Girls
Weekend 2018 took us to Bend, Oregon.
When we
decided on where to go for our annual Girls Weekend trip, the appeal to Bend
was the abundance of breweries available in one tiny area. I had also become aware of the Bend Ale Trail
and how walkable visiting the breweries would be. So, Danielle, Phoenix, and I loaded up and
headed west for the five hour drive to Bend.
Today’s blog
post will be all about the breweries we visited, 12 total in three days. I’ll recap the rest of our trip in another post
(or two). If you have no desire to read
about breweries, I’ll see you tomorrow.
The Bend Ale Trail was a really fun activity and gave us a reason to visit different parts
of town. Some were walkable but some we
had to drive to. Doing this tour/trail
allowed us to see a lot of Bend, which isn’t as small as it appears. The trail is split up into 16 different
breweries and if you visit 10, collecting a stamp at each one you visit, you
earn a prize. If you visit all 16, you
get a trophy! We weren’t able to visit
all 16 because some are in the outer cities around Bend and we didn’t have
enough time. But, we managed to visit 12
breweries so we were pretty pumped to earn our prize at the end!
We wised up
on about day two and realized we needed to start sharing “beer flights” which
allowed us to taste the most beer but not have to drink a full pint at each
place. Here are the breweries we
visited, which were done in no particular order, and some comments about each:
Old St. Francis Pub was located inside our hotel so it was the first stop after our
long drive. I was given a prior
recommendation to have a Ruby and a Rubinator (which is the Ruby and the Terminator
Stout mixed together). Both were really
good as were many of their beers. On Day
3, Phoenix had a beer flight so we tried several beers, all of which we
liked. Highly recommended.
Deschutes Brewery was up next and we were also in search of food. I love their Black Butte Porter and after a few
samples figured I’d stick with what I love.
They also had half pints available, which I prefer. Phoenix and I split a burger and fries. We visited Deschutes on Day 2 for a pretzel
and a cup of their chili, which were also very tasty.
Bend Brewing Company is the breweries that represents the City of Bend and should shine
brighter than them all. Sadly, it was
our least favorite. We shared a flight
but none of us liked the beers, which is a shame. They had a very nice location and outside atmosphere.
Silver Moon Brewing was located in a bit of a sketchy part of town and required a $5 “donation”
because of a live singer. We managed to
talk our way into the bar for a quick taste/stamp and left before the music
started so we stayed honest. We all
loved the Mango Pale Ale and all hated the Salty Bog Sour (which came up many
more times in the course of our weekend as a joke). I did like the sour beer at other location
but Salty Bog was a no-go.
Worthy Brewing started us out on Day 2, which we visited after a two mile hike at
nearby Pilot Butte. This brewery was the
winner for location as I loved the beautiful outside sitting area and the mosaic
tilework inside. They also had very
colorful signs from each of the beer labels.
While I was ready for a refreshing beer after the hike, I spotted the
Stout Float and thought that might be something new and different to try. The vanilla bean ice cream was the best part! Interesting enough, the stout tastes much stronger
when mixed with the ice cream. These
beers were very hoppy, which are grown on site.
Immersion Brewing was visited via a four-person bike.
We rented a bike and since we had an hour time limit, we were in/out of
Immersion very quickly. Honestly, it
wasn’t worth any more of our time. The
beer wasn’t that great. There was a
cider house located next door that we might have also enjoyed visiting but we
jumped back on our bike and peddled away.
Crux Fermentation Project is Phoenix’s favorite brewery and we knew we would be
visiting a couple of times. There was
construction nearby so you had a hike a bit to get there. All of these beers were great. On our first visit, I kept it light with
their Hefeweizen but all the beers we tried in Phoenix’s flight were really
good. On Day 3, we visited a second time
and had the pretzel and grilled cheese.
The food was really yummy.
Cascade Lakes Brewing Company started off Day 3.
We toured a creepy and very dark lava cave and mapped out the route for
hitting up some of the other lying breweries.
We knew we would be collecting 10 stamps but we were also going to try
for 12 or even 13. By Day 3, I don’t
think either of us were 100% looking forward to more beer so we tag-teamed it
with a shared flight and really, we let Phoenix drink the most of it (sorry
Phe). Cascade Lakes was in a very pretty
area of town and had really great beer.
We also shared some Cuban sliders and tater tots. If we had more time, we might have stayed
longer but had stamps to collect!
Good Life Brewing Company was a bit hard to find and was pretty slow for a Sunday
afternoon. We didn’t really like the
beers despite the many awards they have won.
Sunriver Brewing was so-so. We didn’t really love
the beers but also didn’t stay there very long.
10 Barrel Brewing Co also has a location in Boise so we thought we would skip it,
however, it was just the next block over from Sunriver. I had hoped they would have Swill on tap but
that was a no-go. I didn’t care for any
other tasters so we let Phoenix take one for the team and was the only one that
had a pint. I almost ordered a pizza
because I love their pizza.
The final
brewery we decided to hit, and was down to the wire as they were closing in 10
minutes, was a close walk from our hotel.
Boneyard Beer is located in a garage and was standing room only. The sign said they were building a new
location. I was pleasantly surprised
that the triple and quadrupole IPA beers were very well balanced and not super
hoppy as one might think (I don’t like IPA or hoppy beers). I loved the mini tasting glasses, although we
were in such a rush I forgot to snap a photo.
It was a good brewery to end our tour with.
On Monday
morning before we left town, we stopped by the Bend Visitor Center to collect
our prize. We were given a silicone beer
glass and a promise that our passports never expire and we can complete the
rest of the tour at any time. I guess we
have ourselves a new challenge to look forward to.
If you ever
visit Bend, OR make sure you stop into a brewery or two. You don’t have to visit 12. We sure had fun though but I need a serious
break from beer right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment