Bob stops by Oblivion Brewpub in Bend Oregon and chats with Chef Josh over some brewskis. Check out the interview below!
About Oblivion Brewing:
A SLO Start…
The story of Oblivion Brewing begins in Walnut Creek, CA. Darin Butschy started homebrewing in high school, and like most brewers, was immediately hooked. In 1987, at the age of 17, he was washing kegs at Devil Mountain Brewing Company. There, he apprenticed under Brewmaster Jim DeBoer (now at Samuel Adams), learning the craft of production brewing. In 1989 Darin became the head brewer at SLO Brew in San Louis Obispo, CA, under the tutelage of Dr. Michael Hoffman. Wanting to know more, Darin started attending California Polytechnic State University to study chemistry while working at the brewery. Eventually, SLO Brew evolved into Firestone Walker, and Darin worked at Firestone for another year and half. He completed his degree in chemistry in 1994, packed his bags, and moved to Bend, OR.
Why Bend…
In 1991, Darin traveled to Oregon for a snowboarding trip, and ended up riding at Mt. Bachelor for almost a week. While here, he tasted Jubelale from Deschutes Brewery for the first time, and was blown away. He couldn’t get over the fact that both the powder and the beer “were sick, and nobody was up there.” A seed was planted; if he was going to move somewhere, it was going to be Bend.
Sometimes, Dreams Have Detours…
Upon arriving in Bend, Darin decided he wanted to brew for himself and not another brewery. He returned to his roots of homebrewing, and worked as a cook and in construction, installing gutters, never losing sight of his vision. In 2000 Darin met Meghann, and on their first date shared his dream of operating his own commercial brewery. The two were married in October of 2002, and started a family. Ten years after they first met, Darin and Meghann had enough pieces together to start planning for their 10-barrel commercial brewery. Oblivion Brewing Company was established in 2012, and started brewing in 2013 on a half-barrel system. The first keg of beer was sold on August 24, 2013 to the Broken Top Bottle Shop. Darin continued brewing on the nanosystem, five, sometimes six times a week. With Meghann taking control of business operations, Oblivion Brewing slowly started to build its accounts in the Bend area. Next, the new brewing equipment started to arrive, piece by piece. After engineering the new system together, the last step to realizing their dream was approval by the city. Finally, in the summer of 2014, Oblivion Brewing started production on a new 10-barrel system. Dreams do come true.
What’s In A Name?
The name Oblivion Brewing arose one night when Meghann and Darin were kicking back, drinking one of Darin’s homebrews, and thinking about a name for their upcoming brewery. They talked about how smooth and easy drinking the beer was, and how easy it would be to drink this beer…into oblivion! The magic moment – a name was born.
