3.29.2010

Bruce Smith and the Boda Boys




Sunday, April 4th
8pm No Cover
Fort George Brewery
1483 Duane St.-Astoria
www.brucesmithmusic.com

Southwest meets Northwest: Texas native Bruce Thomas Smith plays Original “Transplant Rock” (TM), You know, Guitar in the driver seat and a story teller in the back, top down, cruisin’ just below the speed-limit, open highway, and tons of fresh scenery...

Bruce has released 6 solo music projects to date, ( 4 CD's ) and has recorded original music soundtracks with his friend Tuck Neilson. Bruce and his previous band The Rocks won a regional southern Oregon Battle of the Bands. Bruce's song "You Leave the Mark" is a featured part of the new Bridges CD, a compilation CD featuring several other Northwest Artists, the proceeds going towards Cancer research here in the NW. (www.bridgescd.org).

Bruce has a fan-base stretching from Tennessee to Texas, Oregon to New York, and is currently living on the Oregon Coast. Come see him LIVE, and, as Bruce says: "Let's meet some new best friends!"



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AstoriaHideouts.com

3.28.2010

The Faraway Boys




Sunday, March 28th
8pm No Cover
Fort George Brewery
1483 Duane St.-Astoria
www.fortgeorgebrewery.com
www.farawayboys.com

"So(outhern) O. C. Rockabilly"- heidie johnson

Southern Orange County, California Rockabilly band The Faraway Boys will tour through Astoria at The Fort George Brewery on Sunday, March 28th at 8pm. Somewhere between Psychobilly, Rock-n-Roll and traditional Rockabilly, falls the sound of Faraway Boys. A power trio that first began on a street corner in Laguna Beach, CA. in the summer of 2005, and have since progressed to playing the local club scene as well as a string of small tours. The band members are Scott "Scotty" Young on guitar/vocals; Sean "Bucky" Walbrink on drums/vocals and Miguel "Ralphie" Gonzalez on up-right bass/ vocals. That street corner taught the Boys how to perform in front of an audience for the first time and gave them the confidence they needed to write their own songs. Faraway Boys are greatly influenced by the greats: Johnny Cash, Elvis and the Stray Cats. Back in those early days, it was a common sight to see the Boys on their street corner every Friday night, playing away.

Then, in the fall of 2005 the Boys decided they had out-grown their little corner and began to rehearse in a regular practice space. It was at this timethat they began to try out their original material for the first time. Within a few months, the first of three Faraway Boys song demos had been recorded and the sound was more traditional, spawning the classics Sailor Jerry Rum and Cowboy Moon. For the next year or so, Faraway Boys spent most of their time in thier practice studio close to home - refining their sound and focusing on performing live. The weekends would give them good opportunity to showcase the songs written during the week and propel them towards becoming a better live act. The live show is the true love of the boys and their energy is full of contagious emotion, humor and heart-felt spirit. The band's policy of performing "Any time - Any where" has led them from San Diego to Sacramento and parts of the mid-west during the first year playing "Any time - Any where" they could! Currently, Faraway Boys have just come out of the studio with their first album: Pirate Ship Set Sail, which they are planning to release on April 4, 2008. Their love for meeting new people, writing songs and playing live shows keeps them busy on most weekends. To put it simply, their music is their life and love...and it shows!




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AstoriaHideouts.com

3.23.2010

Nettle Honey




Thursday, March 25th
8pm No Cover
Fort George Brewery
1483 Duane St.-Astoria


Touring from Seattle, Washington are Nettle Honey playing at the Fort George Brewery and Public House. Nettle Honey plays high energy old-time and bluegrass influenced originals as well as traditional songs and fiddle tunes. They have been playing together for four years but have recently started to get a little more serious with touring and in the last year have begun playing more shows in Seattle venues as well as The Bainbridge Island Bluegrass Festival, the Folklife Festival and the Green Frog Acoustic Tavern in Bellingham. They have also been swept up by the growing Northwest old-time community and are active in the newly formed Seattle Subversive Squaredance Society. Nettle Honey's traditional line-up of guitar, banjo, fiddle, upright bass makes them at home in old-time and bluegrass venues, yet their original songs depart from traditional structure and lyrics. Nettle Honey have played with rock/indie/new folk bands such as the Train Wreck Riders, The Raggedy Anns, and Paper Bird. The band takes stage on Thursday, March 25th at 8pm with no cover. Get your seat early.

