When I received and first blogged about cans of Thorntail Hard Agave, I called them canned cocktails, taking a cue from the company’s press release. After drinking them and taking notes, I realize that these are in fact hard seltzers crafted from an agave wine base. Granted, they are bit more artisanal than mass-market hard seltzers, incorporating real fruit concentrates and such, but seltzers they are. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! The company’s goal is to create an “alternative to the canned seltzers and overly carbonated vodka drinks that were on the market” (CEO’s comments in ..read more

Deschutes Brewery recently released Fresh Squeezed Non-Alcoholic IPA, the latest in its NA lineup as well as the first of them to be created entirely in-house in Bend. Deschutes partnered with Sustainable Beverage Technologies to install its BrewVo technology that enables the production of NA beer from full-strength regular beer. As part of the announcement and rollout, the company sent me samples of Fresh Squeezed NA as well as Black Butte NA in its new throwback branding. It’s particularly timely as Deschutes just won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup this past week in the Non-Alcohol ..read more

My latest article for The Bulletin, out last week, rounds up the Central Oregon winners of this year’s Oregon Beer Awards, and in particular focuses on 2024’s biggest winner—Sunriver Brewing Company. Sunriver won 13 medals this year and topped it off with Large Brewery of the Year. Sunriver Brewing Co. typically performs well at competitions, and in past years has won awards primarily in hoppy categories. This year’s OBA wins span a wide cross-section of the categories, including highly contested ones such as lagers and barrel-aged beers along with hop-forward ones. “I couldn’t be happier wit ..read more

Recently, Elysian Brewing hosted a virtual tasting of its new Juice Dust IPA, the “juicy” variant in the Space Dust IPA family. Ahead of the tasting, the company sent out tasting kits which included the beer (a six pack plus an extra can each of Juice Dust and Space Dust) and a shirt, all packed in a Yeti Loadout Gobox 15 gear case, branded with Elysian’s Juice Dust logo. You might remember that I’d received cans of Juice Dust after it had just come out; this media kit supplemented these cans and more. Frankly, it reminded me of some of the Shock Top media kits I’d received a decade ago, as fa ..read more

Double Mountain Brewery doesn’t just brew beer, but also crafts a variety of ciders, and recently the company announced its seasonal cider lineup for 2024. Seven ciders are featured, three of which are new this year (and Double Mountain sent me a bottle of the new Harrison to sample). The brewery focuses on distinctive apple varietals and Old World styles of cider across its offerings, and most of the ciders are on the dry side. The Harrison cider sent to me, for instance, has only 0.09% residual sugar; it’s also fairly strong with 8% ABV. Here’s the full press release with each cider listed ..read more

A new beer-ticking digital passport has launched for the town of Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast, the Tap and Brew Trail. Created by Explore Lincoln City, this new passport is out in time for National Beer Day (according to the press release), and features nine locations to start, where you can check in on the app. It joins the ranks of other similar “ale trail” passport programs like the Bend Ale Trail, and highlights the beer scene in Lincoln City, which is home to three breweries as well as a taphouse for Gilgamesh Brewing out of Salem. One omission I noticed right away, however, is that o ..read more

My latest article for The Bulletin covers an unusual style rarely seen in these parts: German-style Leichtbier (“light beer”), one I got to delve a bit into with Van Henion Brewing which released its version of Leichtbier recently. The beer is a collaboration, brewed with hop supplier Hollingbery and Son Hops and grower Virgil Gamache Farms (both companies are based in Yakima, Washington). Leichtbier, literally German for “light beer,” traces its roots to German pale lagers such as Helles and pilsner lagers. Light versions of these beers were historically brewed to be served to factory and fi ..read more

The newest packaged beer to join the year-round lineup from GoodLife Brewing is Wave Park Hazy IPA, named for the wave channel of the nearby Bend Whitewater Park. The beer is 6.7% ABV with 65 IBUs, available on draft and in 12-ounce cans; the brewery recently provided me with a six-pack to review. Wave Park’s description is: Living nestled among the mountains, all intrepid surfers always yearn for the rhythmic embrace of the sea’s waves. With unwavering determination, you search to discover an untouched marvel: a surging river, its crystalline waters mimicking the ocean’s heartbeat. As the su ..read more

I recently received cans of the latest seasonal specialty whipped up by Public Coast Brewing, Benny’s Maple Oat-Stack Stout. It was released on draft and in cans last month, and the description that went out with the press release says: Benny’s Maple Oat-Stack Stout, with a 7.5% ABV, is a “catch-and-release” special release, which will be available while supplies last at the brewhouse. A full-bodied oatmeal stout, it offers a creamy mouthfeel and sweet maple biscuit aroma. It draws upon four kinds of malt — chocolate malt, oat malt, Prinz Malt and biscuit malt — as well as Ceylon cinnamon and ..read more

Deschutes Brewery announced today a new addition to its non-alcoholic beer lineup in the form of Fresh Squeezed NA IPA—the alcohol-free version of its flagship Fresh Squeezed. It joins Black Butte NA, and it’s the first NA beer to be made entirely in-house; previously, the brewery’s non-alcoholic beers were crafted in Colorado at Sustainable Beverage Technologies with the company’s BrewVo® technology. Deschutes is still utilizing BrewVo, but it’s now local, in that the company installed the system at the brewery in Bend, in partnership with SBT. With this and additional equipment in place, Des ..read more