After walking the dogs and a quick stop at the hotel room we decided it was time to eat. Fortunately, my cute beer loving cohort had done some web research on Astoria before we left and found another brew pub called the Wet Dog Café, which is also the Astoria Brewing Company. Here is a little background on Wet Dog snatched directly from their website:
“The Wet Dog Café was founded in 1995. The Brewery was added in 1997 under the name Pacific Rim Brewery. The name of the Brewery was changed to Astoria Brewing Co. in 2005 to commemorate Astoria’s First Brewing Company which was established in 1872.”
I came across a picture in our hotel room (see below). Is this what the Wet Dog was referring to as Astoria’s first brewing company? Nonetheless, I thought it was a great historical picture and worthy of being in this post.
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| Old Astoria brewery pic: North Coast Brewery |
The Wet Dog Café/Astoria Brewing Co. was about the same size as Fort George, but had a different feel and vibe. Not in a bad way, just different. After glancing over the beer menu we decided to steer away from the taster tray (bad beer drinkers) and went straight for a Solar Dog IPA and a Bitter Bitch IPA. My sweetie had the Solar Dog and said it was good; a little citrusy and not extremely hoppy. I had the Bitter Bitch, which certainly had a bitter finish, but was by no means a bitch. It was pleasing to my senses, unlike any bitch I have ever encountered. We both loved the Bitter Bitch name though and I thoroughly enjoyed drinking it. As we sipped our pints our server came by and asked if we wanted to order food. She told us the kitchen was closing in 40 minutes, so we looked at the appetizer list and asked for the spinach and artichoke dip. The menu at The Wet Dog is huge! With so much to choose from we were looking forward to trying something more substantial on the menu. Then the wah, wah, wah happened. The dip came…we tried it…and it was cold. I am not sure what happened, but if you are not competent in the basics then what would an entrée hold. Which brings me back to a sign in their window we saw earlier that day which read ‘Warm Beer, Cold Food, Come on in’. To sum things up, the Bitter Bitch IPA was a blue ribbon winner, but the cold appetizer failed to qualify. I would try eating at The Wet Dog again, but it was not going to be this evening. Oh, of notable mention before moving on were their fantastic beer t-shirts. Nice designs, but a little pricey at $24.
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| The premises |
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| Classic and 1/2 true on our visit |
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The innererds |
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| Solar Dog IPA patiently waiting for lift-off |
At this point we were still hungry. Earlier that day, The Astoria Coffee House & Bistro recommended The Voodoo Room for pizza and drinks. So on we went. It was an excellent choice. The pizza was amazing and the house made chili flakes spiced up the night and our taste buds. The Voodoo Room is neither a brewery nor a brew pub, so I will not elaborate too much, but they did have good beer on tap, including (2) selections from our recently visited Fort George. If you are up for hanging out after 9pm in Astoria this is the place. Live music, a great bartender (that thought he was great) and a chance to mingle with the locals. Did I mention that we saw our Fort George tap room server here? Then we saw him the next day walking the streets of Astoria. Small town, but a great town. Go.
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| The Voodoo Room's amazing bartender who knew it |
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| The missing Goonie |
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