Two interesting pieces of brewery news from around Central Oregon for you today:

First: The as-yet-to-open Noble Brewing is changing their name to “Good Life Brewing.” Word has it that they were sued—or perhaps only threatened with a lawsuit, I’m not sure—by a California brewery that already claims “Noble” for their name (my guess is Noble Ale Works out of Anaheim). It wouldn’t surprise me if this has been a cause of the delays in their original opening plans (first slated for January of this year, then March).

Second: It looks like the town of Prineville will be getting its first brewery, Solstice Brewing Company, the Central Oregonian (Prineville’s newspaper) reports (via Oregon Business):

Later this year, former Portland resident and long-time homebrewer Joe Barker will open Solstice Brewing Company in the heart of Prineville. Barker grew up in La Grande, Ore., eventually moving to Portland during his college years. He stayed in the city, doing custom woodworking until the recession prompted him to do something new — eventually steering him to Crook County.

“I’ve been brewing probably for 10 years,” Barker said. “What really pushed me (to open a brewery) is I’ve always really enjoyed making craft beer and then having friends over for dinner and just being able to share.”

Solstice Brewing Company will occupy the former Main Street Saloon facility, doing business within a block of Pine Theater and the Bowman Museum. Barker hopes to open for business by July — but the beer will have to wait a bit longer.

“We probably won’t be able to brew beer for several months,” he said. “The (Oregon Liquor Control Commission) licensing takes quite a while to get the manufacturing piece.”

In the meantime, Solstice will add another family-friendly eatery to the community.

Once the brewing begins, Barker hopes to provide several options that run the full spectrum of beers, all of them born out of his favorite homebrewing recipes.

“We will probably keep about four consistent beers and then have a couple rotations,” he said. “We’ll have a good IPA, we’ll have a good dark beer. We’ve got a couple really nice browns and stouts as well as some real light pale ales — and maybe some lagers.”