Features include a Woodstone oven for making their Neapolitan/Artisan pizzas, and 15 beer taps that you’ll not only enjoy on the premises but they’ll fill growlers to go as well as sell 22-ounce bottles. (Haven’t seen a tap list yet.)

I hope the new space does well for them; they’ve definitely got more room and a lot more parking (though I wonder how much business on the eastside was provided by Mountain View high schoolers going there for lunch?) and with great pizza and a good beer list they could do pretty well up north.

Take a trip up to Bridge Creek to see Bend’s City water source in all its pure, clear glory. The best beers in the world spring forth from this excellent water source. The first brewery downstream is the new Ale Apothecary- our first stop at this behind the scenes tour! Owner and Brewmaster Paul Arney will share his eclectic, yet experimental craft with us in a gorgeous mountain forest setting. The tour will finish up with a stop at Crux Fermentation Project- Bend’s next great brewery in the making. Open fermenters, shiny copper, a true crossroads of traditional and upstart northwest flavors, seeing Crux behind the scenes is a special treat!

There are only 14 seats available, and the cost is $45 per person—definitely a good deal to get a sneak peek at what two of Central Oregon’s upcoming breweries are up to! Get reservations by calling 541-389-8359.

• The Shins: Friday, May 25, $35 (with The Head and the Heart and Blind Pilot)
• Tenacious D: Saturday, May 26, $39 (with The Sights)
• Beck: Sunday, May 27, $41 (with Metric)
• Outlaw Roadshow with Counting Crows (plus guests): Tuesday, August 7, $39 / $75
• Norah Jones: Wednesday, August 15, $39 / $60
• Michael Franti & Spearhead: Wednesday, August 22, $35
• ZZ Top: Friday, August 24, $42 / $79
• Brandi Carlile: Saturday, September 1, $35
• Huey Lewis and The News: Tuesday, September 11, $39 / $78

And the free Summer Sundays concerts (all start at 2:30pm, with doors opening at noon):

• Poor Moon: June 10
• Harley Bourbon: June 17
• Y La Bamba: June 24
• Mosley Wotta: July 1
• The Portland Cello Project: July 8
• Uncle Lucius: July 22 (this one has been removed from the site)
• Paul Thorn: July 29
• The Features: August 12

The first beer brewed in our Conflux Series, Collage is comprised of four very distinctive brews – The Dissident, The Stoic, Fred & Adam – each 100% aged in a myriad of barrels ranging from Rye Whiskey, Cognac, & Sherry to Pinot Noir, Bourbon and American Oak.

What makes this a beer geek’s delight of a dinner? Not only will you get to drink Collage, but you’ll also be able to drink each “component” beer that went into this blend—each course is paired with one of the four beers that has each been barrel-aged in various barrels, and the final two courses will be paired with Collage. To me, that’s an incredibly interesting breakdown of the components going into a finished beer and not something you would ordinarily have access to—especially considering these are probably the only time you’ll be able to drink each of the component beers specially-aged like this.

There are six courses in all, and here’s the menu:

Poached Crab Legs – minors lettuce, smoked mussles
Paired with The Dissident (100% aged in a French pinot barrel from Domaine Drouhine)

Oak Plank Wild Salmon – ramp gnocchi, hedge hog brown butter
Paired with The Stoic (100% aged in a Rye whiskey barrel from Heaven Hill)

Hibiscus Duck Confit – flageolet beans, boar sausage, savory spinach
Paired with Fred (100% aged in a Bourbon Midwest barrel from Heaven Hill)

Cocoa Braised Ox Tail – morel mushroom flan, radish greens
Paired with Adam (100% aged in a New Oregon barrel from Francois Freres)

Smoked Beef Ribeye – brewery cured lamb bacon, crispy truffled potatoes, roasted shallot arugula salad
Paired with Collage

Obsidian Stout Chocolate Cake – chocolate ganache, salted caramel, cocoa nib bacon toffee gelato
Paired with Collage

Pretty high-end food menu too, which is to be expected.

