The first-ever Central Oregon Beer Week kicks off on Monday next week (from May 21 through 27) and the events are filling out with a nice lineup of things going on all week. I’m not covering all of them here—go check out the page for the full listing—but here are some highlights:

• BREWS & BANDS at the Broken Top Bottle Shop all week: BTBS is a major contributor to COBW, and they’ve lined up a week’s worth of meet the brewer events featuring different local brewers each night, paired with live music—all in their brand-new space! They’ve been working hard to get their new expanded space ready for the bottle shop portion of the business and it’s going to be a great venue for music and beer.
• Whole Foods is likewise doing a week-long series of tastings featuring beers from different local brewers each day which is definitely something to be checking out—not only for the tastings but also for one of the best bottled beer selections in town.
• An event I’m excited to have on the schedule is an exclusive “Pre-release Backstage Brew Bus Tour” from Wanderlust Tours, taking you on a visit to both The Ale Apothecary and Crux Fermentation Project: “Take a trip up to Bridge Creek to see Bend’s City water source in all its pure, clear glory. The best beers in the world spring forth from this excellent water source. The first brewery downstream is the new Ale Apothecary- our first stop at this behind the scenes tour! Owner and Brewmaster Paul Arney will share his eclectic, yet experimental craft with us in a gorgeous mountain forest setting. The tour will finish up with a stop at Crux Fermentation Project- Bend’s next great brewery in the making. Open fermenters, shiny copper, a true crossroads of traditional and upstart northwest flavors, seeing Crux behind the scenes is a special treat!”  The price is only $45 and they can seat 14 people—and there’s only going to be one! I’d definitely encourage you to sign up for this one—call 541-389-8359 for reservations.
• GoodLife Brewing has the grand opening of their Biergarten on Friday the 25th, along with the release of this year’s seasonal Sweet As Pacific Ale. There’s going to be music, games, food, a fire pit, and with the beautiful weather we’ve been having the Biergarten is going to be the place to be when they open!
• Mt. Bachelor’s Brewski Festival caps the week on Memorial Day weekend—it’s the Mountain’s closing weekend and from 12 to 3pm both days you can enjoy beers poured from Central Oregon’s breweries along with live music, skiing, and more. The cost is $10 for a beer stein and three tokens, with additional tokens available for $2 each. A full 14 ounce pour will cost three tokens, while a sample 4 ounce pour will cost one token. Even if you don’t ski, you can head up to the Mountain to enjoy the beer!
• The Bend Ale Trail during the Week will be giving out a special bonus prize to folks that complete the Trail: special limited-edition BAT koozies! I don’t know if or when these will come around again, so don’t miss out—plus you’ll get to see all our breweries in doing so! Win-win!

There are of course a lot more events taking place all week, and I’ll be doing my best to hit a good number of them (I’m definitely interested in the beer cocktails at 10 Below restaurant, which are going on all week). It’s going to be a good week!