Grand Craft Beer: Vance Wirtz, Brewmaster McMenamins Old St. Francis by The Source - Bend, Oregon

In this episode of Grand Craft Beer, cicerone Brian Yaeger kicks off 2024 with Alesong Brewing and Blending’s Matt Van Wyk, whose many hats include owner, brewer, and runner-arounder to get Alesong’s award-winning barrel-aged beers all across Oregon including Bend. While Van Wyk is accustomed to fitting bungs in bungholes, his real specialty is fitting his quixotic, square peg beers (bourbon-aged stouts, cocktail-inspired sours, and farmhouse-style ciders) into the current beer industry’s IPA-shaped round hole.

Corie Harlan is Central Oregon LandWatch's Cities & Towns Program Director and the City of Bend's Core Area Advisory Board Chair. In this lively conversation with Source Weekly publisher Aaron Switzer, Corie talks about her passion to help create Complete Communities. They also talk about what's coming up sooner than later for Bend's Central District.

Following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, two friends in Redmond began to explore a different side of their friendship. Karim Bouris is of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, and his friend Jordan Schiff is of Jewish descent. In this podcast, these two Central Oregonians talk about the challenges and opportunities that the most recent conflict in Israel and Gaza have introduced for them.

Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang converses with SW Publisher Aaron Switzer about county-wide issues. Topics include mental health and other social services, the housing crisis and long-range planning for the future. Chang will be back in January for Part 2 for a deeper dive into Oregon's Measure 110, transportation issues and more!

In this episode, Christmas doesn’t come early, it comes year-round via Deschutes Brewery’s Cellar Reserve beers thanks to guest and barrel program manager, Dustin Jamison. Jamison lords over “Oakland,” the portion of Deschutes’ warehouse devoted to oak barrels from which its barrel-aged beers—such as The Abyss, The Dissident, and Black Butte3—emanate from. From bourbon-aged stouts to wine-aged sour beers (to an amphora-aged bockbier), Deschutes’s offerings extend far beyond fresh squeezed IPAs into the realm of decidedly un-fresh wood-aged beers.

In this episode Source Weekly Food Editor Donna Britt chats with Oh ghee! Founder Merrideth Telfer about her company, Oh ghee! Originally called GheeBD, the company has transformed from a CBD ghee company into a general ghee company literally using ghee (ultra-clarified butter) as the cornerstone ingredient in all of their products from human to pet, edible to topical and even candles! Merredith shares the emotional story behind her company and explains the chemistry behind the magic of ghee.

On this episode of Bend Don't Break Source Weekly publisher Aaron Switzer converses with the new Executive Director of Deschutes Children's Foundation, Cassi MacQueen. Cassi's deep passion for public service and commitment to social change is inspiring. She and Aaron get real about what's happening in the nonprofit sector of our community and talk about what each of us can do to lend a helping hand.

In this episode of the Grand Craft Beer Podcast, we focus on…a different beer podcast. Our guest is Shannon McMenamin—whose father, Mike McMenamin, along with Shannon’s uncle, Brian—founded the McMenamins empire of breweries, pubs, and hotels 40 years ago. Her new podcast, The Red Shed Tapes, focuses on the wealth of stories from all those renowned places and spaces (including Old St. Francis in Bend), managed with the help of Rob Vallance, who also joins the show. Listen to find out more about the 40 year’s worth of stories of this uniquely Pacific Northwest empire.

Bend Don't Break: Artist Teafly by The Source - Bend, Oregon