Old Mill Brew Werks in the Works

Old Mill Brew WerksOld Mill Brew Werks, is the newest brewery to be opening in Bend (right after Noble Brewing). Opening as a restaurant only at first, tentatively around October 1st in the space formally occupied by the Phoenix Cafe in the Old Mill District. They’ll open at 8am and will offer breakfast, something that’s under-represented in the Old Mill. Brewing should start (once they find and procure a facility) with beers available after the first of the year.

A 10th Central Oregon brewery—the eighth in Bend—has plans to open a restaurant and pub in October and begin brewing at the start of 2011, the owners said Tuesday.

The Old Mill Brew Werks is tentatively scheduled to open a pub on Oct. 1, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a bevy of brews that can’t necessarily be found elsewhere in Bend, said co-owner David Love. The pub will be located at 384 S.W. Upper Terrace Drive, in the space formerly occupied by the Phoenix Cafe, which moved to east Bend in January.

Brewmaster and co-owner Lorren Lancaster said the group is working with federal authorities to get approval for the brewery, and is looking at a possible brewing site off Northeast First Street.

Brew Werks plans to serve uncommon beers, many of which could be from out of state. It also plans to make beers that may not be brewed elsewhere in Bend. That includes a few Belgian-style beers, like lambics, and multiple lagers, Lancaster said.

But they will still be beers people are accustomed to drinking, Lancaster said.

“I’m not trying to overeducate them and turn them to what I want to drink,” he said.

Love said he and Lancaster plan to brew with a 15-barrel system, with each barrel producing 450 gallons. The brewery will sell beer in Central Oregon first, and then begin canning beer and distributing elsewhere.

For now, the owners plan to keep the pub open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to close (around midnight) on Friday and Saturday. The pub will be closed on Sundays.

Love is the former executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Bend. Lancaster, nicknamed LoLo, is a founder of a well-liked Portland bar and brewery, the Green Dragon.

On another note Noble Brewing is also planning to open up around the first of January, and up until today they were the newest brewery (planned) in Bend. They will be opening over in the Century Center on the Westside, taking over the West Bend Tennis Center at 1355 SW Commerce. So where are we now, 10 regional breweries and counting.