Astoria Part II: The Wet Dog Cafe/Astoria Brewing Company

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.

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.

The premises

Classic and 1/2 true on our visit

The innererds

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.   

The Voodoo Room's amazing bartender who knew it

The missing Goonie

                                                            

Astoria Part I: Fort George Brewing

We left for Astoria Friday morning.   I have lived in Oregon for 15 years and this would be my first time visiting the city.  I have driven through it several times, but had never stopped.  My lovely traveling companion was pretty much in the same boat.  However, she had never even driven through it.  What is wrong with us?  I could certainly insert a lengthy list here for myself.

Our first experience in Astoria turned out to be remarkable, despite the fact that it rained the entire time on Friday.  The city is quite the charmer.  It has extensive maritime history, beautiful historic homes, is site to several Hollywood movies and has a downtown that is quaint, but thriving with many restaurants, coffee shops and most notable for this particular piece, Fort George Brewing.

The beautiful facade

Fort George was our first libation stop.  The building was named after the grounds to which it stands on.  It was originally the site of Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) which was an active fur trading post in its heyday.  The site was added to the list of Historic places on November 5^th, 1961 and marked by the building.  Thanks Wikipedia!  You rock!  You can read more if you are interested in history of Fort Astoria by clicking the link below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Astoria#cite_note-nhlsum-1

We stepped inside the brew pub, which was airy and rather large.  To our surprise it was fairly quiet for 4pm on a Friday. This was okay though.  It just meant that we would not have to wait long to try their extensive beer list. We were having trouble making a decision on what to order, so we opted for a taster try.  A great choice by the way at any brewing establishment that you are unfamiliar with.  Unfortunately, I typically do not heed my own advice.  You can see the list of beers that we consumed in the following photo.  Our favs were the 1811 Lager (the year Fort Asotria was founded), Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale, Nut Red Ale and Vortex IPA. On the dark side, The Coffee Girl Stout was a stand out for us.  It was somewhat humbling to see and taste the amazing beer selection that Fort George has to offer.  You can find their 1811 and Vortex IPA in 16oz cans, but they turnout so much more.  A great reason to visit the brewery! 



The beer menu with the amazing unicorn chalk drawing

Little beers rule!

Stool sample!

After consuming our tasters, our server offered us a visit of their production facility, which was just beyond the sticker plastered door and few steps away in another building. He said that we looked like we appreciated good beer.  I am not sure how you can tell that about a person, but we took it as a kind compliment, and of course took him up on his offer.

I ordered a pint of Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale before we took the brief walk over to see where this fine beer was birthed.  The entrance door was not marked well, but our server had pointed to the door that was slightly ajar and said, “just go in there”. We walked though the door to be greeted by a blue room full of kegs and then saw another door about 30 feet in front of us with a hand made sign that read “YES!  THIS IS TAP ROOM ENTRANCE”.  Wow, a tap room!  I don’t think our server mentioned this to us.  If he did, I missed it while being thoroughly immersed in our beer flight.  The tap room was fairly new, but was warm and inviting; a good place to talk about beer.  The tap list included some additional beers that were not served in the pub.  A fine gentleman named John who was in charge of the taps gave us some good information on the beers, the canning facility and the popularity of the game Corn Hole in Astoria.  From the tap room you can see everything that takes place in the brewing area, but you are allowed to go inside the production area as well, which contains a foosball table (one of my favorite table games) and a full size shuffle board court.

The famed tap room entrance

Tap Room = Heaven

Sexy foosball table and a hot game of Corn Hole taking place

Happy camper  

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Fort George as we had to head back to walk our dogs and seek out dinner.  I wanted to visit the public house later that evening, but unfortunately we never made it. Astoria was determined to show us more of what she had to offer.  Stay tuned for, Astoria Part II: ‘Title to Be Determined’.