With more breweries per capita than any other Oregon city, Bend is a beer mecca. Prior to Prohibition, the state had a burgeoning brewing industry and plenty of saloons to cater to the needs of the hardy frontiersmen who settled Central Oregon. The teetotaling ’20s brought all that to a screeching halt. Fifty years later, the arrival of pioneers like Deschutes Brewery and Bend Brewing Company breathed new life into Bend’s beer and brought about the booming industry for which the area is known today. Author and “The Brew Site” creator Jon Abernathy traces Bend and Central Oregon’s hoppy history from early settlement to the present day, sharing the stories behind its most famous breweries and the communities that have fostered the industry. Abernathy will read at the Downtown Bend Library as part of Second Sunday, the Library’s celebration of the written word, on Sunday, February 8, at 2:00 p.m. Books will be available for sale following the reading.

Abernathy has been blogging about craft beer for more than a decade and drinking and homebrewing it for far longer. Having grown up in Central Oregon, he went to school in Spokane, Washington, graduating from Eastern Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in French. After returning to Bend he began working in the computer industry as a web developer. Blogging was a natural outlet for a web developer with a love of writing (and beer), and in 2004 he launched “The Brew Site,” a blog dedicated to all things beer and brewing. The blog has gone on to become the longest-running American beer blog and has documented the change and rapid growth that has characterized the Bend and Central Oregon brewing scene. You can visit “The Brew Site” at www.thebrewsite.com, as well as the companion website to this book at www.bendbeerhistory.com.

For more information about this or other library programs, please visit the library website at www.deschuteslibrary.org. People with disabilities needing accommodations (alternative formats, seating or auxiliary aides) should contact Liz at 312-1032.