Try This Beer: Crux Fermentation Project in Bend Oregon

I tried A LOT of beers while I was in Bend. In fact, brewery visiting was one of my top 3 motivations for this semi-spontaneous road trip. Most of the beers I tried ranged from good to excellent, but one brewery blew all of the rest out of the water: Crux Fermentation Project

Crux Fermentation Project Bend Oregon // tahoefabulous.com

At Crux, I tried eight beers, and seven of those beers were the seven best beers I had in Bend. And the other one was still delicious, just not my favorite type of beer. In addition to the amazing beers, the staff was super friendly and generous with their time and their pours.One bartender (whose name I didn’t get) asked us which beers we liked the most, then poured us another couple of samplers he thought we would like and needed to try. He also recommended several other breweries to try, and we took his suggestions seriously on our list of places to visit.

Here’s the list of the beers I tried (all descriptions from Crux’s website) and my rankings at the time according to Untappd.

Prowell Springs Pre-Prohibition Lager: 5 out of 5

Sugar Daddy American Pale Ale: 5 out of 5

Outcast American IPA: 5 out of 5
“The name “Outcast” gives a nod to the origin of the Galaxy hops used. The hops came from Australia, which was originally populated by English “Outcasts” or outlaws.”

Nitro Stout: 5 out of 5

Half Hitch Imperial IPA: 5 out of 5

2014 Tough Love Imperial Stout: 4.5 out of 5

Bert Scotch Ale: 5 out of 5

On the Fence American IPA: 5 out of 5
“It’s not a Pale and it’s not an IPA – it’s “on the fence”. A solid malt backbone with significant hop flavors and aromas (Centennial and Citra), medium alcohol and bitterness.”

We ended up buying a half growler (in this awesome double walled growler from Hydro Flask) of the On the Fence to take back and enjoy at our campsite. We even stopped by on our way out of town and filled up the growler with Half Hitch and bought a couple of bottles of Outcast! We weren’t kidding around with our Crux Fermentation Project love.