Spider City Brewing hosts Zwickelmania Feb. 21 tours, tastings and brewer Q&A

Spider City Brewing opened its doors Saturday for Zwickelmania, hosting three scheduled brewery tours at 12:00 p.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. that each ran about 30 minutes and included guided tastings from the tanks and a brewer Q&A. Head brewer Melanie Betti led the sessions at the Bend taproom, welcoming visitors to sample beer fresh from conditioning tanks and to ask questions about the process.

The brewery staged its Zwickelmania activities at 1177 SE Ninth Street in Bend and listed a participation window from noon to 3:00 p.m. on Feb. 21. Tour start times were posted publicly and the brewery emphasized the short, focused format: each tour was about 30 minutes and focused on brewery history and tank-side sampling led by Betti.

Spider City’s Instagram caption invited the public directly and spelled out the program: "Join us for Zwickelmania 2026 on Feb. 21! We will be inviting you into our brewery for tours at 12pm, 1:30pm and 3pm! You will get to meet our head brewer Melanie Betti, sample our beer and ask questions! Each tour will be about 30 minutes. Link in bio." The post also points attendees to additional event details via the brewery’s profile link.

The tank tastings at Spider City echoed the statewide Zwickelmania tradition of sampling from the zwickel - the sample port on fermentation vessels - by offering guided tastings from the tanks that several breweries call zwickel samples. Zwickelmania is organized by the Oregon Brewers Guild and drew participation from more than 50 breweries across Oregon on Feb. 21, with a suggested statewide activity window of 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and a free shuttle in Portland making stops at 16 breweries.

Spider City paired the brewer-led tours and tank samples with on-site food options; the brewery noted a food truck would be present with food specials for the day. In the weeks leading up to Zwickelmania Spider City’s social feed promoted recurring in-house promotions - $4 draft beer days, Taco Tuesday specials with $2 minis and $4 drafts - and a Feb. 19 Bingo Night fundraiser tagging RylieMay Rescue Ranch, signaling a busy weekend calendar around the brewery.

Saturday’s open house slot at Spider City was one stop in a broad slate of local activations - other Central Oregon breweries offered zwickel samples, tour pairings and food specials at addresses across Bend and the region. By centering tank-side tastings and a face-to-face Q&A with Melanie Betti, Spider City made its Zwickelmania stop a focused, hands-on experience at 1177 SE Ninth Street for visitors seeking beer straight from the conditioning tanks.