Central Oregon’s largest craft beer festival celebrated 17 years in 2019

The Bend Brewfest announced that last month’s three-day beer festival was a great success. Generally, the Brewfest welcomes 30,000 to 40,000 craft beer fans through its gates at the Les Schwab Amphitheater, and this year was no exception. Fans enjoyed more than 200 beers, ciders and wines from around the region and country, and a few of these selections rose to the top.

“Great weather, good timing and a fantastic beer selection are a few things contributed to this year’s success,” said Marney Smith, director of the festival. “It’s delightful how hard our participating breweries are willing to work to bring the best possible selections to represent their breweries. The enthusiastic craft beer culture Bend is known for is alive and well.”

The People’s Choice Awards went to beers that patrons voted on as best of show. Winners included:

• Best Beer Overall: Block 15 Brewing’s “The DAB Lab, High Desert” 
• Best Local Beer: Spider City Brewing’s “Sneaky Deer Hazy Double IPA”
• Best Cider: Incline Cider’s Lemongrass Cider

Other highlights from the event include fast sellouts from the event’s X-Tap. The X-Tap features beers that are low production, specialty and/or experimental flavors, and are presented at the event by a brewery representative. This year, Sunriver Brewing Company’s Mi Casa es Su Casa Mexican Mocha Barrel Aged Blend sold out in seven minutes, Bend Brewing Company’s Chocolate Cherry Trade War Export Stout went in nine minutes, Monkless Brewing’s Curtain Closer lasted just 10 minutes, and Ancestry Brewing’s Barrel Aged Tripel Cherry Vanilla ran out in 13 minutes.

On Untappd, the Bend Brewfest had 301 different users check-in 3,730 beers, a ration of 12.39 beers checked per user. The most popular beers among Untappd users included:

• 1 – Block 15 Brewing’s “The DAB Lab, High Desert” 
• 2 – Sunriver Brewing Company’s “Everything’s Right Hazy IPA”
• 3 – Walking Man Brewing’s “BEND the Knee Pale Ale,” 
• 4 – pFriem Family Brewery’s “Hazy Guava Hazy IPA”
• 5 – Georgetown Brewing Company’s “WOWSA! Imperial IPA”

Proceeds from the event benefited four area nonprofits: Deschutes River Conservancy, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon; NeighborImpact; and Bend Fire Department’s Community Assistance Program. Exact donation numbers are still being collected. 

The 2020 Bend Brewfest is scheduled for Aug. 13-15 at the Les Schwab Amphitheater.