I also took the big brewery tasting and tour this afternoon. The hops room smelled sooo good!

Greetings Brian, and all. I moved from Bend down to NorCal - Tahoe area over a year ago, I really miss the tasty, fresh brew in that town. In addition to the Deschutes brewpub downtown (well worth a visit because of all the on-premises brewed original brews and cask condition favorites). The actual brewery is located in a business area on the east side of downtown, enroute to Mt. Bachelor. The Cascade Lakes Brewery is headquartered in Redmond, just down the street from the Redmond/Bend airport. Cascade Lakes has a nice brewpub across the parking lot from the Fred Meyer is Redmond, called the Seventh Street - good pub food too. The Cascade Lakes Lodge in Bend, also in that business area enroute to Mt. Bachelor, is a fun social spot to play pool or watch a sporting event, but the menu is lacking.

Another favorite of mine in downtown Bend is the McMenamin's old Kennedy School hotel with multiple brewpubs, a movie theater, indoor Roman soaking pool and restaurant. A beer fan could easily stay on-premises in one of the converted classrooms (no hotel rooms) for a 3-day weekend and not run out of things to do, beers to try, live music and great social patios, porches and a groundskeeper's shed made into a stained glass decorated intimate bar with antique pot bellied stoves and loud Grateful Dead music.

There is also the Bend Brewing Company, who offers an average full menu of burgers and Thai and seafood fusion dishes. Unfortunately the beer served at the bewpub has always tasted to me like it was either too young (not allowed to age adequately after fermentation) or the lines from the kegs are not adequately clear or need to be cleaned. This is unfortunate, because their beer tasted pretty good at other establishments, including a trendy bar in downtown bend called "28," formerly called Barcelona.

Finally, there's a brew store that changed locations and acquired the space next to them in the past year. Blue Moon will sell you brew supplies and fresh ingredients, they have two to three fresh batches of their amber and pilsener and seasonal on-tap. Tyler, the owner and guy at the counter, is super knowledgeable about recipes and brewing techniques, and he's just as happy to chat with you for twenty minutes as he is to sell you the latest issue of Brew. If you're going to Bend on a beer pilgrimage, you should definitely place Blue Moon on your itinerary.

Cheers!