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| An old converted school, now a pub, brewery and hotel. |
The calendar may say spring, but in Central Oregon, the warm weather does not arrive until much later. So my solution for enduring a raw, rainy afternoon is to find a warm cozy pub to enjoy a hearty dark beer. The Fireside Bar at McMenamins' Old St. Francis School, is the perfect place.
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| The Fireside Pub is located inside the old school |
Tucked in the converted St. Francis School, now a brewery, pub and hotel in downtown Bend, the Fireside Bar features craft beer brewed on premises, and wines from the McMenamins own Edgefield Winery. In addition,there is a full bar featuring a variety of specialty drinks. We arrived around 4:30 pm on a particularly nasty day looking for a little warmth and a robust ale. Although there were already a few patrons in the small bar, we found a booth close to the wood burning fireplace and settled in for a pint, and a light happy hour meal.
After checking out the menu I realized there were too many tempting choices to pick only one, and opted for a six beer flight. I chose Terminator Stout, Wildflower Wheat, Rogue General Porter, Bear Paw Oatmeal Pale, Sleepy Hollow Nut Brown and the Nitro Irish Stout. The selections change regularly and these six did the trick for me. My husband, Bruce's favorite was the Nut Brown and he ordered a full pint.
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| A flight of six of their finest. |
Looking for the healthiest option on the Happy Hour Menu, I ordered a veggie burger that came with all the trimmings and was surprisingly tasty. Bruce was looking for something a little more hearty and opted for the fish and chips from the full menu. We both enjoyed our food and ate slowly, lingering to enjoy the crackling fire and warm ambiance of the pub.
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| One of tastiest veggie burgers I've ever had. |
When we headed back out into the nasty night, we were full of food and beer, feeling much better, and grateful to have such a snug little establishment in our town.
