Factory Tours in Bend Oregon

Bend has made it to the top of many "best of" lists in the past decades, but most recently this bustling mountain town has been recognized as a vibrant center for business. Those seeking a superb quality of life have found that you don't have to sacrifice the amenities of the big city, even when you live minutes from the recreational splendor of the Deschutes National Forest.

From breweries to skin care, solar panel companies to manufactured home builders, Bend, Oregon offers a myriad of factory tours that demonstrate the post-timber era prosperity that has kept the city booming long after the mills shut their doors.

The following is a list of highlights to hit on your factory tour of Bend. Many other businesses will gladly show visitors around by appointment.

Breedlove Guitar Company

Visit the award-winning Breedlove Guitar Company and see how master luthiers build fine instruments by hand. Showroom available to visit by appointment only.

Breweries

While the highlight of the Deschutes Brewery tour is the free pint of beer you are welcomed to sample before setting out into a maze of stainless steel caldrons and Lavern & Shirley-esque bottling lines, most visitors walk away from this tour with a whole new love of craft beer. Learn how the world's best beer is brewed while experiencing the smell and touch of fresh hop flowers and the nutty crunch of roasted barley gains, which give Deschutes beers their caramel and chocolate accents.

Deschutes Brewery also carries a blazing torch for sustainability in Bend. The spent grain used in the brewing process is turned into the pizzas and pretzels which are served at the downtown pub. The rest is shipped off to feed cows at a local cattle ranch that, in turn, provides the meat for the pub's hamburgers. Try the Green Lakes Organic before you leave. This crisp ale is named for one of the most beautiful hiking trails in Bend and is certified organic by Oregon Tilth.

Tyler at Silver Moon Brewery leads 10 person tours by appointment demonstrating the magic of brewing on a smaller scale in his facility on Greenwood Ave. Visitors end the tour with a 1/2 hour tasting of a seven-beer flight. Cascade Lakes Brewery, Bend Brewing Company and McMenamins Old St. Francis School also offer tours by appointment.

The GETIT shuttle offers multi-stop Brewery tours, along with a few other tour companies like The Bend Brew Bus, The Well-Traveled Fork and the Cycle Pub of Bend.

The ultimate beer tour in Bend is the Bend Ale Trail. You can tour all of the breweries in Bend where the object is to collect a stamp from each one to win a prize provided by Visit Bend. Check out www.bendaletrail.com for all the details.

Chocolate & Ice Cream Tours by Goody's

Goody's has been a home town favorite in Central Oregon for over 27 years. Their homemade chocolates and ice cream have made many of my summer--and winter--days, and they're easy to find with locations in downtown Bend, the east side of Bend, Sunriver, and Redmond. Daily tours are available at their newest location at the corner of Reed Market Road and Division St. in Bend. The tour is $2, but your $2 goes quite far. You get six samples of ice cream, chocolate and candies, plus a guided tour. Can you guess how many gallons of ice cream they go through in the summer? We won't tell. You'll have to take a tour to find out.

Fuqua Homes

Although Fuqua Homes is based out of Bend, the company ships manufactured homes all over the United States. In the forty years they have been in town, they have built 100,000 homes, and the shear size of their factory space allows them to produce up to 60 homes at one time. Take the Fuqua Homes tour and you will be led through 35 different stations demonstrating the various aspects of home construction including materials used, the insulation process, and how the home is put together on site.

The Bulletin

Watch as the gigantic presses at The Bulletin building churn out 30,000 newspapers an hour. Trace The Bulletin's history through the photographs that line the expansive great hall, which was designed with the old Bend lumber mills in mind. The building itself was constructed of lava rock from the surrounding volcanic landscape and the floor to ceiling windows in the lobby demonstrate an architectural reverence for the gorgeous Central Oregon landscape.