BAKER CITY — A weekend of music, food and craft beer will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Barley Brown’s in Baker City.

The celebration starts Thursday, June 1, with a “locals appreciation night” of music in the tap house, 2200 Main St. The Channel Cats will play from 5:30-7:30 p.m., followed by Add Collard from 8-10 p.m.

For Friday and Saturday, June 2 and 3, the party moves outside. Church Street will be closed between the tap house and the restaurant and have a stage for visiting bands.

The tap room will open at 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday. The restaurant will open around 2 p.m. Friday and a bit earlier on Saturday, said owner Tyler Brown. Also, he’s hoping to have other food offerings onsite throughout the weekend.

And, of course, there will be beer.

Brown said the full line of Barley’s beers will be on tap, as well as several collaboration brews and other surprise offerings from regional breweries.

“I have some other brewery friends who are planning to come,” he said.

And those seeking Barley Brown’s signature brews don’t necessarily have to stay at the Church Street location — Brown encourages people to visit other establishments, as well.

“Pretty much everybody downtown has our beer on tap,” he said.

Except for a short stint during the pandemic when his crew canned beer, Barley Brown’s is only available on tap at bars and restaurants.

Music

On Friday, June 2, Innocent Man will take the stage from 5-8 p.m., followed by The Wasteland Kings at 8 p.m.

Saturday, June 3, features Sum People from 4-7 p.m. and Sweet ‘n’ Juicy at 8 p.m.

The festivities will wrap up around 10:30 p.m. both nights.

History

When Barley’s served the first beer in 1998, there were only 20 craft breweries in Oregon.

Today there are 350.

Nationwide, that number was 1,100 in 1998. Today it is 10,000.

“It’s gotten more competitive,” Brown said.

But Barley’s, he said, is one of the few breweries that has the same owner 25 years after it opened.

Although they didn’t name beers at first, he said they’ve been brewing Tumble Off pale ale and Coyote Peak Wheat the longest.

But Pallet Jack IPA is the most popular brew.

Brown said that when broken into 12-ounce servings, Barley Brown’s records 1.1 million servings of beer every year in Oregon.

And 80% of those servings are Pallet Jack.