The Brew SiteBend Brewfest: Beers to try
This year’s Bend Brewfest has at least 63 breweries pouring beers (starting tomorrow!), with each brewery (and cidery) bringing at least two beers and ciders, and a number of them also bringing a specialty beer for the X-Tap. The posted beer list looks pretty great this year, and as I’ve done for other brewfests, I’m putting together a list of “must-try” beers for this year’s Bend Brewfest. This will actually consist of two lists: a general guide for folks who may not know what to taste first, and my own list of must-trys. I’m not counting the X-Tap beers because their schedule may well preclude when you can attend.
Incidentally, I count three pumpkin ales at this year’s Brewfest—three! Never mind it’s still August, I’m going to have to get them anyway.
| General Guide | My Picks |
|---|---|
| *Anderson Valley Summer Solstice Cream Ale – This is a great cream ale and perfect summer beer *Atlas Blackberry Cider – A favorite that both beer and cider fans will enjoy *Bend Brewing Ludwig German Pilsner – Great example of the style and perfect for summer drinking *Burnside Brewing Lime Kolsch – A hidden gem, refreshing, super drinkable with the perfect amount of lime *Crux Outcast IPA – A good example of the style *Deluxe Brewing Resurrection – Pre-Prohibition-style Pilsner, with a nice corn character *Deschutes Foray Belgian IPA – This Belgian-styled IPA is eye-opening with a terrific herbal hop flavor *GoodLife Sweet As – One of the local favorites, you’ll want to see what the fuss is about *Klamath Basin Backroad Vanilla Porter – A slightly sweet porter than should satisfy cravings for dark beer *Payette Brewing Outlaw IPA – A nice American-style IPA from Idaho *Sunriver Brewing Fuzztail Hefeweizen – Delicious cloudy hefe (as it should be) *The Dudes’ Grandma’s Pecan Brown – I’ve heard good things about this, and brown ales are tough to get right *Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Double Latte Coffee Milk Stout – A delicious stout that hits all the right marks *The Commons Urban Farmhouse Ale – Simply a great example of a Saison |
*10 Barrel Cider Weisse – This is a blend of their Berliner weisse with cider, of which I’ve had a taste but I want to revisit *Ashtown Chardonnay Barrel Aged Blonde Ale – I haven’t had any Ashtown beers yet and this sounds intriguing *Burnside Brewing Couch Lager – I’m intrigued both by the name and the fact that it’s a lager (we don’t see enough lagers!) *Burnside Brewing Lime Kolsch – I simply really, really like this beer *Columbia River Burtonian IPA – Curious to see if it’s a true Burton-styled beer, which should be almost sulfury with minerals *Double Mountain Cluster Single Hop IPA – Variously known as Clusterf#ck – brewed entirely with one of the older American hop varieties *Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale – Yes, the first taste of the season of one of the best pumpkin beers out there *Flat Tail Little Green – This is a great blend of a “session” IPA and a saison that has no business working as well as it does. Probably my favorite Flat Tail beer *Juniper Brewing Sippin’ Sauce Saison – I’m pretty curious about this beer from one of Redmond’s newest *Laurelwood Berliner Weisse – At 3.4% abv, in the true fashion *North Rim Pumpkin Ale – A pumpkin ale from Bend’s newest brewery! Of course I have to try it! *Reverend Nat’s Traditional Tepache – A cider-like drink made entirely from pineapple, I’ve been dying to try this since I first read about it |
Hopefully this should give you at least a starting point. Enjoy!