Gary Sobala’s end game has been decades in the making. A lifelong restaurateur and now the CEO of RiverBend Brewing Co., Sobala looks forward to someday handing off management of the brewery and nearby brewpub on NE Division Street, in Bend, to managers to run and potentially grow.

Afterwards, he’ll spend his days cruising in his boat with Linda, his wife, while checking in monthly on the business. Running a successful brewery and brewpub, which are separate business entities, was a personal dream on which Sobala said he staked the couple’s life savings.

“ We felt we could enter the market and do OK,” he said Friday. “And it’s kinda my baby, my idea, and we took it and ran with it and tried to make it successful, and it seems to be going that way.”

The Sobalas moved to Bend in 1985 and eventually started a restaurant, the Italian Cottage. They sold it and built a commercial building on Division Street and leased it, Gary Sobala said. The brewery occupies the western 2,600 square feet of that building today. In the meantime, Sobala took over Rivals, a sports bar, from its owners. In 2013 he transformed Rivals into RiverBend Brewing Sports Pub and started serving beer from the brewery 150 feet away.

Since then, beer production has steadily increased. In January, it sold just over 23 taxable barrels in Oregon and in May nearly 40 barrels, according to Oregon Liquor Control Commission beer reports. The brewery is close to its capacity, but expansion is not high on Sobala’s list of things to do, he said.

He’s content that the brewery find a niche and then hand it over to others to run and possibly grow, he said. He credits his employees for whatever success the business has achieved thus far.

“I’ve never brewed a batch of beer in my life,” he said. “I drink beer; I don’t know how to brew it. I still don’t know how to brew it. I’m busy 12 hours a day running this whole joint.”

Lead Brewer Kyle Schwenk, previously with Boneyard Beer, joined the brewery in December and eventually took over for Daniel Olsen, who ran the operation from its opening in fall 2013. Although the brewery produces a wide range of beers, from hefeweizens to stouts, Schwenk specializes in lagers and Pilsners, Sobala said.

“Those take up to eight weeks in those tanks, so we have to give up some production to let him do that,” he said.

Sobala also invested in used barrels from Oregon Spirit Distillers to age some RiverBend beers, including Katatonic Imperial IPA and BlackRiver Ale. The barrels are an extra cost with a limited lifespan, but the beers they produce are selling well, he said.

RiverBend’s beverages are distributed by Point Blank Distribution in barrels only, from the Oregon Coast to the Willamette Valley to Central Oregon. Scott Lennie, Bend branch manager for Point Blank Distribution, foresees someday expanding RiverBend distribution into Washington along the Interstate 5 corridor. Schwenk deserves credit for improving the quality of RiverBend’s beers, Lennie said.

“The beers have to be solid,” he said. “If the beers aren’t good, we aren’t going to look at it.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com

Q: How do you distinguish your beers from other breweries in Central Oregon?

A: Gary Sobala: Kyle uses his own recipes, his own formulations. He pretty much has a free hand, and that’s one of the reasons we attracted him over here. His approach is to brew great beer, and if it’s not good, he’s not selling it.

Q: Where do you see the business in three to five years?

A: My 6-month goal is to, hopefully, (hire) a (general manager) for over there (the brewpub). My goal is to go play and help them when they need help. … We’re not going to build a 100-barrel production brewery to compete with the big boys. Hopefully, we’ll find our niche. We’re comfortable with that, and hopefully out of that we can take care of our team members well, and that’s what it’s all about.