Astoria in June

Better than Paris, France.

You may dream of a summer trip to the Champs-Élysées, with repasts of vino and baguette and views of the Seine, but give me a paper plate of Bowpicker's and a pint of beer at the mouth of the mighty Columbia.  Views of the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower?  I prefer to rest my gaze on the majesty of grain barges.  Twice in the past two weeks did I visit Oregon's old town, but the second is the one you'll be interested in: I and a gaggle of writers toured Fort George on the occasion of the release of their 3-Way IPA, a collaboration with Lompoc and Gigantic.

We also got a tour of both breweries--the old wee one you can see at the back of the pub and the new 30-barrel system across the parking lot.  But: breweries.  I could tell you about a cool fitting at the bottom of the grain silo that sends organic malt in opposite directions to both brewhouses, or about the pig-shaped hot liquor tank.  But they're breweries, and one mash tun thrills no more than the next.  I hadn't seen the new canning line, and I admit a fascination with packaging, but again, not a lot to say there.  The rilly big shew, however, was our first glimpse at the new second-floor pub space that runs the entire length of the Fort George building (the brewery shares the first floor with the Blue Scorcher Cafe). 

Fort George Expansion
Fort George has grown in increments since it first opened.  Initially, space included a modest pub and the small brewery.  Then the brewery built an outdoor patio for those many sunny days Astoria enjoys.  Then they began steady expansion that took them to neighboring buildings for storage and brewing space.  But except for that patio, the seating space has not grown. (I kid about that sun thing--Astoria is the most humid town in the US, averages 191 days of rain, 67 inches of it overall, and gets less than a week, on average, of temperatures north of 80 degrees.)  Popping a spiral staircase to the second floor way more than doubles it.

The new upstairs is suffused in light that comes in through three walls that are largely warehouse windows.  You get a better view of the river up there, too.  It's essentially a self-contained separate restaurant, with a different menu and a separate bar.  Whereas you get a pretty standard pub menu below, upstairs it's wood-fired pizzas.  The tables and bars are long and beautiful, and I can imagine that when light is scarce around about January, this will be a great place to be.  One of the coolest features is that spiral staircase; the brewery managed to harvest discarded runners from the last upgrade of the Astoria column.  Anyone who's been up that signature landmark will instantly recognize them.  (There are a batch of photos here.) 

New Beers
We were ostensibly visiting to try the 3-Way IPA, and we each received one as it came off the canning line.  (As cool as it sounds.)  Lompoc, Gigantic, and Ft George all all noted for hops, so I expected a face-melter, but instead, it's more a meditation on the eras of Oregon IPAs.  It's got old school hops (Cascade), more modern hops (Centennial), and new hops (Meridian), all in a milkshake-cloudy solution of sweetish (but not heavy) malting.  A summer IPA.

The beer that won my heart is a different collaboration, Tender Loving Empire Northwest Pale Ale.  Leaving aside the question of this new style appellation (it's just a pale), it's a damned tasty beer.  Sweet with honey malt but spiced with a bit of rye, it's electrified by Meridian, Simcoe, and Centennial hops.  It is very close to bright, a minor miracle for Fort George, is light-bodied and very crisp--so much so that I was fooled into asking whether they'd used the 1811 lager yeast.  (Nope.)  They did can it, I don't know whether you can find it in PDX.  All the more reason to spurn France and head to the Sunset Empire.

Astoria Brewing Expansion

Angelo De Ieso and I did break away from the herd for a stop into Astoria Brewing, which is but a quarter mile away.  Astoria Brewing has been shoe-horned inside a small corner of the Wet Dog Cafe since 1997 ("Pacific Rim Brewery" for the first half of that time).  Some time ago, owner Steve Allen decided to expand, and a new brewery will go in a few buildings down the Riverwalk.

Astoria is a very nice counterpoint to Fort George.  Despite the fact that Astoria's flagship is the aptly-named Bitter Bitch, brewer John Dalgren has interest in beer ranging from sessionable lagers to wild ales--beers Fort George is just never going to mess with.  (If Fort George were a band, they'd be something like the Ramones--boisterous, hugely fun, but totally unmistakable.)  My palate was in slightly rough shape when we arrived to try three subtle beers in a row--a kolsch, very light pilsner, and--on my request--a strawberry wheat ale.  John was actually a bit embarrassed by that last one, but it was actually exquisite.  There are few agricultural products finer in this fine state than strawberries, and he captured their lovely flavor, married them to the wheat, and kept everything dry.  It's a hard beer to brew, and it was really dialed in.

Fort George has definitely captured the imagination of Astorians.  But visitors should not be too blinded by its assets to ignore Astoria Brewing.  Dalgren is quietly making very nice beers a few blocks away.  (And the Wet Dog has the better view.)

