Self-Guided Brewery Tour In Bend, Oregon

One of Jake’s and my favorite things to do in a new city besides hiking is brewery hopping! We love trying new craft beers all around the area. Cities are a great spot for this activity because brewery locations tend to be closer together, it’s easy to get safe transportation to and from, and has a wide range of delicious beers to try! And one thing Bend has done exceptionally well, is have tons of small micro-breweries in the area! So we decided to do our own self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon.

When we visited Bend, Oregon we rented a tandem bike and had easy access to a bunch of different breweries. And Bend has incredible views along the Deschutes River with snowy mountains in the distance. I should note, our favorite style of beer are IPA’s, pale ales, fruity beers and Hazy IPAs. So this tour is guided toward those styles of beer and we will let you know what we got and if we suggest it!

That is not to say that any of the breweries we visited only excelled in those styles of beer, but we didn’t branch too far from our favorite styles of beer. Let’s dive into this self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon.  

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Transportation For A Self-Guided Brewery Tour In Bend

First, let’s figure out the best mode of transportation for you to get around safely on this self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon. There are tons of great options in the area, whether it be by foot, bike, taxi, or bus. 

Walk:

Walking is by far the cheapest way to visit all the different breweries in Bend, OR and also the safest. But, it is also going to take the longest to get to and from each brewery. But many of the breweries are close enough together you can easily walk between a few. 

Bike:

If you have your own bike, then this is a great mode of transportation to the different breweries. If you are just visiting Bend, Oregon then you could rent a bike from a local shop. We rented a tandem bike from Wheel Fun Rentals – Old Mill District (they have tons of other bike rental styles, such as tandem, cruiser, surrey, electric, mountain bikes, etc). But there are also other rental shops in town such as Bend Oregon Bike Rentals, Hutch’s Bicycles, and Let It Ride eBikes. 

But just be aware that under Oregon Law cyclists are still capable of getting a DUI, so don’t continue biking if you are over the legal limit.  We typically lock the bike past a certain point and continue on foot.

Cycle Pub Tour:

Another super fun way to get around to all the different breweries in Bend is to book a Cycle Pub Tour. But you might need to be traveling to the different breweries as a group. There are two different bike sizes: Big Bike 8-14 riders or Small Bike = 4-6 riders. This tour looks super fun but definitely comes with a higher price tag. Plus there is a time limit for this tour, so you will probably need to plan our your route in advance to build in a time frame at each brewery.  

Uber/Lyft/Taxi:

Another great option is to grab an Uber, Lyft or Taxi between breweries or at the end of the night back to your home base. You could easily uber/Lyft/taxi from your home or where you are staying into town and walk around to a few different breweries & then just uber/Lyft/taxi back home later. 

Cascades East Transit:

Public transportation is a very easy way to get around, but the bus obviously don’t stop out front of each brewery. Therefore, you will need to navigate the best route and stop to get off for each one and mostly have to walk a ways to each one. But it is a very great option for staying on a budget and not driving yourself!

Check out their schedule to see which bus schedule works best for you. 

Designated Driver:

The best option of all, is if you have a member of your group that wants to join the brewery tour but doesn’t want to partake in the drinking, therefore he/she can drive you to each brewery!

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Bend Ale Trail

The Bend Ale Trail is a program that leads you to all the best breweries in the city. There are seven different territories within Bend w/ multiple breweries in each territory. So you can get a different taste of the areas around Bend depending on what breweries you are most interested in.

The Bend Ale Trail can either be downloaded via the app or you can print it out. You will then need a stamp from the breweries you visit. If you visit all the breweries in 1 of the 7 territories, bring your Ale Trail Map to the Visit Bend Tourist Information Center. and you will get a prize. The more territories you finish the more prizes you will win!  

In our specific self-guided brewery tour in Bend, we don’t finish any territory. So you will have to add a couple if you want to qualify to win a fun prize through the Bend Ale Trail!

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Our route On This Self-Guided Brewery In Bend

The Breweries On Our Self Guided Brewery Tour

Add On Breweries:

For even more breweries, check out Visit Bend’s Website. 

In this specific self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon I am going to suggest the route we took, because I think it went very smoothly and we loved the breweries. But if you look up a few of the breweries I suggest as add-ons which suit your taste better, you can always mix and match some of the breweries. But the list doesn’t just stop here, there are tons more breweries in the area. 

Note: Jake and I did this self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon over the span of one day. So we maxed out at 5 breweries and even split a beer at a brewery so we could safely get home on our tandem bike! Our best suggestion is to gauge your limit, you can always sit out a round, split a beer with someone, or try a delicious Kombucha instead.  So go at your own pace and just go to as many breweries that feels comfortable.

First, we rented a tandem bike from Wheel Fun Rentals in the Old Mill District. We then headed North up the river to Silver Moon Brewing Company.  This is longest ride of our tour, so we wanted to start with it.  It’s a beautiful cruise along the Deschutes River, and then through Downtown Bend.

Silver Moon Brewing

This was my favorite brewery in the whole self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon. If you are starting around lunch time they have a great selection of delicious food truck options outside. 

For beer, Jake and I got the Simon Says Hazy and Mango Daze which were super delicious! The Simon Says Hazy was really juicy and citrus notes, and the Mango Daze was light, fruity and super refreshing! 

Silver Moon Brewing had a sweet outdoor patio, tables, fire pits, shade from the sun, and cornhole. The location is right on the highway, but the music they played was plenty to drown out the noise. They even have a stage set up, so check their events tab to see if they have a fun band playing or unique event going on. We would highly suggest having this brewery be part of your self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon. 

