Changes have been rippling through the Bend, Oregon beer scene in recent months; here’s a roundup.
Boss Rambler Beer Club to close its taproom location: Boss Rambler recently celebrated its sixth anniversary, and announced on Instagram that this will be the last summer that its taproom on Galveston Avenue in Bend, The Beer Club, will be operating:
After 6 years of sharing Good Times and Cold Beers at The Club, we’ve got some bittersweet news to share. We’re realigning our business to focus entirely on growing the Stokes Cold Ones brand, which means we’ll be stepping away from the day-to-day operations of The Beer Club. So, while we’re excited for what’s next, it also means that this will be our LAST SUMMER at The Beer Club on Galveston Avenue.
You already know, there’s nothing like a “Boss Summer Vibe,” so we’d love to see you on the patio as much as possible over the next few months. Let’s make this summer one for the books—with plenty more Good Times and Cold Beers!
Thank you for being part of our journey, we’ve loved sharing it with you!
GoodLife Brewing under new majority ownership, revamping its location: The new majority stakeholder is named Garrett, who introduced himself in this Reddit comment with details on revamping the business:
When I stepped into GoodLife, the company was in a challenging financial situation and tough decisions had to be made quickly. Unfortunately, this meant we had to part ways with some incredibly talented and dedicated team members. To everyone affected, please know your contributions were deeply valued and greatly appreciated.
Currently, we’re barely breaking even through the hard months (I am open to transparency when its community driven) and gradually gaining momentum, thanks to positive feedback on the changes we’ve implemented. Contrary to some reports, we’ve not paused distribution, quite the opposite. We’re actively investing in our brewery operations, launching a new seltzer line (which is out now come check it out!), and finalizing an exciting new partnership that we can’t wait to announce soon.
Our goal is simple: Continue improving the quality of our beer, seltzers, and overall experience. A few changes that are coming:
Changes in the works include: remodeling the Bierhall (the main pub) and rebranding it as The Sawmill; revamping the Beergarden into The Backyard; and updating a back area space into an adults-only portion of the pub.
Funky Fauna Artisan Ales is up and running in Bend: The brewery completed its move from Sisters to Bend last month, and hosted the grand opening on April 19. The new location formerly housed Humm Kombucha‘s taproom and brewing facility.
Several new beers have already been brewed and released from the new brewhouse, two lagers and two IPAs. I recently picked up Time Out of Mind, a “rustic Oregon lager,” and Good Evil, a double dry-hopped West Coast IPA. Both are departures from the usual saisons and wild ales that Funky Fauna is known for, but I enjoyed them; the lager in particular was quite interesting and drinkable.
Crux Fermentation Project sells original location for leaseback, closes Portland Pub: A bit older news at this point, but Crux found a buyer for its original Bend brewery property after listing it for sale last year. The idea is for Crux to lease back the property to continue operating.
However, the copper brewhouse that was located on site has been moved to Crux’s production facility in northeast Bend, to allow other retail tenants to make use of the space. Crux continues to operate the taproom part of the business there for the foreseeable future.
On top of that, the company closed its Portland location at the end of March, after nearly two years. Taken all together, it might seem as if Crux is on shaky footing, but these changes do bring the company’s operating costs down, so time will tell.
Sunriver Brewing expanding into Redmond with a new pub: The company announced plans in March to open its fifth location in Redmond this summer
We look forward to joining the growing community of south Redmond with the opening of our upcoming Redmond Pub in the Westmount building on Canal Street across from Ridgeview High School. The new pub will feature a contemporary beer hall layout with a combination of seating options in a well lit open space with floor to ceiling windows, a large outdoor beer garden patio with fire pit and access to our shared mountain view rooftop for sunsets and happy hour.
We will be serving 16 taps of our Award winning craft beer, craft hard seltzers, and non alcoholic beverages supported by a full service bar, cocktail and mocktail program. Our elevated approach to pub food will include quality plated items, pub favorites and house made artisan pizza all made with care from local and regional quality ingredients. We look forward to joining our new community for breakfast, brunch, game day, happy hour, date night and family night. We look forward to serving you Redmond!
