Visiting Bend/Sunriver 2019

Discussion in 'Northwest' started by sharpski, Jun 15, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Page 1 of 5
  1. sharpski

    sharpski Grand Pooh-Bah (3,100) Oct 11, 2010 Oregon
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Halfway through 2019 seems like a good time to resurrect this. Suggestions and corrections welcome.


    (Almost) Universally Recommended "Must-Hit" Breweries & Brew Pubs
    Ale Apothecary (limited hours)
    Bend Brewing
    Boneyard
    Crux
    Deschutes (crowler fills at production brewery tasting room)
    Sunriver Brewing (Bend/Sunriver)

    Other Recommended Breweries & Brew Pubs
    10 Barrel
    Boss Rambler Beer Club (pre-filled 16-oz crowlers)
    GoodLife
    Kobold/The Vault (Redmond)
    McMenamins Old St. Francis (check out the soaking pool and O’Kanes in back)
    Monkless
    Porter Brewing (all cask)
    Spider City (crowler fills)
    Silver Moon
    Wild Ride (Redmond)
    Worthy (hop yard and observatory onsite)

    Beer Bars / Bottle Shops
    Brew Shop / Platypus Pub
    Broken Top Bottle Shop
    Crow's Feet Commons
    Growler Guys Eastside / Westside (crowler fills)
    Growler Phil’s
    Jersey Boys Pizzeria (Redmond)
    Market of Choice (crowler fills)
    Redmond Craft Brewing Supply (Redmond)
    Rimrock Tap House (Redmond)
    The Beer Stop (Redmond)
    The Brown Owl
    The Mountain Jug (Sunriver)
    The Wine Shop (alternate tasting room for Spider City)
    WhiteWater Taphouse

    Recent Activity

    Openings from Boss Rambler, Spider City, Porter, and Initiative
    Riverbend closes pub, becomes production-only brewery


    Brewery breakdown by town

    Bend 21

    Redmond 6

    Prineville 2

    Sisters 1

    Sunriver 1

    Terrebonne 1
     
    #1 sharpski, Jun 15, 2019
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 19, 2019
    kemoarps, distantmantra, rrock44 and 1 other person like this.
  2. Doma

    Doma Initiate (0) May 19, 2019 California

    Nice changes since I checked the list a while ago. Great to see the Bend area still expanding!
     
    #2 Doma, Jun 15, 2019
    jakecattleco and sharpski like this.
  3. sharpski

    sharpski Grand Pooh-Bah (3,100) Oct 11, 2010 Oregon
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Thanks to @rrock44 for getting me to update the info. 4 brewery openings since the last thread deserves a refresher, and as a tourist area the summer is high season.

    I'm at 17 of 32 breweries between the "Must Visit" and "Other Recommended" which I think is a little soft. IMO these are the top half-ish of local breweries but it seems a little flabby to recommend so many. Help me pare it down.

    Before you suggest 10 Barrel, though, explain why their beer is less worthy than the others on the list. You may have a beef with their owners, but one-offs at the pubs continue to earn their place here. I don't necessarily advocate 6pks of Apocalypse, but getting to taste the creations of Tonya, Ian, and the rest of the R&D staff means Bend is a bubble outside of AB's nasty parlor tricks and should be viewed separately in the mind of the OP.
     
    #3 sharpski, Jun 15, 2019
    rrock44 and Doma like this.
  4. Doma

    Doma Initiate (0) May 19, 2019 California

    Fair comment about 10 Barrel, let the beer speak for itself! As for Boneyard, I thought after they opened the pub they'd move up to the 1st tier of "must-hit"
     
    #4 Doma, Jun 15, 2019
    jakecattleco, BBThunderbolt and sharpski like this.
  5. sharpski

    sharpski Grand Pooh-Bah (3,100) Oct 11, 2010 Oregon
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Good call! @John_M please move Boneyard to “Must Visit”
     
    #5 sharpski, Jun 15, 2019
    jpbebeau, Doma, jakecattleco and 1 other person like this.
  6. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,846) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Well, it's the monetary muscle behind them that lets Tonya do those experiments. She was up here for BBW a couple years ago, and gave a nice presentation. In the Q&A session, someone asked her what being owned by Inbev meant for her. After saying (with a laugh) it meant she never had to "go upstairs and brew a batch of Pale Ale" ever again, she told a story. She wanted to brew a beer with fresh,local, wild huckleberries. So, they took a three day camping trip and picked all the huckleberries they could. Before the sell-out, would it have been possible to pay an employee to go camping for 3 days? I kinda doubt it. (the beer was fabulous. She gifted me a bottle, and it was one of the best beers I've had.)

    Having that kind of financial freedom is a huge advantage over the smaller breweries. Not even getting into the advertising, marketing, sales, and distribution muscle Inbev gives those breweries. That's why I think they should be excluded. YMMV.
     
    #6 BBThunderbolt, Jun 15, 2019
    kemoarps, Reidrover, Doma and 1 other person like this.
  7. sharpski

    sharpski Grand Pooh-Bah (3,100) Oct 11, 2010 Oregon
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Fair enough. That kind of largesse is exactly why I think they’re worthy of inclusion, though. Here in Bend we get to benefit from AB’s deep pockets (and the Brewer’s ingenuity) by experiencing 10 Barrel as a supercharged brewpub and ignore the bullshit. Is it fair? No. Is it a reality of living in 10 Barrel’s hometown? Yes.
     
