Short Sands Year Round

Short Sands Cans on Short Sands BeachShort Sands Lager in 12oz 6-Packs Year Round from Fort George.

Listen. You don’t know how much we love lagers. The first beer we put into cans, all those many years ago in 2011, was a Pre-Prohibition-Style Lager called 1811. It was named for the year Astoria was founded, and released specially for this settlements’ 200th birthday.

In 1811, when the walls of Fort Astoria went up, this was already a thriving coastal community of indigenous and First Nations people, trappers, hunters, explorers, and survivors of various shipwrecks / terrifying land journeys.

Back then (in 2011, not 1811), we had some ideas about making lagers (I mean, maybe they had ideas about making lagers in 1811, but no one wrote them down – they were too busy preventing cholera outbreaks and not starving). We had some great plans but lagers take time, and they take space.

In 2011, we were making so much beer we could barely keep up with ourselves. You might think that an entire city block which was once an auto showroom would provide enough space for a growing brewery to make a lager. And it was, sort of. We made some great lagers, but we dreamed of the day that we would dedicate a whole entire set of equipment and tanks EXCLUSIVELY to lagers. And that day is today. Actually, it was a while ago, because as we said before, lagers take time.

Short Sands Lager will be available in 12 oz 6-packs all over the Pacific Northwest, all year long. This lager is a loving tribute to the Tillamook County beach of the same name. Short Sands is a place as important to our coastal community as the year 1811. Which is why 1% of Short Sands Lager proceeds will benefit the Surfrider Foundation.

You can drink the Perfect Lager at the top of a mountain, on the beach, in a canoe, with spaghetti, with dessert, with your mom, with your friends, by a campfire, by a trout stream, in a cave, in your house, at your friend’s house, under the stars, in the middle of the day, in a glass or straight from the can. We’re not saying we made The Perfect Lager. But we did make A Lager: Short Sands Lager.

We’ve been working on Short Sands for years – calculating the ideal balance of floral and fruity, malty and toasty. Clean, crisp esters from a low and slow fermentation, classic German malts and noble hops for the barest touch of malt sweetness. A pressurized tank during fermentation produces natural carbonation and here we are. The perfect can size (12 oz), available year round from wherever you get your good beer. Maybe it is The Perfect Lager?

Can Art by Aaron Draplin

Recent Posts

North Coast Surf Day

Brian is the Marketing Director at Fort George Brewery. He started out more than a decade ago slinging beers from the tap wall at the Pub and never looked back. He lives on the coast because that’s where all the good stuff is – from food to surfing to music to beer. Come along with…
Read More

Fort George Lovell Auto Co Store

In July 2023, Fort George unveils a new space on the Fort George Block in Downtown Astoria dedicated to Merch and Beer To Go: LOVELL AUTO CO STORE – the newly renovated space adjacent to the Lovell Taproom also houses a row of 200 blue steel combination lockers, each with a silver plaque bearing the…
Read More

2023 3-WAY IPA THREE WAYS

The third and final iteration of Fort George’s biggest Summer Seasonal, 3-Way IPA, releases on Friday, July 1st at the Beer Pier on the scenic Astoria Waterfront, just east of the Megler Bridge. For 11 years, Fort George and two of our closest friends have marked the beginning of summer with a 3-Way IPA: a…
Read More