If you’re visiting Sisters, make it a point to stop at the town’s youngest brewery, Funky Fauna Artisan Ales. Located on the north side near Three Creeks Brewing Company’s production facility, the small-batch operation focuses on local ingredients and native wild yeast fermentation.

Owner and brewer Michael Frith runs the brewery operations and taproom, and his wife, Danielle Burns, handles all of the branding and marketing. Frith cut his teeth brewing at Our Mutual Friend Brewing Company in Denver, Colorado, before relocating to Central Oregon.

All of the beers are available on draft exclusively at the taproom, and Frith recently canned a small amount of two, Natas Vulpes and Right To Bloom. I recently made the trek to Sisters to pick up cans and find out more.

All of the beers are brewed on a two-barrel (62 gallon) electric brewhouse from Stout Tanks in Portland.

“We ferment and naturally condition 100% of our beers exclusively with our house wild culture,” Frith said via email, “so there are no commercial pitches, just wild yeast and bacteria native to Sisters, which we are super stoked on.”

I asked about the process by which he foraged the yeast. “We cultured our house wild yeast right out of the air here at the brewery in Sisters,” he said. “In a nod to Belgian lambic tradition, we used our kettle as a ‘koelschip’ on a crisp winter night last December, letting a batch of our beer naturally cool overnight next to an open window so that it could be spontaneously inoculated with wild yeast and bacteria floating through the air.”

He was able to propagate the culture for full-scale brewing.

“This was our first attempt at capturing wild yeast in this method, and we continue to harvest and reuse this same culture in every one of our beers.”

Though Frith has also released several IPAs and lagers, the current tap list reflects this focus on wild fermentation, with all five available beers having been brewed with the local yeast. A fair amount of the brews spend time in oak barrels as well.

He formulates most of the beers to be around 4% alcohol by volume and both that I picked up in cans are 4.3 percent ABV.

Natas Vulpes is styled as a wild blood orange witbier (Belgian wheat or “white” style), which has become one of Funky Fauna’s most popular beers and “is here to stay,” said Frith. He wasn’t subtle about the blood orange; 42 pounds of puree was added after fermentation started, along with 5 pounds of blood orange zest and another 5pounds added to the brite tank for conditioning.

It’s a pale-yellow, straw-colored ale with a billowing white head and a bright, tart aroma with notes of citrus, orange peel, and coriander. There’s a bit of wild yeast funkiness and a savory acetic (vinegar) element.

It’s quite tart in flavor as well, with a blend of balsamic vinegar and citrus, delicate coriander, and tart blood orange juice. It’s puckering while maintaining a pleasant witbier spice quality, and as it warms, more fruitiness comes out, floral and berry-like.

Right To Bloom is a wild saison with a medley of fruits as well as hibiscus flowers and rose petals. It “was our vision to create a beer that represented diversity and inclusivity,” Frith said, and Funky Fauna is donating a portion of the proceeds from the beer sales to LGBTQ+ advocacy group OUT Central Oregon.

The fruits include tangerine, strawberry, plum, guava, and grapefruit. The aroma has more wild yeast character and funkiness than the tart witbier, with a touch of Belgian-like chlorophenolics (oak and subtle, slightly medicinal clove). I found the fruit aromas tended to blend together with overlapping notes.

The taste highlights earthy, funky character with red and stone fruits throughout. It hits some of the saison-style rusticity with oakiness, and a grapefruit flavor develops as it warms. It finishes with a floral presence bolstering the fruits and citrus with a bit of funk.

Both of these beers seem to represent Frith’s vision well. What’s upcoming? “We have some really fun barrel-aged beers coming out in the next couple weeks that have been conditioning in traditional Belgian 750ml green glass bottles that we are very proud of,” Frith said. “We’ve also started packaging a portion of our beers in cans that are naturally conditioned with our wild yeast.”

If you haven’t been to Sisters recently, make the effort to visit and check out Funky Fauna Artisan Ales. The taproom is only open limited hours Wednesdays through Sundays, but it’s worth the trip.

Top 5 beers of the week

Island Hop’r IPA — Three Creeks Brewing

Beach Life P.O.G. Pale Ale — GoodLife Brewing

Summer Oasis IPA — Pizza Port Brewing

Tarty to the Party Blueberry Lemonade Sour Ale — Wild Ride Brewing

Bikini Blonde Lager — Maui Brewing