A year ago Public Coast Brewing in Cannon Beach, Oregon hosted an overnight media trip to the resort town to learn about the young brewery, try the beers, and stay on the beach. I wrote about that trip at the time, giving some background to the brewery and brewer, the owners, and the beer. This year, Public Coast again hosted an overnight stay and beer dinner, so I made time in my schedule to take the two full days off to visit Cannon Beach rather than having to rush back for work.

So, what’s new this year with Public Coast?

Growth, for one. The end of 2017 saw the OLCC reporting 699.2 barrels sold for the year; that number for 2018 rose to 828.25. As of the end of March 2019, 173.5 barrels have been sold.

One of the things owner Ryan Snyder talked about last year was a plan to eliminate some of the bar space for additional tanks as well as storage in anticipation of growth. That had not happened as of this year; instead of dining at the Wayfarer restaurant, this year’s beer pairing dinner took place in the bar space he’d indicated was earmarked for operations expansion.

The biggest news, at least in my estimation with not a little humor, is that Public Coast bought Ramblin’ Rod’s farm. Ramblin’ Rod is a name that will carry some weight among people who grew up in Oregon watching morning cartoons during the ’70s through ’90s on Portland station KPTV. Ramblin’ Rod lived in Buxton, off of Highway 26, halfway-ish between Portland and Cannon Beach. Among other things, Public Coast will grow and harvest blueberries and vegetables from the farm for the restaurant, and will look into possibly using it as a distribution hub for its beers with a slim possibility of a tasting room at some point.

Those were the highlights, and much of the rest of the evening was socializing and enjoying the five-course beer pairing dinner—as well as the beer, of course. I’ll touch on the beer before I get to the food.

Some beer writing colleagues had expressed prior concern about the beer quality, but the beers I had on tap at the brewery were just fine, and I’d say overall they have improved from a year ago. The biggest issue I could identify was that the Mexican Lager gave off some green apple (acetaldehyde) aromas as it warmed. Otherwise, the ’67 Blonde Ale was solid and as expected, and the Coastal Haze (a hazy IPA) was pretty good, and better than many hazies I’ve had, which is saying something.

That being said, earlier in the day we were exploring downtown Cannon Beach and came across cans of Public Coast beer in the market—many of which were dated as early as November of last year. Having old, out-of-date stock on the shelves is a problem for any brewery, but it does make me wonder what’s going on when I’m finding six month old canned IPA in a store less than two miles away from the brewery. Do beer sales fizzle during the off season, leaving old beer sitting around? Do draft sales cannibalize local packaged sales? I don’t have the answers, but it’s an issue that needs to be addressed by the brewery.

But, the beer paired with the dinner was good, and complemented the food menu just fine. And that menu was great:

Head brewer Will Leroux and Wayfarer Restaurant executive chef Josh Archibald put together an outstanding meal, and talked about each course and beer pairing as it came out.

For starter appetizers, we were served shooters of beer cheese soup, and Nevor Torkes oysters from the shell. The soup was made from gruyere cheese and Oswald IPA, while the oysters were sourced from Nevor Shellfish Farm in Tillamook. The oysters were a treat I don’t have too often, briny and fresh. The soup was an interesting counterpoint, rich with a nutty fondue impression.

The first seated course was a charcuterie board, paired with ’67 Blonde Ale. A nice hearty spread with accompanying giant pretzels. The next course overshadowed it however: freshly-caught Columbia River sturgeon, roasted on a cedar plank, and it was terrific. It was paired with the Mexican Lager, since it was also roasted with it—a beer and dried malt extract gastrique brushed on the fish.

A Mandarin IPA sorbet provided a palate cleaner in between courses before moving onto the main course, baby back ribs with a spent grain cornbread (properly cooked in a cast iron skillet) paired with Coastal Haze IPA. The ribs were well-seasoned, smoked, and sauced well, and tender. I don’t know that I would have picked the hazy IPA to accompany this course—there was a Bock on tap that I think could have complemented the meat and smoke well, or the Red Ale that the sauce was made with—but I have no complaints.

Dessert was an interesting idea: bourbon barrel-aged porter floats. Leroux and assistant brewer Ben Christianson drew a pitcher of Willy Big Dog Porter that was aging in Heaven Hills bourbon barrels lined up near the table, and quick carbonated half the beer using a seltzer maker similar to a SodaStream (I believe). Then each was served side by side with vanilla ice cream to compare the carbonated version to the non-carbonated one, either standalone or as a beer float. I tried it both ways but I don’t know that I had a particular preference; the porter still had a bit of roastiness that hadn’t been fully tempered by the barrel aging and I don’t know how strong the beer was. High marks for a creative presentation though.

The end of the night was capped with beers around a bonfire back at the Surfsand Resort, like last year. The Surfsand was offering a free shuttle for folks to return from the brewpub, but DJ from Brewpublic had already generously given us a ride there so we rode back with him—a new Brewpublic rideshare service we dubbed Bruber (or Brewber, we haven’t fully settled on the name).

Takeaways from this visit?

• Plans evolve, as we saw from the visit last year to now, and Public Coast is growing while focusing on doing so sustainably and maintaining and nurturing strong local ties to the community.
• The brewery—as well as the associated hotel and restaurant properties—were gearing up for the busy tourist season; from fresh beers to bringing out the beer and travel writers once again, Public Coast is well-poised to have a fruitful summer.
• The beers are better, improved over last year. There still needs to be focus on the packaged beer out in the market though.
• Ramblin’ Rod’s farm! If there is not a lineup of Ramblin’ Rod-themed beers next year (Ramblin’ Red, Smile Contest IPA), I will be sorely disappointed.

Public Coast also celebrated its third anniversary this past weekend, and I just got the official word today that the brewery’s Hay Day beer festival returns on August 24.

For more on our Public Coast experience, read the Brewpublic writeup.

More pictures: