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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8.1/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8.5
Bottle. Pours a golden color with a small white head. Has a fruity spicy woody weak sour bretty aroma with weak hoppy hints. Fruity sour tart spicy woody bretty hoppy flavor. Has a fruity sour tart woody spicy bretty finish.
Tried from Bottle on 21 May 2018 at 14:43

6.9/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 6.5
750ml bottle pours a darker orange with some clumpy, white head. Woodsy nose, deodorant, soap. Flavor is very unique, wintergreen mint, spruce, woodsy, soap, orange now. Tart finish. Very interesting.
Tried from Bottle on 05 May 2018 at 18:56

7.5/10 Appearance 4 Aroma 9 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 8
750ml bottle. Slightly milky, orangey golden colour with small to average, frothy, collapsing, white head. Intense, rich and complex, woody, sweet-ish fruity and spicy, mildly bretty, slightly vinous, minimally floral aroma, notes of raspberry, hints of lavender, oak, bath salt, strawberry, a touch of mustard seed and sauerkraut, nutmeg; there's much more around and between, possibly explicable in Jahai but hardly in English. [There must exist a close relatedness between these house lactobacillus cultures and wood chips-colonised strains used to give aroma to fruit yoghurt.] Taste is tart, tangy, fruity, minimally soapy, acidic, lactic, dry woody, floral, notes of raspberry and lavender, some sauerkraut, sherbet, hints of sage, mustard seed, vinegar, grassy, minimally earthy hoppy overtones with a touch of moss; prickling carbonation, lingering tart finish. Very complex, lacks some balance and harmony though. I can see the expenditure, but there's more to beer than sheer complexity. Nevertheless this is quite something...
Tried from Bottle on 01 May 2018 at 22:08

9/10
Strongest strawberry flavor on the nose and front ever, tons of carbonation.
Tried from Bottle on 30 Apr 2018 at 21:25

7/10
Tried on 14 Apr 2018 at 17:32

6.4/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 6.5
Bottle @Ulfborg Tasting. Hazy amber, airy offwhite head. Bretty, woody aroma, light boozy notes too. Flavour is kinda harsh, bitter with citrus peel, sour cherries, brett. Rought acetone.
Tried from Bottle on 14 Apr 2018 at 17:18

6.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 7
Bottle - pours gold white head - nose and taste of sour oak, plum, mint leaves and tartness - lots of minty flavors. Medium body
Tried from Bottle on 09 Apr 2018 at 00:14

8/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 10 Overall 8
Bottle at home. Orange with faint, white head. Lemon, green grapes, tart lemon zest. Dry, oaky. Very good.
Tried from Bottle on 07 Apr 2018 at 17:24

9/10
Slight funk on nose, beautiful tart and rich mouthfeel, dry upfront, sweet back.
Tried from Bottle on 01 Apr 2018 at 15:52

7.5/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 8
Cool little bottle pours out golden. Nose is nice light fruit sour notes barrel and sweetness. Tatse is more of the nice sweet malts fruit and a odd sour note.
Tried from Bottle on 31 Mar 2018 at 23:37