Deschutes owner Gary Fish and Hair of the Dog owner/brewer Alan Sprints will be on-hand meeting guests and Deschutes Brewmaster Cam O’Connor will be there to answer brewing questions as well.

Tickets to the dinner are $85 per person—no, not cheap, frankly—and it will be taking place at the downtown expansion’s new “Tap Room” (their upstairs banquet space, I think they’re calling it now). If you can afford it, this is a dinner you shouldn’t pass up.

(Incidentally, while last year’s Conflux #2 White IPA collaboration with Boulevard Brewing was released before this one, Collage is #1 because Deschutes and Hair of the Dog started working together on it two years ago.)

And, if you have a beer event you’d like to be included on the list of events, you can submit the event details here, and it can be listed as well.

With a couple of articles recently about Bend’s brewing scene in none other than the New York times, as well as the story on KTVZ today about Three Creeks Brewing expanding, and the impending arrival of Sunriver Brewing, Crux Fermentation Project, and Worthy Brewing, it’s a great time to be enjoying beer in Central Oregon! So why not make a week out of it?

Keep an eye on the website for all the latest.

• Festival de Banderas at the Les Schwab Amphitheater all day from 10am until 7pm; the LSA is partnering with the Central Oregon Latino Partnership Program to host this “Festival of Flags” featuring a family-friendly cultural celebration including music, dance, and food. Cost is $10 per person, with kids under 18 free. It’s all ages friendly until 7pm (which leads into the next event on this list).
• Amalia’s Cinco de Mayo Celebration is also taking place at the Les Schwab Amphitheater, with the Festival de Banderas as the lead-in for it: taking place from 5 until 10pm, with minors allowed until 7pm, this is the largest Central Oregon Cinco de Mayo party ever (according to the press release), and was moved to the LSA this year after simply growing too large for the downtown street party of previous years. The $10 price of the Festival will apply to this I believe, or you can purchase the tickets just for the Amalia’s party.
• Cinco de Mayo at La Rosa’s is taking place again this year, all day over in Northwest Crossing. There will be music, specials, infused margaritas, tequila flights, contests and swag throughout the day, and you can additionally enter to win a free stay in Cabo!
• The Broken Top Bottle Shop has Cinco de Micros for Cinco de Mayo all day tomorrow, featuring “a Mexican-inspired Especiales Menu, 5 micro tasters for $5, & 2 Pacificos for $5″.
• El Rodeo is celebrating Cinco de Mayo with (at the very least) live music, drink specials, and a taco bar (apologies for the lack of details, I heard this on the radio this morning and I’m not finding much online).
• Bend Brewing Company posted: “Celebrate Cinco De Mayo at B.B.C. tonight with One Loudah IPA and dinner specials including Tequila Lime Prawns and a delicious Mexican Pizza.”
• The Horned Hand is hosting Avery James and The Hillandales w/The Dream Symphony for their Cinco de Mayo party starting at 9pm for $5. “Its Cinco De Mayo! We’ll have Elysian and PBR specials all night! and don’t miss out on these two great local acts!”
• The Astro Lounge‘s party kicks off at 9pm—”Cinco De Mayo Rager!!!”—and features live music all night from Jay Tablet, Keegan Smith, Keez, J.O.Beats, and Nathaniel Knows (and more).
• The Northside Bar & Grill has their Cinco de Mayo party kicking off with live music from Fun Bobby starting at 8:30 with a $2 cover.
• Amanda’s (formerly El Caporal West, downtown) is of course celebrating Cinco de Mayo, featuring (at the very least!) “delicious pork carnitas and lots of drink specials.”
• El Rancho Grande up at the Cascade Village shopping center will have “Food specials, drink deals, mariachi photo fun and MORE!”
• Common Table: “Come get your Cinco De Mayo Groove on with The Human Microphone at Common Table! Enjoy special House Margaritas and delicious Traditional Mexican dishes while we serenade you with anything but traditional Mexican music. See you there! $5 dollar peach and watermelon margaritas”  And it’s free and friendly for all ages from 7 to 10pm!
• Mt. Bachelor has their “Kinko de Mayo” snowboarding event: “Bent Metal Binders, Mt. Bachelor and Snowboy Productions are bringing Kinko de Mayo back from the graveyard for an amazing day of bent jibs, tacos, heavy metal, and general hesh’ness.  This BEYOND FREE event is open to all snowboarders looking to get sunburned, hang with the Bent Metal Knights and Minions and maybe even hitch-hike home with some goods from Bent Metal Binders, Mt. Bachelor, Lib Tech Snowboards, GNU Snowboards, Arnette Eyewear, Poler Stuff, Dinosaurs Will Die Snowboards, COAL, YoBeat and Snowboarder Magazine.” From 10:30 to 4pm.

