Gotta be the beard.
Dwayne Smallwood may be Astoria’s most recognizable person, and much of that has to do with his signature beard – long, white and wild. Another reason, of course, is Bridge & Tunnel, the bottleshop and taproom that boasts one of the finest rotating craft beer selections on the North Coast.
Smallwood’s contribution to regional beer culture is such that Fort George brewed a tribute on his downtown establishment’s fifth anniversary – an IPA named Dwayne’s World. He and his wife Pam have owned and operated Bridge & Tunnel on Duane Street since 2018.
When he’s not behind the five-seat bar, ordering new liquid treasures or stocking his row of coolers, Smallwood has been a key adviser to the Pacific Northwest Brew Cup and host to numerous visiting brewers. After getting out of the Army, he settled on the Long Beach peninsula, where he lived for many years before moving to Astoria to launch his business.
We recently sat down with him for a wide-ranging Q/A:
Q: After serving as a longtime supermarket produce manager and previously working in restaurants, what made you want to pivot and open a bottleshop?
A: I started thinking about what it was I wanted to do next. The kids were grown and gone, and I had a little chance to reflect. I’d spent more than a decade going to beer events – festivals, openings, releases – and I would often go to bottleshops and taprooms.
There were a couple of them, like Arch Bridge in Oregon City and Bitter Monk down in McMinnville, that were in smaller towns doing something that’s appreciated. I’d wonder: How come I’m traveling all over the place to buy the beer I want? Why isn’t this in Astoria, with all the breweries?
So, I talked to [local] brewers and kind of gave them a head’s up that I was thinking about doing it. Nobody said, ‘Oh, that’s a bad idea.’ All of them were saying, how soon can you get up and open and what can we do to help? It was more well-received than I could have imagined.
Q: When you opened what were your goals?
A: To curate a tap list and a bottle list that beer lovers would appreciate. I wasn’t going to go after, you know, the grocery store and the mini mart and what they carry, and sell six-packs and 12-packs and 18-packs.
Q: You decided from the start that you wouldn’t fill your coolers with Astoria-made beer, just select special releases.
A: I wasn’t sure how that was going to go. But all of them [Astoria breweries] understood fairly quickly. I wanted the relationship to be symbiotic. You’re right here, down the street. I want to send people to you, and the reciprocation was they would send people to me – and they still do. And that’s worked out very well. When other breweries come to town to do collaborations, they bring them here. It’s a nice thing.
Q: You’re considered a beer expert now, but when you opened you were just someone who enjoyed craft beer.
A: Yeah, I was deeply into it without being professionally involved. I knew enough to keep my head above water, and I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut and learn from people who knew better. And that was what it was. I didn’t pour my first beer, had never worked behind a bar, until opening day.
Q: How has Bridge & Tunnel evolved?
A: [laughs] The biggest difference is that people know who I am, and that’s very strange to me.
Not a whole lot has really changed. I’ve tried to spruce the place up and buy better furniture, and reinvest in the shop. The main thing is the beer and bringing in things that are new: breweries I find that are making great beer that people here don’t know about yet.
Q: A caricature of your face, featuring the beard and glasses, is your brand. How did that start?
A: An artist friend of mine approached me just before the first anniversary and said he wanted to make some T-shirts and put my face on them. I told him, ‘Absolutely not. Nope, don’t do that.’ He didn’t understand why. I showed him an illustration from Chuck’s Hop Shop out of Seattle, an iconic beer shop. Chuck, the owner, has a caricature of himself as the logo. I didn’t want it to look I was trying to ride on those coattails.
Well, my friend didn’t listen. … So, on the first anniversary, I look up and everybody’s got on the T-shirt. It just went from there. It’s been funny and strange and very humbling.
Q: Where did the name Bridge & Tunnel come from? I can guess the Astoria Bridge influence. But the tunnel?
A: Chinook Tunnel. When we opened the shop we still lived in Ilwaco. I’d been driving back and forth for the first several months before we moved over here. So, you know, over the bridge and through the tunnel. But really the alliteration was B and T – Bottleshop and Taproom.
Q: Your neighbor, Fort George, celebrated your fifth anniversary with Dwayne’s World, a special IPA. They brewed it again this year. That must have been pretty exciting.
A: [nods] They brought it up. They asked: ‘Do I want a beer brewed for the anniversary?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ We started talking and I was like, can we do a rip on [the movie] ‘Wayne’s World’ and call it Dwayne’s World? It kind of rolled from there. We thought it was funny.
Q: Next month is the Brew Cup, an event you’ve been pretty involved with. Why do you do it?
A: It’s important. Beer festivals are going away and I hate that. It’s kind of what helped me find the craft beer community. Bringing people who like craft beer into town, even if it’s just for the festival, promotes the town. Hopefully, they’ll come back, check out the breweries.
Q: There’s been a lot of chatter about the craft beer boom ending, and the market readjusting to changing tastes. What’s your take?
A: We’re level right now, maybe with a slight decline. I see breweries around the country announcing their final day every week. It’s very sad. Some have been around for years. … The bubble has burst. People are spending less and everything is costing more. But it will correct itself, I imagine.
Q: Are large breweries less vulnerable?
A: As long as they can stay ahead of the curve, because you look at flagship breweries like Bridgeport and Pyramid. No disrespect to either one of them, but they quit innovating. They thought they’d have the shelf in the grocery store forever.
Q: On a more positive note, what part of your job do you enjoy the most?
A: The people. I love beer, but it’s the people: watching them enjoy themselves and try new things, and be introduced to new breweries and maybe try a style they’ve never had.
The best is when people who are into craft beer bring someone in who isn’t, who may normally drink Michelob Ultra. I’m like, well, I don’t have that, but try this. … Most people are open to trying things, which is always fun.
