Sunriver Brewing announced Monday that it would open its second Bend location this summer.

Sunriver Brewing Co. will open its second Bend location this summer in northeast Bend.

The brewery, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, has always been successful with its pub operations, said Karin Devenchenzi, company CEO.

“Over the years, we realized that Bend wanted to have more of us,” Devenchenzi said Monday. “We’ve spent a lot of time looking for a location and we put it on the back burner for a bit. “

It’s been a whirlwind two years for Central Oregon breweries during the pandemic. When restaurants and bars were closed for indoor dining in March 2020 for several months, breweries lost the bulk of their keg sales and had to pivot to single-use cans. Compounding that pivot are supply chain issues and a shortage of malt caused by a record heat wave affecting barley, wheat and oat growers nationwide.

The last time Sunriver Brewery expanded was in 2019, when it opened a pub in Eugene. Central Oregon has about 26 breweries, according to the Oregon Brewers Guild.

The expansion news was encouraging to Christina LaRue, executive director of the Oregon Brewers Guild.

“I’m very excited for them,” LaRue said. “A second location shows that maybe they’re pulling themselves out of the place the past few years has brought.”

Keg sales of draft beer are coming back, and while supply chain issues will linger, expansion of breweries shows promise for the future, she said.

The new pub near NE Neff Road and Cushing Drive will feature many of the same food favorites as the other locations, Devenchenzi said, but it will also have some new food items that are under development now.

The new brewery is a welcome addition to Bend’s east side, said Cody Banner, Worthy Brewing CEO. The two craft brewers while competitors offer choices to customers, Banner said.

“We believe that attracting more craft beer fans to the east side of Bend will be great for both Worthy and Sunriver,” Banner said in an email. “Our pubs offer different experiences.”

The Sunriver Brewing Co. Eastside Pub is 4,000 square feet, according to the company. It will have indoor and outdoor seating with a dog-friendly patio.

“We had been looking for a location for about three years,” Devenchenzi said. “Our original plan was to open something a year or so ago, but we decided to wait. We’re able to work at our pace and wanted to wait until we had enough resources so we could focus on growing.”

Sunriver Brewing opened its first pub in the Village at Sunriver in 2012. Two years later it purchased a 13,000-square-foot building in the Business Park. Its second location is on Galveston Avenue in Bend and opened in 2016. And the Eugene, Oakway Pub, opened in 2019.