PORTLAND, Oregon — Two great Oregon breweries situated on the banks of the Columbia River have made it through five rounds and are now in the final contest of the Oregon Beer Showdown.
Fort George Brewery, the seventh-largest craft brewer in the state, hails from Astoria, near the frothy mouth of the Columbia where it mingles with the Pacific Ocean. In fact, Astoria was briefly renamed Fort George when it was captured by the British during the War of 1812.
Housed in a historic block in Astoria's scenic downtown are the brewery, a pub, a pizza restaurant and a taphouse featuring some of its more experimental recipes. In the semifinals round last week, Fort George defeated Portland's acclaimed Breakside Brewery by a scant three votes to advance to "The Bitter End" round this week.
The brewing company with the most peculiar name and the fifth-largest in Oregon, pFriem Family Brewers is nestled 150 miles upriver of Fort George in Hood River, within view of the hordes of windsurfers and kitesurfers that take to the Columbia in warmer months.
The winner of numerous international beer awards, pFriem recently announced the opening of a new location in downtown Milwaukie close to Portland. Last week, pFriem beat popular Crux Fermentation Project of Bend with 56% of the vote.
Neither pFriem nor Fort George has ever won the Showdown, now in its ninth year. Each faced very different challengers in the five rounds leading up to the Finals — see the full bracket — but below is a chart showing how many votes they've each accumulated in prior rounds.
The link to vote in this year's Oregon Beer Showdown Finals is here and the poll ends Sunday, March 24, at 11:59 p.m.
Read our Voting Rules here, and note that: Publisher, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any business or person tampering with the voting process or the operation of the website or otherwise attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the poll. Use of bots or other automated process to vote is prohibited and may result in disqualification at the sole discretion of Publisher.
The Portland Business Journal, a news partner of KGW, has more details on the Oregon beer showdown developments.
