Andy Tullis / The BulletinThree Creeks Brewery server Jessica Bridgeman stands in the aisle to deliver a beer to a table while other diners enjoy their drinks and await their food at the Sisters brewery on May 19.

Nearly seven years have passed since the Three Creeks Brewing Co. opened its doors in Sisters’ FivePine Resort development.

From the time it opened in July 2008, the spacious brewpub-restaurant has been one of the most popular dining-and-drinking locations in Deschutes County, offering good ales and solid comfort food in a spacious and comfortable atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the beers have continued to grow in popularity. When it reached a point where the company’s production could no longer keep up with the demand, Wade Underwood, the company’s founding partner and general manager, announced that he would build a separate brewing facility in a Sisters industrial park.

Today, that new plant is celebrating its grand opening. Between 5 and 8 p.m., the public will be welcomed for tours and tastings — on this day only — at the new 30-barrel brewing system, which initially will triple the company’s annual production capacity to about 6,000 barrels a year. The 8,000-square-foot space, located at 265 E. Barclay Ave., Sisters, will also include a canning facility.

Mood and service

A benefit to be reaped by the original brewpub is the opportunity to serve a greater number of beers, including those to be canned: Knotty Blonde, Hoodoo Voodoo IPA, FivePine Chocolate Porter, and the limited-release TenPine Chocolate Porter and Stampede Ale.

That’s for diners 21 and older, of course. But this restaurant, whose menu describes it as having the atmosphere of an “Old West livery stable,” is very family-friendly. There’s even a children’s menu, offering several different meal choices priced between $4 and $9.

While there are no horses here, let alone saddles — and the background music that played during my two recent visits was contemporary rock, not country — its modern rustic appearance does lend itself to a pleasant dining experience.

Diners are greeted at a hostess stand and walked with menus either to the 72-seat restaurant area, left of the entrance, or the 60-seat lounge, to the right.

Near a fireplace is a cozy seating area with couches and magazines. In the lounge, a pool table beckons, and television sets are tuned to sports channels in both arenas.

On a pair of recent visits, we found the service to be better in the dining room than in the lounge. In the latter instance, the staff seemed to be in no apparent hurry to clear vacated tables, even though my companion and I were not the only ones waiting.

Once we were seated, our orders were accurately taken and delivered by experienced servers — although it was only in the dining room that our server checked back to confirm our satisfaction with our meals.

Dinner choices

Food was solid if not spectacular. At our meal in the lounge, that went for both my companion’s signature burger and for my knotty schnitzel.

We both began with house salads, made with fresh hearts of romaine lettuce. Tossed with red cabbage, slivered carrots and house-made croutons, they were finished with a creamy honey mustard dressing (our request).

My friend’s burger came on a large “pub bun,” about 6 inches in diameter, even though the Angus beef patty itself measured only about 4 inches across (and perhaps ½-inch thick). Topped with smoked bacon, mushrooms and a Gorgonzola cheese sauce, the juicy burger was finished with a side of lettuce, tomato and red onion. It was accompanied by fries, which she found tasty but not extraordinary.

My schnitzel, a German-style pork cutlet lightly breaded and pan-fried, was flavorful even though the meat was both fatty and gristly. But the sauce ladled upon it, a dark bacon-and-mushroom gravy infused with Knotty Blonde ale, made it not just palatable but downright savory. Skin-on red potatoes, mashed with garlic, were excellent. But a medley of sautéed vegetables, including zucchini, red and green peppers, green beans and onions, were cooked too long in olive oil.

Midday meal

Our second Three Creeks meal was a lunch in the dining room, and we both were more impressed this time around.

My companion placed an order for Fast Eddie’s Turkey Gorgonzola Mac-N-Cheese. Made with large, grooved elbow macaroni, similar to rigatoni, it did indeed have chunks of grilled turkey along with melted (and mild-tasting) Gorgonzola cheese. But there was more: Applewood-smoked bacon, red and green onions, diced tomatoes and fresh herbs. She called it delicious.

I chose an order of fish tacos. Three thick tacos, whole chunks of Alaskan cod in corn tortillas, were stuffed as well with a white cabbage-and-cilantro slaw and topped with creamy aioli-lime sauce. They were accompanied with salsa, black beans and moist white rice.

For the price — top sirloin and blackened salmon are still priced under $20 — it would be hard to find a combination of food, service and top-flight beer anywhere else between Bend and Santiam Pass.

And before long, you might be taking a canned six-pack home with you, after dinner.

—John Gottberg Anderson can be reached at janderson@bendbulletin.com.