After taking some time off to regroup, Fort George Brewery’s Festival of the Dark Arts is coming back to Astoria, Oregon on Saturday, February 18th 2023. But this isn’t just a dark beer festival, there is more going on and the styles of beer are limited to just one broad category: No porters, no barleywines, no cold IPA’s or smoothie sours, not even a pickle beer or a barrel-fermented hard seltzer will be in the lineup. Just STOUT. With two years to collect, Fort George is promising the darkest stout lineup ever, featuring some of the rarest in memory.

According to the George: “We know you can’t truly appreciate a stout unless you’re entertained while you’re drinking it. Which is why we’ll be taking over the entire city block to make room for activities. Join us and all the purveyors and practitioners of the Northwest’s most unique and curious crafts as we celebrate darkness in the darkest season with masses of food, bonfires, live music on three stages and over 60 of the best and rarest stouts the industry has to offer.”

Festival of Dark Arts is a celebration of stout, craftsmanship, and all masters of the unique and curious arts. The worn pavement of our courtyard has seen contortionists, fire jugglers, ice sculptors, black smiths, leather workers, beer painters, artisan coffee roasters, throat singers, belly dancers, trapeze artists and tarot readers. They all go well with stout.

February is also Oregon Craft Beer Month, and for Fort George it’s also Stout Month, which will have it’s own set of weekly activities and beer releases announced at a later date. This marks the end of the darkest season, in Astoria, the darkest city on the Oregon Coast.

Tickets to Festival of the Dark Arts which include a taster glass, tasting tokens, extra treats, and a grimoire (festival handbook), will be released November 25th at Sunrise (7:30AM).