Yesterday’s local newspaper, the Bend Bulletin, reports on the possibility of Bend getting yet another brewery—one that could potentially be the tenth brewery in Bend if so.

The article itself is behind the Bulletin’s paywall, so I can’t link it, but here are the relevant bits:

City of Bend officials have been in discussions with part-time Bend resident Roger Worthington about the idea of building a brewery and outdoor beer garden on the east edge of Bend.

Worthington, an attorney who also lives in California, had Neal Huston, of Neal Huston & Associates Architects Inc., draw up preliminary plans for a 26,000-square-foot facility on land Worthington owns just east of East 27th Street along U.S. Highway 20. The city received the renderings and other information on the project in March.

His legal work aside, Worthington is a co-owner of Indie Hops LLC, a hops supplier for the craft brewing industry with a pellet mill in Hubbard, south of Wilsonville.

Documents concerning the project show Worthington is interested in starting small but planning for growth. If the project were to start, it would at first produce and sell 500 to 750 barrels a year. According to the documents, Worthington anticipates brewing and selling 20,000 barrels a year six to seven years after opening — if it does open.

“It’ll be probably several months before (Worthington) knows whether this is something he’s actually going to move forward with,” Huston said.

One of the things that stands out is the beer garden aspect, and its proposed location on Bend’s east side—an area entirely barren of microbreweries (most are within the downtown area, within about a mile of each other). The east side location being looked at is both well-trafficked and spacious—none of the premium per-square-foot prices you’d find downtown and west, so I think tacking on a beer garden would be hugely successful, particularly in the summer.

It’s also important to note that this is simply proposed thus far—it’s in talks with the City but of course it might not go anywhere. But if there’s going to be another brewery opening up, east side is the right choice.

And, to that “tenth” number, I had to figure them all out myself. Here’s the current list:

1. Deschutes Brewery
2. Bend Brewing Company
3. Silver Moon Brewing
4. McMenamins Old St. Francis School
5. 10 Barrel Brewing
6. Boneyard Beer
7. Old Mill Brew Werks (they now have a couple of their own beers on tap)
8. Noble Brewing (in development)
9. Below Grade (proposed? I haven’t heard lately)
10. Unnamed East Side Brewery (possible)

And then of course, the two in Redmond and Sisters:

1. Cascade Lakes Brewing (Redmond)
2. Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters)

Which brings the total up to at least ten for all of Central Oregon, and 12 if they all go through.