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Deschutes Celebrates 19 Years with Golden Ale

(May 11, 2007 - Bend, OR) "We felt we had to do something special to mark our 19th Anniversary," said brewmaster Larry Sidor, "so we took a vow of silence and brewed our first Belgian style ale ever to be bottled."

The straw colored Strong Golden Ale is made from an impressively international list of ingredients that acknowledge the diverse roots of craft beer. "We used Czech Saaz, Slovenian Golding, Pacific Northwest Liberty, and Brewers Gold hops," said Sidor, "along with French pilsner malt, and Belgian white candy diamonds and bitter orange peel from the island of Curacao for a little extra kick and sizzle."

The vow of silence, a nod to the Belgian monks who brew some of the world's most revered beers, may have been the biggest challenge for the brewers at Deschutes. About half way through adding the 180 bags of malt, one of the brewers inadvertently exclaimed, "Good Lord, this is a lot of malt." Keeping with the spirit of their Belgian counterparts, another brewer answered, "Amen, brother."

Deschutes Brewery, a pioneer of Oregon's craft beer industry, opened as a small brew pub in Bend in 1988. As the central Oregon town made the transition from timber and ranching to an outdoor lifestyle destination, the brewery expanded. Deschutes produces 160,000 barrels of craft beer in several distinctive styles which are available in bottles and on tap throughout the region. A new brewpub is scheduled to open in Portland next year.

The 19th Anniversary Belgian-style Strong Golden Ale will be available from June through September in 22-ounce bottles and limited draft.

[Press Release]

Hood River - After months of planning, design, construction, remodeling and lot�s of recipe tastings, Full Sail Brewing is reopening their pub. The Grand Opening will be on Friday May 4th, 2007, in the same spectacular location with the same great beers. What is new is a more comfortable seating area that highlights the view of the Columbia River and the Gorge and a special menu designed to celebrate Full Sail�s beers.

The menu will include many dishes designed to share such as the brewmaster�s ploughman platter and hand cut Belgium style fries with a variety of sauces. Also on the menu is an assortment of sandwiches including two New Orleans specials � a muffuletta and a crispy shrimp poor boy. "Big dishes" include Session battered fresh Alaskan halibut and hand-cut fries with lemon-caper tartar sauce and Amber ale barbecued pork loin with hot mustard, grilled scallions, cilantro and coconut sticky rice. There will also be some delicious vegetarian dishes.

"To update our Pub after twenty years so that it celebrates and reflects the quality of beers as well as the growth of Hood River itself has been a very fun and satisfying project. It is a twentieth anniversary present for all of us at Full Sail and for our customers," said Irene Firmat, Full Sail�s CEO & Founder. "Most of all we are thrilled to offer a menu that will complement our award winning brews and take advantage of the wealth and quality of local ingredients. We have also added several new members to the Full Sail crew � Chef Brian Hutchins, in the kitchen and Robert Carpenter as our front of the house manager. We are happy that our continuing investment in the brewery keeps offering the opportunity to create more employee owners," added Firmat. Swing by the Full Sail Tasting Room and Pub to taste of Chef Brian�s tempting talents along with a cold pint of Full Sail.