BARRELING FORWARD
Bend’s 10 Barrel Brewing Company ups the ante
BY PAT R I C K NEW SON
I
f this brewery only produced 10 barrels of beer, as its name
might imply, Eugeneans would never have heard of it.
Eastern Oregon would’ve drunk up everything and there
would be nothing left for us to sip on. “We had to either grow
or stagnate,” Brewmaster Jimmy Seifrit says. “We built this
to expand.”
He is talking about 10 Barrel Brewing Company’s
massive facility that became functional in February of 2012.
Located on a 41-acre plot outside of Bend, this place has
bumped up production to 100,000 barrels, as well as provided
for downtown Bend’s annual drunk and disorderly Freedom Ride
bicycle tour.
The new state-of-the-art brewery features massive tanks, fermenters,
access catwalks, huge exposure-conscious windows and a rogue
skateboard. “It’s meant to provide a fun and creative environment for
us,” Seifrit says as he climbs up, over and around the brewery like it’s
some giant jungle gym or beer-soaked playground.
10 Barrel is perhaps best known for its Apocalypse IPA, which
constitutes some 50 percent of the brewery’s total production. Other
stand-by brews such as S1NIST0R Black IPA, India Session Ale and
Oregon Brown Ale make up the rest of what 10 Barrel has to offer.
Along with these four hop-centric signature beers, Seifrit and
company have produced extraordinary seasonal ales. There’s the
delicious biscuity Kolsch, the Northwest Red Ale and a strong pale
ale also.
And not only does 10 Barrel Brewing crank out these fine beers en
masse, it also has a lively pub with a killer menu. It’s really just one
more reason to visit, and salute the eastern side of our sudsy state. ■
The ancient Sumerians worshipped the beer they made and praised the Goddess Ninkasi for the miracle of fermentation. Beer is a staple of civilization. Worship The Goddess.
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