Bend Ale Trail Our Beer Adventure Begins

Boneyard Beer

Boneyard Beer

We Stumbled Upon The Single Malt Hop Festival

Beer and Bonfires

Bend Brewing Company

Bend Brewing Company

Deschutes Brewery

 

Friday night Anthony and I set foot from the hotel in search of the Largest Beer Trail in the West...the Bend Oregon Ale Trail.  The Ale Trail features 14 world-class craft breweries.  You grab a passport and collect stamps at each Brewery on the trail.  Anthony logged in our brewery visits with the mobile app and the virtual Bend Ale Trail Passport while I went old school and used a physical passport and stamps that I received at each Brewery we visited.  Since we were on foot we only managed to make it to 4 Breweries Friday night but it was not for lack of enthusiasm on our parts.  We also stumbled into The Single Malt Hop Festival as we were making our brewery rounds.  This stop slowed us down significantly but it was a great diversion.  We even ran into folks we know from church.  It's a small world for sure.  Since I do not drink I was Anthony's designated walker.

 

Our first visit was at Boneyard Beer.  They are often dubbed the "anti-establishment brewery," Boneyard was birthed in an old auto shop using secondhand equipment.  I love the Boneyard logo and left with a totally cool t-shirt.  They had amazing swag! 

 

Boneyard Beer:  http://www.boneyardbeer.com/boneyardbeer/HOME.html

 

Next we walked over to McMeanamins Old St. Francis.  Once a 1936 Catholic schoolhouse McMenamins' Bend location is now a lively hotel with an onsite brewery, pub, movie theater, soaking pool and more.  It's well known for it's colorful artwork and handcrafted ales.  This is where we stumbled into the Single Malt Hop Festival.  O'Kanes features outdoor fire pits and pet-friendly patios.  They had the festival in this open patio section of the property.  We totally loved the atmosphere.

 

McMenamins Old St. Francis:  http://www.mcmenamins.com/Breweries

 

Next on the trail was the Bend Brewing Company.  Founded in 1995, this cozy brewery's riverfront location in the middle of downtown makes it a very popular spot.  Their food is excellent and their patio is a hotspot in the summer months.

 

Bend Brewing Company:  http://www.bendbrewingco.com/

 

Our last tour stop for the evening was Deschutes Brewery.  We paced ourselves at each destination by only ordering appetizers.  This enabled us to sample the food in addition to the Ale's.  Deschutes is Bends first brewery and it opened it's doors in June 1988 as a simple brew pub creating favorites such as Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale.  Since then, Deschutes has grown to be the nation's 5th largest craft brewery.

 

Deschutes Brewery:  http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/

 

The Bend Ale Tail:  www.bendaletrail.com (they also offer bus tours)

 

The Ale Trail was a wonderful adventure all it's own.  We knew we would not make it to all 14 breweries Friday night but we loved the fantastic vibes in Bend and the atmosphere during our time on the trail was fantastic.