If you like beer – Zwickelmania 2016!

Zwickelmania 2016

This Saturday, February 13 (that’s tomorrow!), Oregon breweries statewide are opening up their doors for the annual Zwickelmania celebration, offering up free tours, meet-the-brewer events, beer samples, and more from 11am to 4pm. A “brewery open house” if you will, encompassing many of our local breweries.

What follows is the list of participating breweries for Central Oregon, as well as some pointers if you plan to participate yourself. The official list can be found here, which presumably are breweries that are members of the Oregon Brewers Guild, plus a couple unofficial ones (at the end).

And if you don’t want to drive, Wanderlust Tours‘ Bend Brew Bus is running free shuttles on two routes in Bend—a great idea if you don’t have a designated driver!

Here are the official breweries:

Bend Brewing Company: “Brewery Open House. Meet the brewers and sample a selection of rare beers.”

Boneyard Beer: Pickles and Zwickels! “Does Zwickel tickle your pickle? Join us for our parking lot party, “Pickles and Zwickels”, on February 13th. We will be setting up a big white tent in the parking lot for a full blown Zwickelmania party. We will be pouring full pints of beer from the The Swig Rig (yes you heard that right…FULL pints), pumpin’ loud tunes, playing cornhole, and grubbing on tacos from El Sancho. We will be making beer in the brewery so the brewery won’t be open for tours (in case you were wondering).”

Cascade Lakes Brewing – The Lodge: “Free 6 oz beer of our winter seasonal, CLBC gift bags (while supplies last) and live music from 2-5pm”

Craft Kitchen & Brewery: “We will be releasing our Double Barrel Aged Stout and Stone Fruit Lambic.”

Crux Fermentation Project: “The whole Crux Crew is excited to have craft beer lovers from around the state join us for Zwickelmania 2016! We’ll be offering intimate behind-the-scenes brewery tours (from 11AM to 6PM) where you can chat it up with our brewers as they sneak you tastings of some of our rare [BANISHED] beers straight from the barrel. And, of course, as tradition would have it, we’ll be offering tastings of other brews direct from the zwickel. This is one of our favorite events— so Larry and his team have been brewing up something extra special to celebrate the day with— “Southern Sister” Experimental IPA. It doesn’t stop there— our chef and his crew are busy preparing a special Zwickelmania menu highlighted by our Pork Parfait, Smoke-Aroni and Rooster’s Kick-Ass Jerky. Finish the day with some live tunes by one of our favorites— Trailer 31 from 5-9pm. Hope you can join us!” (Facebook event)

Deschutes Brewery: “Zwickelmania is basically an open house for all breweries in Oregon! Join us at our production facility on Simpson Ave. for open-house tours of the largest independent craft brewery in the Northwest all afternoon. Brewers will be on hand to answer your questions in the brew house, and guides will be available to explain the operation of the production facility. Enjoy four free samples of beer along our self-guided tour! P.S. what’s a zwickel? A zwickel is a stainless piece that looks like a pig’s tail that attaches to large tanks so beer can flow out for tasting and sampling without all the liquid running out at once…” (From their site)

GoodLife Brewing: “We are going to be giving brewery and distillery tours between 11am-4pm, as well as pouring our newly released Brewshed® Alliance Session Ale. Our hats, sweatshirts, and t-shirts will be discounted all day while you enjoy free samples of all of our beer.” Also, the Central Oregon Homebrewers Organization will be on-hand to talk about beer and homebrewing!

McMenamins Old St. Francis School: “We’ll be offering a special beer made for Zwicklemania with a coffee element, offering snacks & giving brewery tours!” And: “It’s a beer day made for beer lovers! This free annual event is when Oregon Breweries and Brewpubs throw open their doors and invite you in to see the magic kettles and sample beers of all styles. Celebrate on this day, all day, at all our OREGON locations with $8 growler fills ($10 high gravity ales) of your new favorite brews!” (From their site)

RiverBend Brewing: “We will be serving free samples from 11-4 at the brewery. Come by and meet the brewers and take a tour of our newely expanded brewery. There will be a shuttel offering transportation to all of the breweries, so please do not drink and drive.” (Source)

Silver Moon Brewing: From Facebook: “It’s the Oregon Brewery event of the year: Zwickelmania! Come by the Bend pub on Saturday, Feb 13th for FREE TOURS & great beer! The first tour begins at 11:30am & the last will be 3:50pm. Stay for free entertainment by Bend Burlesque Co. & music by Company Grand! (Sorry, no event at the Redmond Production Facility)”

Sunriver Brewing – Galveston Pub: From Facebook: “Come down to Sunriver Brewing’s Grand Opening of our Galveston Pub in Bend! We will have a covered area to hang out next to our newly built back patio. Plus music by DJ Twitchdoktor form Portland, a Rippin Release toast at 5:30pm and FREE STUFF! Also note that prior to the Grand Opening we will be hosting Zwicklemania at this new location from 11am-4pm. Primal Cuts will be pairing some of their favorite meats and cheeses with some of our special release brews. Including Imperial Cocoa Cow, Resin Nation Dbl IPA, Cinder Beast Imperial Red and Bog Frog Wheat IPA.”

Three Creeks Brewing: “PRE-ZWICKELMANIA BREAKFAST! Kick-start Zwickelmania with us! Swing by our production facility and enjoy Three Creeks Brewing Company breakfast beers, coffee from Sisters Coffee Company, and breakfast snacks by @thesistersbakeryinsisters and Rockin Dave’s Bagel Bistro & Catering. And of course, enjoy brewer led tours and Zwickel tastes! FEB 13, 9-11:30am. 265 E. Barclay Dr., Sisters, OR.” (Facebook)

Wild Ride Brewing: “We will have special tastings, food pairings, and tours with our brew team during this free event.”

Worthy Brewing: “Join us for Zwickelmania, including:
-Open house brewery tours, featuring our new canning line
-Whole cone hop infused Randall
-Lights Out Stout, paired with free housemade chocolates!
-More samples, meet the brewers and more!
-Valentine’s weekend pairing menu in the pub.” (Facebook)

Now, of the unofficial participants (not listed on the main Zwickelmania page):

10 Barrel Brewing: “Zwickelmania 2016 is on! Swing by the brewery this Saturday the 13th to try our barrel aged, year-round and specialty beers! We will also be serving food, have great music and a kids corner so the whole family can come out and party!” (From Facebook)

Bridge 99 Brewery: See the brewery, drink some beer! The Bend Brew Bus will be including this stop on one of their loops.

Juniper Brewing: They posted yesterday: “Time to start the weekend off right! 12 beers on tap, pint sales, growler fills, and great cheer! Zwickelmania is officially tomorrow, but we give tours most every day!”

And finally, for a bit of fun you can print out a Zwickelmania Bingo card over on my beer blog! Cheers!

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