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AstoriaHideouts.com

3.20.2010

The Notes Underground




Sunday, March 21st
8pm No Cover
1483 Duane St.-Astoria
www.fortgeorgebrewery.com

The Notes Underground is an all original three-piece rock band from Portland, Oregon playing at the Fort George Brewery and Public House on Sunday, March 21st at 8pm. Mainly influenced by playing together in an acoustic act they modify classic tempos and electrify them into something new. Although all the music is completely original you might find something familiar within it's understated simplicity.


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AstoriaHideouts.com

3.17.2010

Porter Dodge March 17

Porter Dodge, traditional Irish fiddler will play at the Fort George Brewery on Wednesday, St. Patrick's day with David Crabtree on guitar. They have been playing St. Patty's Day together for 30 years plus. The music will be all instrumental with blood boiling reels and jigs, guaranteed to make you kick your foot off. The music starts at 8pm and goes until 10.
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AstoriaHideouts.com

3.09.2010

Jack looks back on the past three years

Three years is not really all that long, but amazing things can happen. The Fort George will be celebrating its’ third birthday on March 14th this year. When Chris and I started putting this together in the Winter of ’05 we had solid pub and brewing experience, the belief and trust of family and friends who invested in us and a vision to build the kind of place we would both like to drink beer in. We didn’t always agree on all the details, but the overall goal of being people and community centered always prevailed.



In the late Spring of ’06 it started to become frighteningly real as we pulled into town after an exhausting 7 day trip to Virginia to fetch our brewery. Months of demolition and rebuilding with Dana, Anthony and his crews started to come together when we hosted the Bob Marley Birthday Party with Ma Barley before we were ready to open. It seemed like this might actually work, at least as long as we featured a reggae band and free chicken.



Finally, on March 11 we opened our doors. Most of this time is a blur to me as a vague 18 hour a day beer fueled frenzy, but what really stands out are the people. We had a pretty tight-knit family group develop while we were under construction, but things really got interesting when we brought in a staff and our public to the public house. Brigid is still with us from the original opening day staff. Chris Huff put his mark on the place. Shannon started early on. Sarah came in to apply and I handed her an apron. Megan, Chandler and Erin helped us get through our second summer. We now have a staff of over 20 dedicated people who make this place better every day.

Paul was our first regular, and the first to be cut off. That is better than hanging a dollar bill on the wall. Folks were very encouraging and kept supporting us even when they had to wait forever to get a burger. Now I see people all over the region who I have gotten to know through the Fort.
Babies have been conceived, born, learned to walk and talk since we opened our doors. We too, have outgrown our original plans and were fortunate to have a landlord willing to let us stretch out and take over his buildings so we can throw bigger and better parking lot parties, make more beer and generally contribute in our small way to this amazing area we are all lucky to live in.

Three years isn’t a long time and we have no intention of slacking now. Our growth plans, while ambitious are all rooted in our overall goal of giving people an excellent place to enjoy beer and each other. We will continue to count on our patrons and staff to continuously improve our standards. I ask you all to do your part in our success by filling out a comment card, send us an email or just stop one of us and tell us how we can make this Public House even better.

- Jack Harris, Co-Owner

Attention all Homebrewers, Beer Lovers, and Fort George Fans!

We here at Fort George take being a Public House very seriously. It has been because of our great customers that we have been able to grow and better our business and for that, we would like to give back. Fort George Brewery would like your ideas for a new beer that could be made in our brewery. If you would like to see a new style of beer, would like us to try something new with our beers, or have a recipe of your own that you would like to see pouring at Fort George, submit an entry and it could end up being brewed!

photo-1.jpg

All beer entries must be able to be made with our American Ale Yeast or our Belgian yeast. The beer selected will be based on quality, creativity, availability of ingredients, and by how delicious it sounds. You may submit as many entries as you like but only one beer will be chosen.

