Crux Fermentation Project opens Portland Pub
Bend, Oregon-based Crux Fermentation Project has opened their second location in Portland in the former location of Vagabond Brewing PDX. Founded in 2012 by legendary veteran Oregon brewmaster Larry Sidor, brand builder Paul Evers, and sales and marketing exec Dave Wilson, Crux has stayed true to their original emphasis on saisons and Bavarian styles of beer, while at the same time branching out to make almost every beer style for a full spectrum lineup.
Crux Fermentation Portland is in a central, but also a bit secluded location at 2715 SE 8th Ave #175 in the former Darigold Milk campus which has been renovated for light industrial and creative office spaces. Crux PDX has the front facing corner space next to a gated paid private parking lot for the business park which is now called “The Dairy Building.” Conveniently, the new location is just a few blocks off of lower SE Division and a short walk from popular beer spots like Apex, Chuckanut P-Nut, and The Beermongers.
Crux has kept the layout from the previous tenant - Vagabond Brewing, but sadly the vintage Cessna plane hanging from the rafters on the elevated mezzanine is gone. The general setup of a long stretch of hallway bar seating and detached tables is the same, with a front corner devoted to their top notch beer gear and merchandise, and a cooler of beer to-go and a host check-in area.
The long bar has plenty of room to belly up to the action, with a wood paneled back bar area that contrasts the more contemporary digital draft beer screens and brassy drop down pendant lighting with a more rustic woodsy cabin look. Crux is featuring 16 of their own beers on draft, ranging from the mainstay Crux Pilz to seasonal Bochi Bochi Japanese style lager, to ever popular West Coast and Hazy IPA’s. For the Portland location, Crux is trying out an official beer called “Grade A” Portland IPA in reference to the Darigold plant and grade A milk. The draft list is rounded out with some barrel-aged tart cherry Tough Love imperial stout, and sours like the barrel-aged boysenberry beer Bramble Candy, and a New Zealand-style Grisette. And yes, Crux’s growing NOMo Non-Alcoholic beer is on the draft list, along with Crux Dry Apple Cider, and even Crux wines by the glass, and pours of the Crux collaboration straight bourbon whiskey.
In a step up from most satellite taprooms that open to enhance a breweries presence and draft output, the Crux Portland location has a full kitchen and respectable menu featuring west coast and midwest favorites, with the occasional European and Asian flairs to it. The menu somehow feels both safe and experimental, of course they have an almost requisite pretzel board, healthy salads, and a lot of sandwiches…But there is not a straight up burger to be found, instead they are running with a Thai Turkey Burger with pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, fresno chili, cilantro, and a kimchi/sambal mayo on a toasted bun for $16. A Jerk Chicken sandwich has candied bacon, mama lil’s peppers, mango chutney and arugula on a toasted hoagie roll for $18. You also don’t see many Muffalettas on brewpub menus, but they have one here served half or whole for $15 or $24 respectively.
As a nod to Portland’s status as one of the most vegan friendly cities in the country, there is plenty to choose from like Mushroom Toast on grilled sourdough and an assortment of wild mushrooms topped with chives and a sherry-cracked pepper cream sauce. Beets are featured both on a burrata & cheese plate with sundried cherries, candied walnuts, pickled red onion plate with fresh local greens and focaccia croutons, and on an unusual sounding Beet and Avocado Banh Mi sandwich.
We did try the Brussels shareable appetizer, the crunchy brussel sprouts were perfectly flash fried with big chunks of pork belly fried in crux whiskey, and doused with local hop honey and globs of smoked blue cheese. It was solid, but our table thought the brussels themselves needed more seasoning and were a little light when you didnt have a chunk of blue cheese or pork in your fork to go with it.
We also tried the Crux Sticky Wings, these are small bacon fat braised wings that are then deep fried and tossed in a korean sticky sauce with mint, cilantro, thai basil, salted peanuts, and pickled daikon radish and carrot on the side. They came with big globs of the sweet, salty, smoky sticky sauce, that was pretty good especially if you grab a forkful of the pickled veggies between each bite. My only real complaint was the wings are small, and require a little extra work in both napkins and in separating the meat from the bone.
Another unusual menu addition of a Chopped Cheese Sandwich was a highlight of the three food items we tried. Chopped cheese sandwiches are a New York City thing, and you don’t find them on many menus around here. I can’t weigh in on the authenticity, but what makes this sandwich unique is ground burger meat cooked with onion and stuffed into the bun sort of like a dry sloppy joe. American cheese, shredded lettuce, and a slice of tomato make this sort of similar to a basic cheeseburger but the seasoning, and messy nature of the unformed ground beef on a dense roll make this a very different but satisfying experience.
Famously the flagship Crux in Bend, Oregon is known for their massive patio which serves as a bit of a family and dog park on a nice day, and is elevated in a way that you can catch some great sunsets. Crux in Portland does have a patio, which is pretty solid in it’s own right, but no competition at all for Bend because it has no grass, a much smaller footprint, and no view. However the sandy area with picnic tables barrels, tiny trees, boulders, and a large fire pit might give you the feeling of being in central Oregon if you squint. And fans of Crux in Bend will be delighted to learn that their “Sundowner Hour” version of happy hour that is so celebrated in Bend is also in PDX. This sunset-only happy hour is for $1 off crux beers and $2 off shareable food items for the first half hour before sunset to the last half hour after sunset, so set up your weather app alerts and sun dials now.
Crux has brought on two industry veterans to lead the front of house hospitality staff: general manager Troy Castoe comes from Concordia Alehouse, and hospitality director Dana Wilson ran pFriem’s taproom and most recently was at Ex Novo Brewing. With the makings of a solid team out of the gates, they will likely be finding their footing quickly while feeling out how Portland beer drinkers differ from the crowd of locals and tourists that pack the Bend location.
Crux Fermentation Project Portland is now open 7-days a week from 12pm to 9pm Sunday - Thursday, and 12pm to 10pm Friday and Saturday at 2715 SE 8th Ave #175, Portland, OR 97202.