MEET FORT GEORGE’S ‘RESIDENT HUMORIST’

May 1, 2023

Kirsten Pierce doesn’t think she’s funny. Not in a classic stand-up sort of way.

And her father, she says with a shrug, doesn’t get her humor at all.

But those weekly newsletters she writes for Fort George Brewery? They’re always tongue-in-cheek amusing, and sometimes downright hilarious.

While nearly all breweries play their beer announcements straight, Pierce has been given the green light to get a little weird. Okay, a lot weird.

The “resident humorist” recently wrote about a group of starving filmmakers who’ve been living in a storage room above the brewing tanks and produced a 15-part Netflix documentary series. The account was linked to Netflix and a video on Instagram.

Loads of readers thought it was true and headed en masse to Netflix, but it was just an elaborate April Fool’s joke.

Pierce, of course, loved the reaction. (As did just about everybody at Fort George).

For more about Pierce and her beer-related humor, read the Thirsty Growler column in The Astorian.

Q/A WITH CHRIS NEMLOWILL OF FORT GEORGE BREWERY

When Fort George Brewery opened in March 2007 few could have imagined how transformative the business would be. For the city of Astoria. For North Coast tourism. For craft beer lovers.

Today, the brewery founded by Chris Nemlowill and Jack Harris is a regional powerhouse. Beer production has eclipsed 32,000 barrels a year. There are 160 employees.

THE NOMADS OF CRAFT BREWING

During the darkest days of the pandemic, North Coast craft breweries had to close their taprooms and brewpubs.

It was a huge economic blow, but the businesses survived in part by pivoting almost entirely from draft to canned beer either sold “to go” or through distributors.

There was a problem, however. Most smaller breweries lacked canning lines.

More than ever, they needed the services of the nomads of the industry: mobile canners.

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