Bend Ale Trail Adds Two More Local Breweries

The popular Bend Ale Trail, developed by the lovely folks over at Visit Bend, have added a pair of stops to the local brewery expedition. The Ale Trail now includes Good Life Brewing and Brew Werks, which join local brewery stalwarts Deschutes, Cascade Lakes, 10 Barrel, Bend Brewing Company, Boneyard, McMenamins, Silver Moon, and from up the road in Sisters, Three Creeks Brewing.

I just pulled out my smart phone and checked the Ale Trail app and it doesn't look like it's been updated yet, but hopefully that'll come soon. For now, users can download the existing version from visitbend.com/apps or at the iTunes store. If you prefer to shun technology and are more of a rotary kinda person (if you are, please send in a picture of it as I'm convinced they cease to exist), you can grab a Bend Discovery Map at a handful of locations. Once completed, swing on over to the Bend Visitor Center with your stamped passport and you'll get a big pat on the back (trust me, this sounds better when you've had a few pints under your belt) and your choice of a very cool commemorative Bend Silipint or Bend Brews book.

Ready to hit the trail? Yeah, me too. Looks like I have a couple more stamps to get!

Brewed Awakening Book Signing Tonight at Deschutes

A book signing tour is hitting the Deschutes Brewery pub in Bend, for "Brewed Awakening: Behind The Beers and Brewers Leading the World's Craft Brewing Revolution."  
 
You can get the details on tonight's event, which takes place with author Joshua Bernstein from 5 to 8 p.m., here, or check out the book website here.

The recently released Abyss will be available. There will also be a tasting of a "Brewed Awakening beer" —a dry-hopped cask ale IPA.

Here's a quick rundown of what's in the book, as written by the author:

Why Brewed Awakening? Concerning beer, the last decade has witnessed more seismic changes than any time since Prohibition. There are more than 1,700 craft breweries in America, from community-based nanobreweries to the new breed of national brands such as Dogfish Head and Stone. Untethered from stodgy tradition, and driven by unbridled creativity, American and international brewers are leading a boundary-less charge into the global future of beer.

And here's a look at the book, in video form:

Free Pork Sliders at Good Life & Other Humpday Specials

In case you're feeling a little hungry this humpday afternoon and want to wash down some quality food with a pint, Good Life Brewing is offering FREE Primal Cuts pork sliders to patrons who order a pint of beer today, starting at 4pm. According to their Facebook page, the offer is on the table until the sliders run out.

If you're not familiar with Primal Cuts Meat Market on Galveston St., they offer some pretty incredible tasting (albeit awfully pricey) meats. If I'm not mistaken, Good Life Brewing uses Primal Cuts exclusively for their meats. I've had a few of their sandwiches at the pub and I must say they're pretty darn tasty. So that being said, I'm sure the sliders will be good as well.

If you happen to get there too late for the snacks, however, and prefer to keep your midweek indulging on the cheaper side, don't forget it's $6 growler night at Boneyard Brewing off Colorado at 37 Northwest Lake Pl # B. It's also locals night at Cascade Lakes with $2.75 pints from 4-6pm - a great deal if you can make it there from work in time.

Happy humpday everyone and enjoy your Wednesday suds in Bend!

Vote for beer in Central Oregon

Central Oregon Magazine is taking votes for all sorts of categories for its 2012 Apex Awards. (We know, it's not 2012 for two months.)

Of course, we're interested in the beer-related categories. In case you want to just skip to those, they are "Best brewpub," "Best Brewery" and "Best Happy Hour." You can do your voting here.

Let us know who you put on your ballot, and why!

'Meet the Brewer' Night on Thursday at the Platypus Pub

The Home Brew Shop and Platypus Pub in Bend is hosting another "Meet the Brewer" night on Thursday. Following up on the meet-n-greet with Hopworks Urban Brewery's Jaime Rodriquez last week, the newly minted basement pub will be talking with a brewer from Eugene's Oakshire Brewing this go-round.

Oakshire seems to be gaining some steam in the past 6-12 months and definitely has a presence here in Bend, both in selling bottles in stores and on tap in pubs. A quick glance online on their website shows that they are currently selling their beers at places like Whole Foods, Nature's, Brother Jon's Public House, The Blacksmith, Jackson's Corner, Newport Ave. Market and a handful of others (including the Brew Shop, of course). They were also here a couple times this summer at beer festivals if you got a chance to sample their wares at the Bend Brewfest and the Little Woody Barrel-Aged Brew Festival on Labor Day weekend. Personally, I'm more of a fan of their darker beers like the Overcast Espresso Stout and the O'Dark: 30 Cascadian Dark Ale, but they seem to do well distributing their Watershed IPA and Oakshire Amber as well.

Event starts at 7pm on Thursday at the Platypus Pub, which is located in the basement of The Home Brew Shop on the corner of 3rd and NE Lafayette Ave. in the old church. If you get there a bit early, you can still catch happy hour too (runs till 6:30pm), which features $.75 off beers and some food specials.

Beer report: GoodLife + 10 Barrel

Last week several Bend Beer Bloggers had a few alcoholic beverages, so we figured we would report on what we drank to enlighten you, the Bend beer drinking audience.

After taking in some free music at McMenamin's, I headed over to GoodLife to check out their Locals Night for the first time. They have $2.50 pints all day, and $7 growlers too. Anyway, our party made sure to have one of each of GoodLife's three offerings (truth be told, we tried almost everything they had on tap, as well). Right now they have a pale (Mountain Rescue), an IPA (Descender) and a wheat (Sweet as Pale). All of them were fine beers, although we all agreed that none of them truly distinguished themselves. The wheat was good, and didn't have the aftertaste that can plague some wheats. And the IPA was very hoppy (in a good way), checking in at 70 IBUs. Below, from left, is the pale, the IPA, and the wheat.

You can read more about all their beers here.

For a nightcap, we went over to 10 Barrel, pretty much to try their Ping Pong Pumpkin Ale. And it was worth the trip. It strikes the perfect note of how much pumpkin flavor you want in a beer -- earthy and a hint of sweetness. We suggest you check it out before fall is over.