All entries must be emailed to spencer@fortgeorgebrewery.com by April 10th for consideration. Please call Fort George (503) 325- PINT and ask for the brewery for any further inquiries.

The winner will get to name their beer, be recognized in the upcoming Fort George Newsletter, and receive a free pitcher of their beer.

3.08.2010


We are proud to celebrate our 3rd Birthday here at the Fort George Brewery + Public House on Sunday, March 14th, 2010. We'll have drawings for prizes all day with lots of special prices and we'll be bringing back some old menu favorites. Ma barley, our favorite local reggae band that has been with us from the beginning, will kick the party up a notch from 8-10 pm. It's all ages with no cover.The band will be singing a Fort George jingle and needs some audience assistance. We will be recording it for possible use in a future commercial. So put on your dancing shoes and help us celebrate because without you none of this would have been possible! For more info please call or check out our website.

Fort George Brewery + Public House

www.fortgeorgebrewery.com

503-325-PINT

1483 Duane St.
Astoria, OR 97103

3.04.2010

Jack's Houston Update

We just watched two trucks leave the Saint Arnold's parking lot headed north. I could see a little tearing up in the eyes of Brewer Vince as the kettle, mash tun, grist silo, bright tank and two fermenters he had tended so lovingly left for Astoria.
Half the crew left shortly afterwards to catch flights back home. Terp had kept us enthralled with a seemingly endless stream of wierd stories. Paul and Dave put in many hours of work cutting the brewery free with competent saws-all and grinding skills.
Only two tanks remain to liberate tomorrow; one more fermentor and a hot water vessel. Mike, Dave and I are catching a few Zzzz's before we get dinner at a pub tonight. We ought to be loading the last truck by 2pm tomorrow and then Dave and I will rev up Squidward (our U-Haul) and head either West to San Antonio or North toward Denver depending on weather.
More updates to follow.


Jack Harris



3.03.2010

A golden opportunity to hail the ale! Seaside’s ‘Beach, Bite and Brew’ event pairs food, craft beers




ALEX PAJUNAS — The Daily Astorian
Joel Marshall, a server at Bill’s Tavern and Brewhouse in Cannon Beach, pours a pint of Duck Dive Pale Ale.



ALEX PAJUNAS — The Daily Astorian
The Fort George Brewery and Public House is preparing its Bourbon Barrel Stout for Seaside’s Beach Bite and Brew. Cavatica Stout has been aging inside barrel’s of Makers Mark and Wild Turkey since Jan. 28, to create the bourbon beer.



By NANCY MCCARTHY
The Daily Astorian

SEASIDE - For those who have a taste for beer, enjoy a good meal and love the beach, Seaside will haveit all, come Friday and Saturday.

That's the weekend the city's first "Beach, Bite and Brew" is planned, where 12 craft brewers will offer tastings of some their most popular and some of their most intriguing beers.

But what good is beer without something to eat, asked Jeanne Clark, events coordinator for the Seaside Chamber of Commerce, who is organizing the event.

So, along with the craft brewers, she invited Seaside restaurants to participate by offering their customers special dinners and suggesting the beers to accompany each meal. The food pairing will be offered on Friday night at several restaurants in town, Clark said.

A list of participating restaurants will be available at the Carousel Mall and at the Visitors Center.

But on Saturday, the real fun begins when four local chefs compete in a "cooking with beer" competition. Their meals will be offered from noon to 4 p.m. at the Seaside Elks Lodge, 324 Avenue A. Tickets for the competition and a general tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. are $35. The cost for the general tasting only is $20, which covers the three-ounce beer samples. A souvenir glass is included.

Eight food vendors will provide offerings for a charge during the evening's beer tasting.

"We looked at what the crab festival has done for Astoria and thought a beer festival would work here," said Clark. "We wanted to have something that people could get involved in that was close to the beach but not right on the beach. But they can still take advantage of the beach."

