Buoy Beer had a big problem on its hands. The Astoria brewery simply couldn’t make enough beer when summers would roll around.
So when a building next door came available, the owners saw the perfect opportunity to implement expansion plans: Replace Buoy’s 20-barrel brewing system with a 50-barrel and add fermentation and conditioning tanks as well. Buoy hopes the new facility and increased capacity will help it double production by 2024 -- and fulfill those summer distribution orders.
With the new system running at nearly full output, the brewery expansion is among other projects turning a once-abandoned and decrepit dock near the mouth of the Columbia River into a popular destination along the burgeoning Astoria Riverwalk -- and one not just for craft beer lovers.
Buoy co-founder Luke Colvin and his partners are renovating a building kitty-corner to the original brewery and creating a new production facility and spacious taproom for Astoria’s Pilot House Distilling, which the Buoy ownership team bought in 2019. And a former sardine processing building directly east of Buoy has new life as the Bowline Hotel after being renovated by Adrift Hotel Co. of Long Beach, Washington.
Buoy’s efforts are the latest moves of a brewery that has continued to grow and become more popular since its founding eight years ago.
“We have learned that slow and steady has worked really well for us,” said Jessyka Dart-McLean, Buoy’s marketing manager.
In 2013, Colvin was running an arbor-service company but was looking for a way to employ more of the community. He wanted to send a product out into the world that would bring more money back to Astoria. One of Colvin’s clients, Dan Hamilton, was a homebrewer who had been perfecting lager recipes for four decades.
Hamilton’s beers got Colvin’s attention, and he landed on a brewpub as the business that would fulfill his idea. Colvin then began building a founding team that included David Kroening, Colvin’s brother-in-law, who had been an executive at Red Bull. Kroening became Buoy president and has been the driving force behind much of Buoy’s growth and expansion.
“I don’t know if Dave ever sleeps,” Dart-McLean said. “Four years ago he brought the management team together and said, hey, what’s next?”
The founding team also included Andrew Bornstein, whose family’s fish processing plant on a dock east of the Astoria-Megler Bridge was sitting unused. It was decrepit, but a plan was developed to shore it up and build the brewery, restaurant and taproom, including the now-popular restaurant floor window that allows patrons to watch the sea lions lounging just feet below on a deck built for viewing.
Lagers were an initial focus, but under the leadership of BridgePort Brewing alum Kevin Shaw, the brewery expanded into other styles, including Buoy IPA. Shaw has shifted from head brewer to director of brewing operations.
“When we started we weren’t going to make an IPA, but it’s our best seller now,” Dart-McLean said. “But lagers are always on our mind and what we strive to do. There’s always a balance there, and beer drinkers like a range. We’re proud of our range of styles.”
Buoy now has seven year-round draft beers at the brewpub: Czech Pils, Dunkel Lager, Helles Lager, Cream Ale, NW Red Ale, IPA and an addition in September: Pacific Pale Ale, which replaced Buoy’s previous pale ale. It distributes four of those year round in 12-ounce cans: Czech Pils, IPA, Cream Ale and Pacific Pale.
The brewery has also staked out seasonal offerings as well, distributing 12-ounce cans of Dunkel Lager in winter, Helles Lager in spring and a new beer for its summer rotation next year. Additionally, Buoy rotates 16-ounce cans of its Kolsch in summer, Strong Gale winter ale in late fall, Baltic Porter in late winter and a fourth to be named next spring.
The brewery has a blossoming barrel-aging program that should grow with the acquisition of more space, Dart-McLean said. This year Buoy released its second batch from a foeder it bought from The Commons, a Portland farmhouse brewery that closed in 2017. The beer, a brett saison, came in two iterations: dry-hopped and stone fruit.
From its barrel program, Buoy also distributes Decapitator Barrel-aged Doppelbock, coming out annually the Thursday before Thanksgiving in 500-milliliter bottles, and Love, Lost at Sea Barrel-aged American Barleywine, released in bottles on Valentine’s Day.
Buoy’s distribution now includes almost all of Oregon, much of southwest Washington and Seattle, with eastern Washington a possibility by the end of the year, Dart-McLean said.
The bigger brewing capacity will help Buoy keep up with its distribution orders and potential growth. The new building houses the new, bigger brewing system and three massive 200-barrel tanks among other fermenters. An overhead conveyor system was built to deliver beer across Riverwalk to the old brewery and its collection of lager and brite tanks.
The original building will also accommodate kegging, barrel storage, a bigger canning line and the foeder, plus Buoy’s original small-batch brewing system.
The final equipment moves -- cranes moved massive tanks into and out of rooftops -- were made in early September, and Dart-McLean said nearly every day last week the brewing team used the new system, which is close to running at full capacity.
The brewery produced 19,000 barrels of beer in 2020, and it hopes to double that by 2024. Considering its growth since brewing 3,000 barrels its first full year in 2014, the goal seems attainable.
“It’s incredible to look back to when Buoy was just an idea and see how far we have come in seven short years,” Colvin said. “In 2013 we were renovating an abandoned fish processing plant and now we’re building a beer bridge to move beer between the two brewery buildings.
“It’s been an amazing seven years, and we’re all excited to see the new brewhouse and canning line increase not only our capacity but efficiency as well.”
-- Andre Meunier; ameunier@oregonian.com
Follow me on Instagram, where I’m @oregonianbeerguy, and get my beer reviews on Untappd, where I’m andremeunier13.
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