Nick Griffin has lived full-time in Bend for only about four months, but the taproom he’s just opened up downtown seems destined to have a major impact on the beer scene here. White Water Taphouse, which officially opened last weekend while Deschutes Brewery held its 27th anniversary party across the street, is the result of […]
Beer & Drink
A Trip Down Beer History
If you want to complain about Central Oregon’s beer scene (and yes, that’s a very petulant thing to do), you could note that despite a few very high-quality beer stores, Bend can’t compete against the I-5 corridor when it comes to distribution from other breweries. We prefer to roll out our own, you could say, […]
New Beginnings in Craft
It’s a time of highly-anticipated debuts in Central Oregon’s craft scene. The new version of the Ale Trail Atlas (and App) is out. Atlas Cider Company’s new and quite large taproom and production facility in the Old Mill will have its grand-opening party on Friday night (see page 45). White Water Taphouse, a 30-line taproom […]
Get Hammered Off Root Beer
Remember the Great Four Loko Moral Panic of 2010? Newspapers and TV commentators alike fell over themselves to condemn the line of powerful, caffeine-fortified alcopops, ubiquitous in classier 7-Elevens nationwide, as college students found them exceedingly useful for getting trashed ASAP. Not Your Father’s Root Beer ($11 six-packs of which debuted in Bend supermarkets last […]
Radlers Do Not Make You a Wuss
If adding cola to lager is wrong, who wants to be right? Whenever the temperature climbs above 80 degrees and Bendites are suddenly reminded that, yes, mosquitoes really do exist after all, the idea of pounding Boneyard and barrel-aged sours during summer barbecues can grow a bit off-putting. What if you want something reliably refreshing […]
The Beers of Summer
With Memorial Day behind us and tourists already flocking to the bars from all four corners of the world, it is clear that the summer season is almost here. And even as Central Oregon Beer Week presses on (see you guys at the Three Creeks factory opening on Friday, hopefully!), breweries across the region are […]
Beer Week: The Strategy Guide
Not to alarm you, but in addition to everything else taking place over Memorial Day weekend, Central Oregon Beer Week kicks off on Friday and proceeds for the next week-plus. A 10-day beer week? Well, why not? (And, if you actually attempt to hit up all the events taking place across the region’s breweries and […]
A Bridge, Not Far
It’s heady times for beer around here, with Central Oregon Beer Week breathing down our necks, the new edition of the Bend Ale Trail Atlas due up shortly, and summer—as everyone knows, the most important outdoor-beverage season—seemingly around the corner. It’s a good time to take stock and visit some of the smaller Bend beer […]
Grow, Beer, Grow
The old saw makes the rounds every time we hear some piece of good news about Bend beer: Surely, surely, there’s no way this region can support yet another brewery. But, despite a couple of closings in recent years—and let’s face it, the beer they were producing has not been missed—Central Oregon’s breweries never seem […]
From Galveston Avenue to Oblivion
There are now officially too many great beer spots around Bend’s downtown and nearby west side to visit in one go-around—at least if you want to keep your liver and headspace fresh. Over the past year or so alone, the area around Galveston Avenue—home of the already-popular 10 Barrel and Brother Jon’s Public House—has become […]

