Your “Mouth of the Columbia” article in the Coast Weekend dated March 20 to April 4 titled “With Fort George, Astoria joins the brewpub scene” was missing some information that was, we’re sure, an oversight.

Astoria’s first brewpub joined the beer-making scene in 1997 under the name The Wet Dog Cafe & Pacific Rim Brewing Co. The Wet Dog Cafe was founded in 1995, and in 1997, a four-barrel brewery was added under the name Pacific Rim Brewing Co. by current owner Stephen Allen, putting Astoria on the map as having a true-blue brewpub and microbrewery. A microbrewery, or craft brewery, is an establishment that brews less than 10,000 barrels annually.

In 2005, The Wet Dog Cafe changed the brewery’s name to Astoria Brewing Co. to commemorate Astoria’s first brewery, which was founded in 1872.

We also noticed that the writer’s statements on “What makes a brewpub a brewpub,” lean heavily toward personal opinion, and not fact. As the owners of The Wet Dog Cafe & Astoria Brewing Co., we thought that readers would be interested in actual facts and knowledge that we have gained while owning Astoria’s oldest brewpub and microbrewery over the last decade.

The first brewpub in the U.S. was founded in 1892 in Yakima, Wash., Grants Brewery Pub. The term brewpub was first used in 1984. To qualify as a brewpub, an establishment must be a combination restaurant/microbrewery that brews and sells the majority of its beer on the premises.

What is wonderful about the brewpub scene is that each individual owner chooses their own location, menu selections, beer varieties, decor, etc., giving them the freedom to be uniquely different – no cookie cutter clone-like establishments, but each one having its own unique character.

The same applies to any restaurant. Each has the freedom to choose their location, menu items, decor, etc., allowing multitudes of choices for every person, bringing a vast selection to the individual’s own preferences and personal taste.

Using the writer’s criteria, is a restaurant only a true-blue restaurant if it sells clam chowder, and if it doesn’t, is it not a real-deal restaurant? That merely reflects one’s own opinion and personal choice rather than meeting the criteria for what makes a restaurant a restaurant.

Over the last decade, we have watched Astoria flourish, and are so excited for the growth in its economy and business. With the addition of the Fort George Brewing Co., Astoria can be proud to say it now has two brewpubs.

Stephen and Karen Allen

Astoria