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THE DAILY ASTORIAN WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016
Northeast Bend is becoming a brewery district
ray, a data and systems ana-
lyst and formerly of Odell
Brewing Co., of Fort Collins,
Colorado.
“We just kind of passed our
¿YH\HDUPDUNVRZHORRNDW
our operations in a more gran-
diose scale than we had, not
necessarily by volume, but
just so we don’t lose track of
the project,” he said. “We’re
GH¿QLWHO\ H[SORULQJ WKH EDO-
ance between professional
and personal lifestyles.”
By JOSEPH DITZLER
The Bulletin
BEND — The big bay
door was wide open at North
Rim Brewing’s 3,000-square-
foot brewery at High Desert
Lane and Layton Avenue in
an industrial park in northeast
Bend.
Inside, brewmaster Chris
Hudson, in shorts and a sweat-
shirt from his former employer,
Terminal Gravity, was bottling
a batch of Twin Citra IPA. The
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tered through an overcast sky,
streamed into the south-facing
building.
Hudson said it’s the perfect
spot for brewing.
“I like this because it’s
open, and there’s not a lot peo-
ple out here,” he said. “I can
have the doors open. I never
have to rush; it’s a quiet envi-
ronment. There’s not a lot
rushing around or kegs bang-
ing around.”
A corner of northeast Bend
bounded, roughly, by Empire
Avenue, Boyd Acres Road,
Brinson Boulevard and NE
18th Street is home to seven
breweries, most of them
strictly production facilities,
places where beer is brewed
beyond the public eye and
without the fuss and trappings
of a brewpub.
Brewing companies, large
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industrial zoning; proximity to
U.S. Highway 97; and a waste-
water system that accommo-
dates large water users. The
area is also an enterprise zone,
meaning businesses there may
qualify for a break on the taxes
they pay on new equipment.
However, brewers, like any
business in Bend, must cope
with the rising cost to buy
or lease real estate and with
increasing demands on the city
wastewater treatment system,
even as Bend works to expand
the treatment facility and lay
new lines. For now, Hudson
looks on the bright side.
“I’ve never worked like
this before,” he said. “Being
out here, working together, it’s
awesome.”
North Rim recently collab-
orated on a beer with Oblivion
Brewing Co., another small
brewery just around the cor-
ner on Plateau Drive, he said.
Myriad neighboring busi-
nesses also provide support.
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for a brewery hose, he found
it at Motion and Flow Control
Products Inc., just around the
corner. Another local business
helped repair a large brewing
tank. Two tap handle makers
are located on the same block,
and Paramount Supply Co.,
also on Plateau Drive, carries
hardware suitable for brewing.
The northeast industrial
quarter is also providing local
breweries room to meet grow-
ing demand for their products
and to try new methods. 10
Barrel Brewing, now a prop-
erty of Anheuser-Busch InBev,
in January submitted plans to
the city for a 69,000-square-
foot expansion of its brewery,
more than double its existing
size. The plans include a tast-
ing room and restaurant.
Of the northeast breweries,
only Bridge 99 Brewery, on
Layton Avenue, has a tasting
room, so far. North Rim man-
ager Sharla Shields said the
Top 30
Boneyard, Crux and 10
Barrel rank in the top 30
breweries in Oregon by the
number of taxable barrels of
beer sold in Oregon, but the
northeast corner is home to
other, smaller breweries like
North Rim, Oblivion Brew-
ing Co., on Plateau Drive, and
Bridge 99 Brewery, on NE
Layton Avenue. Craft Kitchen
and Brewery LLC, also brews
on NE Layton Avenue in a
3.5-barrel system but sells its
beer primarily at its restaurant
on Industrial Way, in the Old
Mill District.
Co-owner Courtney Ste-
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
vens said Craft lucked into the
Dana Robles works on cleaning a tank during her shift at Boneyard Brewery in Bend. Northeast Bend is becoming a Layton Avenue building when
brewery district. The Bulletin reports Seven beer makers operate in the area.
the owner, from whom Craft
leases its restaurant, offered
Oregon Liquor Control Com- water used in brewing, but 18th Street started producing ing in summer 2014 with a up the space.
mission recently approved a also in heating and cleaning pilsner and saison beer from 50-barrel capacity system in a
“He said he had a small,
tasting room at the brewery. It the equipment, as well, Hud- a 20-hectaliter — about 17 13,000-square-foot building, 1,000-square-foot spot for
will open as soon as contrac- son said.
barrels — brewing system in also on Plateau Drive, north us; we could build it out to
tors can build it, she said.
