For those of you who don't know, Dustin is a self-proclaimed Beer Enthusiast... AKA Beer Snob. He loves beer, learning about beer, trying beer and collecting bottles. Because of this love of beer, a couple years ago Dustin and his good friends decided that they wanted to start an annual beer trip. Last year they went to the Rogue Brewery in Newport, Oregon. This year's trip was centered around Bend, Oregon's 'Ale Trail of Beer'. Visit Bend put together an 'Atlas' with a map of ten local breweries for beer enthusiasts to find and enjoy.
The Atlas, shown above, can be found at any of the ten breweries and the Visit Bend center downtown. Inside the atlas there is a passport with the logos of the ten different breweries and a space for a stamp once you locate the brewery. Fortunately, a map of the breweries was included. Unfortunately, the map was NOT entirely accurate or to scale.
On Day one, we started off at 10 Barrel, then stopped at Good Life Brewing and Cascade Lakes Brewing. We managed to make it to Deschutes Brewery in time for their tour... which included a [not so thrilling] step-by-step process of brewing: including where the beer is made, how they do it, what goes in it, where it gets bottled, etc. After Deschutes we found ourselves at another 3 Breweries [Crux, Boneyard and Brew Works] before meeting Dustin's Aunt and Uncle for dinner. After dinner we spent a good portion of the night trying to keep track of Adrian who does a miraculous [and inconvenient] disappearing act.
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| Waiting for the Brewery Tour to begin! |
Day two we were on a mission to complete the Ale Trail. Only three breweries stood in our way: Silver Moon, Bend Brewing Co., and McMenamin's... which we didn't think would take too long. Dustin refused to even sample the beer at McMenamin's, so that stop would have been super fast except for the fact that their building was like a giant maze. We finally found someone to stamp our maps and we were on our way to Silver Moon. Again, thanks to the poor map, we *thought* we were much closer than we actually were. And after walking for about 15 minutes in freezing cold weather, with snow threatening to fall, we finally found Silver Moon. After a couple samplers and a quick [lies: it took them 40minutes to prepare and serve nachos and a quesadilla] bite to eat we were on our way to Bend Brewing Co. After our final stop we went back to Dave & Susan's house for one of the best home cooked meals I've had in a long time!
Day three our only task was to find the Visit Bend office and redeem our passports for the 'Silly Pint Glass'. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to make a pint glass out of silicone would be a pretty interesting person to meet. I just hope Dustin keeps it out of reach from Porter's tail when he decides to use it!
After this year's Beer Trip, I've got my fix of boys and their beer for the next year, at least! I'll be interested to see where next year's trip takes them! [and maybe they won't insist on taking me, too!]
Enjoy the many, many, many pictures of beer, beer and more beer!
Day three our only task was to find the Visit Bend office and redeem our passports for the 'Silly Pint Glass'. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to make a pint glass out of silicone would be a pretty interesting person to meet. I just hope Dustin keeps it out of reach from Porter's tail when he decides to use it!
After this year's Beer Trip, I've got my fix of boys and their beer for the next year, at least! I'll be interested to see where next year's trip takes them! [and maybe they won't insist on taking me, too!]
Enjoy the many, many, many pictures of beer, beer and more beer!
