This very well may come as surprising news to beer fans not just in Bend but throughout much of the western United States, but Larry Sidor, Deschutes Brewery's brewmaster for the past eight years, has announced that he'll be leaving the brewery at the end of the year.
It's been a lifelong dream of Sidor's to start his own brewery and upon leaving at the end of 2011, he'll be doing just that. The press release this afternoon making the announcement didn't indicate where Sidor is planning to open his own brewery.
Sidor's eight years in Bend were instrumental in the formation of many of Deschutes' brews, including Inversion IPA and Red Chair NW Pale Ale and plenty of the company's seasonal and barrel-aged creations.
When I spoke with Sidor a couple weeks ago about his collaborative brewing with Boulevard Brewing, we talked a bit about his 23 years in the business, including his time heading up operations at Olympia Brewing.
This is the second Deschutes brewer to leave the company to begin his own brewery this year. This spring, Paul Arney, who had run the brewery down at the pub, departed from Deschutes to begin work on a brewing project called Sahalie.
