The 10 Barrel Brewing Company has just put the finishing touches on its new 50-barrel brewhouse in northeast Bend. It’s a big facility with gleaming, polished steel tanks and just the latest in a series of recent expansions of the booming industry. Next on deck is a new Boneyard Beer brewhouse up the street from 10 Barrel and within the year, at least two more brewhouses are slated to open not far away.
But just as the industry prepares to cement Bend's standing as a darling in the microbrewing world, city staff are eyeing the goods, too, and preparing to expand an heretofore obscure and sporadically administered sewer fee to breweries across the city. Breweries aren't the only industry likely to be hit with the charge, which could generate $2 to $3 million a year for the city and is based on the concentration of waste dumped into the sewer system by commercial businesses. But of the potentially affected businesses, breweries will take some of the biggest hits.
