Deschutes Brewery Tasting Room — Restaurant in Bend

Deschutes is probably my all-time favorite beer, so to say I was excited to visit the source would be an understatement.

Unfortunately, I would say the experience of the tour and tasting room was good but not as exceptional as their beer.

The tour- The biggest positive was that they give you a beer and koozie with the tour. The dude giving the tour did a solid job answering questions.

The bummers: They charge (half) for underage, non drinking tourers. The guy giving the tour was not a current, full-time employee. It sounded like he was previously but had moved on and just came back to give tours as a volunteer (part-time?) gig. Also, the tour doesn’t take you to any of the production areas; you go through the employee break room and a series of observation decks. Maybe cause their scale, you don’t get the level of intimacy some other brew tours can provide?

The tasting room- It was good. But again, the number of experimentals on tap was not really significant. The best I can think of is Avery Brewing, which has over 2-dozen beers on tap and at least half are exclusive trials.

Then, as far as merch, I was looking for thin work/office socks and the classic state of oregon sticker, neither of which they had. I looked at some t-shirts but ended up passing on the one with Bend tubing theme cause it had beer cans on the tubes (ironic since the city has “Nope” signs everywhere along the river indicating “no alcohol”). Having a few more options that are less “boozy” themed and more Bend or mountains themed (there was one burnt orange with mountains but not my color) would still get the marketing job done and fit my needs as wearable around my family.

Overall- I’d say it’s a very nice facility. But the focus overall for the site feels like primarily on the production of beer. I’ve been on better tours and been to better...

My husband did the regular brewery tour and the Barrel House tour on our visit to Bend. Deschutes is his favorite brewery - we even named our dog after it. (Pic included because he’s the most handsome goodest boy.) He said both tours were fantastic. Cody was the name of his tour guide for both tours. He couldn’t believe the regular one was only $10. Make sure you read the email for the tours. I know for sure that the Barrel House tour requires long pants and closed toe shoes. He said three other people showed up in shorts and flip flops and were turned away. Which worked out for him because he was the only one that read the email and showed up in correct attire so his group tour ended up being a private one on one. I sat in the beer garden with our dog while he was doing the tour. It’s a bit small and was very busy as they had a live band and the weather was hot and nice so I ended up finding a spot in the grass to sit. The Catharina beer with a chamoy rim...

Very cool brewery and tour. We got lucky and got a private tour giving us direct attention from our tour guide. She was extremely knowledgeable, personable, and adorable! (Reminded us of a favored family member) The brewery has a lovely story and admirable history. I appreciate the owners values to the process as a whole, especially including the employees in the growth from their efforts. I loved the personal touches added everywhere making it a second home to the employees to be proud of. I enjoyed the brew creating area, where the magic happens with new flavors. Everything was extremely clean and well cared for. Everyone working was super friendly and happy to be there. I highly recommend stopping through. (I remember selling this beer back in the early 90's as a bartender, and now I see where it all...