That Babe Can Brew!

After another round of shenanigans with Alan near Klamath Falls OR we packed up Valeria and headed north. The original plan had been to spend some time up at Crater Lake but due to the fact that all the campgrounds were still covered in snow and would not be open for two more weeks we continued on to Bend OR.

We rode into Bend in the late afternoon and headed to the well respected Deschutes Brewery that has been around since the late 80’s and is considered one of the forefathers of the craft brewing movement. At Deschutes I had a pint of the classic Mirror Pond Pale Ale which was served cask style and really scrumptious. Not overly hoppy with a nice balance of malt and hops that was accentuated by serving the brew cask style. Then with my burger I had a pint of the Black IPA.

Black IPAs have recently become quite popular, especially on the west coast. Black IPAs are essentially IPAs brewed a bit of dark malt, with the intention of retaining the hoppy flavor of an IPA but giving the beer a pitch black color. I have to say I was not very impressed with Deschutes’ black IPA. The brew tasted like someone had poured half a pint of an IPA and then mixed it with a half pint of stout. It was not a bad taste, but in my opinion if you are going to brew a new beer style called a black IPA, it should not taste like two beers mixed together but should have its own unique characteristics.


Some of the taps at Bend Brewing Co.

The next day we made our second stop at a watering hole in Bend, the Bend Brewing Company. The brew master at Bend Brewing is Tonya Cornett who, in 2008, won the Brewers Association World Beer Cup small Brew-Pub of the year award; and after a flight of her handcrafted brews it was not hard to see why. Michael and I both had a sampler flight, which was tasty to say the least. All the brews were stellar. The hefewiezen was crisp, refreshing, and served with a slice of lemon instead of the traditional orange slice which was a great switch-up, the Irish Red ale was served on nitrogen instead of the standard CO2, which gave the beer a great creamy mouth feel that complimented the rich malty flavors and spicy hops nicely, and the Double IPA was dangerously drinkable but still had a great hop punch.


Tasting flight at Bend Brewing Co

Bend Brewing also had a black IPA on tap, the Eclipse Black IPA. I was a much bigger fan Bend Brewings black IPA than Deschutes version. Bend Brewings version of the black IPA truly was a style unto itself, retaining the bold hoppy aroma and flavors of a traditional IPA, accompanied by roasted dark malt flavors as well as hints of banana and clove. This is a beer that you could not get by mixing and matching IPAs with stouts, this beer commanded its own style. However...when we got a tour of the brewery from the Brew Master herself, she said her goal for the black IPA was to create a beer that would taste just like an IPA when you closed your eyes and drank it, but looked like a stout when you took a look at the pint. Apparently we have differing opinions on what a black IPA should be, but lets be honest, when are you ever going to drink a pint with your eyes closed!?

After finishing our tour of the brewery setup from Tonya in-between her brewing sessions we jumped back onto our trusty steed and headed north toward Hood River.