5 Spots To Have Beer & Cocktails In Style – Long Beach/Astoria WA/OR
One of the many things we’ve been doing during our last few months here at Cape D is to explore the various adult establishments around town.
Now you all know how much we love our beer, and the Astoria area offers up local brewing in droves with 4 local breweries, a recently opened Growler Guys and several bars. But one thing we didn’t realize is there are also some decent cocktail bars out here. The latter we discovered thanks to our buddies the Wandertopia boys who volunteered at Cape D the month before us and scouted out the destination before our arrival in July. For those of you not of the alcohol-loving persuasion many of these bars offer excellent virgin drinks too, and for those with doggies there are plenty of spots you can bring them with you as well.
So, in typical WheelingIt style I’m going to give you a list of our favorite 5 spots to enjoy a glass (or two) in this area:
1/ Fort George Brewery – Astoria, OR
No beer-vacation would be complete without a visit to this classic establishment in Astoria, OR. Built on the original Astoria settlement location, this wonderful old building houses several levels of beervana; a downstairs restaurant, an upstairs brew/pizza spot, an outside dog-friendly patio and a next-door tap room (which offers many experimental or seasonal taps not available in the indoor area). Our preference is either the upstairs spot (for the view) or the outside patio where we can sit with doggy and sneak over to the tap room to try the experimental brews.
For IPA lovers the classic 3-Way, Optimist or Vortex are all outstanding. For Stout lovers, I recommend skipping the in-house Stout (which is OK, but not overly exciting) and instead asking the bar tender for either a Cavatica Stout (a bourbon barrel-aged beauty) or a North The Eight (which is their Russian Imperial). Neither are on tap, but both are typically availible in bottles and are absolutely OUTstanding! I also really enjoyed some of the experimental beers from their tap room. They had a Spruce Bud which was lovely and a Belgian Ale Aged in Pinot with Raspberries which was summery delicious. Food-wise the pizza and burgers are very nice here.
Link to Fort George Brewery HERE.
Dogs Allowed? YES Fort George has a lovely & spacious Dog-friendly outdoor seating area to the right of the main building. As an added bonus you can grab (and drink) beers from the tap room when you sit outside.
2/ Bouy Beer Company – Astoria, OR
We first discovered Bouy Beer Company last year and thought they were decent, but this year we found them to be even better and they’ve now risen way up in our rankings for breweries in the area. The location is awesome, right on the riverfront with a full-glass view of the Columbia and even a partially glassed floor.
They tend to specialize in Ale’s so for Ale-lovers there is a lot going on here. In our case we were drawn by their Mosaic IPA, India Red Rye Ale and Lavender Saison (my personal fav). Their Stout is nice, but a bit thin for my tastes. Pair your beer with some classic fish and chips (their sweet potato fries are the best in Astoria IMHO). My only gripe? I wish their dog-seating area was nicer.
Link to Buoy Beer Company HERE
Dogs Allowed? YES, but only in a small fenced-in outdoor area with a few metal seats next to the brewery entrance. You can drink beer and order food to go here, but you won’t get any service. It’s OK, but not super comfy, so if you have doggie in tow I recommend one of the other breweries instead.
3/ Rogue Brewery – Astoria, OR
Although Rogue is not local to Astoria, it’s a well-known Oregon brewery that offers some great brews. Located around ~1 mile east of downtown in the old cannery on pier 39, it’s worth the visit just for the location alone. You access the brewery along a gorgeous wooden plank bridge and just about every spot here (including the outdoor dog-friendly area) has an excellent water view.
For IPA lovers the 7-hop IPA is very nice. For Stout lovers there are enough stouts on tap for an entire flight of tastings, but my favorite (by far) is the Russian Imperial. It’s one that’ll put hairs on your chest 🙂 Food here tends to be so-so, except we DO like their salmon chowder and fish & chips.
Link to Rogue Brewery HERE and HERE.
Dogs Allowed? YES. Outdoor seating is dog-friendly and they even offer a dog-specific menu (how cute!). Just be aware that it often gets chilly here, so bring an extra fleece if you plan to sit outside.
