Visiting Bend/Sunriver (2015 Update)

I'll be in town 4th of July weekend

where's a good place to watch fireworks?

 

Race was good. It was hot and I didnt want to feel miserable so i took it pretty easy and just enjoyed it as much as i could...very pretty course.

We visited:
-Crux
-Boneyard
-Deschutes Pub
-Deschutes Brewery
-Goodlife
-10 Barrel
-Brother John's (the one by Deschutes pub)
-White Water Tap house
-craft kitchen and brewery
-broken top bottle shop
-bend brewing
-crows feet commons

had a great time...enjoyed everywhere we went (beer by Craft Kitchen and Brewery was not good but had some good guest taps and a very nice setting)...highlights included Cruxapalooza, doing a vertical tasting of BBXXIV - BBXXVII at Deschutes Pub, and just enjoying the city and weather. awesome place and i cannot wait to come back. thanks for all the great advice and help!

 

In town this weekend. Heard that summer fest is happening so going to check that out. Any beer related events going on in town this weekend? I'll probably hit most of the usual suspects sharpski included in this thread. Thanks!

 

Loved Ching Ching when I visited Bend Brewing Co a few weeks ago.

Deschutes is a must-visit place, if only to visit the brewery and brewpub where it all started. The public house was a pretty solid pub experience and the food was good. It didn't hurt that the day I was there, I was able to order a vertical flight of the Black Butte anniversary beers.

I wasn't as much of a fan of the Boneyard experience, it was stifling hot outside and they didn't have Notorious or Hop Venom on tap (I would have filled a growler, probably). Still, I'm a big fan of their RPM IPA.

We didn't have much time to stop by Sunriver Brewing Co, probably should have.

Another decent local brewery is Three Creeks. Their rotating beer has certainly improved since the last time I visited (about 3 years ago).

 

New Atlas tasting room was a great stop for the wife. She was pumped for a crowler of their radler. Look forward to the opening of immersion brewing next door. We covered alot of ground and got our bend ale trail silipints. Boneyard was the best beer even though it wasn't one of their best taplists. What struck me is how much better the beer tasted from their taproom vs. in the Valley. This is the first time I've noticed how much the hops have faded by the time the beer makes it over to us and goes on tap. Bone-a-fide and RPM were noticeably different and better. Silver moon was another standout for the variety and quality of brews. Silver moon is definitely deserving of the must visit status. Craft kitchen was kind of an odd vibe and ordering setup, but a beautiful space. Visited Crux x2, because the beer. Didn't see anything from Fresh Tracks and don't think my liver could have handled it anyway. Also visited Deschutes, Goodlife, Rathole, 10 barrel, BBC and McMenamins. Sharpski has nailed it on the recommendations in this thread. Cheers!

 

Soilver moon mango daze, Get sum pale ale and IPA 97 were highlights. Also had a great IPA at good life that wasn't descender and I don't remember the name. Playing cornhole at good life was a highlight. Also got to experience sir mix a lot because summer fest. Not sure if a highlight, but memorable for sure.

 

Just found out yesterday that part of our Bend trip next week includes floating down the river and we'll have two person tubes with cooler capability in between. Now I need some recommendations for canned beers. Anything from Pale Ales to Hop Bombs.

 

See if you can get ahold of some Bale Breaker Field 41. Pretty sure Bale Breaker doesn't distro to OR, but it shouldn't be too hard to arrange some. Other than that, just got to the store. There'll be lots of interesting choices available.

 

I had that a couple years ago but didn't know it was in cans. Made the rookie mistake of ordering IPA bombers from Made In Oregon and received a lot of malt bombs. Definitely want to give that another shot.

 

We went when we were in town. Nice people, cool space, pretty good taplist. Worth a stop and it was nice to be able to hit the Deschutes Brewpub, Bro Johns and WW without walking more than 30 feet in the 100 degree heat when we were there

 

First time in Bend last week so I thought I'd throw in my opinion. So many breweries! So much beer! So little time. It is truly impressive how a city of that size can have such a strong beer culture, and we really enjoyed our stay. In 2.5 days we plowed through the Ale Trail which comprised most of our beercentric destinations. Highlights:

IPA 97 and Get Sum at Silver Moon. This was our last stop and I wasn't sure what to expect. I ended up being really impressed with their hoppy offerings, on par with the best I've had on the West Coast.
Crux had a great location and good beer...we got the taster tray.
Went to Boneyard twice and got some growlers filled, small tap list but friendly, knowledgeable workers.
Bend Brewing was really lowkey when we visited on a weekday afternoon. No Ching Ching on the tap list but we both enjoyed our selections (a strong ale and another sour).
And 10 Barrel had a nice outdoor bar and very flavorful lighter beers, nice to mix it up since most breweries focused heavily on the hoppy stuff.

Got the chance to check out Ale Apothecary and that was another highlight for sure. We visited a few other breweries in town, nothing else really stood out and I think the "Must Visit" list at the start of the thread is very accurate. We also really liked The Lot, especially the $2 half pints of local beer. Overall prices seemed quite reasonable, which we appreciated at the end of a road trip. We also had plenty of great food and loved the mountain biking trails. Looking forward to going back!