Beer Release: (OR) Fort George Brewery & Public House Has Canned Releases of Vortex India Pale Ale & 1811 Lager.

For those beer history buffs here’s a fact for you. At one point in history a vessel of some sort was used to transport beer. In the beginning it was clay pots, followed by wooden barrels, followed by glass bottles, and finally cans. Obviously there is more minutia to find in regards to the history of transported beer. The fact is, at least since this writer was a kid, cans and bottles have been apart of life.

During my growth from adolescent to adult, not a day went by when I recalled drinking canned, cheap, metallic-tasting, watered-down, lagers. Oddly enough, a perceived good beer was more than likely served from a bottle or draft handle.

So add another brewery to canned beer list in Astoria Oregon’s Fort George Brewery. In the past few weeks between promoting the brewery’s anniversary and St. Patrick’s Day, the brewery released two beers taken directly from the regular line-up of offerings.

Vortex IPA (India Pale Ale) can best be described as …

India Pale Ales were designed to withstand the long voyage to India. Today, it seems one has to design the IPA strong and hoppy enough to make the trip back as well. Vortex IPA is the Fort George's first foray into this strong beer category. Our IPA is made with generous additions of Cascade, Simcoe and Palisade hops through the brewing, fermentation and condition phases, balanced with heaps of Organic Pale Malt. We design this to not rip your taste buds off your tongue, but rather vigorously stimulate them and your palate into a lupulin-ecstasy of pleasure. During the cross-country truck trip our brewery made to find it's home in Astoria, it was nearly scattered to the cornfields of Nebraska by a tornado. We try to capture some of natures intensity in every pint. ABV 7.4% IBU 97-source, Fort George Brewery

While 1811 Lager is a pre-Prohibition style Northwest lager, typical of what you would have tasted from Astorian brewers before prohibition hit.

About Fort George Brewery’s can release

This can release is kind of the culmination of an expansion that we have gone through over the past year.  We expanded from a humble brewpub with an 8 1/2 bbl brewing system and a couple of 15bbl fermenters, and added a 30bbl production facility in the Lovell building right next door.  This brewery was purchased from the St. Arnolds brewery in Houston TX.  With the system came three 30bbl fermenters, a 30bbl bright tank, and a giant walk in cooler amongst other things.  In this new additional space, we installed the Cask Brewing Systems automated canning line and added an additional tasting room right in the middle of the brewery.

Currently we are hosting tours of the new brewing space every Saturday at 1:00  and 4:00pm.  The tasting room is open on Fridays from 3:00-8:00, and Saturdays from 1:00-8:00. 

We have the listings of places to find cans on our facebook page right now facebook.com/fortgeorge beer, under the "Where are the cans?" tab.  There is a website update coming soon, which will have a more comprehensive and interactive list.

Look for two events to coincide with the brewery’s push to drive awareness to their recent distribution scheme.

Friday April 1st, 2011 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM PST
Fort George Canned Tasting & Meet the Brewery, Belmont Station
4500 SE Stark Street Portland, Oregon 97215 (503) 232-8538

Look for free can tastings, specialty draft on tap and of course the usual giveaways that come with a brewers night.

Saturday April 2nd, 2011 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM PST
Fort George Brewers Night, Saraveza
1004 North Killingsworth Street Portland, OR 97217 (503) 206-4252

Free Can tastings, specialty draft on Tap,  Vortex cake made by Lori aka the "SugarPimp", & of course we will be raffling off some swag!!

As always if you don’t see this on the shelves of your nearest grocery store, bottleshop, or pub, ask the grocer or server to get some!

Cheers