E-Malt.com News article: USA, OR & OH: Deschutes Brewery expands to Ohio

Add Deschutes Brewery to the growing list of brewers squeezing their ales onto shelves and bars in Northeast Ohio.

Deschutes, based in Bend, OR, will begin distribution in Ohio starting Jan 24. It comes a little more than a month after New Belgium Brewing Co. of Colorado expanded into the Ohio market.

The addition of Deschutes means all of the nation's 10 largest craft brewers will have beer sold in Ohio. The Oregon brewery is the nation's fifth largest craft brewer by volume.

Deschutes will offer retail sales and draft options in bars, Jason Randles, digital marketing manager for the brewery, told The Plain Dealer.

"There's always competition," he said. "Every state we go into the same question is asked (about the number of available beers)."

Ohio will be the 24th state in which Deschutes will have a sales presence, joining Illinois and Pennsylvania as the only states for distribution east of the Mississippi River, Randles said.

"For us ... to launch into a new market, there needs to be an established craft-beer scene," he said. "Great Lakes [Brewing Co.] has paved the way for that."

Deschutes has several things in common with Cleveland's Great Lakes Brewing Co.: Both recently marked 25 years in business; each started pouring beer in 1988. The two collaborated on an imperial smoked porter last year in honor of the quarter-century milestone. And their names are derived from geographic origins. Bend, situated about 160 miles southeast of Portland, is the county seat of Deschutes County. The brewery is named after the Deschutes River.

"They make great beer," said Luke Purcell, brewer at Great Lakes Brewing Co. "They were great to work with. ... I think seeing all these new beers bodes well for this market."

Deschutes has more than two dozen offerings. Its flagship beer is its Black Butte Porter. While "it's distinctive and put us on the map," Randles said, the brewery's best seller is Mirror Pond Pale Ale. Both are typical for new-market launches, he said. A seasonal, Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale, also will be available January through May, as will Inversion India Pale Ale and specialty 22-ounce bomber bottles of Hop Henge, a 9.3-percent IPA.

Deschutes has a brew pub in Portland's Pearl District, the same area where Matt Cole is opening another Fat Head's brew pub. Cole has been busy setting up the Portland location while maintaining his brew pub in North Olmsted and a brewing facility in Middleburg Heights.


08 January, 2014