Tyler Reichert, 33, is opening the Silver Moon Brewing and Tasting Room at 24 NW Greenwood Avenue in Bend at the end of November. We talked with Reichert last week while he was brewing beer in his current location, The Brew Shop, on Division Street in Bend.

How did you get started in this business?

I was a forester in Vermont and I was living in a farmhouse on 4,000 acres. There was no vehicle access in winter and it was a mile from the visitors center, climbing 700 feet. So I would ski to and from work. It was the best commute in the world. Carrying beer in and bottles out got old quick. I asked a friend who made his own beer about it.

The ingredients for two cases of beer weighs about 12 pounds, so I got a bunch of those Grolsch re-capable bottles and started making my own beer.

After I got the bug, I left Vermont and brought the equipment with me cross country. I didn’t want to work for the Forest Service anymore. I was doing seasonal work and I could see the end of that and the Forest Service wasn’t hiring, so I bought a brew supply business in 1999 and started the brewery in 2001.

What will be different at the new space on Greenwood?

I’ll have new tanks. It’s like the car you’ve always dreamed of. The main focus of the brewery will be distribution. We make about 200 barrels a year now. One barrel is 31 gallons. The new system’s capacity is 1,500 barrels a year. We are at maximum capacity here.

This is 1,300 square feet with 700 square feet for brewing. The new place is 6,400 square feet and half of that will be for brewing.

The tasting room here has seating for nine and on Greenwood it will have seating for 12-plus.

Is there enough demand for the increased brewing capacity?

I haven’t chased accounts because they would want it right away. It depends on how much they sell. I can find more places for it to be served.

How else will the new space affect operations?

I can make a larger variety of beer. I have six or seven recipes. The Hound’s Tooth Amber is the biggest seller. We also have Badlands Bitter and Snake Bite Porter.

We’ll have six taps. One will probably be mead. Mead is a wine with sugar from honey. One will be for root beer. I make my own soda and ginger ale from scratch. I get the ginger from Newport Market and grind it up with sugar and lemons and carbonate it.

I will continue selling the home brew supplies.

How much of the business is home brew supplies and retail?

It’s about 50-50. There are a lot of home brewers here.

Since there was no late spring frost this year, winemakers are coming out of the woodwork. Making wine is a good way to use a lot of that fruit. Wine is a great gift. What do you give to people who have everything? Americans have so much they have to rent storage space for it. Wine is a more authentic gift if you made it yourself.

What is the most challenging part of your business?

It’s the endurance of running a business. Your spirit has to get into shape and then you can go constantly. I never punch out. I’m never not working.

At first it’s scary, then it’s like breathing. And it can be entertaining.

My partner puts up with it, the erratic schedules. Your partner needs to be ready for it. I felt like I was constantly unreliable for a few years until I had enough people involved so I could step out and let the machine run.

How many employees do you have?

Two part-time (Central Oregon Community College) students.

What is the relationship among the microbreweries in Bend?

It’s kind of like we’re on an island here. There are four of us: Bend Brewing Company, Cascade Lakes Brewery, Deschutes Brewery and us and McMenamins will be the fifth. No one hesitates to call each other for help. Craft brewing represents 3 percent of U.S. beer sales, so the competition isn’t against each other. The competition is against the big companies and they don’t care about us.

Gary Fish (founder of Deschutes Brewery) paved the way here. He got people used to the taste of microbrew beer. It doesn’t have to be translucent. It can have flavor and variety.

Who do you distribute to?

Merenda, Parilla, Astro Lounge, Coho Grill, Reed Pub, Sun Mountain Fun Center, The Pine Tavern, The Country Cottage, The Grove, Ponte Vecchio Pizzeria, The Grill at the Mill and Newport Market.

How much does your beer cost?

A 15-gallon keg is $108 and ponies of 7.5 gallons are $60 for dock sales, if you pick it them up here at the brewery.

Cathy Carroll can be reached at 541-383-0304 or at ccarroll@bendbulletin.com.