* Of course it’s known as probably the second-largest drinking holiday “borrowed” from other cultures, after St. Patrick’s Day… I’ve known people to call it “Drinko” de Mayo. I’ll be drinking beer and margaritas too!

Deschutes Brewery is back into First Friday as well, featuring Beer and Back-alley BBQ tonight for the evening, with artist Cristina Acosta on hand as well as live music.

And, you can catch the free GETIT shuttle to take you back and forth from downtown Bend to the Old Mill District. The shuttle runs from 5 to 9:30 and leaves from 900 Wall St. beginning at 5. The loop is about an hour and is free for riders, and shuttles leave every half hour.

I’m very pleased to announce something that I’ve been working on with the local breweries for a while now: the first-ever Central Oregon Beer Week, to take place next month, May 21 through 27! Bend has been overflowing with beer these past few years—in a good way, of course—and it just seemed to be time to really highlight and commemorate that.

CELEBRATE CENTRAL OREGON BEER WEEK MAY 21-27

Bend and Central Oregon has one of the largest per-capita number of breweries of any region around, and on top of that a thriving, exploding beer scene—so it’s only natural that we also have a Central Oregon Beer Week (COBW), a week-long celebration of Central Oregon’s amazing beer culture!

Central Oregon’s very first Beer Week takes place the last full week in May, leading up to Memorial Day weekend with Mt. Bachelor holding their two-day Brewski festival featuring great beer from Central Oregon’s fantastic breweries.

Other events are in the works, including tastings, meet the brewers, beer dinners, some special tours, and much more, all in conjunction with the newly-formed Central Oregon Brewers Guild—check out and bookmark the Events page to keep abreast of all the Week’s happenings!

If you would like to participate in Central Oregon Beer Week, we would welcome your event! You can fill out our event submission form on the COBW website to tell us all about it.

With COBW taking place next month, we’re focusing on smaller, inclusive beer events that will generate buzz and highlight and raise awareness of the amazing beer culture Central Oregon has to offer. I’m working to help get these coordinated as much as possible and I’m also envisioning a level of “grassroots crowdsourcing”—therefore if you would like to participate or have an idea to share, we would love to hear from you!

You can contact me directly, or better yet fill out the event submission form on the Central Oregon Beer Week website, and I will be happy to to include you and get you listed on the Beer Week site and events if possible.

Stay tuned for more on this in the coming weeks!

Tickets will be on sale beginning Friday, April 27 in-person or charge-by-phone at Newport Avenue Market, 541-382-3940. Prices start at $32 for Floor General, and will sell at $38 for Upper Concourse General and $54 for Floor Reserved. Limited general admission tickets will also be available at Ray’s Food Place in Prineville.

C3 has a number of details on their Facebook page, including how you might be able to win tickets from the radio: “Announcements and ticket give aways for Bill Cosby all week, this week, on KQAK 105.7, The Peak 104.1, Lite 95.1, and Newsradio Central Oregon, 1340 KBNW.”

This is certainly one of the more unexpected big-name acts I can think of that’s come to Central Oregon, but it’s pretty cool. And seems reasonably priced too. Show of hands, who’d be interested in going?