4/ North Jetty Brewery – Seaview, WA
This is a brand new brewery in the area, and honestly we weren’t expecting much when we went over to try them but they totally surprised us…in a good way! It’s a cozy, little establishment along the main drag in Seaside that offers ~12 different brews on tap. We particularly enjoyed their Lights Out and North Head IPA, Red Scottish Ale and Blueberry Rye (my personal favorite). As an added bonus there is a small taco truck next-door which offers some of the best street-food we’ve had in this area. Only $7 for 3 tacos and you can bring them inside the brewery to munch (highly recommend the Banh Mi tacos). The brewery also offers free peanuts. Only negative? No dog-friendly seating 🙁 but that’s not stopped us from going back (twice).
Link to North Jetty Brewery HERE.
Dogs Allowed? NO dogs allowed here, sadly.
5/ Pickled Fish – Long Beach, WA
This restaurant sits on the top floor of the Adrift hotel and is a cool, modern space with an outstanding panoramic view of the beach. Their main dishes are somewhat over-priced (and so-so), but their cocktails are SUPERB and they pair very nicely with many of the appetizers on the menu (which we do like).
I had one of the best dirty martini’s I’ve had in a long time here, and we tried at least 4 other cocktails from the menu that were both creative and incredibly tasty (they also offer a nice selection of craft beers for those not of the cocktail persuasion). We like it so much we’ve been back twice with friends. Follow your light dinner with a lovely sunset stroll along the Long Beach Boardwalk and you’ll have yourself an evening to remember.
Link to Pickled Fish HERE. It tends to be popular so reservations are recommended!
Dogs Allowed? NO dogs allowed here, sadly.
That wraps up our boozy review of the area. Any of your fav spots here that we missed?
Perfect timing, I’ll be in Astoria and points along the ocean further south, mid Sept, once all the inland fires get extinguished. Any other microbreweries that come to mind in your coastal travels further south that are must visits? I’m partial to hoppy west coast IPA’s and Imperial Russian stouts myself, having plans to also visit microbreweries just north of Marin County in CA, and the wine country there.
Excellent! As you go South along the Oregon Coast there is Pelican Pub in Pacific City (fairly decent), Rusty Truck in Lincoln City (haven’t tried them) and of course Rogue has another huge location in Newport, OR (both for the brewery and the distillery) which is well worth a stop. For Rogue you can camp right next door in the Marina. There are also several McMenamins Brewpubs along 101 which are always decent for a quick brew and some food, as well as several more breweries south of Newport (not sure how far south you’re going?)p>
If you find other interesting stops on your route, DO report back!
Nina
Nina you and Paul have to try Rogue Nation Brewery under the Yaquina Bay Bridge, Newport. Must try the famous ‘Beard Beer’. Let them describe the process in making this beer
Definitely! We totally missed Rogue on our last trip to Newport (don’t ask me why), so we definitely want to go back. The distillery is cool too.
Nina
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! It’s been too long…
How lucky we were to be able to try 2 of the five…
Well you DID have some outstanding guides 🙂 So glad we were able to share those 2 days with you.
Nina
We certainly did!
We stayed in Astoria last Friday night, after going to the kite festival, and walked to Fort George Brewery for dinner. We really liked the Vortex beer and the pizza was great. Fun place.
Totally with you! I think we’ve been to Fort George 5-7 times since we’ve been here. Plus I keep buying bottles of that amazing Cavatica Stout to enjoy at home. I’m also loving the fact that many of the local supermarkets now carry their beer in cans. It’s become a really accessible brewery and their quality just keeps getting better.
Nina
Great write up Nina. I took your recommendations and tried the Pickled Fish to enjoy the sunset and a couple good brews while I was there that evening.
Although not actually a brewery, the Lost Roo has a good fun and friendly vibe to the place, and I enjoyed some nice beers from there offerings. All micro-brews, of course. And the service was absolutely top notch. I’d definitely go back here too.
And I especially enjoyed the evening with you and Paul at the North Jetty. The beer was very good, and it does have that kind of quaint and comfortable feeling to the place that you described. It was a lot of fun. Although I think it had a lot to do with the quality company with which I was enjoying! 🙂
By the way, after we went our respective ways that evening, I did act on Paul’s sharing about the ice cream store in Long Beach. I got a two scoop Blueberry ice cream cone and walked the street that was closed off to traffic for all the kite festival vendors. (I attempted to walk off the calories as I consumed them.) If your readers are into an ice cream on a warm day while in the area, that’s another great spot to remember.
Thanks for the great recommendations while I was in your neck of the woods. Or maybe I should say, on your stretch of the beach? 😉
I hope our paths cross again. In the mean time, I hope your upcoming trip eastward will be safe and you’ll be able to do most of the things you wanted to while not getting smoked out by all the fires throughout the NW areas of the country this year. I’ll be following along vicariously.
