First look at Astoria-Warrenton’s new Battery 245 Brewing
Warrenton finally has its first brewery. Sitting just across Youngs Bay from Astoria at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River, this small Oregon fishing and logging town has managed to make it nearly 130 years without a single brewery…until now. This might not be so shocking if it weren’t located just minutes from one of the most brewery-dense towns in the country. Six years in the making, in a journey that was at times as rough as the infamous Columbia River Bar, Battery 245 finally opened its doors in November to become Warrenton’s hometown brewery.
Founded by Jonathan Elliott, Michael Ljungberg, and Jeff Kilday, Battery 245 is a nod to a World War II coastal defense installation just a few miles away at Fort Stevens. Its founders have several decades of combined experience in the service industry throughout the region, including stints as brewers and managers at coastal institutions such as Pelican, McMenamin’s, and Seaside Brewing. Kilday spent twenty years as the owner of Wine and Beer Haus, and Ljungberg was one of the main brewers at Seaside Brewing until he turned his focus on Battery 245. This experience, along with a close personal tie to Warrenton and a desire to see it finally get its own brewery, has been a driving force for all three owners.
“I grew up [in Warrenton]. It was K through 12. So being a part of the community has always been pretty big for me,” says Elliott, who wanted to bring the passion and knowledge of brewing he and his partners had gained to the place they call home.
So what exactly took so long for Warrenton to get a brewery? For starters, this town of around 6,300 - which Elliott points out as being one of Oregon’s fastest growing towns - hasn’t been historically gung-ho to have another drinking establishment. Battery 245 is one of only a small handful of businesses that serve alcohol in town. Initially, its owners encountered some pushback from residents who thought it would just be another bar. Eventually, they overcame this perception by showcasing their commitment to partnering with local fishermen and meat purveyors, aiming to be a community hub of sorts that welcomes families.
“When I had an opportunity to buy fish, and we used to [go to Main Street Market] for the meat, so we just jumped all over it,” says Elliott.
With the community on board, the real challenges arose from renovating the first location they found, a 100-year-old building.
“When we started demoing the building, structurally, we started finding stuff. It was just more work, and we didn't own the building,” says Elliott.
Instead of dealing with even more headaches, the owners found a new location that was once a showroom for a former RV repair and supply store. The location was perfect, other than the fact that it was smack dab in the middle of Warrenton’s flood zone. Compared to Astoria with its San Francisco-like hills, Warrenton is entirely flat. This makes it prone to flooding and especially vulnerable to tsunamis in the event of an earthquake. All of this meant that, in addition to numerous challenges in the buildout and permitting process, the owners had to involve FEMA to assess the property and guide them through installing special features to ensure the brewery doesn’t float straight out into the Pacific Ocean in the next big flood.
“They had to add 6,000 pounds of weight to this building. All of our studs are really close together. They dug out the ground and stuck in these steel rods 10 to 15 feet deep, and then tied them around the whole building. On the ground, everything is 4 feet or above,” says Elliott, touching on just a few of the alterations that needed to be made.
Being in a flood-prone area does have its perks, as the brewery is so close to the Warrenton Marina, you could practically cast your fishing line from their parking lot. Elliott grew up with some of the local fishermen, including one of his closest friends, who operates the Ruby Sea, which supplies super-fresh local catches like tuna, cod, rockfish, and crab, sometimes walking them straight from the boat to the brewery.
“The word got out that what we were doing is we're buying all this fish and trying to buy it directly from the fishermen. Now we get phone calls where a boat's coming in, and they say, ‘hey, we got Lingcod, we got rockfish. Do you guys want any? So we can get it either that day or the next. Same thing with our beef. [It] comes from the local Main Street Market, and they have some of the best beef around,” says Elliott.
Access to so many local ingredients is a delight for chef Jonathan “J.J.” Johnston, who is currently at the helm in the kitchen after holding highly influential cooking roles at respected establishments up and down the coast. For over two decades, J.J. left his mark on places like the Stephanie Inn, Castaways Global Cuisine, Newmans at 988, The Wayfarer Restaurant & Lounge, and Bill's Tavern in Cannon Beach, and Maggie's on the Prom in Seaside, among others. Battery 245’s owners knew their partnership with the chef would be a hit when they scored first Place in the People's Choice Award for the Savory Category at the Iron Chef Goes Coastal in Seaside for his tuna tostada.
“This town has been striving for something different, and a brewery also. So it's just it's really awesome to be able to be a part of it,” says J.J., who also lives in Warrenton.
This proximity and their tight-knit relationships with fishermen and Main Street Market allow Battery 245 to keep their food prices relatively low compared to many other coastal eateries.
“We just try and keep it as local as we possibly can. Especially being right across from the marina, that's major. When you take a look at our menu, our prices are pretty good, so we just kind of pay that forward to the customers,” says Elliott.
Chef J.J. translates his culinary wisdom and love for working with local ingredients into a menu best described as a something-for-everyone theme with an emphasis on seafood and a handful of refined dishes. Wings and nachos sit alongside items such as pan-seared oysters and steamer clams sautéed in brown butter.
On a recent visit, items like the tuna tostada and tuna sandwich (grilled or fried) were both huge portions and some of the freshest, most flavorful seafood I have tried on the North Coast. The burgers are equally impressive, leaning towards a smashed style but offered up with toppings like crispy pork belly. Nearly everything at Battery 245 is housemade, including all of the sauces, and Chef J.J. is especially excited about dishes like the fish tacos, where his team makes the corn tortillas themselves. While the freshness of the ingredients stands out in the tacos, fish sandwiches, and Po’ Boys, he lets his creativity and skill shine in dishes like the Cioppino, Main Street Steak with its rich brown ale reduction sauce, and seafood chowder using local salmon and clams.
Complementing the food, of course, is the beverage menu. When the brewhouse is fully operational, they hope to have 10-12 beers on tap regularly. This may include everything from a chocolate dunkel made with chocolate sourced from Bruce's Candy Kitchen in Cannon Beach to bigger stouts that can be served at Fort George’s Festival of the Dark Arts and crushable beers to be enjoyed in the sunshine when they throw up the doors and have patio seating in the summertime. Currently, they are serving up a piney Northwest IPA brewed at Seaside Brewing called Sunset Left as well as beer from a handful of local breweries.
“I grew up in Warrenton, so Sunset Left is one of those spots, if you were going clam digging on the coast, it was just a destination. You just hit Sunset Beach and head left until you saw where people were clam-digging, or bonfires, where the party was, when you were in your 20s. So, yeah, that's gonna be one of our flagship,” says Elliott.
For those that want to imbibe something different, they offer a handful of classic cocktails like old fashioneds, Moscow Mules, and Mojitos for almost absurdly affordable prices, wine pours by the glass, and local cider. Elliott hopes that their beers, other beverages, and delicious food will make Battery 245 a destination for locals and tourists alike. Whether sitting at the expansive bar made from a 100-year-old spruce fur that was fished out of the nearby Lewis and Clark River or in the more family-friendly dining room, Warrenton’s first brewery may be ready to carve out its place in Oregon’s busy beer scene.
Battery 245 Brewing
69 NE Heron Ave, Warrenton, OR 97146
Hours:
Sunday: 10am - 9pm
Monday - Thursday: 11am - 9pm
Friday: 11am - 10pm
Saturday: 10am - 10pm
