The Bend Beer Scene, Part 2
Last week I began this series as guide to the overall beer scene in Bend, Oregon, and started with two of Bend’s oldest and best-known breweries: Deschutes Brewery and Bend Brewing Company. Today we continue on with two more.
Pilot Butte; Bend is one of the only cities in the U.S. with an extinct volcano within its city limits
Cascade Lakes Brewing Company
Cascade Lakes is based in Redmond, but has a strong presence in Bend—and I did say I’d cover some of Central Oregon beyond Bend. Founded in 1994 in Redmond, the brewery bottled all of their beers for distribution—but finding that simply selling their beer by the bottle wasn’t enough, they opened their 7th Street Brewhouse in 1996 and that quickly became a popular place to be in Redmond.
Though Cascade Lakes’ bottled beer could be found regularly in Bend, it wasn’t for another eight years before they had an anchored presence here. In 2004, they opened up the Cascade Lakes Lodge on Bend’s westside: a restaurant and full bar with pool tables and dart boards upstairs, and the full lineup of Cascade Lakes beers on tap.
It’s atmosphere is similar to Bend Brewing Company’s, going for a ski lodge type of look while keeping some of the “Northwest Brewpub” characteristics: open beams, concrete floors, lots of wood. They are very family friendly as well.
The Lodge menu features pub food, with an emphasis on burgers, sandwiches, and salads, with a nice selection of comfort food as well. On tap look for staples such as Rooster Tail Ale, 20-inch Brown, and Monkey Face Porter, as well as seasonals such as the popular Blonde Bombshell (a 2008 bronze medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival), Kolsch, and their Skookum Creek Strong Ale (a new addition which I quite like).
If you’re seeking out the bottles, you can find them just about anywhere in town—like Deschutes, Cascade Lakes beers are pretty ubiquitous in Central Oregon.
7th Street Brewhouse
855 SW 7th Street
Redmond, OR 97756
(541) 923-1795
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am-12am, Sun 12pm-9pm
Cascade Lakes Lodge
1441 SW Chandler Ave Suite 100
Bend, OR 97702
(541) 388-4998
Hours: 7 days a week, noon to 10pm (food), 12am (bar) Sun-Thurs, 1am (bar) Fri-Sat
Silver Moon Brewing
Silver Moon started out from humble beginnings: owner Tyler Reichert bought the local homebrew shop and started building out a brewing and kitchen area in the back of the building. Before long, he launched his pico-scale brewery on a one-gallon brew system, and began distributing to accounts around Bend. This was in 2001, and Hound’s Tooth Amber Ale was the flagship beer.
In 2005 the brewery and brew shop moved downtown and the brewery immediately began expanding; two years later, the brew shop portion was sold (more on that later) and Silver Moon began to focus exclusively on the beer and turning their downtown Bend location into one of Bend’s best locales for live music and nightlife.
Silver Moon occupies a unique niche in the brewery world: they’re a production brewery with a restaurant attached—but they’re not considered a brewpub because they package their beer and self-distribute. This got them into a sticky situation with the OLCC (Oregon’s Liquor Control Commission) earlier this year which has since been fixed. (They brewed just over 1000 barrels of beer last year, which is what triggered their OLCC situation.)
You’ll find a funky, eclectic space once you step inside Silver Moon, much more of a hipster look and feel than you’ll find at any of the other breweries, but the space is welcoming and comfortable and the staff is great. Get a basket of their gourmet nachos and sidle up to the pool table for a free game.
They bottle their beer in 22-ounce bombers, which you can find at most of the higher-end markets around town. Their Bridge Creek Pilsner and Snake Bite Porter are two of their popular beers, and they’ve also been bottling seasonals and special runs: in particular, I like their Twisted Gourd Pumpkin Ale—it’s the only Bend brewer so far to produce a pumpkin beer.
Silver Moon Brewing
24 NW Greenwood Ave.
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 388-8331
Hours: 7 days a week, noon to 11pm
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