All excellent tips! I actually thought about including Lost Roo (Long Beach, WA) in my list, so I’m really glad you mentioned them. The bar tender there was wonderful and we did enjoy their craft beer selection. Plus for whisky lovers their amazing whisky list is well worth the visit alone (I’ve not seen its match anywhere on the coast). Great to hear you got to taste the ice cream in Astoria too. It was lovely to meet you!
Nina
Thanks Nina. I have remembered you telling me about the Scotch Whiskey selection at the Lost Roo. I’m keeping it in my Wanderlist details for the area so the next time I go to the Long Beach Peninsula I’ll stop in for some good Scotch samples. Thanks for that great tip.
It was wonderful to meet both of you as well. It was fun to meet Paul as he never exposes himself on this blog, other than for your lovely photos.
Happy travels!
Made our first night okay in the RV. Interesting times. Lol
We are heading to Astoria this afternoon and then staying somewhere in Long Beach. Any suggestions?
Take care and love your blogs and photos.
When we come here we always stay at the same place, which is Cape Disappointment State Park. It’s gorgeous, but very popular so it may be full.
There are also many private RV parks around Long Beach and Ilwaco area, but we’ve never stayed at any of them so I can’t say much more. I know that Chinook RV Park seems to get good reviews, so if you can’t get into Cape D, maybe try there first?
Nina
Valuable Life Saving Post!!! I would have missed at least a couple of those 🙂
Now, since you guys seem to have a “nose” for cool breweries (not to mention restaurants, boondocks, etc.) I think a sidebar “Emergency Quick Reference” to ALL the breweries you’ve been to would be really cool. There are a lot of us beer “junkies” out there and I think your info and reviews would develop quite a following 🙂
Yes, we like to think we’re imparting life critical info here 🙂 The emergency reference list is an excellent idea. I’d hate to be caught brewless somewhere, especially after a long hike (imagine the horror?!).
Nina
Ok thanks. Hope to meet you guys!!
We’ll be on duty at North Head Lighthouse from 10-13:30 next 3 days. Come on by!
Nina
I enjoyed the post! I love Astoria – we stay there often. We’re going to be staying at the “Pier 38” RV park there near Rogue in September. I’ll have to try Bouy Beer – I haven’t been there yet.
We were actually up your way last weekend fishing off the North Jetty! Beautiful area!
How fun! We’ve been seeing tons of fishermen on the jetty these past two weeks, especially early AM and I can’t tell you how many boats too (hundreds of them all along the coastline). Fishing must be good!
Nina
Wow, so much has changed since we left in 2001. Our favorite was the Columbian Cafe in Astoria, if it is still there try a seafood mercy
Colombian Cafe is still there! We love going for breakfast, but didn’t realize they had a bar? We’ll have to go back and check it out.
Nina
Love Astoria! You make me want to return.
Oh, dear, oh, dear–how is the Clark RV Resort ever going to rise to such praise??? I know the food is good but beer and cocktails–I may have to start researching!
Well the Clark RV Resort has YOU…and a real, live Cowboy too. That adds a lot to the star ratings 🙂
Nina
We enjoyed Fort George when we were there, even found a parking spot right out front which was a huge score! Bummed we didn’t stop at Buoy while we were on the waterfront – next time for sure 🙂
I definitely recommend trying Buoy next time. They’ve got some tasty stuff! The only brewery I’m not really keen on in Astoria is Wet Dog (Astoria Brewing), but I admit it’s been a while since we tried them. At some point we’ll have to go back and check them out again.
Nina
We made our first visit to Astoria in July, but I’m sure we’ll be back. We loved Fort George. For something a little more unique, you should check out Shallon Winery, a one-man operation run by a man somewhere between 85 and 110 years old (not really sure, but he is probably close to 90). He creates some unique wines, including a very nice peach wine and a spiced apple wine.
We stayed at Fort Stevens State Park, which was nice but huge.
How interesting! I’ve noticed that winery from the road many times, but we’ve never been. It’s on the list now!
Nina
Thanks. Best pizza?
Those tacos are divine.
Lavender Saison? Seriously??? Ohh, I feel the lure of “Astoria, 2016!” already!
Yes, seriously…and it was goooooood 🙂
Nina