The chamber hopes that the "Beach, Bite and Brew" will become an annual event. If that's the case, then those attending the festival should probably brush up on their beer terminology.

Terms that might be studied include "IPA" or "hoppiness" (which may be what some tasters taste before they feel "happiness"), "bittering" or "secondary fermentation."

Chris Nemlowill, co-owner of the Fort George Brewery, plans to offer the "Vortex," the brew pub's flagship IPA; "Divinity," a Belgian "wit" or ale; and Cavatica stout, a bold, black American stout.

While he is happy to be promoting his beers, Nemlowill's focus will be to "get more people in the area exposed to Oregon beers."

"There aren't many places in Seaside that feature craft beers," he said. "There has been a lot of focus on macro-industrial style beers - Coors, Anheiser-Busch and Miller. The smaller, Oregon craft brands haven't gotten a lot of exposure on the coast."

In fact, Nemlowill said, only 12 percent of the beer consumed in Oregon is made in this state. But the potential exposure that events such as the "Beach, Bite and Brew" offers to the public, he added, is "very exciting."

"This is an up and coming industry," Nemlowill added.

Those who have ever entered a McMinamin's Restaurant will be familiar with the bottled beers that will come from Gearhart's Sand Trap Inn: IPA, Terminator, Hammerhead and Ruby.

Blair Hampson, Sand Trap general manager, said the restaurant's servers always suggest "fun food" that will go with their craft beers.

"We hope we can make good suggestions, but it really depends on the person's taste," he said.

Does he prefer cold or warm beer?

Personally, he said, he doesn't like his beer extremely cold.

"If it starts at just below 40 degrees and it warms up, there's more flavor," Hampson said.

A couple of customer favorites - Duck Dive pale ale and Blackberry Beauty - will be served up by David Parker, who crafts the beers upstairs over Bill's Tavern in Cannon Beach.

Parker, who started out at Bill's as a bartender, began crafting beers four years ago when the former brew master, Jack Harris, joined Nemlowill at the Fort George Brewery.

Duck Dive is probably made the most often because customers drink it so quickly, Parker said.

"It takes seven to 10 days to make a batch and only three days to drink it," he said.

But if the tavern runs out of Blackberry Beauty, customers whine. "They say they have driven all the way from Seattle to drink it," Parker said.

The science of beer-making is simple, he said: converting starches from grain into sugars.

But the secret of beer-making is the yeast and the "food" that is fed to the yeast. There's ale yeast, lager yeast and pilsner yeast.

"All yeast is different and it makes different kinds of beer," Parker said. "The yeast determines the quality of the beer."

During the winter, Parker brews once or twice a week, but during the summer, when visitors are thirsty, he's brewing three or four times a week.

"I'm running on a treadmill then," he said. "I cannot keep up."

But, said Parker, who remains fascinated about a process that turns bags of grain into beer, "it's literally spinning straw into gold."

Those who want to know what they are tasting when they sample beer should check for a taste of the grain that was used in the beer. Is there a balance between the grain and alcohol?

"Sometimes, it's too malty, or roasty or hoppy," said Parker, using those technical terms again.

He calls studying the taste of individual beers the "hops experience."

"If I'm studying the 'hops experience,' I'm asking, 'Is there too much bittering - does the taste stay in my mouth?"

Parker is constantly observing his brewing results and studies what makes some beers more popular than others.

"It's fun," he said. "I don't think anybody should be done learning."

And when food is coupled with beer, it becomes even more interesting because the dish's ingredients could change the beer's taste.

At the "Beach, Bite and Brew," participants will be able to discover for themselves which beers might go well with which foods.

"What it boils down to, you can talk about pairing food with beer, but until you taste it, you won't know," Parker said.

New Fort George Beers on tap

Working Girl Porter
4.6% ABV

Our Panamax Porter is reborn with this new coffee porter named The Working Girl. This porter is reminiscent of our Panamax but has now has been brewed with the addition of over 5 lbs. of working girl coffee beans. The beans were put into both the mash tun and the kettle to create a light coffee aroma and coffee aftertaste in this diverse porter. With additional hints of chocolate and rye malt, this porter is well balanced and fantastic at any point in the day.

