Beer & Drink
Posted inFood & Drink

Cruxing Out

Don’t waffle on last minute beer gifts—choose Crux’s new barrel-aged brews
Avatar photo James Williams

On Saturday, Crux Fermentation Project released three beautifully packaged, experimental bottled beers: Freakcake Barrel-Aged Oud Bruin Ale, Banished Doublecross Dark Belgian Ale and Half Hitch Imperial Mosaic IPA. And, bonus!, the Bend brewery re-released Tough Love Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. All are impressive, and available locally (look for them in 375-milliliter, wax-sealed bottles), but the lightly […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Dark and Stormy

Crow’s Feet Commons offers an impressively curated selection of bold brews
Avatar photo James Williams

Jared Smith has exquisite taste. The café manager at Crow’s Feet Commons and front man for local indie rock band Wilderness recently brought in an international selection of seven top-shelf, hard-to-find bottled beers, ranging in price from $12 to $28. We can honestly say that each one is well worth every penny. Straffe Hendrik, Heritage […]

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Have Your Cake and Drink Beer, Too

Pairing beer with your dessert
Thom Pastor

Most every holiday gathering takes place around an altar of sugary fat and carbs. Beer belongs on that table too, but this is no place for light lagers. The dessert course is where beer gets to flex its muscle. I approach each dessert pairing with one of three goals in mind: traditional flavor pairings, matching […]

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The Best Way to Spread Holiday Cheer…

. . .Is by drinking (and gifting) handmade beer
Avatar photo Brianna Brey

Sacrificing a big name label DOES NOT mean sacrificing quality; in fact, in the case of hyper-local artisan breweries, it can mean just the opposite. In the spirit of Small Business Saturday (Nov. 30), the Source recommends a few decadent beer-flavored gifts that are truly handmade­—brews that are sure to make the holidays bubbly and […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Into the Abyss

A note on Imperial Stouts
Avatar photo James Williams

Rich, black and bold, the 2013 Abyss is back. Last Friday, Deschutes Brewery released its much-heralded Imperial Stout, a groundbreaking 11 percent ABV, 86 IBU brew that has won a number of awards and boasts a perfect 100 “world class” ranking on beeradvocate.com. But, the beer that Deschutes has brewed for years didn’t come easy. […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Craft Beer and College Football

Bend’s newest brewery, RiverBend Brewing Company, fills sports pub niche
Avatar photo James Williams

These days, to make it in Bend as a new brewery, there needs to be a distinguishing characteristic that sets the joint apart. Not a shtick so much as an angle, attraction or emphasis. The simple truth is, brewing middle-of-the-road beers might not be enough anymore. Take Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing, for instance. The environmentally […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Home of the Aluminum Bottle

One year old, Portland’s Base Camp Brewing puts down stakes in Bend for beer dinner
Avatar photo James Williams

Can or bottle? In the ongoing contest as to which brewery can produce the best-looking, most appropriate vessel for its beer, Portland’s Base Camp Brewing Company has made an interesting new entry. Neither a can nor a bottle, the now one-year-old, adventure-themed brewery offers its beers in 22-ounce aluminum cans that are shaped like bottles […]

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Double Down

Imperial IPAs are big, boozy and appearing with increasing frequency
Avatar photo James Williams

A recent pour of Pliny the Elder (see this week’s CHOW story) reminded me just how impressive a well-made, big IPA can taste. A good India Pale Ale should be crisp, cold and hop-forward. A double IPA, sometimes called an Imperial IPA (a term borrowed from Russian Imperial stouts), is simply a bolder version of […]

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New Appalachia

Oregon’s craft distillers bring Kentucky bourbon west
Avatar photo Kayja Buhmann

Originating in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains in the mid-late 18th century, bourbon—still subject to time-honored distillation and quality standards—has (thankfully) in recent years been moving west. Keeping with the traditions of those before them, Oregon distilleries from Portland to Bend are now crafting, aging and bottling high-quality bourbons. Here are four bottles worth indulging in: CW […]

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Yes, We Can!

Four canned beers you (probably) haven’t tried yet, but should
Avatar photo James Williams

Beer in a can ain’t what it used to be, namely: cheap, tinny-tasting, fizzy and yellow. These days, canned beer is craft beer—and vice versa. A year ago, not a single one of the area’s many breweries was canning. Now, Worthy, GoodLife and, as recently as this summer, 10 Barrel, all offer delicious, easy-to-carry canned […]

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