John Dalgren (L) and Steve Allen

Astoria Brewing/Wet Dog Cafe

When I last visited Astoria Brewing, the man at the kettle was Chris Nemlowill. You'll hear more about him when I do a post on Fort George Brewing, his new home. The man who replaced Chris is Bolt Minister (a family name going back at least a couple generations). I did a fairly involved review of Astoria in June of 2007, and rather than repeat things here, I'll just fill in some blanks. For the archives, I'll go back to the earlier post and update it. Feel free to click over and back if you want an overview of the pub.

Let's begin by handing the mic over to Bolt, who will describe how he got into brewing and give you a sense of his personality.



Bolt is at least the fourth brewer to work in the kitchen-sized brewery at what is now Astoria (formerly Pacific Rim). Despite that, the beer and food menu demonstrate admirable consistency. This must be both comforting and frustrating for the incoming brewer. It might be nice to have a slate of beer recipes on hand, but it also means you have little elbow room to express your personal style. John Foyston asked what his brewing preferences were like, and he admitted they tended toward lighter lagers. No worries, right? Well, the flagship is a monster IPA with triple-digit IBU hopping, and standards are the porter and stout, which warm the chilly bones of those looking out over the wind-swept Columbia.

He ran into this particular quandary early on, when he decided to ratchet back the hops on Bitter Bitch--that's the hop monster--to 93 IBUs, the threshold above which humans are not supposed to be able to distinguish further bittering. But the regulars at the Wet Dog Cafe could tell, and they did so, loudly, and now Bitter Bitch is back to her earlier octane.

When we arrived, he had three beers at the ready that aren't yet available, a kolsch, a biere degarde, and an imperial wit. The last two were made with Wyeast's Ingelmunster, one of which will be Minister's entry to Cheers to Belgian Beers. The wit was surprisingly spry and delicate, with characteristic coriander spicing. Wheat can really get cakey if you use too much, but the Ingelmunster handled it nicely, keeping it drier than a wit yeast would have been able to. At 6.8%, it wasn't imperial like a stout or IPA, and that helped. The biere de garde came topped with a head as dense as meringue, and the beer was nearly as sweet. I'll be interested to see it when it finishes out. The final beer we tried, which will be available at the Spring Beer Fest, was a kolsch--perhaps my favorite of all Minister's beers. Still a bit yeasty from the tank, but it had a gently spicy hop quality, and a crisp finish. Definitely look for it.

We sampled a variety of beers throughout the afternoon, and my notes are a bit brief:

• Pumpkin ale. The last bit from fall. The spices have fallen back a bit and the squash is now evident--a good change in my view.
• Bitter Bitch. The flagship ale is over 100 IBUs and is therefore shockingly bitter. The beer was designed to be out of balance--the hops vent out of the glass like strong wasabi--but the locals love it.
  
• Solar Dog. The nose on this beer suggests its Bitter Bitch's little brother, but it deceives. Still quite a bit of bitterness, but the malt is evident underneath, as is a richer, more floral hop flavor.
• Porter. In competition with the kolsch for brewery's best beer. The head was so creamy I asked if it was on nitro. It's both a gentle, sweet porter, but also thick, with a bit of roastiness for depth. "I praise the brown malts," Minister said by way of explanation.
• Strong ale. The final beer before my palate was certifiably shattered, this very dark brown ale was surprisingly smooth and gentle. Abram declared it an old ale, and when I asked Bolt about it later, he said, "well, it's actually an old ale..." (Abram on the case.) Also a great ship-watching beer.

In addition to these, the brewery has a weisse, an ESB, and a stout. My least favorite beer is the brewery's best-seller, so go figure. I didn't rate out all the beers separately, but none would drop below a B-, and the kolsch and porter were in the B+ / A- range. A very nice line-up.

Other Notes
Astoria Brewing is Oregon's second to go solar (you might have guessed by the name of the beer), using the same system--and vendor--as Lucky Lab. Turns out it's a fantastic experiment. After all, if a solar system works in Astoria, it'll work anywhere, right? And it does. Minister gets 150-degree water on the worst days of winter, not a bad head-start on heating.

The brewery has plans to bottle 22s sometime in the coming months. In order to use the mobile bottling line, they have to amass enough beer to make it worthwhile. For a 350-barrel brewery, this takes a bit of prep, but have a look this summer if you stop by. You might also look to see if the pub has installed a fresh fish market, as they have plans to do. It would look out onto the boardwalk, and you should be able to get a bottle of beer with your two pounds of Dungeness crab. Cool.

Spring Beer Fest Winners

The People's Choice awards are finally posted online. Although I have more or less forsaken this particular fest in the face of all the other wonderful, less flea-markety fests availaible, I do doff my hat to the wisdom of Portland beer drinkers. Therefore, the people's choice is worth mentioning. So, without further ado, this year's winners:

1st Place - Astoria Brewing Bitter Bitch
2nd Place - Hopworks Survival Stout
3rd Place - (Tie) Calapooia Chili Beer and Ninkasi Tricerahops Double IPA

A couple of my friends did make it to the SBF, and they raved about the Calapooia. I've had the Tricerahops, the quality of which I can verify. So Hopworks and Astoria Brewing must have really whipped up a couple of wicked brews. Congrats all around. (If I'm not mistaken, this is a two-peat for Bitter Bitch, the winner, if memory serves--and it so rarely does--in '07.)

