Updated: I updated the beer list below after attending Friday night.

This Labor Day weekend marks the 10th anniversary of The Little Woody Barrel-Aged Beer, Cider & Whiskey Festival here in Bend! This event, which highlights specialty wood-aged beers and ciders, began in 2009 as an all-local fest that has since grown to include a number of breweries beyond Central Oregon. (Here’s my blog post from back then announcing the festival.)

The festival takes place at the Deschutes Historical Museum grounds in downtown Bend on Friday, August 30 from 5 to 10pm, and Saturday, August 31 from noon to 10pm. Cost is $12 in advance ($15 at gate) for entry (which includes the glass), $15 in advance ($20 at gate) for the tasting package (entry, glass, and 8 tokens), and $5 for designated drivers. You can buy tickets in advance here.

This is a favorite event for locals and beer geeks/aficionados/nerds (or insert your preferred descriptor here) for good reason. Often the wood-aged offerings are specialties and one-offs you won’t easily find elsewhere. There’s a variety of barrels represented—from used spirit barrels to wine barrels to neutral oak. There are enormously, ridiculously strong ales as well as subtle, lower alcohol, delicate beers. And the setting has stayed the same over the past decade; the Museum grounds provide an unusual setting compared to the typical beer fest and while it gets quite crowded, still maintains an intimate feel befitting these specialty beers.

I’ve gone through the Little Woody’s beer and cider lineup page and complied an easy-to-read list of all of the beers and ciders that will be pouring. (There may well be last-minute changes, of course, not reflected on the website.) Take note: not every pour is wood-aged, so in order to highlight the ones that are in the spirit of the festival, I’ve made those bold in the list below. My other disclaimer is, if they were listed as “barrel-aged” on the website I’ve marked them accordingly, though in at least one case (Oakshire’s Smoke N’ Hell) I don’t actually know for sure if it is.

Here is the full list (as of Tuesday, August 27) (Update! with some corrections after attending Friday):

Beers:

