Many Bendites don’t like to think about spring when the days are still short and there’s at least half a chance at some face shots on Bachelor remaining, but the beer industry never rests. It knows that, by the time we’re all taking off our outer layers, we’ll want something lighter in our glasses to […]
Beer & Drink
Posted inFood & Drink
PDX: The Strategy Guide
Making time fly at PDX’s brilliant bars
As anyone with a love for beer and travel knows, attempting to find something decent to drink at an airport can be a harrowing experience. At Dulles International in Washington, there’s a bar that’s enticingly titled “DC Craft Beer” on the far end of one terminal. It contains a whopping three taps, one of which […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Low Temps, High Gravity
Bold beer in the air at McMenamins
It’s only natural, once temperatures dip below freezing and the sidewalks all ice over for three months, that a person’s mind turns toward darker, maltier, more robust beer. (For those people of drinking age, that is.) McMenamins Old St. Francis School, just outside downtown, is ready to oblige. The third annual High Gravity Extravaganza, a […]
Posted inFood & Drink
New, Newer, Newest
Oregon beer hits the ground running in 2016
It’s only just barely 2016. The grocery stores still haven’t closed out all their Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer DVDs. But already the beer scene’s abuzz with activity around Bend and beyond. For example: Oblivion shuts down its brewpub. The tap house and restaurant that replaced Westside Café & Bakery along NW Galveston has now itself […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Beer 2015
Less Drama, Tastes Great, Bend’s beer scene avoids pretension, keeps producing quality
In a 2015 that was littered with buyouts, big news, and endless bickering online in beer forums, it can sometimes be easy to forget what a bumper year it was for Central Oregon’s favorite (adult) pastime. Deschutes collaborated with Harpoon in Massachusetts and BrewDog in Scotland; Silver Moon and Rat Hole both opened up new […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Two for the Holidays
Keep it light and crisp, or dark and barrel-aged
Looking for something a little special to break out at Christmas dinner? Or simply dreading the thought of a week snowed in with your extended family without booze? Bend’s local breweries have you covered—and in two very different ways, too. Last week saw the release of Bubbly from 10 Barrel, the first time the rapidly […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Watch Your Step
The Abyss returns to cap off 2015
Been wondering where The Abyss is? Wonder no more—Deschutes’ annual imperial stout release is set to take place Thursday at the Bond Street taproom, around a month later than usual. The barrels run on their own schedule, after all. This year marks the 10th anniversary of The Abyss in bottles, a yearly release that’s become […]
Posted inFood & Drink
A Very Pfriem-y Christmas
The Hood River brewery grows and grows
The Halyard Building, a ruddy turquoise warehouse facing the Oregon-Washington border in the town of Hood River, is now fully occupied by Pfriem Family Brewers—reflecting the massive growth the Belgian-influenced brewery has seen since it was founded three years ago. “When I started this brewery,” co-founder Josh Pfriem told the Source, “I thought it’d be […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Getting Beer Fans’ Goose
Bourbon County Stout 2015 debuts to cheers and chagrin
As recently as a few years ago, obtaining bottles from Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout lineup of barrel-aged wonders wasn’t very tough. Just go to Chicago, stop by the Binny’s liquor store nearby their brewpub, and stock up. InBev, a new and enormous barrel-aging facility, and—most of all—hype has changed all of that. Nowadays, […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Straight to the Moon
Silver Moon’s Redmond expansion opens
Even with all the blockbuster buyouts and takeovers making headlines in the beer business as of late (the latest: Ballast Point in San Diego, purchased by Corona distributor Constellation Brands for a cool $1 billion), there’s still one overriding theme across the industry: It’s growing, and growing fast. That was the message brought across last […]