| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Founder(s) | Gary Fish |
| Headquarters | Bend, Oregon, USA |
| Products | Beer |
| Production output | 205,000 barrels (2010) |
| Website | www.descutesbrewery.com |
Deschutes is a craft brewery founded in 1988 in Bend, Oregon, USA. The company produces a range of beers which it currently distributes to eighteen states.[1] As of 2010, it was the fifth-largest craft brewery and eleventh-largest overall brewery in the United States.[2]
Contents |
Gary Fish established the Deschutes Brewery & Public House as small brew pub in 1988 in downtown Bend, Oregon and named it after the Deschutes River.[3] Fish emphasized a community-based approach to his business, stating, "We want people to feel like this is, in a lot of ways, theirs."[3] The brewery sold 310 barrels of beer in its first year, and by 1992, sales were up to 3,954 barrels.[3] Unable to keep up with demand in its original facility, the brewery expanded to a 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2) production brewery in 1993 with the ability to brew in 50-barrel batches.[3] Deschutes now has a brewing facility with two brew houses, distributing its beer in eighteen Western & Midwestern states. Bend's original brew pub still brews most of the beer it pours at the pub on the 12-barrel system. A Deschutes brew pub opened in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon in May 2008.
In 2011, it announced plans to expand its brewing facility by 6,750 square feet (627 m2), allowing an additional 105,000 barrels to be brewed per year. New equipment installed will contain a water reuse system, saving the company thousands of gallons of water per year, as well as a carbon dioxide capture system from the fermentation process, which will decrease waste to the city sewer system. The expansion is expected to be completed mid-2012.[4]
The company produces a range of beers including Black Butte Porter, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Obsidian Stout, Bachelor ESB, The Abyss, Cascade Ale and "Red Chair [North Western Pale Ale]". In April 2006, the Deschutes Brewery replaced its Quail Springs IPA, an English-style India Pale Ale, with Inversion IPA, an American Northwest-style India pale ale, as its year-round IPA.
Mirror Pond has consistently won awards in the pale ale category at various brewing competitions, including the Gold Medal at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival.[5] Black Butte is the best-selling craft porter in the United States.[5]
Since 1989, Deschutes has sponsored the Deschutes Brewery Sagebrush Classic, an annual golf and culinary event to benefit local nonprofit charities.[6]