Two friends, one garage, eight years later.
How Riverside Brewing went from a homebrew rig in Sam's garage to the deck you're sitting on.
Founded in 2018, on a dare
Sam Whitlock and Kira Bell met in line at a Bend beer fest in 2014, both grumbling about how no one in southern Oregon was making the kind of beer they actually wanted to drink. Four years later — after a hundred homebrew batches, a tax-license headache, and a winter spent rebuilding a salvaged kettle — they opened Riverside Brewing Taproom in a converted lumber-yard office on the Rogue.
Eight years in, we've grown from a one-barrel rig to a two-barrel brewhouse, added a wood-fired hearth, and built a deck most of Hawk's Bend has been to at least once. Sam still brews everything that goes on tap. Kira still runs the front of house. We still answer the phone.
- ✓Founded 2018, family-owned
- ✓Sam Whitlock — head brewer (and co-owner)
- ✓Kira Bell — taproom & operations (and co-owner)
- ✓Eleven full-time staff, mostly local
Brewing philosophy
We brew the beer we want to drink, in the volumes we can finish in a week. That means small batches, fresh kegs, and a willingness to retire a flagship if it stops being interesting to us. Bend Light has stayed on tap for seven years because it's still our favorite — the day it isn't, it goes.
We don't filter, we don't pasteurize, and we don't ship. Our beer is meant to be poured close to the kettle. If you want to take some home, crowlers and growlers are how — they hold for a week in the fridge.
Stop by and say hi.
Sam's usually on the floor Friday and Saturday nights — ask for him by name.