[2/23 Update: From Gary Fish of Deschutes . . . “Keep in mind, what is reported is what the plaintiff (State Farm) alleges. Our investigation paints a very different picture. It’s difficult because we cannot present our case as they have. Maybe one day we will.” More over at Beervana.]

(Bend, OR) – Though unrelated, news has come out in the last 24 hours that Deschutes Brewery is being sued and that plans for an airport location are on hold.

Aimee Green of the Oregonian broke the news yesterday afternoon:

“State Farm Insurance is suing a drunken driver’s employer — Deschutes Brewery — for $230,000 for allegedly allowing the man to drink as much free beer as he liked the evening that he crashed into a Toyota 4-Runner with four people inside.

The lawsuit claims that Deschutes Brewery allowed Joseph Umphery unlimited access to beer in a keg room at the back of its bottling plant and at its brew pub in Bend. Umphery’s supervisor told him that the company permitted employees to drink one beer each at the end of their shifts in the keg room, according to the suit, but no one monitored how much employees took.

The suit claims that employees often ended up intoxicated as they drank throughout their shifts, and that Umphery’s supervisor encouraged him to drink even though he was an alcoholic who had been sober for nine months.

Gary Fish, president of Deschutes Brewery, said his company did an investigation and found the facts leading up to the crash to be “significantly different” than portrayed by State Farm. He said Umphery was an employee for six to eight weeks.”

The Bend Bulletin adds:

“Umphery, who did not have valid car insurance at the time, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.29 percent, the lawsuit states. The legal limit for drivers in Oregon is 0.08.”

Meanwhile, there was going to be a vote to allow Deschutes to open up another location inside the renovated Redmond airport though those plans are now being put on hold. According to KOHD TV (video):

“It’s the one missing component at the newly expanded Redmond airport terminal. After a two year absence of food service, a contract with Deschutes Brewery was supposed to go to vote at Tuesday night’s Redmond City Council meeting, but it’s now been pulled from the agenda after another restaurant owner complained. The owner of Coyote Ranch says no one else was given the opportunity to bid on space upstairs in the secure area of the airport.”

KTVZ reports that it was going to be a ten-year agreement. It could still go through though other restaurants will be given an opportunity to make proposals.