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Fort George Brewery & Public House
You. Us. Beer.
HISTORY OF THE REGION
Following the Lewis & Clark Expedition in the early 1800s, John Jacob Astor dispatched both land and sea parties to establish a fur trading post in this northwestern territory. The post, named Fort Astoria, was built in 1811, making it the earliest American settlement on the West Coast.
During the War of 1812, the British war-sloop HMS Racoon came to take The Fort, proclaiming it Fort George in honor of King George III. But we all know how that war turned out, or else we’d be serving English Pale Ales to our fellow Canadians. By the mid-1840s, with pioneers from the Oregon Trail filtering in, the town was renamed Astoria.
HISTORY OF FORT GEORGE
The current Fort George Building was erected in 1924, on roughly the same location as Fort Astoria (Fort George). Hefty fir beams and solid concrete floors supported the automotive service station here for decades.
The Lovell Building was constructed in 1921, only months before a devastating fire ripped through downtown Astoria. While the town rebuilt yet again, the Lovell Building became a marketplace for local businesses, including the Blue Mouse Theater on the top level.
An economic slowdown in the 1970s and 80s left the Fort George building vacant. And when the Chevy dealership moved out of the Lovell Building, this entire block on the east end of downtown fell dormant.
In 2007 Fort George moved into the bottom floor of the Fort George Building with an 8.5 barrel brewhouse, a small kitchen and a dozen employees.
Within three years, we had outgrown both our original brewhouse and the 3,000 square feet we were leasing from the buildings owner. With our eyes on a 30 barrel brew house reclaimed from St. Arnold’s in Texas, we bought the whole city block.
Over the last two decades the Fort, along with a host of local craftspeople, dedicated employees and countless community members, has lovingly restored and renovated the two buildings, transforming the former auto showrooms, garages and offices into numerous warm, welcoming community spaces and two separate R&D breweries which churn out close to a hundred unique beers every year, right in the heart of Downtown Astoria.
