Boneyard Beer here in Bend is celebrating their one-year anniversary this week, with a big Boneyard Birthday Bash this Saturday the 21st:

Boneyard Birthday Bash! Boneyard is celebrating year #1! Come get your chug on while enjoying great food from Island Wild and groovin tunes from Truth Hero! Charge is $2.00 entry, and $3 beers. No minors will be allowed. Free schwag giveaways!! Don’t miss the first ever BBB! After party to follow at Velvet downtown Bend!

The party is taking place at Bend’s Old Stone Church (more-or-less around the corner from the Brewery itself) starting at 7pm.

The past year has seen Boneyard explode all over Bend’s beer scene, with tap handles at many restaurants in town, participation in many if not all of the local events, and a strongly loyal following of fans—all while forgoing the usual Oregon brewing route of opening a brewpub and instead focusing entirely on their production brewery. (There are a few other Oregon breweries that have taken this route that you might have heard of—ones like Ninkasi, Southern Oregon Brewing, Heater Allen, and Oakshire Brewing.) They have a tasting room where you can sample their brews and fill growlers, but that’s the extent of their public operations.

There’s also a nice article in today’s Bend Bulletin (our local newspaper) about Boneyard, but unfortunately it’s behind their paywall so I can’t link to it. I can give at least one pull however:

“Our first brew batch was on April 18, 2010. That was our brand called Brand 13, and it was 13 barrels. Today we are on brew batch 86,” [Founder and Brewer Tony] Lawrence said. “In our first year we did 1,300 barrels, and in our second year we are going to probably hit 3,500 to 4,000 barrels.”

When the partners brewed their first batch of beers they had four used brewing and fermenting tanks ranging in size from five to 14 barrels, and now all but one of those original tanks have been replaced with five 20-barrel tanks and one 40-barrel tank, and three more 40-barrel tanks set to arrive in the next few weeks will more than double Boneyard Beer’s capacity, he said.

When asked what brand of Boneyard Beer is the best seller, Lawrence said, “without a doubt it’s our RPM IPA,” which he said will be available in six to eight weeks in 16-ounce cans featuring the Boneyard Beer black label with a white skull and crossed blades.

Other than the soon-to-be released canned Boneyard Beer, which will be distributed from Seattle to San Francisco as well as in the Bend area, Lawrence said Boneyard primarily manufactures beer “pretty much for the wholesale trade” to sell to bars and restaurants.

“We’re not like all of the woodsy, outdoorsy brewpubs in the area. We don’t have a restaurant in our brewery,” Lawrence said. “We aren’t brewery intellectuals. We’re gearheads. We work on cars, we ride motorcycles and we brew beer.”

Of particular note is the bit about their RPM IPA being available in cans in six to eight weeks: from their inception, Boneyard had broadcast their intent to can their beer, so it’s nice to see that come to fruition. They will be offering their canned beer in four-packs of 16-ounce cans, and hopefully they’ll be able to distribute some of their other beers besides the IPA.

Congrats on the first year, Boneyard, and here’s to many more to come!