The dark clouds close in, bringing a splatter of drizzle. The slate, almost still mirror of the Columbia River belies the turbulent entrance to the Pacific ocean a few miles down. Bland industrial buildings are broken up by brightly colored Victorian homes. It is a sleepy Saturday with only a few people braving the elements to trod along the riverwalk. However, a few blocks from the water something is stirring. There is the clatter of metal kegs being put into place. The smell of woodsmoke fills the air, followed quickly by the scent of bacon. As you approach this spot, a sense of anticipation grows. You see small groups of people bundled up, talking excitedly, many wearing clothing items bearing the name of some brewery or other. Some familiar, some not. They all are moving toward the same destination. That is when you see a line, snaking around a building that takes up an entire block. The small groups have gathered into a horde, all clutching small fluted glasses. Many look at lists, some on their phone, some printed out. You glance over someone’s shoulder to spy the list. It is a list of beers, all dark, all malty, but all different. It is time for the annual ode to the stout. It is time for the Festival of Dark Arts.
For those unfamiliar with what I’m talking about Fort George Brewery (located in Astoria, Oregon) hosts an annual beer festival in February that is devoted to the art of the stout (a “carnival of stouts” if you will). As a craft beer nerd, I am a fan of beer fests in general, but ever since I first attended the Festival of Dark Arts in 2018 it has been far and away my favorite. Why? How different could a particular beer fest possibly be? Let me tell you.
It is an Event (the capital E is intentional): Many beer festivals take place on an annual basis, but they tend to move around date-wise. FODA (as the Festival of Dark Arts is often referred to) is always the Saturday of President’s Day weekend. And like any event, it requires planning to attend. Tickets for it go on sale Black Friday at sunrise and sell out quickly. You’ll need to plan even further in advance to find a place to stay because Astoria is not a big town (their population is just over 10,000) despite being a tourist destination. I have started booking a hotel before I even know I have a ticket to the festival (something I never thought I would do) to avoid paying upwards of $200 a night for a two-star hotel.
It’s in February: February is kind of a shitty month, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Everyone is done with winter and spring still seems far off. FODA gives me a nice thing to look forward to in an otherwise terrible month (doubly so this year as I got laid off at the beginning of February). Also, most beer festivals are in summer or early fall. It’s played out. February has perfect stout weather and while Astoria is glorious in the sunshine, the gray and the damp of February suit the city (and the festival) better.
I love a Goth vibe: If it wasn’t readily apparent from the name of the festival, FODA has a bit of a gothic feel to it. This is done in several ways. First, there are several locations on the festival grounds to get beer, including one in a building called The Ruins. The Ruins looks like an abandoned lobby, the perfect place for an underground concert or to go ghost hunting. There are also art installations through the festival (I’ve included some images below) which have a dark theme to them (especially the one that reflected the Blair Witch theme of this year’s logo). And, of course, the attendees add to this. There is a lot of black, fairy crowns, and some steampunk for good measure.
There are so many beers: Some would say too many but I won’t (83 different beers in 2023, BTW). It is not just about the number of beers either, it is the quality. We’ve all been to the beer fests where some breweries phone it in, just bringing a core beer. This is not something that happens at FODA. While each beer is a stout, they are all very different and each more complex than the last. To give you a sense of what is on offer, I’ll recap the beers I tasted and what I thought of them (in no particular order). I have also given them a star rating of 1 to 5.
- Funeral Plain from Von Ebert Brewing in Portland, OR: An imperial Stout aged on pistachios and sea salt (ABV 10.5%) **** Von Ebert is one of my favorite Portland breweries and this was a great salty/sweet stout.
- Dirt Sandwich by Fort George Brewing in Astoria, OR: A stout with peanuts, cinnamon, and brown sugar (ABV 7.5%) *** This brew was similar to the one from Von Ebert (i.e., salty sweet) but swung a little too much to the sweet side for my liking.
- Live and Let Rye Barrel Aged Rye Stout by Georgetown Brewing in Seattle, WA: Rye stout aged in a rye barrel. (ABV 10.2%) ***** There are a few terms that when they appear in a beer name or description will immediately cause me to order said beer. Rye is one of those terms. A beer that uses rye, a beer that is aged in rye barrels, anything like that, give it to me. Unsurprisingly, this one did not disappoint and was one of my favorite beers at this year’s festival.