    #7 sharpski, Jun 15, 2019
    deadwolfbones and Doma like this.
  8. Doma

    Doma Initiate (0) May 19, 2019 California

    When visiting Bend I used to skip 10 Barrel for the "usual reason" of being the part of AB. Now I'm intrigued and planning to stop by the pub next time I'm back to Oregon.
     
    #8 Doma, Jun 15, 2019
    ballardbeer likes this.
  9. WA_Brian

    WA_Brian Pundit (780) Nov 17, 2015 Washington
    BA4LYFE Society

    I liked 10 Barrel before they were purchased but I haven't gone back there since because of AB InBev and don't have any plans to. That said, this is a thread about visitors and the popularity of BCBS threads on BA as a whole proves there is certainly a market for people who love big beer provided it doesn't have corn syrup.

    So perhaps meet in the middle and list it as "10 Barrel (AB InBev)" and then let people decide if they want to #seektheseal or not.

    What I want to hear is some justification for Silver Moon. I've been to Bend a few times, and going twice this year, and I've never been.

    I agree with promoting Boneyard, because that's always been a must-hit place for me although ironically the only time I didn't visit was after they moved into the new pub. My least favorite one to visit is actually Deschutes because of how busy it gets and although the free tasting is great, the majority of their beers don't do much for me.
     
    #9 WA_Brian, Jun 15, 2019
    ballardbeer, kemoarps, Reidrover and 1 other person like this.
  10. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    That's a good question, and I certainly don't have an answer. I happen to like Silver Moon beer a lot, but I'm not sure they're really any better than Goodlife or 10 Barrel (even though I don't go to 10 barrel any more). Still haven't visited the facilty since it underwent rennovation.

    We typically seem to spend most of our time at Crux, BBC, Sun River and Broken Top when visiting the area.
     
    #10 John_M, Jun 15, 2019
    sharpski likes this.
  11. jakecattleco

    jakecattleco Grand Pooh-Bah (3,749) Sep 3, 2008 California
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Similar on my end, with stops at Growler Phil's for sandwiches and growlers, and the East Growler Guys location (gots to get my Pallet Jack fix while I'm there ya know).
     
    #11 jakecattleco, Jun 15, 2019
    vurt and sharpski like this.
  12. sharpski

    sharpski Grand Pooh-Bah (3,100) Oct 11, 2010 Oregon
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I think Silver Moon should probably slide back down to “Other Recommended” in the next iteration. There was a time after the Redmond production expansion and around the time of the pub remodel that they seemed to have some extra juice. They’ve expanded the back patio and continue to produce quality beer but don’t seem as hot as 2 years ago.
     
    #12 sharpski, Jun 15, 2019
  13. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    From a beer standpoint, there are a lot of reasons I feel fortunate to live in the PNW. The ability to get pallet jack pretty much whenever I want is very near the top of the list.
     
    #13 John_M, Jun 16, 2019
    kemoarps, BBThunderbolt, jakecattleco and 1 other person like this.
  14. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I'll try to make the recommended changes tomorrow at work. Would do it now, but but it's too difficult to do it on my phone.
     
    #14 John_M, Jun 16, 2019
    sharpski and BBThunderbolt like this.
  15. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,846) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Bastards!
     
    #15 BBThunderbolt, Jun 17, 2019
    kemoarps likes this.
  16. sharpski

    sharpski Grand Pooh-Bah (3,100) Oct 11, 2010 Oregon
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Primal Cuts sammies are one of the best parts of life on the Westside.

    Pallet Jack availability at Growler Guys seems to be more hit and miss these days; FYI Big Dog Growlers has it as a dedicated handle if you’re in town and GG is no joy.
     
    #16 sharpski, Jun 17, 2019
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 19, 2019
    TankSlapper, BBThunderbolt, vurt and 1 other person like this.
  17. mxzebrax

    mxzebrax Crusader (444) Jun 20, 2015 Oregon
    Trader


    Sad news, but they no longer do the free tastings there like they used to. :slight_frown:
     
    #17 mxzebrax, Jun 18, 2019
  18. sharpski

    sharpski Grand Pooh-Bah (3,100) Oct 11, 2010 Oregon
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Which free tastings are you remembering? Like any other place in town, you can get a taste of one or two choices to make up your mind, but have to pay for a full flight.
     
    #18 sharpski, Jun 19, 2019
  19. WA_Brian

    WA_Brian Pundit (780) Nov 17, 2015 Washington
    BA4LYFE Society

    Deschutes, at the brewery and not the pub. Got a little punch card when you walked in and got like 4 free tasters.
     
    #19 WA_Brian, Jun 19, 2019
    sharpski likes this.
  20. mxzebrax

    mxzebrax Crusader (444) Jun 20, 2015 Oregon
    Trader


    Yeah, they stopped doing that at least a year or so ago unfortunately. Now you have to pay, and you can at least get full pints..
     
    #20 mxzebrax, Jun 19, 2019
Page 1 of 5
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.