Bend’s big beer boom brews broad bevy of business births

It’s no secret Central Oregonians love their craft beer, but that love has grown beyond simply a pint glass filled your favorite micro-brew.

For example: A goat farm right here in Central Oregon gives another opportunity to enjoy these beers we know and love in a unique beer soap.

Bantom Lane Natural Farms, a goat farm, has teamed up with Deschutes Brewery to make these soaps featuring some of the brewery’s most famed beers. Shannon Townsend says it’s all about matching flavors with textures.

“How we approached it is, we decided to take the flavor of the beer and the texture of the beer, and matched it with what that would be like if you were eating or smelling a food that had that fragrance,” he said.

Townsend’s wife, Tara, says the soap’s popularity comes from its therapeutic qualities: “The benefits of the hops and malts and sugars that are in the beer soap itself also are very soothing. Hops are a natural anti-bacterial as well.”

But if beer soaps aren’t your thing, what about “beer” for your dogs?

Dawg Grog, the non-alcoholic brew, is made with low-sodium vegetable broth, water and spent grain from Boneyard Brewery. You can serve it on top of dry dog food, or just as a special treat.

Don’t have a dog? What about a beer-themed planter box?

At three feet tall and 400 pounds, this pint glass can also double as a garden prop. Backyard Oasis owner Paul Samuelson says it plans to make more of these special planters with a local brewery stamp in the future.

“So our goal would be to sell them a blank ‘pint’ and have their artist or their people kind of create their own take on what they want their pint to look like.”

The Townsends say they wanted to collaborate with local breweries because, as Shannon puts it: “We’ve always worked with local breweries and making a local product, we’ve kept it on that level. I mean, it’s nice. It’s a very personal relationship that we have, so it’s very gratifying.”

But how do breweries benefit from these products? Aaron Calihan from Deschutes Brewery talked to me about the nature of this relationship: “It’s beneficial to both of us. it definitely draws more people to their soaps and draws more people to our beers as well, so it’s a mutually beneficial relationship.”

Breweries are a huge hit around Central Oregon, but who knew beer could make more than just a delicious beverage?

If you’d like to know more about any of these products, please follow the links below.

Bantam Lane Goat Farm (Beer Soaps)- http://www.bantamlane.com/
Dawg Grog- http://dawggrog.com/
Backyard Oasis (pint planters)- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Backyard-Oasis/88459537145