intimate festival, with just over 25 breweries showing up, and all the booths are managed by actual brewery representatives who can tell you much more about their drinks […]
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Independent Craft, “Dark Side” Craft
Can a seal on a bottle change consumer behavior?
When you’re buying cheese, do you purchase Tillamook cheese over Safeway’s house label, or Backporch Coffee Roasters over Starbucks, strictly because you want to keep Oregon companies safe from international mega-corps? Debates such as those beg another one: Why does the topic of “real” and “faux” craft beer come up so often, and inspire so […]
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You, Your Dog & A Beer
Where to drink with man’s best drinking friend
It’s July, summer’s in full force, and for many locals stuck in workplaces while every vacationer in the world’s hitting the river with their kids, there’s only one thing in mind: When can I get out of this joint and IPA it up on someone’s lawn with my dog? Much like the history of human […]
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Prowling the Dives of St. Johns
The friendly locals of far-north Portland
The beer scene along North Lombard Street, in the northern Portland neighborhood of St. Johns, is shrinking. Literally. Start on one end of the busy avenue, and it’s possible to visit a succession of neat local joints that do, in fact, get successively smaller and smaller, wrapping up in a place that’s scarcely larger than […]
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A Very Juicy Summer
Sunriver and Fort George join the haze-o-lution
Whenever a new fad comes up out of nowhere—whether it’s fidget spinners, Hypercolor T-shirts, or any smartphone game ever—the backlash usually follows pretty quickly after. So it is with the “haze thing,” as one frustrated employee at a large Oregon brewery put it not long ago. The craze for so-called “New England IPAs” is undoubtedly […]
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Where Does the Water Go?
How breweries deal with tricky wastewater
For a growing brewery, one of the thorniest issues to deal with is what to do with all the wastewater—and not the kind people produce after having a few beers, either. According to John Mercer, a brewing consultant who oversaw Deschutes Brewery’s wastewater treatment efforts for 12 years, a “very dialed-in, well-managed brewery” will produce […]