Housed in a former transmission shop and mill supply store, Crux Fermentation Project was built by a community of beer lovers. Crux brewmaster Larry Sidor is always in pursuit of the next great beer—beer that defies taste profiles with its complexity and creativity. We’ve designed our brewery to allow for non-traditional brewing methods like decoction mashing, open fermentation, oak barrel aging, wild yeast strains and experimental hops.
About Crux Fermentation Project
Reviews & Ratings
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August 22, 2025amandaspeechWill visit Crux again
We rolled into Bend and stopped for a sour and radler and some light bites before checking into our hotel. Delicious craft beers, low alcohol choices appreciated, Caesar salad was fresh and delicious. Lots of parking, ample space in the outdoor courtyard and a couple food trucks. It’s out of the way but worth visiting.
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January 20, 2025Sdhalter
Great beer, great staff
The place had such an amazing vibe, with food trucks and a fire pit outside. The beer and staff were amazing. Probably the best beer we tried in Bend
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November 9, 2024NeoWasHere
A community space where locals and out-of-towners can all come together
The Crux of the Matter is that brewing legend and co-founder, Larry Sidor, is gone after retiring from day-to-day operations in 2022. This brewery was started at this Bend location in 2012 by Larry Sidor, David Wilson (R.I.P.), and Paul Evers. The location is key and is tied to the brewery's name. "According to Sidor, 'It's the intersection. And we liked that. We are in the middle of Bend. And so it just fit for us" (Crux Beer Blog 2022-06-24, Larry's Curtain Call). Since I knew it would be late before we got back into Bend from a day spent out exploring the Painted Hill region, we decided to make this our stop for dinner and a beer, or two, to cap off our day back in June. It turned out to be the perfect nightcap. Parking was easy around 8PM on a Monday as we found a spot off of SW Division Street right out front of Crux' lawn. The first thing we did after our nearly two hour drive was head to the restrooms. The second thing we did was try to figure out how to order a beer. I had been set on, and looking forward to, trying a Half Hitch Imperial Mosaic IPA. Very sadly, this was NOT available to me at the time of our visit. So, I was relegated to having the closest thing they had at the time, a Super Spiral Imperial IPA on draft for $8. I was pleased and had two of them. Something I found out after our visit was this place advertises a daily Sunset Hour in which you are supposed to get $1 off beers for the half hour directly before and after sunset each day. This wasn't mentioned to me at all during our visit. We were definitely here during the sunset hour, yet I don't think we were given the discounted promotion rate for the beers. We did also want to eat here but the one food truck that was open earlier in the day, El Sancho, had already closed for the day even though they were supposed to be open until 9PM. The kitchen inside the Bend Tasting Room was supposed to closet at 8PM, but luckily for us, they allowed us to place an order. My wife got the Smoked Corned Beef Reuben sandwich ($18) and both me and my son both went with the Blackened Chicken & Bacon Philly ($17 each). This Philly sandwich was surprisingly really good. It was served piping hot, well seasoned, flavorful, and had an amazing cheese sauce smothered all over it. It was messy and yummy. Very good with beer. We got to enjoy amazing views of the Cascade mountain range from our indoor seating. We saw the sunset in the western horizon, which was really beautiful. I mean perfect really. There is no place at all where I'm from in Maryland where I can go grab a good local beer or two, eat a delicious Philly, and watch the sunset with a mountain view in which one of them is over 10,000 feet in height. Outside on the lawn of Crux were picnic tables, food trucks, yard games like corn hole, Adirondack chairs, and plenty of people hanging out, some even with their dogs. My strong recommendation to anyone reading this is to go visit and enjoy this magical place now. Bring as many friends or family with you that you can when you go. The more, the merrier, and the more fun. Life happens and none of us will live forever. Landscapes and views of them change. Nobody knows what the future may bring so go enjoy it while you can. This is one of those special places.
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October 4, 2024V3265FVdanmDecent beer.
Stopped by post ride for a snack and a couple of beers. The Kolsch was perfect post workout, light and refreshing. Grabbed some tacos from the food truck, ok taste but pretty oily. The outside seating is currently pretty beat up, grass is shredded or non existent resulting in lots of dust.
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July 18, 2024SciGuyMrD
Great space for drinking beer on a nice day
We didn’t eat here but visited twice on a recent trip to enjoy the expansive outside space and a few beers. Appreciated the variety of beers and the wonderful Bend weather sitting at the Crux picnic tables. Would return!