Astoria's premier craft brewery, occupying a historic downtown block with wood-fired pizza, three brewhouses, and a rooftop bar overlooking the river.
Fort George Brewery occupies a historic, full-block campus in downtown Astoria, sitting directly on the site of the 1811 fur-trading post of Fort Astoria, later renamed Fort George by the British. Founded in 2007 by brewers Chris Nemlowill and Jack Harris, the brewery breathed new life into the 1924 Fort George Building, which once housed the Lovell Auto Company repair shop and showroom. The founders salvaged local materials to build out the pub, fashioning the original benches and bartop from reclaimed cedar and installing a metal spiral staircase salvaged from the historic Astoria Column. In 2009, the operation expanded into the adjacent 1921 Lovell Building, creating a sprawling, multi-tiered complex where industrial history meets a lively community hub.
The brewing operation is driven by three distinct brewhouses that allow the team to balance experimental small batches with massive regional distribution. The heart of the pub is "Sweet Virginia," the original 8.5-barrel system that Nemlowill and Harris hauled on a flatbed truck from Virginia, surviving a near-miss with a Nebraska tornado that inspired the name of their flagship Vortex IPA. In the Lovell Building, "Little Miss Texas," a 30-barrel system, utilizes custom, wide, UFO-shaped tanks designed to maximize the surface area exposed to hops, intensifying the flavor of their signature IPAs. For large-scale production, a 60-barrel system operates in a 67,000-square-foot former seafood canning warehouse on the Astoria waterfront, which was recently outfitted with Oregon's largest single-building private solar array, featuring over 1,100 solar panels.
Visitors to the Duane Street campus can choose between multiple distinct spaces, from the bustling downstairs pub serving wood-fired pizzas with crackling, charred crusts to the open-air rooftop deck. The tap list rotates constantly, showcasing everything from the robust Cavatica Stout to the highly anticipated annual 3-Way IPA collaborations. Every February, the brewery dedicates itself entirely to Stout Month, transforming the campus into a dark-beer sanctuary that culminates in the Festival of Dark Arts, a massive single-day celebration of stouts, fire dancers, tattoo artists, and live music. Whether sitting in the Lovell Showroom beneath massive 20-by-36-inch fir timbers or watching the canning line clatter from the taproom, the space feels deeply rooted in Astoria's blue-collar, maritime soul.
Order a pint of Vortex IPA or Cavatica Stout and head to the rooftop deck, which offers expansive views of the Astoria-Megler Bridge stretching across the Columbia River.
Coffee & Craft — Roadside fuel stops curated by Basecamp West. The best coffee shops, craft breweries, diners, and eateries worth the detour on your next Western road trip.