(If you chose to visit Deschutes Brewing Company, this would be your next brewery stop. Jake and I have tried their beers before, and wanted to try some of the smaller micro-breweries, so we decided to skip this one)

Bend Brewing Company

Next, we headed over to Bend Brewing Company which had an awesome outdoor section on the grass with a beautiful view of the Deschutes River. When you get there, the hostess directs you towards open seating on the lawn for just drinks, or will get you a full-service table on the deck or patio if you want food and drinks.

If you just want beers then you can order up at the bar and seat yourself outside.  It’s a large grassy area, so you could always sit down on the grass if no tables are available.  The lawn slopes down towards the river, and theres a good mix of shade and sun.

For beers, Jake and I got the Future Living IPA and Tropic Pines IPA. Future Living is a solid citrus IPA and the Tropic Pines was super hazy. We really liked both, and the outdoor atmosphere is really great.  So again, we would definitely suggest adding this brewery to your self-guided Brewery Tour in Bend, Oregon. You could also order a flight if you were interested in trying more than one beer!

Worthy Brewing Company

Worthy Brewing Company has a couple of different locations, but we visited the one on Brooks St downtown which is literally a short walk away from Bend Brewing Company.

It’s also a bonus if there is a farmer’s market (usually on Wednesdays) because you literally walk right through in order to get here from Bend Brewing Company.

The atmosphere of Worthy Brewing’s downtown Bend location is more of a small city-style setup with a small outdoor patio on the sidewalk or a hip, bright-colored indoor seating section.

We both got Hazy IPA’s, the “Hazy IPA” and Lazy Day IPA. The Hazy IPA was pretty solid, and the Lazy Day was a lighter ABV, so it was very drinkable. 

This is not Worthy Brewing Company’s main location, so if you want to try their beers but want more space and a larger outdoor patio, then the main location is on Bellevue Dr is a better option. 

You could make the brewery tour a bit shorter here and add in Deschutes Brewing Co, to make it a fun 4-stop self-guided brewery tour in Bend. Or if you are like us and wanted to ride bikes for a bit longer head over to 10 Barrel Brewing Co. 

10 Barrel Brewing Co.

10 Barrel Brewing Co was about a 5 minute (.8mi) ride from the last section of breweries. It was more of a restaurant-style brewery, so if you are hungry this would be a great spot to grab food. This brewery was right off a semi-busy road, but had a good patio space with some indoor seating that had a nice breeze from the open-air bar area. 

For beers, we got Gay Day IPA and Cloud Mentality. The Gay Day is an OJ juicy IPA which was super tasty, almost like a beer-mosa! And Cloud Mentality is a Hazy IPA with strata hops and fruit notes. Both were super delicious.

We were a bit hungry by now, so we decided to get food here. We decided to split the Tri-tip steak sandwich which had big chunks of med-rare steak. It was pretty bomb! 

Boss Rambler

Last but not least, we visited Boss Rambler which is a short walk or bike ride from 10 Barrel. This location basically has a street-side patio so the road noise was a little annoying. But we still loved being outdoors enjoying the warmth! Plus their design is super bright and fun colors which I am a personal fan of! 

At this point in the brewery tour, Jake and I were feeling like we could only handle one more beer to safely make it home on the bike. So we split the Hang Juice Hazy and it was super yummy! They had a huge selection of Hazy IPA’s which are our favorite. But a decent selection of other beers too.

If you feel like you would still like to visit one more brewery, then Sunriver Brewing Co is literally right next to Boss Rambler.

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Optional Add On Breweries:

The other breweries that you could add onto the brewery tour could be Monkless Brewery, Crux Brewery, or Good Life Brewing Company. They would be easy additions to add onto your self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon. Our best suggestion is to look up their beer menus online and see if they serve your favorite style of beer. 

Monkless Belgian Ales:

For example, Monkless seemed to have more English style ales, which aren’t necessarily our favorite, so we decided to skip it. But if that style of beer interests you, they have a killer second floor deck that overlooks the river. If you rent bikes from Wheel Fun Rentals then you literally pass Monkless Belgian Ales Brewery on the route up the river, so it would be a good first or last stop.

Crux Fermentation Project:

We did happen to visit Crux Fermentation Project on a different day. They seemed to have a ton of styles of beer we tend to like, but after getting two different flights with 8 different sample beers, we really can’t say we loved any of them. But the atmosphere at Crux was fabulous. It’s dog friendly, with a huge grassy area for them to run around in. They also had a couple food trucks and a tent for shade. Their indoor space was modern, large and had two bars, so I am assuming this place gets pretty busy. 

Personally just hoping Crux was having an off day with their tap or something, because peoples reviews of their beers are great. When we ordered, the beers were pouring SUPER SLOW, so maybe something was just wrong with the pressure?! I wouldn’t quite rule this place out if their beers interest you! We are willing to give this place a second try if we come back to visit!

Good Life Brewing Company:

We also visited The Good Life Brewing Company on a different day during our stay. They have a large grassy outdoor area where there was a band getting ready to play live music. You can even bring your own lawn chairs to enjoy the show. They had a food truck outside or a small food list you can order from inside. 

Also, take a look at the Bend Ale Trail, there are even more breweries in the area to choose from! So the fun doesn’t have to stop at just these that we mentioned above. 

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Takeaway | Self-Guided Brewery Tour In Bend, Oregon:

We seriously had so much fun visiting these different breweries in Bend. We highly suggest renting bikes and visit a few different breweries in the area! You can even rent the bike for 24-hours or multi-day from Wheel Fun Rentals, so you can break this self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon into 2-3 days so you don’t have to miss any of them! We hope you have fun on your own self-guided brewery tour in Bend, Oregon.

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