They came prepared.
Knowing what they were up against – a dizzying array of 108 stouts made every way imaginable – they arrived at the Festival of Dark Arts like sensory soldiers.
Angela Aurit of Hood River had drafted a detailed battle plan, written by hand on lined paper and copied to her phone, which she consulted while waiting in line at the first tasting tent.
She and her friend, Stephanie McKinney, had their sampling glasses ready. Also, their palate cleansers. Dangling from their necks were homemade pretzel-filled necklaces.
They clinked glasses and sipped the creamy brew.
“Oh, wow!” Aurit said, beaming. “It’s sooo good!”
Afterward, the mental health therapist explained what lured her to Dark Arts in downtown Astoria for a second time.
“I only drink dark beer,” she said. “I don’t waste time on that see-through shit.”
McKinney, of Prineville, nodded. She also prefers “robust” beer. But there was another reason she came.
“I’m excited about the people-watching,” she said with a grin.
There was a lot to see.
Much more than a winter beer fest, Dark Arts is an experience – 12 hours of nonstop, pulse-quickening entertainment.
Despite numbing cold and spitting rain, several thousand people reached a nirvana-like state at Fort George Brewery on Saturday, sipping their warming brews in wool hats and down coats while also drinking in the exotic performers around them.
There was a woman who walked on broken glass. Another navigated the crowd on stilts, bending down to dispense high-fives. Outside, on a section of closed-off Duane Street, other performers tossed flaming torches high into the air, lighting the night sky.
Oh, and 25 bands performed on three stages, representing all conceivable musical genres. The headliner was rap/hip-hop legend Brother Ali, who took the stage before a bouncy crowd at The Ruins.
Dark Arts, which started as a modest art-and-beer event in 2012, has grown into the biggest stout festival in the country.
A quarter of the special brews on tap were made in a delicious frenzy by Fort George, including four coveted barrel-aged Matryoshka variants.
While oatmeal, chocolate, coffee and coconut were once again popular stout ingredients, taste buds were challenged by many of the stouts. Seaweed, candy cap mushrooms, oysters, marionberries, molasses, peanut butter, bananas, chili peppers, churros and much more were in the mix this year.
A number of stouts were aged, up to two years. The most popular vessel appeared to be bourbon barrels, while other batches were seasoned in barrels that once held rye, gin, whiskey, tequila and rum.
The festival has become a major shot in the arm for Astoria and the North Coast during a bleak winter month, luring visitors from around the country. They typically spend a long weekend here, filling hotels and restaurants.
The celebration that Fort George has dubbed Stout Month continues through February, including releases of special stouts in wax-dipped bottles and a free-play arcade in the Lovell Building.
Tongue in cheek, the host calls Dark Arts “the largest, darkest, weirdest, friendliest, most entertaining stout, art and music festival in the history of the world.”
They pretty much nailed it.
***
Missed out on Dark Arts this year?
For a limited time, you can still find many of the stouts released at the festival that were crafted by North Coast breweries.
Here are 14 to sample:
FORT GEORGE (partial list)
Matryoshka and its 2025 variants, all barrel-aged.
Vanilla Churro (made with cinnamon churro, vanilla and ice cream)
Lotta Ins, Lotta Outs (vanilla, cacao, coffee and Kahlua)
Chocolate Kraftwerk (coconut, pecans, macadamias, cacao)
Gilded Tiger (coconut, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric)
King Baby (inspired by New Orleans king cake)
Dirty Sandwich (cinnamon, peanuts, brown sugar)
Murky Pearl (Willapa Bay oysters)
ASTORIA BREWING
Colourbound (barrel-aged with cinnamon, almonds and vanilla)
NORTH JETTY BREWING
Big as Your Head (barrel-aged with cocoa beans and coconut)
PUBLIC COAST BREWING
Stranger Tides (made with shaved chocolate and Oregon cherries)
SISU BREWING
Spice of Life (chocolate stout with chili peppers)
BUOY BEER
Deep Waters (oatmeal stout conditioned in ocean-aged Pilot House whiskey barrels)
OBELISK BEER
Tolling of the Bells (barrel-aged and conditioned on coconut and raspberries)
