Details on Deschutes Brewery’s 30th anniversary celebration

Deschutes Brewery 30th anniversary collaborations

This June, Bend’s Deschutes Brewery turns 30; on June 27, to be precise. I detailed the history of the opening starting with the first paragraph of chapter five of Bend Beer:

Downtown Bend, Monday, June 27, 1988: Deschutes Brewery opened its doors to the public at four o’clock in the afternoon. Owner and restaurateur Gary Fish had moved to Bend a mere seven months earlier after scouring northern California for the ideal location to open his brewpub, and had landed in Bend in the fall of 1987 with the intent to “create a lifestyle business.”

Gary Fish created his lifestyle business, and quite a bit more in the subsequent three decades. To celebrate the anniversary, Deschutes is planning special events throughout the final week of June leading up to an all day party in Bend’s Drake Park on June 30.

The brewery issued a press release a few days ago detailing the upcoming anniversary events, along with information on the various collaboration beers being brewed with past Deschutes brewers. Here is that release:

Bend’s original craft brewery is gearing up for its 30th anniversary with a week of celebrations in Bend spanning Monday, June 24 – Saturday, June 30. (List below.)

On June 27th, 1988, Deschutes Brewery opened the doors of its Bend Public House on Bond Street. Three decades, and a lot of beer later, the company will host a weeks’ worth of local events celebrating thirty years of craft brewing, community partnerships and the countless local customers who have been critical to Deschutes’ ongoing success. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation (MBSEF), a longtime non-profit partner of the brewery.

To anchor the celebration, Deschutes has invited several Deschutes Brewery alumni to return and collaborate on seven exciting new brews.

Deschutes’ Founder, Gary Fish takes pride in the success of the collaboration brewers after their time here because they, all continue to make major contributions to the craft industry. “I’m glad they are pursuing their passion and have all been successful at it,” said Fish. “It speaks to their talent and perseverance. Every single one of them makes really good beer, and we’re proud of all of them.”

The Deschutes Brewery 30th anniversary collaboration “family tree” includes John Harris, Deschutes Brewery’s original brewmaster with Ecliptic Brewery, Frank Appleton a brewing consultant responsible for creating the recipes of Deschutes’ beloved brands such as Black Butte Porter and Cascade Golden Ale, Tim Gossack from Bell’s Brewery, Tony Lawrence from Boneyard Brewery, long time brewer Mark Vickery, Paul Arney from The Ale Apothecary, and Cam O’Connor and Larry Sidor now with Crux Fermentation Project.

The guest collaborators partnered with current Deschutes Brewery brewers, Veronica Vega, Ryan Schmiege, Robin Johnson and Ben Kehs to make the unique brews. All were made at Deschutes’ Bend brewing facility.

 “There have been a lot of great brewers that have impacted our process, our mission, our values and our success over these three decades,” said Fish, “I’m glad they’ve chosen to come back to commemorate the time we’ve spent together.” These brewers will head to Drake Park on Saturday, June 30, to help showcase the beer and reminisce about the days at Deschutes.

Below is a listing of the week of festivities!

  • Festivities kick off Monday, June 25, at the Bend pub located at 1044 NW Bond St., for a “super local’s night” with a throwback to 1988, the year the company was founded. The evening will include a toast to the brewery’s long-time pub regulars.
  • Wednesday, June 27 will be Deschutes Brewery’s annual birthday “Back Alley Bash” at the Bend pub located at 1044 NW Bond St. from 5:30pm to 9:30pm, with live music, food, and the release of special reserve beers: Black Butte XXX (Black Butte 30th) and Black Butte3 (referred to as Black Butte cubed.)
  • On Thursday, June 28, specialty 30th anniversary Black Butte Whiskies will be released at the Bend pub. These releases will not be sold in bottles, only available by the glass. (Details in attached document.)
  • Saturday, June 30 is a daylong celebration at the namesake of Deschutes Brewery’s favorite pale ale, Mirror Pond (at Drake Park, 777 NW Riverside Blvd.), on Saturday, June 30th from 12pm-9:30pm. This family friendly party in the park includes pours of all the special 30th collaboration beers and special releases. There will be, live music, damn tasty beer, hot air balloon rides and more family fun. The centerpiece of the action includes Street Pub, our nationally famous 186-foot-long pop-up bar.

Make sure you clear your calendar for that final week in June and get yourself to Bend to help Deschutes celebrate. I’ll be posting more about the collaboration beers brewed to celebrate this 30th anniversary, starting with the Fresh Chair Northwest Pale Ale already on tap now.

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