Anything in Bend that’s been around long enough to celebrate its 30th anniversary is unusual, really. When that something is the city’s best-known brewery, it calls for a celebration. This summer marks 30 years since Gary Fish set up Deschutes Brewery downtown on Bond Street, back when Bond Street was a much emptier place. Deschutes […]
Micro
Posted inFood & Drink
Northern Japan Meets Oregon Beer
Many familiar sights on the bottle shelves of Sapporo, Bend’s sister city
There are several excellent places to get a Sapporo lager in Bend; Spork, Kanpai and 5 Fusion & Sushi Bar immediately come to mind. Now, in the Japanese city of Sapporo—the sister city of Portland—there’s a good place or two to grab a Bend beer. The history of beer in Japan itself began here, in […]
Posted inFood & Drink
From Japan to Industrial Way
Oregon’s beer-fest season kicks into gear
The calendar claims that it’s well into spring now—which, in Central Oregon, means that maybe the temperature will start to think about staying above freezing consistently. That’s stupendous news for anyone who wants to engage in either of the Beaver State’s most popular pastimes: hanging outdoors or having some local brew. The opportunities to do […]
Posted inFood & Drink
New Beer in the Pearl
Von Ebert not just “yet another Portland brewery”
It can be difficult to stand out as a beer destination in Portland, which has literally hundreds. It can be even harder when opening up a new spot in the Pearl District, where one can currently spit and hit a corner bar with 12 local drafts (or at least one Boneyard tap). But a scant […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Beer Here, There, and Beyond
Belgium, Colorado, and Bend breweries all rocking April
One of the greatest things about being a beer connoisseur in Bend: the fact that traveling to other cities to check out the best of elsewhere is fun, but all the best will eventually make its way to Bend. Take a look at what’s happening around town this month, and it’s obvious beer fans have […]
Posted inFood & Drink
A River of IPA
Taking Riverbend’s seven-beer haze challenge
Riverbend Brewing Company, located a bit north of downtown along the parkway, made its first batch of beer back in September 2013. By Bend standards, that means it’s been around practically forever. And now, thanks to one of Central Oregon’s most expansive pale-ale and IPA programs, the brewery’s sports pub is now far more than […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Coffee, Barley & Wild
Beers to watch for in February and beyond
It’s wintry outside again (just in time for the end of February!), and as if on cue, breweries across the state of Oregon are preparing their offerings for the rest of the season and beyond. Given that it’s the darkest time of the year, thick concoctions from barrels dominate the scene—but take heart, for it’ll […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Modern Times Reaches Oregon
Inside Portland’s new Belmont Fermentorium
It was with some chagrin across Oregon that The Commons Brewery, the southeast-Portland outfit that specialized in delicate, Belgian-influenced ales, closed to the public after a seven-year run. (Sean Burke, its former head brewer, now runs brew operations at Von Ebert Brewing, the Pearl District-based brewpub that will replace Fat Head’s.) The Commons does still […]
Posted inFood & Drink
A Trip to Russian River
Why the brewery behind Pliny still rules them all
When Russian River Brewing began operations in 1997, its homeland of Sonoma County was best known as one of California’s largest producers of wine grapes. Now it’s known to beer fans nationwide as the producers of both great Belgian-style brews and Pliny the Elder—the classic that arguably invented the entire concept of a “double IPA.” […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Out in the Mountains
Beer’s footprint in far-out Eastern Oregon
There’s not much to the town of Mitchell, Ore., nestled in the Ochoco Mountains about an hour east of Prineville. The population was estimated at 121 people in 2016, and outside of the outdoor festivals this little town off Highway 26 holds each year, there’s simply not much fun happening—unless one’s idea of “fun” is […]