• 10 Barrel – Paxton Barrel-Aged (Blend of wheat wine batches, aged in bourbon and wine barrels, then married with Belgian quad and American strong ale) – 9.5% ABV, 35 IBUs
• 10 Barrel – Profuse Juice – 6.5% ABV, 45 IBUs
• Ale Apothecary – Sahati (Wild ale brewed with spruce aged in fresh Pinot Noir barrels) – 9% ABV, 30 IBUs
• Ale Apothecary – UNVRSL Farmhouse (collab w/Boss Rambler, dry-hopped in barrels for 4 months) – 5.5% ABV, 45 IBUs
• Bend Brewing – Heart, Faith & Steel Barrel-Aged Scotch Ale (Scotch ale aged in rye whiskey barrels)
• Bend Brewing – Hophead Imperial IPA
• Boneyard Beer – Barrel-Aged Breakfast Stout – 9% ABV, 15 IBUs
• Boneyard Beer – Sticky Zwickel – 4.5% ABV, 6 IBUs
• Craft Kitchen & Brewery – Sweet Potato Imperial (Sweet Potato Imperial India Nut Brown, barrel-aged in CW Irwin Bourbon barrels) – 11.5% ABV
• Craft Kitchen & Brewery – Cherry Wheat Wine Barrel-Aged (Aged in a sour mash bourbon whiskey barrel for 18 months)
• Fort George Brewery – 2019 Matryoshka w/ Vanilla & Blueberry (barrel-aged imperial stout) – 12.75% ABV, 40 IBUs
• Fort George Brewery – Lovell Lager – 5.2% ABV, 20 IBUs
• Fort George Brewery – Cathedral Tree (oak fermented pilsner) – 4.8% ABV
• Founders – Mas Agave (Tequila Barrel-Aged Imperial Lime Gose)
• Founders – Backwoods Bastard (Bourbon Barrel-Aged Scotch Ale)
• Founders – Kentucky Breakfast Stout (bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with coffee and chocolate) – 12.3% ABV, 70 IBUs
• GoodLife – “Man of the Hour” Flanders Red Ale – 8.4% ABV, 10 IBUs
• GoodLife – Hazy Pale Ale – 6.4% ABV, 35 IBUs
• Immersion – Barrel Fire Imperial Red Ale (whiskey barrel) – 8.7% ABV, 80 IBUs
• Immersion – Sol Seeker New England IPA – 6.4% ABV, 45 IBUs
• Kobold – Lawful Evil Merciless (Russian Imperial Stout) – 10.7% ABV, 63 IBUs
• Kobold – Grinning Ninja (Imperial IPA aged in Gompers Gin barrel) – 9.9% ABV, 65 IBUs
• Ninkasi – Barrel Aged Believer
• Ninkasi – Dry Skies Brut IPA – 6.8% ABV, 35 IBUs
• Oakshire – Fruit Farm Pinot Noir 2019 (Open fermented Farmhouse Ale with Pinot Noir grapes) – 7.2% ABV, 6 IBUs
• Oakshire – Smoke N’ Hell (Smoked spruce tip Helles Lager) – 5.1% ABV, 20 IBUs
• Ordnance – Big & Grizzly (barleywine base, 18 months in a whiskey barrel) – 16.9% ABV
• Ordnance – Bloops Blueberry Wheat – 4.6% ABV, 21 IBUs
• pFriem Family Brewers – Bosbessen (Lambic-style ale with fresh blueberries) – 6% ABV, 6 IBUs
• pFriem Family Brewers – Jammy Pale – 5.4% ABV, 32 IBUs
• Silver Moon – “Comin’ Through the Rye” Barrel-Aged Scotch Ale (Bendistillery Rye barrels) – 8.4% ABV, 25 IBUs
• Silver Moon – Apple Brandy “Xul” (mole stout aged in apple brandy barrels) – 8% ABV, 25 IBUs
• Silver Moon – 2017 Dark Tranquility (bourbon barrel) – 9.5% ABV
• Sunriver – Roger the Shrubber (Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with pomegranate and blueberries) – 11% ABV, 40 IBUs
• Sunriver – 7th Anniversary Hazy Double IPA – 8.4% ABV, 50 IBUs
• Three Creeks – Bourbon Barrel-Aged TenPine Chocolate Porter – 11% ABV, 32 IBUs
• Three Creeks – Frontier Justice Coffee Stout – 8% ABV, 55 IBUs
• Wild Ride – Phoenix of Flanders (barrel-aged Flanders red) – 5% ABV, 41 IBUs
• Wild Ride – Laughing Face (Imperial Coconut Porter, rye whiskey barrel) – 9% ABV, 20 IBUs

Ciders:

• Avid Cider – Dragonfruit – 6% ABV
• Finnriver Farm & Cidery – Solstice Saffron – 6.5% ABV
• Finnriver Farm & Cidery – Autumn’s Blush – 6.5% ABV
• Tumalo Cider – Blackberry Merlot (aged in Merlot barrels) – 6% ABV
• Tumalo Cider – Peach Blossom (fermented in French oak barrels) – 6% ABV
• WildCraft Cider Works – Whiskey Barrel Aronia – 7.4% ABV
• WildCraft Cider Works – Honeycrisp – 6.9% ABV

Some quick-count stats as well:

• 26 wood-aged beers will be pouring
• 3  wood-aged ciders
• Types of barrels used (some are blended so counted more than once):
  • Apple brandy – 1
  • Bourbon – 8
  • Gin – 1
  • Neutral oak – 1
  • Rye whiskey – 2
  • Tequila – 1
  • Unknown/unspecified – 12
  • Whiskey (non-specific) – 3
  • Wine – 5
• Number of Central Oregon breweries and cideries – 14
• Number of other breweries and cideries – 8