The Ale Apothecary

Microbrewery in Bend, Oregon, United States 🇺🇸
Associated Venue: The Ale Apothecary Tasting Room

Established in 2011

Contact
61517 River Road, Bend, OR, 97703, United States
Description
Origin beer, connected to nearby farms, artisans and the land surrounding the brewery. 100% made by us on our own equipment with our creative brains and hearts. Children welcome in our tasting room.

The Ale Apothecary is a very small artisanal brewery, located 10 miles west of Bend, Oregon in the middle of the Deschutes National Forest. Paul & Staci Arney built the brewery on their property in 2011 after Paul had decided that his career in industrial beer-brewing was officially over. Taking cues from historical breweries, Paul decided that he would take the very basic concepts of making beer and build a totally unique brewery out of them, relying on locally grown or foraged ingredients and using the most natural approach possible.

Before there were beer styles, there were just breweries making the best beer they could out of the raw materials nearby, the water from the ground, and the yeast in the air. Paul believes that the Process in making beer can be used as a primary ingredient, so The Ale Apothecary has its very own methodology that gives us our house character that cannot be reproduced anywhere.

We get our grain from Mecca Grade Estate Malt in Madras, Oregon. Our hops primarily come from Goschie Farms in Silverton. We naturally carbonate our beer in the bottle with Oregon wildflower honey and try to avoid any and all industrial processing aids or commodity ingredients. Instead of using exotic ingredients, we experiment with the process of making beer to find unique and inimitable flavors and experiences.

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7.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Golden colour with a small white head. Aroma is funky, mild spicy and wooden tones with some berries and fruits too. Flavour is zesty, spicy, some funky and mild tart wooden tones with some slight acidic edge to it as well. Simplistic, but still really nice to drink.

Tried from Bottle on 10 Mar 2025 at 18:03


7.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Backlog. Golden colour with a small white foamy head. Aroma is funk, some apricots, tartish wooden tones too with some mild herbal tones. Flavour is dried fruits, some tart dry wooden tones with mild herbal tones as well as some slight earthy tones. Smooth and nicely dry palate.

Tried from Bottle on 09 Mar 2025 at 17:34


7.6
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Backlog. Deep amber colour with a mediumsized off-white foamy head, slightly lacing. Aroma is citrus, some slight acidity, tart berries and wood with some mild spiciness to it too. Flavour is floral, some citrus, mild acidity, tart wood and berries with an evident Brandy stinging sweetness popping through.

Tried from Bottle on 09 Mar 2025 at 09:55


6.5
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Backlog. Hazy coppery brpwn colour with a tiny head. Aroma is wood, some red wine, mild toasted and rye bready tones with quite much tartness as well. Flavour is slightly acidic tartness with some tanninlike dry elements as well as some wooden and slight fruity tones. Wild, but a bit too much on the acidic side of things.

Tried from Bottle on 08 Mar 2025 at 10:27


8.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

From tap at BeerTemple, Amsterdam. Sour and funky with an aroma of citrus, light grain, touch of stone fruits, funk, apricot, some peach, bit zesty. Nicely funky and sour, medium body, complex. Great!

Tried from Draft on 07 Feb 2025 at 11:56


8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

From tap at BeerTemple, Amsterdam. Aroma is tart citrus and stone fruits with peach, some apricot, touch of apple. Sour, tangy, puckering flavour. Body is medium. Dangerously drinkable for a 9+ %. Good stuff.

Tried from Draft on 07 Feb 2025 at 11:56


8.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

From tap at BeerTemple, Amsterdam. Big tart & sour puckering flavour complimented by an aroma of grain, fruit, bretty funk, and notes of grapes. Medium body. Pretty complex, wow, really quite good.

Tried from Draft on 07 Feb 2025 at 11:56


8.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

From tap at BeerTemple, Amsterdam. Heavy spruce motherfucker with a big puckering sourness. Aroma is vinegar, floral suggestions, rosemary, some yoghurt, and more spruce. Body is medium. Bold and beautiful eccentric, heavy on the spruce.

Tried from Draft on 07 Feb 2025 at 11:56


8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Orangeish amber colour with a small white head. Aroma is fruity, floral, some funk and mild white wine like tones with some wood to it. Flavour is nicely fruity and funky with some wooden, mildly spicy tones with quite much sour fruity tones to it too. Pleasant and somewhat dry palate.

Tried from Bottle on 06 Feb 2025 at 21:04


8

Funky, vinous and farmyardy with some tartness, pine, hints of honey and soapy notes, spruce and earthiness. Pretty complex and tasty.

Tried from Bottle on 17 Jan 2025 at 19:25