Another craft brewery is pouring in the hop-rich Astoria Beer Zone.
With zero fanfare, Sisu Brewing opened its second brewpub this week in the former Astoria Food Hub building on busy Marine Drive.
“This is going to be a very popular spot,” beertender Justin Roberts said before noon Friday, as he awaited his first customers. “It’s going to be cool.”
The company that owns Sisu bought the 90-year-old downtown building last fall with ambitious plans to convert the spacious basement and part of the rear loading area into a mid-size brewery with the restaurant/taproom above.
Sisu, founded in 2021, has been severely cramped at its current location inside the historic Times Theatre in downtown Seaside. There’s no room left to expand and no space in which to can beer.
There’s ample space for expansion at the new location, however. A 30-barrel brewhouse has been purchased from Three Creeks Brewing in Sisters, but obtaining city approval and doing the major construction needed is expected to take months.
In the meantime, there’s good news for beer lovers: Astorians will no longer have to drive to Seaside to sample Sisu beer. Until the second brewery is online, kegs will be trucked in to serve the new pub.
Many people on the North Coast aren’t familiar with Sisu’s impressive lineup. Brewers Nick Nelson and Nick Richardson, aka the “two Nicks,” have created a diverse taplist, representing most major beer styles.
The brewery is part of a multifaceted development company owned by the Utti family of Seaside, which is proud of its Finnish ancestry.
“Sisu” is a Finnish word meaning tenacity and grit. You’ll see that spirit reflected in the names of many of the beers, including Indomitable Spirit Imperial Stout, Moxie Cream Ale, Mettle Lager and Rock-Ribbed Pale Ale.
Opening the new restaurant/taproom was a relatively easy feat, since Sisu is following in the footsteps of Buoy Beer, which operated a brewpub in the same space for a couple of years.
Buoy ended its lease on Dec. 31, opting to move its taproom and affiliated Pilot House Distilling tasting room to the former Reach Break Brewing location off Duane Street. That spot features a coveted outdoor patio partially ringed by food trucks.
Sisu’s new digs were built in 1935, originally as a warehouse for Mason, Ehrman & Co., a wholesale produce distributor. It would later house a Sears store for many years. In 2022, the building changed hands again, becoming the home of the North Coast Food Web.
Sisu is using the same Food Hub/Buoy kitchen to create its popular pub-style fare. The menu is wide-ranging, offering halibut fish and chips, salmon sandwiches, burgers and more, plus a range of appetizers and salads.
The lower half of the brewpub, facing Marine Drive, is filled with picnic tables with long benches. There’s a big-screen TV hanging on one end, where people can watch major sporting events.
In the back, a dozen beer taps are fronted by a five-seat bar. Wine is also available.
More tables are expected to be added later on the north side of the building, which faces the Riverwalk and boasts Columbia River views.
The Astoria brewpub is open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
