Photo by Andy Tullis / The BulletinChef Jon Calvin, left , and co-owner Courtney Stevens confer Tuesday inside the new brewpub, Craft Kitchen and Brewery, taking shape on SW Industrial Way

A new Bend brewpub is moving to an opening in May at 803 SW Industrial Way, the space left vacant in January when Old Mill Brew Werks closed.

The owners of Craft Kitchen and Brewery LLC, operating as Craft, have pushed back the opening, originally set for April, to a soft opening later that month and a grand opening in early May, co-owner Courtney Stevens said Monday.

“We didn’t go out of business,” said Stevens, who was part of the Brew Werks partnership. “We just decided to close the doors and start a new business with a different group of people.”

That includes her husband, Mark Stevens, chef Jon Calvin, who also cooked for Mt. Bachelor ski area and Brasada Ranch, and brewmaster Michael McMahon, who brewed for two of Brew Werks’ four years.

The brewpub will emphasize locally sourced foods, McMahon’s signature European-style beers and, eventually, beer made from hops and malt produced in Tumalo and Madras, respectively, McMahon and Stevens said.

“We really want to be all about Bend and the community,” Stevens said

McMahon formerly ran his own small brewery on Whidbey Island, Washington, called Olde World Ales and Lagers. Friends and rock climbing brought him to Bend, he said.

In addition to brewing the Craft beer lineup, McMahon also built furniture for the pub remodel, some of it from reclaimed old-growth Washington wood.

Gone are the booths that were part of the Brew Werks dining area. Replacing them will be an open space with room for smaller parties and a 14-foot community table as centerpiece, he said.

McMahon expects the brewpub will resemble a European beer hall, a gathering place frequented by families, he said. The pub will feature a children’s area, short waits on food orders and a family-friendly menu, some of it based on cured or smoked meats, also known as charcuterie, and “pickled things,” Stevens said.

“It’s a totally different concept,” she said. “Hopefully, it will be our niche, because not a lot of breweries will be family-friendly.”

The taps will feature beers based on McMahon’s recipes for traditional German and Belgian beverages using hops from those countries, he said. He plans on putting local hops and malt, when they become available, through the brewery in northeast Bend, McMahon said. He’s brewing with a 3½-barrel system, a “true craft brewery,” Stevens said.

“That’s kind of our edge,” she said. “It will be free range for Michael — whatever he wants to do.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7815,

jditzler@bendbulletin.com