3rd Annual Halloween Hellorium 10/31

On... HALLOWEEN! 

Come out for our 3rd Annual Halloween party with Ma Barley and the Knowitalls, and party like it's Halloween... because it will be.  The party will take place from 7pm until 11pm in the Fort George Lovell Building Brewery, which will be transformed in front of your eyes into the most hellish brewery you have ever gotten your reggae boogie down in!  If you have not been to a Fort George Hellorium party, it is a blast.  Costumes are a must, and the best costume will be brewarded!  See you out there-

Foraging at the George 10/20

The Fort George Lovell Taproom will be hosting "Foraging at the George," an informative cooking demonstration using locally foraged foods.  The Taproom will open at 6:00pm for refreshments, with the event starting at 7:00pm.   

Locally grown food is all the rage these days, and you can’t get much more local than wild foods that are foraged and hunted for in our North Coast landscape, from the upland forests to the estuaries.

On Thursday, Oct. 20th at 7 p.m, the Fort George Brewery + Public House, 1483 Duane St., Astoria, is the place to go if you want to learn more about what’s in season this autumn. 

Teresa Retzlaff and Kristin Albrecht, co-hosts of Coast Community Radio’s Food Talk program join in conversation with local foragers and hunters Carla Cole, natural resource project manager for Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, and Doug Ray, wetlands consultant and North Coast Land Conservancy board member.

Cole and Ray are both long-time wild food enthusiasts with a passion for cooking and eating from the natural landscape.  The evening’s culinary conversation centers around a native food feast prepared as an example of what can be done with seasonal foraged foods and other locally grown ingredients.  The presenters will work their way through the menu, talking about each recipe–where the ingredients are found, and how to safely harvest them, and store them if needed. This is a great way to get inspired about incorporating more wild foraged foods into your home cooking

The program takes place in the Fort George’s Lovell Building next to their Tap Room.  Doors will open at 6 p.m. for those wanting to purchase seasonal beers on tap and other beverages at the George before the program begins. Recipes and resources will be available for those wishing to learn more about foraging and hunting on the North Coast. 

The program is free and open to the public.

TAP ROOM ART SHOW: JOHN FOYSTON

Beer Journalist Trades Pen for Paint Brush in Art Show
 

John Foyston with one of our first cans off the canning line.

When the Fort George Brewery has been in the Oregonian, the writer has been John Foyston.  Best known for being one of the top beer journalists in the Northwest—John has been writing about Oregon craft beer for 20 years—he’ll be at Fort George this month, not reporting, but showing off one of his more obscure talents, oil painting.  John’s art will be on display in the brewery’s tap room during the 2nd Saturday Art Walk October 8th 5-9 p.m. and he will be present during an artist’s reception on October 15th 4-7 p.m. (immediately following the Hoppy Holidays event).
    John was a staff writer for The Oregonian for 25 years and as a freelancer still writes and blogs his weekly column "The Beer Here" for the paper. Before he wrote professionally, he was a computer assembler, a monkey handler, a professional musician, motorcycle mechanic and shop owner. 

     John started oil painting about six years ago. Early paintings were done from reference photos, but thanks to a workshop with Oregon plein air painter, Thomas Kitts, John has been painting outside and onsite for most of the last year.  Plein air painting is a tradition going back to the French impressionists and beyond, and requires the artist to establish color and value quickly and accurately, to simplify shapes and work quickly in changing light. 
     This show includes earlier paintings and recent plein air landscapes and still life, including the series of paintings that John has been doing in the Brooklyn Rail Yard Roundhouse, home of the famous Daylight steam locomotive 4449.

THE BEER GODDESS IS COMING

Hoppy Holidays: Women's Beer & Food Pairing Event

Beer Goddess Lisa Morrison

Saturday October 15th 2-4:00

Fort George Brewery Tap Room

For the perfect beer and food pairing, look no farther than your child's Halloween candy.  Hoppy Holidays is the theme of this year's beer appreciation for women class at Fort George Brewery, an official Barley's Angels event. Your guide, Lisa Morrison, is known around the globe as, The Beer Goddess.  Lisa will share her knowledge, and several specialty beers from a variety of breweries plus elegant holiday appetizer pairings on Saturday October 15th 2-4 p.m. in our Lovell Building production brewery, adjacent to the Tap Room.  The cost is $30 and we encourage you to register now as the event fills quickly, either in person at Fort George or at our online store. 

By the way, the Tap Room will be open during the event (a great place for the men to hang out) and John Foyston's art show immediately follows.

Lisa is host and producer of “Beer O’Clock!,” the Pacific Northwest’s only weekly, hour-long on-air radio show devoted to craft beer -- heard Saturdays 3-4 p.m. on 101 FM in Portland as well as about 10 other stations throughout Oregon. It is also livestreamed at the same time and available in podcasts 24/7 on KXL.com and in podcast on iTunes.

Lisa recently released her first book, Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest: A Beer-Lover's Guide to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, to high critical acclaim. She also was one of 40 contributing writers for an internationally published book, “1001 Beers to Taste Before You Die,” which was released in the United States in 2010.

