The Wet Dog Cafe
144 11th Street
Astoria, Oregon
Land in Portland Sunday; depart for the Oregon Coast on Tuesday. For many years now I have been intrigued by the mentions of Fort George Brewing Co. and have uttered the words “we should go on a brew trip to Astoria” many times. All it took Jonah and I was a move to Alaska, then a quick one-week trip back to Portland to seize the opportunity. Like many good brew trips, we needed more than one brewery to visit so I referenced The Beer Mapping Project and found that Astoria has TWO breweries. We had found our first stop, the Wet Dog Café which houses the Astoria Brewing Company.
What an amazing view! As I'm typing this up, I'm searching for a photo to prove these words but there are no great shots of the ocean. How did that happen??? Oh well, I guess it’ll be a pleasant surprise when you visit yourself. We watched container ships and gill-netters moving across the water and moved our chairs inch-by-inch to try to stay in the sunlight (it can get a little chilly on the Oregon Coast). Most importantly, we sampled some great beer. Jonah and I both got the taster tray that included 6oz samplers of 5 styles of beer. I just loved their presentation of the samplers in the miniaturized beer steins.
Here are some highlights…
Strawberry Blonde Ale – it was great! I’m not much of a fruit beer connoisseur but Strawberry is a great fruit to pair with beer, brings a little tartness into the mix.
Old Red Beard Amber Ale – this was a favorite around the table. Both William (my brother) and Shannon (my sister) indulged in a pint of this rich amber.
Lincoln Lager – William’s second pint and a true winner in its contest against the West Coast Lager from my sampler tray. When a craft brewery takes the lager style to another level, celebrations should always occur.
My list of beers that we tried got lost in the shuffle traveling back home, on it was the correct name for the Imperial Stout that was on Jonah’s sampler tray (Imperial Bad Ass Stout?). It was rich, yet easy to drink without any overwhelming additive flavors, by far one of the best beers on the menu.
After all those samplers we needed to work some fullness off, so we went in search of the Astoria Column and fell in love with the historical town of Astoria on the way. I could totally live here.