Lovell Lager
5.6% ABV

Crisp. Refreshing. Titillating. Sent from the heavens. These are only a few of the many words to describe the Lovell Lager. The Fort George only brews one batch a year to pay tribute to Robert Lovell, the previous owner of the Fort George block. This lager was made with organic pilsner malt and combined with Czech Saaz hops to unfold a truly majestic lager that is simple in its complexity and is truly fit for the spring. Let this full flavored lager help you bring in the new light.



Jack's Houston Update - Day Three

Day three begins with us getting our U-Haul truck we'll be driving back and packing it with all sorts of cool new (to us) toys. Control panels, piping, augers, motors, pumps and some stuff I really haven't even decided what to call will be packed away for the trip north. By the end of today all our big tanks will be cut away and staged for the Crane masters to load up.

Last night we got a fabulous four-star tour of the new Saint Arnold brewery including a rooftop view of the Houston skyline. It is a beautiful, old concrete building they have thoughtfully converted into giant beer making machine. The brewer showed us how he can monitor and control nearly every aspect with his phone. Yes Spencer, there's an app for that.

- Jack Harris

3.02.2010

Professor Gall




Sunday, March 7th
8pm No Cover
Fort George Brewery
1483 Duane St.-Astoria
www.professorgall.com


"Displaying influences as diverse as crazed klezmer, art rock, bluegrass, alternative folk, experimental jazz, and cow punk, Professor Gall's 'Intravenous Delusion' sounds like a roller coaster ride through some ragtag Gypsy carnival catering to the broken misfits of a smokey Mad Max world."
Scott Lewis, The Oregonian, PDX, OR

'Expert in all...master of none'. A mysterious, nefarious, and demur demeanor. Upfront dark satire, lurid absurdity and pseudo-psychological lesson plans. As a backdrop, a neo-traditional bent, culminated by a favorable twist on vintage sounds. Songs are filled with playfully sinister fiction-offered to the audience as fact...of course. Professor Gall seeks to uncover the contradictions of an ambiguous and native-less society, 'dreaming the existentialists' dream', while at the same time pleading for individualism, peace, and more fun at funerals.

The Portland, Oregon conglomerate consists of Drew Norman on vocals, guitar, and banjo, who conveys a ‘Top Hat’ stage persona and is responsible for the initial
musical and lyrical embellishments. He is also a ‘go to’ man hired for studio work and live shows for the likes of Jeff Hanson (Kill Rock Stars), Chris Robley’s Fear of Heights (Cutthroat Pop) and Will West (local roots troubadour). Chad Youngman, a long time musical cohort of Norman’s, provides stand-up bass, polytheistic vision, and conceptual lyrics, while Scott Johnston heads up the first chair position for the horn section, arranging charts and providing his saxophone
alchemy. Rounding out the ensemble is Monte Skillings on trombone, Tony ’rattlesnake’ Esperanza on drums, and Andrew Clarinet on the. ahem…clarinet.
Critical acclaim for their first full length CD ‘Intravenous Delusion’ has enabled Professor Gall to become a regional favorite, sharing the stage with semi-national/national acts like The Devil Makes Three, Eric McFadden Trio, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Billy Nayer Show, Vagabond Opera and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum at venues thought the West Coast as well as festivals like the Fremont Street Fair in Seattle, WA. The band is currently working on their upcoming sophomore release entitled ‘The Psychology of Booze and Guilt’. Some track titles include, ’Whiskey was the medicine to get me through another Christmas eve night’, and the confessional psalm, ‘I’m a Drunk’.

Jack's update from Houston




Yesterday we made good progress on the grain handling systems and all the hard-plumbing on the brewhouse.
Today we should have most of the brewhouse ready to ship, lots more stuff wrapped up and labeled and many bottles of yummy St. Arnold's beer taken off the bottling line and drank.