Lisa is a regular columnist for the nationally distributed publications Beer Advocate  and Celebrator Beer News and is the first and only female contributor to “Beer Talk” in the national magazine, All About Beer. She writes the “Beers to Your Health” column and contributes other articles for the regional publication Northwest Brewing News. She also frequently contributes to other publications, including Beer Northwest, Nightclub and Bar Magazine, The New Brewer, Zymurgy and Brew Your Own.

Lisa was chosen as one of the three original recipients -- and the first female recipient -- of the national Beer Journalism Awards, presented by the Brewers Association, for a column she wrote about the benefits and traditions of serving beer instead of wine at the Thanksgiving table. 

Lisa loves to share her passion for beer with others. She conducts numerous classes about beer in hopes of reaching out to more potential craft beer fans. For example, she presented a seminar on pairing beer with food for the national convention of the Women's Chefs and Restaurateurs Association, and she held a similar demonstration at the Mondial de la Biere festival in Montreal, Canada. Additionally, she has been teaching Beer 101 classes for women (traditionally not beer drinkers) in and around Portland for more than a decade. 

As a way to give back to the beer community and raise awareness about craft beer within the general public, Lisa organizes a number of nonprofit beer-related events, including the annual FredFest, a beer tasting for the octogenarian Portland-based beer writer, Fred Eckhard. In the past six years, the event has raised more than $50,000 for local charities.  

When she is not writing or talking about beer, Lisa and her husband, Mark, enjoy traveling with their Samoyed dog, Yeti -- if for no other reason than to be reminded that there's "no better beer than here."

Portland beer journalist, John Foyston, will have his oil paintings on display in our tap room during Hoppy Holidays and will be having an artist's reception following the event.

CYCLE OREGON:TEAM VORTEX

By Deanna Hogan

Way back in February, a few of us decided to organize our own “Cycle Oregon Kickoff Party” here in Astoria (the official party was held at the Nike campus in Beaverton). So we gathered around the kitchen table with our laptops, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the 2011 Cycle Oregon route and the opportunity to register for September’s week-long ride. Naturally, we had an assortment of Fort George growlers on hand to embolden the potential riders.

Left to Right: Kyle Medlin, Chris Hogan, Deanna Hogan, Mike Mitchell, Paul Gascoigne, Janet Graul, Steve Meyer, Allison Mattila Missing: Teresa Hogan, who got an early start

Cycle Oregon, known as the Best Bike Ride in America, is an amazing experience that began in 1988. Over 2000 cyclists travel back roads from one small town to another, enjoying gorgeous Oregon scenery, significant physical challenge, community, hospitality and philanthropy. Proceeds from the ride go to the Cycle Oregon Fund, which helps preserve and protect the special places of Oregon. The ride also provides financial benefits to the host towns as well as cycling-related causes throughout Oregon. The route is different every year.

End of 1st Day in Cottage Grove

This year’s southwest Oregon route encompassed fertile valleys, deep forests, rugged coastline and rolling wine country. 90 percent of the 2011 route traveled on roads Cycle Oregon had never pedaled – which may be why the ride was sold out within 36 hours! Host towns were Sutherlin, Cottage Grove, Reedsport, Bandon, Powers and Riddle. The week’s mileage was 410-499 miles, depending on options on a couple days. Nine of us registered for the ride, and five were first-time Cycle Oregon participants. This was my fifth.

Camp in Bandon

There’s no question we spend a lot of time at the Fort George, so it was a no-brainer we chose to call ourselves “Team Vortex.” Someone had the brilliant idea of having Fort George cycling jerseys made. We passed on the suggestion to the Powers That Be, and by May had our red, black and white jerseys.

The summer was spent riding at every opportunity, though when the event finally arrived I would have liked another month of preparation. I repeatedly (and neurotically) reviewed the ride’s daily maps and elevation grids with a sense of panic. Day 6 had me particularly worried, but I should have taken a closer look at a couple of the other days as well. By August I was bargaining with myself, allowing one beer for every 20 miles ridden, but no more than two beers at a sitting (I cheated once or twice). Contrary to popular belief, beer is not a recovery drink – though it tastes awfully good after a long ride.

To make the most impact, the team decided to wear Fort George jerseys on days 1, 5 and 7. We received lots of questions and comments on the ride, like “hey, that’s in Astoria, right?” and “Fort George – where’s that?” and “Whoo Hoo, Vortex!” We invited a few folks to sample the 1811 and Vortex at camp. We were surprised to meet three other locals sporting Fort George jerseys.
I preloaded each day’s map on my blog and added a few brief posts during the week so that family and friends could keep track of where we were.

Crossing the Finish Line in Sutherlin

The ride was fantastic, and the fact that we did it with friends and family make it even more memorable. A few of us have even started talking about next year – with a few more friends who want to join us. We’ll have to hold out for February, for the next kickoff party.

Thank you, Deanna Hogan, for writing this first-hand account of Cycle Oregon and for your support in sporting the Fort George jerseys on the ride.  Deanna is an RN at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria, with a variety of interests, including a craft beer enthusiast, a member of the Barley's Angles.