In 2006, Chris Nemlowill and Jack Harris flew to Virginia Beach, Virginia to salvage an 8.5-barrel Saaz brewing system and drive it across the country to install it in their soon-to-open Fort George Brewery in Astoria, Oregon. While traveling with the equipment strapped to a flat bed, they met up with a tornado that nearly spread the brewery across a Nebraska cornfield. This became the inspiration behind the name Vortex IPA. Before the tornado, though, their U-Haul broke down in Rabun County in northeastern Georgia. The tow truck diver said, “You’re not from around here are you?” They replied, “No, we’re from Astoria where The Goonies was filmed.” The tow driver replied, “Well, you’re about 30 miles away from where Deliverance was film. You best get out of here.” Peaks and Pints presents Craft Beer Crosscut 10.17.18: A Flight of Fort George Brewery.
Craft Beer Crosscut 10.17.18: A Flight of Fort George Brewery
Fort George Vortex Saison
7.7% ABV
Fort George brewed this saison using Vortex IPA wort, then aged it for 9 months in French oak barrels and dry-hopped it as if it was the IPA. Try this hoppy saison side-by-side with Vortex IPA in this flight and note the subtle spice from the saison yeast and the characteristics from extended barrel aging.
Fort George Dragon Bone
8.5% ABV
A collaboration with Scarlet Lane Brewing — more specifically Eilise Lane Servies who interned at Fort George before heading off to Indiana to start her own brewery. This mixed culture saison was brewed with hand-peeled ginger and honey from both Indiana and an Astoria beekeeper. Aged for a year in French oak wine barrels, expect front-end honey sweetness, mild ginger, tartness and dry finish.
Fort George Magnanimous IPA
7% ABV
Magnanimous IPA is a yearly offering, a joint effort once again between Fort George Brewery and Earth & Sky Farm in Oregon City. Brewed with real Grand fir Christmas trees, the IPA is a straight-up ode to one of the more pungent essences of the Christmas tradition. Hundreds of pounds of fir tips were picked, packed, and vacuum-sealed into 10-pound bags. We’re not sure if “O Tannenbaum” was blasting from the truck’s speakers, but we do know the fir was trucked back to Astoria, and delivered to a dedicated chest freezer located in the basement of Fort George co-owner and brewer Chris Nemlowill’s home. It’s safe to assume the fir tips were nestled all snug in the basement, while visions of Magnanimous IPAs danced in Nemlowill’s head. When in the brewery there arose such a clatter, Earth & Sky Farm owners Tim Ensign and Jana Daisy-Ensign sprang from their bed to see what was the matter. Magnanimous IPA hit the kettles with generous amounts of hand-harvested Grand Fir trimmings and bountiful additions of Simcoe and Chinook for a noble blend of lush piney hops and fresh evergreen aroma.
Fort George Crysknife
7.2% ABV
A crysknife is a knife whose blade was made from the tooth of a dead sandworm of Arrakis. It’s the weapon of choice for Arrakis denizens, Fremen, a group of people in the fictional Dune universe created by Tacoman Frank Herbert. Fort George’s Crysknife is a New England-style IPA brewed with the Astoria brewery’s BFF, Denver’s Our Mutual Friend Brewing. It’s an mélange of fruit and spice from Mosaic, Azacca, Vic Secret and Amarillo hops.
Fort George Vortex IPA
7.7% ABV, 97 IBU
Caught in a tornado in the Midwest while hauling their original brew system cross country from Virginia, it made sense from Fort George Brewery to whip up Vortex IPA. With a hearty 7.7% ABV unfiltered, unpasteurized organic malt spine that makes way for Simcoe, Amarillo, and Centennial hops this IPA is medium bodied with a resinous mouthfeel, grapefruit more than pine and finishes with lingering hop bitterness. This beer is straight up delicious.
