This Friday, February 24th, is the official groundbreaking ceremony for Worthy Brewing, one of Bend’s newest breweries-in-development fronted by ex-Laurelwood Brewmaster Chad Kennedy (Facebook announcement). The ceremony takes place at 3pm and (I believe) both Kennedy and partner Roger Worthington (of Indie Hops) will be on-hand.

Before then, though, I thought I’d grab a couple of pictures of the land that Worthy will be occupying, before any buildout starts:

Not much to look at now but it’s a nice big chunk of land that’s easily accessible and will develop out nicely. The land fronts Highway 20, the main east-west route in and out of Bend, and in the immediate area there is a movie theater (kitty-corner to the southwest, Pilot Butte Cinemas), a lot of residential housing, a large restaurant and smaller dining and fast food options immediately adjacent (The Phoenix, along with a Subway, Taco Bell, China Doll, Starbucks, a frozen yogurt shop), several hotels within a few blocks, and a larger shopping center across the street to the west that includes Barnes & Noble, Safeway, Whole Foods, Costco, Old Navy, and more. In short, it’s a good location for a (much-needed) eastside brewery.

And it should be an impressive facility; here are their plans, and a design mockup:

And in the latest email newsletter the following features are listed:

• A 22,000 square foot production brewery
• Pilot brewhouse for nailing recipes and concocting experimental beer styles
• 4,000 sq. ft restaurant anchored by a wood fired oven
• Bar top sourced from reclaimed old growth Doug Fir sourced from the Oregon State Hospital, featured in Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
• A 1/3 acre low trellis hop garden showcasing Oregon-grown experimental hops and a herb garden
• Top of the line European-made rotary head canning line
• Greenhouse named after Dr. Al Haunold, America’s greatest HopMeister
• Solar Panels and a Thermal Water Heating System
• Bavarian beer garden with picnic tables, two firepits and shade trees festooned with lights…and more hop vines
• Bike racks, bottle filled Gabion boxes and of course a full sized VELODROME!
• Just kidding on the Velodrome, but hey, we’re dreaming, right?

It’s very ambitious and will be interesting to watch the progress, which will culminate in a finished brewery by (tentatively) January 2013.

If you wanted to attend the ceremony, follow the RSVP directions on Facebook. (I’ll be there.)