- 2023 Matryoshka with Mexican Vanilla Bean, Coconut & Lime Leaf by Fort George Brewing in Astoria, OR: Bourbon, caramel, cocoa and nutty sweetness, perfectly drinkable. Matryoshka begins with a decadent imperial stout aged for one year in whiskey barrels. 2023 Matryoshka was aged in Westward & Westland Whiskey Barrels. (ABV 12.2%) **** FODA and Fort George’s larger celebration of Stout Month stem from the brewery’s yearly release of their barrel aged stout Matryoshka. It is one of the best barrel aged stouts out there and year after year it does not disappoint. I also love a fun varietal, so when choosing which to sample I went with the most complicated one. Much tasty, very yum.
- Nocturnal Hunter by Little Beast Brewing in Clackamas, OR: Imperial Stout infused with Tanzanian cacao nibs, vanilla and black walnuts. (ABV 10.4%) ***** Little Beast is another favorite brewery of mine. Their beers are usually from the lighter end of the spectrum (saisons, sours, lagers, etc.) but it turns out they make a damn fine stout as well. Also, black walnut is another one of those flavors that is an instant order for me.
- BBA Are You Afraid of the Dark? By Vice Brewing in Vancouver, WA: Our Imperial Stout spent 14 months in both Moscatel Spanish Dessert wine barrels and Spanish Port Wine barrels that were also second-use for Bourbon. We blended and conditioned in stainless on maple syrup, toasted coconut and vanilla. (ABV 10.5%) ** As a 90’s kid I am drawn to Vice’s vibe (check out their Instagram to see what I mean) and was therefore super into the name of this beer. However, this beer, while good, was too sweet for me. I also had it towards the end of the day so it might have just been flavor overload at that point.
- Velvet Kiss by Fort George Brewing in Astoria, OR: Stout with vegan white chocolate and raspberry. (ABV 7.1%) *** Another strong offering from the festival’s home brewery. Not mind blowing but still very tasty.
- Cherry Chocolate Trade War by Bend Brewing Company in Bend, OR: Export Stout aged on tart cherry and cocoa nibs. (ABV 7.5%) **** Bend Brewing’s Trade War Export Stout is one of my favorite stouts out there (unsurprisingly Fort George makes one of the others-it’s called Cavatica and I highly recommend it) so I was pretty excited when I saw this variant on the beer list. It had all the appeal of the basic Trade War with just enough sweetness from the cherry and the chocolate.
- Candy Cap Stout by Public Coast Brewing in Cannon Beach, OR: Roast chocolate/coffee/dark fruit, then you taste the umami from the mushroom. (ABV 5.6%) **** Public Coast is another great brewery, one that I don’t get to partake of often enough (please guys, start distributing on the east side of the mountains!) so I will always try to have one from them when the opportunity arises. I have also fallen for the new trend of candy cap mushrooms in beer so this one was a no brainer for me.
- Symbiosis Fig Stout, a collaboration between Reach Break Brewing and 7 Devils Brewing: Imperial Stout aged on figs. (ABV 10%) ***** Something I have discovered in the past few years is that I love a fig stout, which was a bit of a surprise since I’m not always a big fan of figs on their own. This collab between two coastal breweries that I am not super familiar with hit the spot and I hope they make it again.
- Babality Cold Stout by Level Beer in Portland, OR: Cold Stout! We took our Fatality Imperial Stout and made it into a cold-fermented session stout. (ABV 4.5%) ***** I’m going to say something kind of douchey but stick with me: I loved a cold IPA before it was cool (when they were just called IPLs). So I needed to try the Cold IPAs malty cousin. So much so that it was the first beer I had that day. I hope they decide to distribute this one because you don’t often find a sessionable stout (that isn’t Guinness) and this is a great one.
In short, Festival of Dark Arts is awesome: great vibes, weird art, and fabulous beer. If you have a chance to attend you definitely should. And if you do let me know! Prost!
