This year we had a great time celebrating the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and ‘ol Saint Patrick, while tasting beers all over Bend, Oregon. What St. Patrick’s day would be complete without the lifting of Lenten restriction? With over nine breweries Bend could possibly be the perfect town to celebrate the occasion west of the Mississippi!

We began the day’s festivities with a Deschutes Red Chair at Mt. Bachelor. There is something about being so close to the actual “Red Chair” lift that makes you crave the sweet/bitter awesomeness!  After one down we hit the lift and proceeded to have one of the best days on the hill yet! The powder was deep, and the snow kept falling.  Apparently, there were hidden pots of gold scattered across the mountain. We had no luck finding any, though.  My childhood friend, David, was visiting from South Carolina, and I couldn’t have asked for a better day to bring him up.

After a few good runs, we headed back down the mountain and straight to Boneyard Beer.  We got a hint the day before when filling a growler of Armored Fist, that they would be debuting Sug Knite in their tasting room. Sug Knite apparently has an ABV of 13% and will literally hang you over the balcony and shake your socks off! Not only was it potent, but oh so very rich and tasty! While at Boneyard we had the luck of witnessing the first growler of Sug Knite ever sold! It really was like finding a pot of gold. At first there was some debate over letting so much of the precious darkness escape to a single pair of hands, but then we heard the OK from the brewers in the back warehouse. In celebration we managed to get another taster (limited to 1) and took a picture to capture this piece of beer history.

The crew at Boneyard were great, and I highly recommend you visit the brewery on Wednesdays for $6 growlers! Plus, the atmosphere is great, and allows for a quick taste or two, or three… After the thorough beating by Sug Knite we headed home to prepare for the evening. Little did we know we would be back for one more round of Sug Knite before hitting some other spots in Bend.

After the second trip to Boneyard Beer of the day, we headed over to Brother Jon’s for dinner and good beer! Brother Jon’s is a small restaurant on the West side of Bend right across from 10 Barrel Brewing. They have some of the best ribs and wings in town which is of utmost importance to me, and the infamous Buffalo Mac & Cheese for Cali.  Also, they have a wide variety of beers on tap from Caldera, Boneyard, Hopworks, and Terminal Gravity. Wow! What a lineup of Oregon brewed beers!  We enjoyed yet another great meal at Brother Jon’s and look forward to going back… next week hopefully!

The next stop was Silver Moon Brewing, where the door man was nice enough to let us in for a few beers without paying the cover. We had plans to head out so we couldn’t stay for the live show.  I was dying to have their Hop Popotamus, but it’s not in season so we went with the Hop Knob IPA, the Irish Red, and of course, our only green beer of the night which I think may have been their Bridge Creek Pilsner… don’t quote me on that. After a few cheers and a little music we headed over to McMenamin’s.

McMenamin’s is the spot for Cajun tots, fire pits, and Hammerhead beer! Hammerhead is probably my favorite over there with the Terminator coming in second. Sweet toothers (toothes??) might dive into the Rubinator, but stout drinkers would probably stay away. After enjoying the fire pits for a few, we headed inside for one last cheers over Irish car bombs (Thanks Charlie!). Surrounded by friends, I have to say it was one of the best St. Patty’s Day celebrations ever. The only thing missing was The Movement, but only my South Carolina peeps know about that one!