We are streaming all 4 days of Bend BrewFest LIVE everyday on www.mangia.tv in the oven player. Bend Brewfest 2015 starts August 13, 2015, visit the official website of the 2015 Bend Brewfest for more information.

Bend Brewfest: The Night Before

DAY 1 at Bend BrewFest 2015: a word with Ty of Good Life Brewing.

GoodLife Brewing Company opened in 2011 in Bend, OR. Where the craft brewing culture is vibrant and growing. Our beautiful home in the PNW is very supportive of local craft beer and has been remarkable testing ground for beer to be distributed regionally. We strive to make exceptional beers by blending special brewing techniques, unique ingredients and the best quality hops and malt available, also having great water helps.

Soon after opening we began selling beer in all of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. We are now as well opening limited distribution in Vermont and Hawaii. Proving to be quite successful, we were the first brewery in Bend, OR to can beer. Our Sweet As Pacific Ale was voted the best canned pale ale in America 2013 and the best beach beer 2013. We continue to grow and produce more offering in cans.

DAY 2 at Bend BrewFest 2015: Jacob and Willamette Valley Wine

Elegant, Classic Oregon Wines…
Founder, Jim Bernau, purchased the Estate site in 1983 and cleared away the old pioneer plum orchard hidden in scotch broom and blackberry vines. He planted Pinot Noir (Pommard and Wadenswil clones), Chardonnay (Dijon and Espiguette) and Pinot Gris.  In the beginning he hand watered the vines with thousands of feet of hose.
Numerous classes at UC Davis, and seminars from here to France, sharpened Jim’s viticultural skills and in 1989 he was ready to build his dream–a world class winery in the Willamette Valley—and make cool-climate varietals, especially Pinot Noir, in sufficient quantities to be served and sold in the best restaurants and bottle shops in the world.
A combination of determination and extraordinary people has brought Willamette Valley Vineyards from an idea to one of the region’s leading wineries, earning the title “One of America’s Great Pinot Noir Producers,” from Wine Enthusiast Magazine.
Our approach is to grow, by hand, the highest quality fruit using careful canopy management, and to achieve wines that are truly expressive of the varietal and the place where they are grown. Since we ferment and barrel each vineyard lot separately (sometimes as small as two barrels) we can save the best barrels for single vineyard bottlings and Signature Cuvée.
Our stylistic emphasis is on pure varietal fruit characters, with attention to depth, richness of mouthfeel, and balance. The wines are truly a collaborative effort of the entire vineyard and winemaking staff.
The winery and underground cellar are carved into the top of an ancient volcanic flow, the soil red from its oxidized iron content and well-drained. This unique terroir is similar to the red clay soil found in the Grand Cru Pinot Noir vineyards of Romaneé-st-Vivant in Burgundy, where the “soil gives France’s most perfumed, satiny, expensive wine” (Hugh Johnson, World Atlas of Wine).

DAY 3 at Bend BrewFest 2015: Jack and Brooks with Stung Fermented Sparkling Mead

SOONER OR LATER, EVERYTHING IS NEW. We are so over the past. We’re over gods and dragons, lords and ladies, faires and fairies, lutes and flutes. We’re over Norse mythology, Viking ships and traveling minstrels (again with the lutes and flutes). Yes, we’re even over the the word “mead.” Because mead belongs to the aforementioned past and is thus minimized, thought of vaguely as a drunken and lusty companion of cider and ale, of conquering and pillaging and perhaps a little wenching on the side. Mead’s soundtrack is still a lilt played on a wooden flute, with some skinny jester dude dancing a little light-footed jig on the periphery of our collective consciousness.
SO GOODBYE MEAD. You were misunderstood, misused and under-appreciated. No one ever really got you. We did—despite all of the medieval and nonsensical trappings that obscured all of your wonders. And because we got you, we have to say goodbye to you. We have to look forward to the new. And the next. And the now.WE BELIEVE THAT STUNG IS NOW, that it aligns rather nicely with the tastes and sensibilities of our epoch. Made from local honey, crafted by artisans to approximate sparkling wine or champagne. A surprisingly refreshing alternative to craft beer or cider. If we have our way—and we will—the entire world will know about Stung. And if there’s another habitable planet in the neighborhood, they’re going to know, too. Because we are on a mission. Not to go public, not to sell to a conglomerate, but to do right by this drinkable freak of nature and protect and promote its reputation as the most perfect premium fermented beverage the earth has ever yielded—with a little help from us and some local beekeepers. We will not stop until everyone’s had a chance to truly appreciate Stung, the fermented drink of the future.