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BREWERY PICKS
The autumn equinox has come and gone, the days are getting shorter and the fl a-
vors of fall are here. With the cold, dark nights come strong, new brews meant to keep
you warm and toasty. Coast Weekend has rounded up a few seasonal off erings from
local breweries and good-old standbys to enjoy this fall. Read, sip and savor, then come
back next week for Part Two. Cheers.
Picks and photos
by DWIGHT CASWELL
Astoria Brewing Co.
Photo by Matt Love
A framed photo of Ernest Hemingway pouring a cocktail graces the wall behind
the bar at the Tiki Lounge in Astoria.
A G LIMPSE I NSIDE
An occasional feature by MATT LOVE
The Tiki Lounge
After the exit of an obnoxious mother-daughter tandem, I
was alone in the Tiki Lounge in Astoria on a Saturday evening
and tranquility reigned, fi nally. I love tranquility. I loathe loud
voices, particularly ungrammatical ones who repeat the word
“selfi e.”
I ordered a draft beer, and my mind drifted to Ernest Hem-
ingway because a black and white photograph of Hemingway
preparing a titanic gin and tonic decorates the back bar of the
Tiki Lounge. I suspect the image originates from Papa’s prepos-
terous drunken stint in Cuba, before the revolution, Castro,
the Bay of Pigs and all that. Can you believe American citizens
still can’t freely travel to Cuba? What a diplomatic farce! Didn’t
anyone tell the State Department that the Cold War ended in
1989? I want to visit Cuba. I want to drink a Cuba Libre in Hava-
na and toast the end of communism!
Wait! Didn’t I hear something about our recent normaliza-
tion of relations with Cuba? Maybe someone at the Tiki knows
all about it.
As I said, my mind drifted to Hemingway, a writer I haven’t
read in 25 years and will probably never read again. I was think-
ing: Suppose Ernest Hemingway visited contemporary Astoria.
Where would he go for a cocktail or to get into one of his leg-
endary public confrontations?
The Tiki, that’s where, and all its crazy Polynesia décor meets
Jimmy Buff et meets weirdoes meets booze meets clam chow-
der and ice cream from the adjacent Charlie’s Chowder House.
A most curious cultural intersection regularly occurs inside
the Tiki Lounge, but then again, that’s the intersection required
to generate good stories, such as discovering the story of why
the mother and daughter were wearing identical purple dress-
es that revealed their ample bosoms.
I didn’t get that story, but I surmised it was a funeral they
had just attended.
Matt Love lives in Astoria and is the author/editor of 14
books about Oregon, including “A Nice Piece of Astoria:
A Narrative Guide” and “The Great Birthright: An Oregon
Novel.” They are available at coastal bookstores and
through www.nestuccaspitpress.com
The Astoria Brewing Company doesn’t
have a seasonal beer, but the smaller
original brewery at the Wet Dog has Killer
Whale Pale Ale, which you can drink while
watching the humpback whales in the
river. This beer is very hoppy for a pale ale,
and might better be thought of as an IPA.
Citrus and a bit of pine with an astringent
fi nish. Another seasonal entry at the Wet
Dog is Brewberry, a dark copper colored
wheat beer made with marionberries.
NW
word
Sip Wet Dog’s Killer Whale Pale Ale, and
look for humpback whales in the river.
nerd
By RYAN HUME
Mushroom
>mݞݕ‡rum@
noun
1. any number of spongy
fungi, complete with cap, stem
and gills, that spread by spore
and grow in soil or directly on
a food supply, like tree bark
verb
2. to increase rapidly
Origin:
Raiders of the Lost Fort, left, and Pulpit Pounder Porter are two seasonals by Buoy Beer.
Buoy Beer Co.
Inspired in some way by another Astoria
brewery, one of Buoy Beer’s seasonal ales is
the Raiders of the Lost Fort Imperial IPA. This
is a big IPA (8.7 percent alcohol) with more
hops in the nose than in the taste, which is
crisp, potent and slightly citrusy. The overall
eff ect is a medium-strong, fl avorful IPA.
Another seasonal entry is the Pulpit
Pounder Porter. The name is an odd one.
Could it be related to Obadiah Poundage, who
in 1760 described this dark beer as the drink
of “labouring people, porters etc.” and as “racy
and mellow”? Like most cold-weather brews,
this one is strong, 6.5 percent, smooth and
nutty with a fruity quality, and is lighter and
less hopped than many porters.
Harvest time means wet hop beers.
These are beers made with newly picked
hops, rather than the dried hops used at
other times, and the fl avor is, as you might
expect, crisp, lively and less bitter than other
beers. In a word: unprocessed. You’re tasting
something right off the vine. Buoy’s entry in
this category is its Fresh Hop Session IPA.
Circa 1440, muscheron ar-
rives, followed shortly by mosse-
roun in 1450. Both are probably
rooted in the Anglo-French
H A LLO W EEN 2015
I T ’S A LM O S T
H ER E.. .
musherun, which comes from
the Old French moisseron by
way of the Late Latin mussiriō-
nem. There were a dozen or so
spellings and variations used
simultaneously before the fi rst
known spelling of mushroom
appears in English in 1563.
“Russula, King Bolete, White Mat-
sutake — Washington’s Long Beach
Peninsula boasts a culinary cornucopia
of fungi, and the annual Wild Mushroom
Celebration honors the tasty toadstools.”
— wildmushroomcelebration.com, ac-
cessed Oct. 5, 2015
“Held on the Long Beach Peninsula
from Oct. 1 through Nov. 15, the antici-
pated abundant bloom and wide variety
of edible wild mushrooms will be exalted
with mushroom-themed dinners, forag-
ing and identifi cation workshops, week-
end getaways, menu specials and more.”
— “Chefs, diners look forward to abun-
dant harvest during Wild Mushroom Cele-
bration,” Coast Weekend, Oct. 1, 2015, P. 11
B R ING SO M E
M AG IC TO
T H IS Y EA R S
PA R T Y !
STOCK UP!
O N LY P U R E H A P P I N E S S
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2870 O cean Ave Raym o n d W A 98577
(across from the sm all cem ent plant)
M r. Doobee’s Hom e of the $10 g ram
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M u ltiple S train s at $10.00 per Gram
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Anyo ne fro m a ny sta te , a g e 21a nd o ve r, c a n purc ha se pro d uc ts a t M r. D o o be e s.
This pro d uc t ha s into xic a ting e ffe c ts a nd m a y be ha bit fo rm ing . M a rijua na c a n im pa ir c o nc e ntra tio n, c o o rd ina tio n a nd jud g m e nt. D o no t o pe ra te a ve hic le o r m a c hine ry und e r
the influe nc e o f this d rug . The re m a y be he a lth risk s a sso c ia te d w ith c o nsum ptio n o f this pro d uc t. F o r use o nly by a d ults tw e nty-o ne a nd o ld e r. K e e p o ut o f re a c h o f c hild re n.
October 15, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 23