(Note to SBF webfolk: it's Tricerahops, not "Tricehops," and Hopworks, rather than "HopWorks." Not to belabor the point, but this kind of sloppiness may be correlated with my recent level of attendance.)

Review - Astoria Brewing & Wet Dog Cafe

Note, post updated following a more recent visit.

Brewer: Bolt Minister
144 11th Street
Astoria OR 97103
(503) 325-6975

Mon-Fri, 11am -11pm, Sat 11am-2am. $4 pint, $3.75 glass, $6 for a taster tray. No smoking, kids okay.

Beers: A large range of NW-style ales, with an emphasis on ferocity.

For those of you who may have passed through town before, Astoria Brewing is the renamed Pacific Rim Brewing--though both past and present, the sign most prominent from the Astoria bayfront has been "Wet Dog Cafe." The beers and ambiance have changed, but the amazing view is the same. I stopped in for lunch yesterday and can't offer a full review. I only tried a couple beers, and there were something like eight on tap. With luck, I'll make it back to delightful Astoria soon and update the review.

Whether you're craving a beer or not, it's worth a stop for the view. One wall of the building is a window overlooking the mouth of the Columbia River, where massive ships begin their journey to the Port of Portland. There's outdoor seating for sunny days, but on cloudy, cold ones, you can sit inside and nurse a stout (or bowl of chowder) while watching the play of nature--black clouds on steel water, the angry churn that defines the Oregon Coast.

Beer
What do these names suggest: Bitter Bitch, Kick Ass Stout, Stone Cold Strong Ale. They have a certain muscularity, don't they? Names like that either mean a brewery is overcompensating, or serving notice. In this case, I'm happy to say it's the latter. I tried the Bitter Bitch (a double IPA) and the Kick Ass (an imperial stout). Both were big and aggressive . . . and rather accomplished.

I was slightly worried about the beer based on its murky appearance and lack of head--like a tall glass of unfiltered cider. But the aroma allayed my fear--it was a rich, sticky nose of saturated grapefruit, both fresh and faintly floral. Hops are the central note in this beer, but it isn't painfully bitter. The brewery describes the beer as "quadruple hopped," which while lacking in specificity, suggests a layered approach to hopping that is evident in the flavor and nose. Bitter Bitch, incidentally, won the People's Choice award at this year's Spring Beer Fest.

The stout was a more understated beer and highlighted thick, chocolately malts. It was smooth and creamy and seemed substantial, though I don't recall seeing stats on the alcohol. Much as with the Bitter Bitch, Kick Ass was in perfect balance. That's good, because Astoria is a stout town, if ever there was one. This is a pint that fortifies and warms.

Beer, Updated
I revisited the brewery in March 2009. The Wet Dog had exchanged brewers--Chris Nemlowill went on to found nearby Fort George, and he was replaced by Bolt Minister. A longer update, with a video clip of Bolt speaking about his history is here. From that review, I excerpt these capsule reviews:

• Pumpkin ale. The last bit from fall. The spices have fallen back a bit and the squash is now evident--a good change in my view.
• Bitter Bitch. The flagship ale is over 100 IBUs and is therefore shockingly bitter. The beer was designed to be out of balance--the hops vent out of the glass like strong wasabi--but the locals love it.
  
• Solar Dog. The nose on this beer suggests its Bitter Bitch's little brother, but it deceives. Still quite a bit of bitterness, but the malt is evident underneath, as is a richer, more floral hop flavor.
• Porter. In competition with the kolsch for brewery's best beer. The head was so creamy I asked if it was on nitro. It's both a gentle, sweet porter, but also thick, with a bit of roastiness for depth. "I praise the brown malts," Minister said by way of explanation.
• Strong ale. The final beer before my palate was certifiably shattered, this very dark brown ale was surprisingly smooth and gentle. Abram declared it an old ale, and when I asked Bolt about it later, he said, "well, it's actually an old ale..." (Abram on the case.) Also a great ship-watching beer.

In addition to these, the brewery has a weisse, an ESB, and a stout. I didn't rate out all the beers separately, but none would drop below a B-, and the kolsch and porter were in the B+ / A- range. A very nice line-up.

Food
The menu is impressive. It ranges from the usual pub food into a full offering of seafood. Veggie options are somewhat limited, however. I had a plate of scallops with fries on the side. The fries (steak cut) were great--crispy and not greasy. The scallops, which you can order breaded or sauteed (I went with the latter) were a little rubbery, however. Good scallops have a smooth, even consistency and are about my favorite seafood. Maybe this was an off-day for the cook. They were just switching their menu, too, so possibly things will improve.

Despite this tepid praise, you might stop in for a meal. The prices were moderate for Astoria, and I've been underwhelmed by area restaurants in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if the Wet Dog starts making restaurant short lists in the near future.

Post updated following visit on 3/28/09