Bend Brewing Co. has been a favorite local hangout since 1995, when it opened its doors. So when the time came to celebrate its 20th birthday, it wanted the focus to remain local.

The brewery will throw itself a block party on Brooks street with live local bands, lots of specialty beer and more to celebrate (see “If you go”).

BBC started with Jerry Fox and Dave Hill, two business partners who owned Bend Wood Products, a wood mill where the Century Center is now. They opened in February of 1995, making Bend Brewing the second brew pub in town, after Deschutes Brewery.

“They were, honestly, just businessmen … They thought that Bend could use another brewpub at the time,” said Wendy Day, current owner of Bend Brewing Co. In 2000, when Fox retired, Day, his daughter, bought it from him.

When Day took over, she wanted to keep things as they were. The brewery has stayed in the same building and kept the brewing on site. The only big change is that Bend Brewing Co. has doubled production since 1995, when it produced 400-500 barrels a year, to almost 1,000 barrels now. The brewery started out with five beers on tap with one signature beer, and eventually grew to 10 on tap, including five seasonal rotation brews. They’ve wanted to keep the focus on “quality over quantity,” according to both Day and Ian Larkin, head brewmaster.

Since the big brewery boom in Bend, things haven’t changed much.

“We really felt like we were in on the ground level of the (local brewery) boom,” Larkin said. “We didn’t feel like we needed to be competitive rather than just embrace it.”

He said that one of the nice things about being a brewer in Central Oregon is that all the brewers and breweries are friends. “We share recipe ideas, resources and ingredients,” Larkin said. “Maybe I forgot to order a certain malt, another brewery will loan us some.”

While Bend Brewing is not rushing to change, its brewers are constantly working to improve on their recipes and experiment with new ones, including ingredients that have been locally sourced and even hand-picked.

“My wife and I spent four weekends last summer picking salmonberries” Larkin said. Those berries went into the Salmonberry Sour that won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2014. Larkin’s assistant brewer, Josh Harned, gathered local subalpine fur tips used in the brewery’s Winter ale, a black IPA.

While Larkin and Harned are always coming up with new recipes, they’re still busy brewing the customer favorites, like the Ching Ching American Sour, which won both a gold medal at the 2014 North American Brewers Association and a bronze medal at the 2014 World Beer Cup.

“Our brewmasters … have really just continued to win awards and make sure that we’ve got the best beer on tap,” said Day.

For the big 2-0, Bend Brewing will be shutting down Brooks street, setting up a tent, and serving 20 beers for 20 years .

“We’ll have 10 taps inside, and 10 taps outside,” said Larkin. “I’ll be pulling out a lot of aged and special beer, almost all the award winners.

Larkin also has a special anniversary beer that will be sold in a limited quantity of around 100 bottles. The Outback XX , a strong ale brewed with a classic wild yeast strain, is similar to their Outback X, made for the pub’s 10th anniversary.

Local bands Popcorn Trio and The Miners will perform, with Tone Red headlining.

“It’s been a great adventure,” said Day.

— Reporter: 541-383-0351; swilkins@bendbulletin.com