Bend Brewing Company sits right on the edge of Mirror Pond in Drake Park, with a patio that may be the best outdoor drinking spot in central Oregon. On a summer afternoon with the Cascades in the background and the Deschutes River running below, it is hard to argue with the setting.
The brewery produces a range of ales and lagers, with seasonal offerings that lean toward hop-forward styles in keeping with Pacific Northwest tastes. The food menu runs to pub standards done well — burgers, fish and chips, salads — without pretension. It is more casual and local-feeling than the flagship Deschutes Brewery a few blocks away, which can get very busy with tourists.
Bend Brewing is a good first stop on what visitors inevitably call the "Bend Ale Trail" — a self-guided crawl through the city's dozen-plus taprooms. Pick up a passport at any brewery and collect stamps; fill it and you get a souvenir.