Deschutes Street Pub brings out enthusiastic Roanoke crowd

I have to admit I was quite surprised last Saturday evening to see the massive size of the crowd that turned out in Roanoke for the Deschutes Street Pub event. Even with the pretty oppressive heat and humidity, folks turned out, hung in and sure seemed to have a blast.

A coup for the region

Talk about a coup for a city in our region. It is. In landing Deschutes Brewery’s East Coast brewery project, Roanoke—and our whole region—has cause to celebrate. You see, Deschutes isn’t just another large craft brewery. This employee-owned company has a business culture that stands out from the pack.

Since opening in Bend, Oregon in 1988, Deschutes Brewery says it tries to live by the words “do your best and next time do it better.”  Moreso than many businesses, it seems to value community as much as it does profit. It is very committed to helping out charitable organizations in the communities in which it sells beer. For example, for every barrel of beer it sells, the brewery contributes one dollar to charities. Beer sales revenues from its Street Pubs all goes to local nonprofits.

Last Saturday, Deschutes demonstrated a bit of its culture by setting up a 400-foot Street Pub on the blocks next to the downtown public library and Elmwood Park. Numerous food vendors and nonprofit organization information tables were spread around the rest of the three square block area. Live music rang out from two stages set at opposite sides of the event space.

The streets were jammed

The streets and park were absolutely jammed. Families, seniors, but primarily 20-30-40-somethings came out to welcome the brewery to their town. They wanted to learn more about Deschutes, and, of course, they wanted to have a few brews.

With over 60 taps pouring everything from The Abyss all the way to year-round favorites like Mirror Pond Pale Ale and Fresh Squeezed IPA, everyone could find something they liked. The crowd, estimated at 22,000 people, consumed a total of 241 kegs of beer.

The VIP area even had three vintages of Deschutes special Black Butte birthday releases. Pretty sweet.

Beer fans from across the area got a real dose of the Deschutes culture and they loved it. As one attendee posted the next day on the Facebook event page, “Absolutely incredible job folks! One of the best events I’ve ever attended.” These sentiments were echoed in scores of other posts.

Deschutes Street Pub has dramatic impact

It’s fair to say that Roanoke had never before seen anything quite like this—certainly not anything related to craft beer. With the actual Deschutes brewery opening still 4 to 5 years’ distant, this event shows the dramatic impact Deschutes is already having on craft beer culture the region.

Deschutes folks ‘blown away’

I don’t think Deschutes had ever seen a response quite like this before either. They were pleasantly surprised with the magnitude of the turnout and the love shown. Following the event, a Deschutes news release stated the brewery was “blown away by the response from its home away from home.”

Gary Fish, who is the founder of Deschutes Brewery, wanted the Street Pub event to  introduce the Roanoke community to the kind of operation that Deschutes Brewery truly is.

“We are here as a group trying to become part of this community,” he said.

“This is our responsibility to become part of the community. We’re not looking for it to go the other way. It is something we’re having fun with, but also we take pretty seriously.”

The Oregon-based brewery was also smart to include guest taps featuring beer from locals Parkway Brewing, Chaos Mountain Brewing, Big Lick Brewing Co., Flying Mouse Brewery, and Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers, plus cider from Potter’s Craft Cider. Deschutes has the power to take craft beer appreciation and awareness to a much higher level. This could certainly help all the little breweries in the area. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Street Pub proceeds support area nonprofits

At the Street Pub, beer was served by the pint and paid for with tokens that cost the drinker $5 each. One hundred percent of the proceeds from beer sales was donated to area nonprofit organizations. The announced donation total was more than $81,000. That is fantastic.

Primary nonprofit partners included Roanoke Outside Foundation, Blue Ridge Land Conservancy and Feeding America Southwest Virginia. Other partners were Pathfinders for Greenways, Roanoke IMBA, Clean Valley Council, Leap for Local Food, Family Promise of Greater Roanoke, and Bradley Free Clinic of Roanoke Valley.

West Virginia needs Deschutes too

As the crow flies, the new Deschutes brewery will be only about 25 miles from the West Virginia border. I’m hoping that may end up getting us some special home-region treatment from Deschutes. They already opened up the whole state of Virginia to distribution. Now, they need to come to West Virginia too. Give us another six months to get past the current introduction flurry of Michigan breweries and Deschutes could be a popular next step.

Twenty-eight years ago, Deschutes Brewery opened in a little town nobody had ever heard of: Bend, Oregon. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Deschutes put Bend on the map. Now, Bend is a brewing center in a brewing state. I don’t see why this can’t happen in the Roanoke region. With Devil’s Backbone Brewing and Greenbrier Valley Brewing each about 90 miles away from the planned Deschutes facility, the region could someday become sort of a Mountain Empire of craft beer.

Deschutes could certainly help out the craft beer culture in West Virginia too by throwing a little love our way over the next several years. For instance, wouldn’t it be great to see a collaboration between Deschutes and Greenbrier Valley, maybe something like a Green Shoots Farmhouse Ale. Just thinking out loud here.

Anyway, if this first foray of Deschutes Street Pub is any indicator, the Roanoke region is in for a huge boost in craft beer culture, craft beer tourism, and craft brewery love.