Grayson said the city December, he said. The plan of Empire Avenue.
suit ourselves,” she said.
expects brewers that expand is to brew mainstay beers like
About 9,500 square feet is “It wasn’t a turnkey opera-
Dealing with
production to address larger Crux Farmhouse, Half Hitch devoted to brewing; the rest tion. We wanted to start from
wastewater
volumes of wastewater.
and Cast Out on NE 18th LV RI¿FH VSDFH VDLG EUHZHU\ scratch.”
Northeast Bend makes
“A lot of times they will Street and delegate the origi- co-owner Tony Lawrence.
Brewery owners said they
sense as home for breweries JLYH XV D ÀRZ DQG DV WKH\ nal brewpub at 50 SW Divi- The brewery also plans a third get together to talk business
because the wastewater system expand their production we sion St. to making further beer location for tasting and retail over a beer once in a while
accommodates large users. can work with them to store discoveries.
sales sometime soon, he said. but, so far, have no plans to
Gravity alone carries wastewa- onsite what was originally
“The strategy, the objec-
Neither Crux nor Bone- collaborate on anything like
ter to a nearby trunk line, said approved,” he said. “From the tive we have behind this, is to yard are actively pursuing a common tasting room that
Russell Grayson, the Bend city perspective, we under- be able to allocate this orig- wider distribution beyond shows off all the beer brewed
city engineer. In order to keep stand they want to increase inal brewery to experimen- Oregon and Washington, in northeast Bend.
wastewater discharge by large their production, and we want tation, exploration, expand- Evers and Lawrence said. In
Stevens said that’s some-
users under control, the city to help them do that.”
ing our wood-aging program the past year, however, Bone- thing she’d like to see. Law-
reviews brewery expansion
and our more complex beers,” yard has brought three “key rence said he’d be open to
plans and restricts the amount
Space issues
Evers said.
players” aboard, Lawrence the idea, too. Hudson had his
and timing of wastewater dis-
Sewer capacity is one hur-
Closer to downtown Bend, said: Mark Henion, former own vision of what a north-
charges, he said.
GOH ¿QGLQJ DQ DSSURSULDWH the original Boneyard Beer head brewer at Ninkasi Brew- east brewery district should
Roger Lee, executive direc- space in which to expand on brewery and tasting room on ing, of Eugene; John Van look like.
tor at Economic Development budget is another.
NW Lake Place is a famil- Duzer, former head brewer at
“I would love to throw a
for Central Oregon, said the
When 856 Brewing Co. iar stop for beer tourists, but Cascade Lakes Brewing Co., huge block party,” he said, “a
agency has worked with brew- LLC, which does business as Boneyard also started brew- of Redmond; and Nick Mur- big old party.”
ers to enroll them in tax-abate- the Crux Fermentation Proj-
PHQW SURJUDPV DQG WR ¿QG ect, decided to expand its pro-
space in which to expand, but duction, company co-founder
the wastewater question is Paul Evers said he looked
always a concern, he said.
at sites from Portland to
“In the case of some of the Hood River to La Pine. Crux
brewing companies, one of our already leased a warehouse on
¿UVWUHFRPPHQGDWLRQVWRWKHP Plateau Drive, but Evers said
is: ‘Have you talked to the city he needed more room than
about sewer and water capac- it provided. He decided on a
ity?”’ Lee said. “That may 20,000-square-foot building
have a much bigger impact on NE 18th Street, the for-
than what space is available.”
mer site of fuel-cell maker
At North Rim, for example, IdaTech, a stone’s throw from
wastewater is held in a tank 10 Barrel Brewing Co. and
and treated to correct its pH across High Desert Lane from
levels before it’s discharged Crux’s distributor, Columbia
into the city system. That’s Distributing.
typical of how breweries oper-
“We looked all over
ate, Grayson said. They dis- because we need to be very
charge their pretreated waste- careful about making a com-
water during off-peak hours mitment, one that made eco-
to avoid taxing the wastewater nomic sense,” Evers said.
treatment plant. North Rim, for “We were weighing a lot of
example, while brewing 300 different variables, and we
gallons of beer, creates 200 ZHUHYHU\H[FLWHGWR¿QGDVLWH
to 300 gallons of wastewater. here in the city of Bend.”
The process involves not only
The Crux brewery on NE
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