Jack Harris Talks About Fort George Brewery and The Murky Pearl

In yesterday's post, I talked about our trip out to Fort George Brewery and Public House in Astoria last weekend.  After our visit, I reached out to Jack Harris, owner and brewer at the brewery, to learn more about the Fort George, the brewers, and The Murky Pearl Oyster Stout.  Jack shared some great info about the history of Fort George Brewery, Oyster Stouts, a bursting Wild Turkey Barrel, and a collaboration Stout to be released later this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Goonies.   Check out the interview:

About the Brewery

The Fort George Brewery and Public House opened on March 11, 2007 in the Fort George Building in downtown Astoria, Oregon.  For ten years prior, the Fort George Building, built in 1924, sat unoccupied, with many of its’ windows broken out and pools of rainwater festering inside. Our neighbors, the Blue Scorcher Bakery first opened up and we followed shortly creating new life in an otherwise blighted part of our town. The building sits on the exact site of the first white settlement in the region that at one time was known as Fort George, but has spent most of its' two-hundred years as Astoria.

The beer and brewery are very important to us, but we take the responsibility of running a public-house very seriously. We are working to create a gathering place for all the people in our community to feel comfortable in.

About the Brewers

The two owners are Chris Nemlowill, who brewed both at Bill's Tavern in Cannon Beach and The Wet Dog Cafe in Astoria, and Jack Harris, who has brewed for various pubs and breweries since 1990. Both have had to forgo brewing at Fort George for the most part in order to run the business.

Spencer Gotter is the Head Brewer and does most of the brewing. This is his first brewing opportunity and he is doing a fabulous job.

What’s the story behind the beer?

Oyster Stouts were quite common a couple of hundred years ago. I first made this beer while working at Bill's Tavern a few years ago and the research I did at the time did not give me a very good idea of a process. I couldn't find any readily available commercial examples either. Descriptions of the beer varied from a nice stout with no discernible oyster character to a very briny flavor. My attempt at Bill's Tavern created a nice robust stout without much oyster evident. It did completely screw up my wort chiller with little shell flakes clogging everything up. I had to back-flush several times during knock-out and then strip the whole chiller down.

Our attempt here at Fort George used the same technique of putting two bushels of whole, live Willapa Bay Oysters into the hop-back (they were scrubbed very well on the outside first) and running all 8 1/2 bbls of beer through them. We made this beer on the evening of our Seafood and Belgian beer brewer’s dinner in hopes we could use them as hot appetizers, but after eating a couple they turned out to be too bitter for most palates. We were much more careful to not get oyster shell in the chiller.

Why the name?

The Murky Pearl is a name I used at Bill's as well and I called to make sure they would let me keep using it. It seems to convey an Oystery preciousness to a big dark beer.

Tastes Like:

This stout was designed to be drier and lighter than my first attempt. I always concentrate on making a good beer first, no matter what strange ingredients I might be including. Subtle is good, but I wanted to try and get to that slightly briny character I had read about. While the beer turned out very well, with an everlasting head I still think the oyster character could have a bigger role before turning off too many people. Most people have enjoyed it. The folks who are not drinking it are already turned off by the fact there are oysters in it.

Is Oyster Stout a style we’ll see more of from breweries in the Pacific Northwest?

As far as other Oyster Stouts, Upright is the only current brewery making one that I am aware of. There are countless old-school beer styles to resurrect out there; hopefully the Oyster Stout gets some attention. I am intrigued by Upright's technique and look forward to trying theirs.

Any new beers coming soon from Fort George Brewery?

As far as new or specialty beers in the near future, we are about to celebrate Stout Month in February. We will have five of our own on: Cavatica, Bourbon Barrel Cavatica, Coffee Girl Stout, Badda Bing Flanders Style Cherry Stout and The Murky Pearl. We also have kegs of The Abyss, Stone Stout and Old Rasputin as well as some surprises.  We offer a taster try that gives the taster the opportunity to try eight stouts in a blind tasting. It is kind of fun.

We will be brewing a collaborative beer with other Clatsop County Breweries to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Goonies. Truffle Shuffle Stout. You heard it first.

What are your top three Pacific Northwest beer picks right now?

I like places as much as beer, to me it is hard to separate the two. Anything by Salmon River Brewing in McCall, Idaho. At any given time the best beer in Portland is pouring at a McMenamins, it is just hard to know which one. I'll take my chances at the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse and have a great time no matter how the Hammerhead is. Silver Moon Brewing in Bend is a killer place to drink great beer and see excellent music.

Tell us about this week’s Wild Turkey barrel incident

Wild Turkey barrels were never designed to be under pressure. We age our bourbon barrel stout in four barrels on a rack in our entry foyer. Thursday evening, as I arrived for work to do the second half of a double brew, the end of one of the barrels blew out instantly dumping four kegs of really good smelling beer into the restaurant. A good portion went onto a couple of empty tables, but most of it washed out the front door onto the sidewalk and into the street. It was quite a show for the happy-hour folks at the bar. It took four of us a good 45 minutes to clean up the mess. This could have been a lot worse. 24 hours earlier we were hosting our sold out IPA and Indian food brewer’s dinner and while it eventually would have made a good story, at the time it would have been a nightmare.

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Thank you Jack for sharing all of this great information.  I'll be looking forward to trying the new Stouts that Fort George Brewery will put out in the coming months - and I'm really looking forward to learning more about, and drinking, the Truffle Shuffle collaboration Stout.  I still can't believe that it's been 25 years since The Goonies premiered...I guess that's yet another reason to head out to Astoria this year.