GoodLife, Worthy Breweries Collaborate

In honor of Central Oregon Beer Week, two Bend brewmasters are coming together to make one unique beer. On Friday, GoodLife Brewing and Worthy Brewing teamed up to make a Belgian Rye Ale called “Good and Worthy.”

GoodLife Brewing, which has been open for less than a year, and Worthy Brewing, which opens up in January, are joining forces.

“It’s neat to see how other people would create a recipe or just talk about it,” said Worthy brewmaster Chad Kennedy. “And it really does start by sitting at the bar, over a couple of beers, and say, ‘What about this, what about this, have you ever used this?'”

After brewing in Portland for years, Kennedy said he wanted a taste of Bend. He and GoodLife brewmaster Kurt Plants are working on their unique flavor inside a kettle.

The brewmasters say they’re more likely to take a chance and try something out of the box when it’s with someone else.

“For a collaboration beer like we’re doing, we wanted to put a twist on it,” said Plants. “So we decided to bring a Belgium yeast in, to make it a Belgium beer, instead of the normal rye.”

The process starts with malted grain. It’s crushed into a powder form and mixed with water to create sugar water. Then it’s strained and moved to a boil kettle, where hops and flavor are added. Lastly, it goes to a fermenter, where it mixes with yeast.

Once Worthy Brewing opens its doors, the brewmasters will be competing for business. But they say the real competition is the big-name brands.

“Even though we’re competing for the same customers, it’s still a camaraderie, in the sense that we’re trying to do something different than what those guys do,” said Kennedy.

The masters are brewing up more than 1,000 gallons of their collaboration beer, ready to give Bend a taste.

“We’re in this because of everybody else,” said Plants. “So, as far as another brewery wanting to do a collaboration brew, we love doing that kind of stuff.”

The beer will be making it’s debut at a rye beer festival in Portland. They will be serving the collaboration at GoodLife in Bend in a couple of weeks.

Central Oregon Beer Week continues Saturday with Mt. Bachelor Brewski. Visitors can try 13 different beers outside the West Village Lodge.