It’s been awhile since Central Oregon has seen new breweries, but 2018 seems to be the year for them. In fact, three or maybe four on this list are already open, making this year the most active since 2013. And I’ll admit, until recently, many of these snuck in under my radar, so it’s high time to round up the region’s new and upcoming breweries.

Boss Rambler Beer Club, Bend – Now Open

I’m a little ashamed to say that this one caught me completely off guard when I read about it in Brewpublic. Debuting at the beginning of August, the owners come from a beer background at Crux Fermentation Project and Boneyard Beer; from Brewpublic:

Boss Rambler Beer was founded by the husband and wife duo of Matt and Kate Molletta and Jacob Bansmer, all from the Bend craft beer community. Matt and Jacob met when working at Crux while Kate spent a four years working at Boneyard Beer in marketing prior to her launching here own business Swig Rig.

Boss Rambler does not have its own brewery yet, and is currently contract brewing its beers at Silver Moon Brewing. The longer term goal is to open a farmhouse brewery in the community of Tumalo (approximately six miles northwest of Bend), near the Bendistillery tasting room.

In the meantime, Boss Rambler has taken over the former Aspect Boards & Brews location on Bend’s west side, between the Sunriver Brewing and 10 Barrel Brewing pubs on Galveston Avenue. New beers are coming out slowly, which makes sense because there is only so much tank space at Silver Moon until the new brewery can be built.

(Formerly Aspect)
1009 NW Galveston Ave.
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 389-4667

Geist Beerworks, Redmond – Now Open

I just featured Geist in a recent article for the Bulletin, and posted a first look as well. This 4.5 barrel brewery opened its doors on August 3, and the owners Heather and Greg Wales have a commercial brewing background.

Geist also brews the Braveheart Brewing beers, so if you see Braveheart in the marketplace know that it comes from Geist tanks.

(Update 2021: Braveheart beers are brewed by Silver Moon Brewing, since 2019.)

736 SW Umatilla
Redmond, OR 97756
(541) 728-8663

Porter Brewing, Redmond – Now Open

Redmond’s other new brewery just opened up, and celebrated its grand opening on the final weekend of September. Porter Brewing sets itself apart by featuring all cask ales, brewed on a 3-barrel system.

As it happens, I have an article in the Oregon Beer Growler on Porter that just came out for October:

Redmond has a new brewery: Porter Brewing Co. Husband-and-wife team Deven and Avara Roberts are opening Porter in an underserved industrial area in east Redmond, and plan to stand out with a twist.

They will exclusively “offer 100-percent cask-conditioned ales, brewed to traditional English style and served at cellar temp,” according to the website. Currently only one other brewery in Oregon is all-cask: Brewers Union Local 180 in Oakridge.

“It sets us apart from all the other breweries in the area, giving people a reason to come see us,” said Avara. “They are not just getting a beer poured from a regular tap. We like to think of it more as a destination and an experience. The beer will be hand pulled from the cask with traditional hand pumps imported from the U.K. We are excited to offer something different to the community.”

Going all cask seems like it could be a risk, or it could be huge since nobody else is doing it. But it’s certainly a bold choice and hopefully a successful one.

611 NE Jackpine Ct. #2
Redmond, OR 97756
(541) 504-7959

Mystic Roots Brewing, Terrebonne – late 2018 or early 2019

Mystic Roots was originally going to be named Good Earth Brewing, until a trademark search revealed “Good Earth” already in use for wine. The brewery is currently about two or three weeks into a two-and-a-half month long paperwork and approval process, so we’ll see if opening in 2018 will happen.

Mystic Roots has its, er, roots in Smith Rock Hop Farm, and is slated to be a small (nano) farmhouse brewery on the property. I know the owners have been working on test batches on the one-barrel system, which is all electric. At some point tentative plans will be to upgrade to a seven-barrel system, but that’s a ways down the road.

Smith Rock Hop Farm
2940 NE Smith Rock Way
Terrebonne, OR 97760
(559) 860-9998

Bevel Craft Brewing, Bend – 2019

Homebrewers-going-pro Nate and Valarie Doss have an interesting background: they are both professional disc golfers with seven professional world championship titles and two junior world championship titles between them. For the past several years, aside from winning at pro disc golf, they have been traveling to breweries around the country and brewed collaboration beers.

Bevel Craft Brewing will be a seven-barrel operation currently being built out on the east side of Bend. IPAs will be a featured style, and there will be a tasting room, patio, food trucks, and more. Watch for an opening sometime early in 2019.

911 SE Armour Rd.
Bend, OR 97702

Spider City Brewing, Bend – Now Open?

It looks as though Spider City Brewing might be brewing and selling beer right now—though I haven’t yet personally confirmed it. Months ago at a COHO homebrew meeting, I met a fellow from Spider City who brought some test batch beers with him, looking for feedback, and that may have been the first I heard about the new venture. Not much else until I came across some evidence (via Untappd) that the beers were occasionally consumed at The Wine Shop in downtown Bend. And then I saw a friend post an image on Instagram at The Wine Shop showing the Spider City sign as well. It turns out there are a number of the on tap already.

According to the website, the “downtown tasting room” is indeed The Wine Shop, and the new tasting room will be opening up at the brewery location on Southeast Ninth Street sometime “soon.” Interestingly enough, the OLCC’s liquor license report shows the brewery as having its license effective just as of October 1, and is licensed as a Brewery – Public House.

So, it would appear that Spider City is live, and based on Untappd, the beers are available not only at The Wine Shop but at The Bite food cart pod in Tumalo as well.

And no, I don’t know the story behind the name, but it does have kind of a “Rat Hole” vibe, doesn’t it?

Tasting Room (“coming soon”)
1177 SE 9th St.
Bend, OR 97702

Initiative Brewing, Redmond – 2019

I found out about this one when I interviewed the owners of Porter Brewing for the Oregon Beer Growler article. It will be located in the former Juniper Bank building in downtown Redmond, six blocks north of Wild Ride Brewing.

You can read more in this weirdly combative Redmond Spokesman article. And from reading that, you get the sense that owner Ryan Churchill might be trying to oversell it a bit.

Initiative is bullish about its brewing recipes.

“We’re going to have all the traditional beers like an IPA, a double IPA, a winter ale, a stout,” Churchill said. “But we know, because of our brewer’s recipe development, that our beers are going to be akin to some of the better selling beers out there — like Sticky Hands (Block 15 Brewing) or Boneyard (Boneyard Beer Company).”

There will also be lagers.

“We have a rye lager, a smoked lager and a honey lager. These are unique beers that you probably won’t be able to find anywhere else,” Churchill said.

And this might be a bit of a stretch (emphasis mine):

“Distribution-wise we’d like to self-distribute which is unique to the industry,” Churchill said. “As demand grows, that’s when we can start employing people.”

No sense on when Initiative will be opening, other than 2019.

424 NW 5th
Redmond, OR 97756