Bend’s beer scene stands on its own with so many award-winning brews coming out of our high desert oasis. But just off Second Street in the up-and-coming Bend Central District you’ll find a quieter corner of the craft world where a husband-and-wife team has escaped the IPA arms race to create beers that are softer, wilder, and uniquely rooted in this place. 

Funky Fauna Artisan Ales is Bend’s newest brewery, having moved shop from Sisters to Second Street in April 2025. There, co-owners Michael Frith and Danielle Burns have built a fun brewery and tasting room based on a simple idea: beer should taste like the place it’s from. To do that, they literally captured the flavor of Central Oregon’s air.

That’s a technique made famous in Belgium, where brewers use an open-topped vessel called a koelschip (sounds like “cool ship”) to hold brewed wort, beer’s unfermented liquid. Frith and Burns left it exposed overnight to collect wild yeast drifting naturally through the high-desert breeze. The result became their house culture—a living blend of organisms unique to this part of Oregon that lends the beer a dry, slightly tart profile. Every saison-style beer they brew now carries that same invisible signature. You won’t find it anywhere else.

“It’s a bit like having your own sourdough starter,” says Frith. “Wild yeast changes with the seasons and evolves over time, just like the landscape around us.”

That’s not the only way that Funky Fauna’s beers are uniquely Oregonian. Many are made with malt from Madras and hops from the Willamette Valley. Others feature fruit from local farms—peaches, cherries, lavender, even apples from Hood River. Each release is small-batch and seasonal, so what’s on tap in spring won’t be what’s on tap come fall.

Step inside the taproom and you’ll notice it doesn’t look—or feel—like any other brewery in Bend. Beers come in “teku” glasses: tulip-shape stemware designed to enhance the delicate aromas that make their saisons distinctive. You’ll find no TVs, no pub fare (though there is a food truck outside). The whole place has a witchy vibe. Some beers cost a devilish $6.66. 

“We’ve always been pretty inspired by the spookier side of things,” Burns says. “It’s fun being a little bit weird.” 

Burns, who handles the design and branding, wanted to transform the former Humm Kombucha taproom into a cozy, moody space full of plants, dark wood, and soft light. On the wall you’ll find a painting of her fox-and-monstera logo, nicknamed Edwin, which nods to the brewery’s blend of nature and creativity. She designs every beer label herself.

Funky Fauna does specialize in saisons, those light, lower alcohol, farmhouse-style beers so prevalent in Belgium, where the couple fell in love with the country’s unique beers. They also brew rustic lagers and Oregon dark lagers. You’ll find a few IPAs rotating on tap. All in all they’ll have as many as eight new releases every month, each with its own custom label and story. 

Whether you’re a longtime saison lover or just curious about a beer style that leans more farmhouse than hop house, Funky Fauna is a worthy stop on the Bend Ale Trail. So swing by for a taste of something that could only be made here, in this air, by two masters of their crafts. 

Credits and Acknowledgments

Production Team
Director: Elena Pressprich [Visit Bend]
Videographer: John Reynolds [John Reynolds Films]
Editors: Elena Pressprich [Visit Bend], John Reynolds [John Reynolds Films], Laurel Hunter [Visit Bend]
Photography: Elena Pressprich [Visit Bend]
Words by: Tim Neville [Visit Bend]