Who bottles in Bend?

The Brew Shop / Platypus Pub is probably your best bet. As for who bottles:

• 10 Barrel - Fairly solid across the board. Their pub is less than 2 miles from Platypus, so if you like sours you should try to convince her to visit them and get you a growler of German Sparkle Party oranything from their Crush (cucumber, raspberry, strawberry) series of Berliner Weisses.
  
• Ale Apothecary - very limited, expensive, & may be tough to find.
• Bend Brewing - Hop Head IIPA and Ching Ching (pomegranate/hibiscus Berliner) are both worth buying.
  
• Cascade Lakes - the 20th Anniversary IPA is worth buying, everything else is OK but probably not worth the luggage space.
• Deschutes - They should be available all over the place. The only limited/reserve thing she's likely to find at this point is Mirror Mirror and Planet Rouge.
• Goodlife - Descender IPA is tasty.
• Silver Moon - Maui Wowie IPA is the only thing I can think of that's available right now and worth lugging home.
• Three Creeks - They're technically located in Sisters, OR (20 minutes away), but their bottles should be widely available. Everything I've had from them has been well made, but the Five Pine Chocolate Porter is the only thing I would bother grabbing, unless space is a non-issue.
• Worthy - Their Dark Muse Imperial Stout is tasty (and a good value at $6-7/22oz), and their Light's Out Vanilla Cream Stout is worth getting if she has room for a 6pk of cans or can find a place that sells singles.

I'm pretty sure that's all of them. She may find bottles of McMenamin's beer there as well, but I wouldn't waste the money or luggage space when there's so many better things available.

 

You forgot Crux. Half Hitch IIPA is good.

Did Rat Hole stop bottling? I saw their bottles last May, but then were nowhere to be found this past February.

 

You're right, and I'm not sure how the hell I forogt them considering I just sent them my weekly order.

On the Crux note, their Flanders Red is being released this week and may still be available when OP's friend is in town.

 

I've had a couple bottles of it, it's really nice. Very subtle on the sour side.

 

If you want sexier bottles (Read: "Expensive"), going to Crows Feet Commons should land you some Ale Apothecary, De Garde, Logsdon, etc... But judging by your style list - these wouldn't fit the bill.

I second the Hop Venom Growler. This is the beer that you are looking for.

 

Crows Feet Commons is a great "hidden gem" in Bend. They always seem to have Ale Apothecary bottles available, and something from De Garde is always on tap or in bottles. Hell, they've had Fremont on tap. No idea how they managed that one.

 

For just one spot, maltmaster is correct that the Brew Shop has the best mix for your needs. Their online bottle list looks kinda old, but it should give you a decent idea of our distribution vs. yours. If you want Boneyard growlers, especially Hop Venom, it's more reliable to find it at one of the many growler fill stations in town. Most have up to the minute online tap lists, so you'll know exactly where to send her. The good news is this a small town, so worst case scenario is a 15 minute drive, wherever she's staying in town.

The only Bend brewery who bottles not yet mentioned is Below Grade, a local nano who doesn't distribute beyond a couple stores, but I'd say they are equally worthy of luggage space as the other Bend beers mentioned, if she runs across them.

 

And if Notorious is available, leave the luggage behind and just bring back growlers of that.

 

More to think about - as if there isn't enough to consider / bring back already - is that there are a lot of breweries who's distribution don't overlap between Oregon and Indiana. Off the top of my head, I know Portland got a lot of the FiftyFifty Eclipse bottles. Some are probably still on shelves in Bend. Midnight Sun Arctic Devil still around in Bend? That's an awesome BW. I don't think Firestone Walker makes it to Indiana ... and there are probably still bottles of Abacus (or whatever) around. I wouldn't be totally surprised if Double DBA, Firestone 17, Parabola, and Velvet Merkin are lurking. They are in some Washington shops. Any Russian River in Bend? I see Damnation and Supplication in some Oregon stores.

More locally, there's also Mogli by Caldera. Portland breweries also show up plenty in bend. Hair of the Dog doesn't go to Indiana and maybe Adam is of interest. Or Doggie Claws if it's still around. Commons and Upright may not be your bag since they're more Farmhouse, but they also make it to Bend I believe.

 

OP should check out Boneyard on FB (the only place I know where they post their tasting room taplist), but even the tasting room frequently does not have Hop Venom available. Since the growler fill stations do a good job of keeping their lists up to date, OP has more options to check online and be able to tell the friend where to go without any guesswork.

 

Figured this thread would be as good as any to ask a couple of questions. I'm going to be in the bend area (Sunriver) from this Sunday (29th) to the following Sunday and was wondering if there is anything going on that I should be aware of? Also, are there any bottles out right now that can only be purchased locally or at any of the breweries? Tried emailing ale apothecary but haven't heard anything back, but I know it might be tough getting a tour with it only really being myself that wants to go check out the brewery. The one event I know I'm just missing out on is the crux anny party on Saturday.

Thanks!

 

Crux and Good Life both have anniversary parties the day before (Saturday the 28th). I'll be down there from Thursday to Sunday morning helping out at it. Deschutes probably still has some of that Pub-only sour beer available for purchase.

edit: Just noticed you mentioned Crux. Whoops.

 

Not something "going on" but I've actually heard sun river brewing is solid. Since you're in their hood, you should definitely check them out: http://www.sunriverbrewingcompany.com/

 

Nice. After looking into them, their anny party is on the 4th. Might have to check that out. Also saw Mountain Jug bottle shop in Sunriver. Love seeing new beer places in Sunriver since the last time I was there.