If there's any doubt that Bend, Ore., has become the ultimate destination for combining outdoor recreation with beer tourism, the Cycle Pub should cinch it.
This common sight in downtown Bend (and in Minneapolis) combines the elements of a bicycle and -- yes -- a pub. Six bike seats, each with a set of pedals, face inward on each side of a bar counter. There's a big tire at each corner, a canopy overhead and a non-drinking driver. Bike meets beer.
Cycle Pub builder James Watts, a Bend local, saw a similar contraption in Germany two years ago, and "I just knew the minute I saw it, it was a perfect cultural match for Bend."
Among cities in beer-crazy Oregon, Bend now has the most craft breweries per capita. Some locals have started calling this "Beer City USA."
After Gary Fish opened Deschutes Brewery in a downtown storefront in 1988, brewing erupted like the lava domes that formed this pretty high-desert country.
Having long since added a big brewery overlooking its namesake river, Deschutes is now the nation's fifth-largest craft brewer. But its beers retain local names, such Red Chair, commemorating a ski lift at nearby Mount Bachelor (and named "World's Best Beer" in the 2010 World Beer Awards).
Visitors will also find a thriving downtown with busy shops and restaurants, including the brewhouses that serve food (go for fish 'n' chips at Bend Brewing Co., crawfish cakes at 10 Barrel or a great $10 Reuben at Cascade Lakes Brewery).
At the town's center is the 72-year-old, neon-bedizened Tower Theatre, renovated in 2004. There's more shopping, too, at the Old Mill District, a renovated lumber-mill site just south of downtown with high-end shops and riverfront trails.
