USA, OR: Newport’s newest brewery open for business

After months of constructing and careful planning, Newport’s newest brewery is open for business in the Canyon Way building that some long-time local residents will remember as Pop’s, the Newport News Times reported on August 27.

“It’s been a long road,” said Brodie Becksted, owner and manager of the brewery. “It’s been over two years, so we’re pretty excited to get it open.”

The brewery, which opens with the accompanying restaurant, The Anchor at Newport Brewing Company, will have a variety of original craft beers on tap, including a lager, a pilsner, a pale ale called the Yaquina Sunrise, a Dungeness IPA and a hazy double IPA, along with a “Rockfish” stout and the “Salty Big” rosé.

“I’m a lager guy, so that’s what I’m drinking right now,” Becksted said Friday afternoon, the day before opening to the public. “We have some non-alcoholic beverages. We have a full bar with all the alcohol, wine, and we have hard seltzers, too.”

Each of the seven original brews served up at the brewery’s opening night aren’t the only original beers to be brewed on site. Within another week, Newport Brewing Company staff will have another couple of brews ready — an English oatmeal stout and a fruity kettle sour.

“We’ll have a kettle sour with a bunch of fruits and stuff,” said Sam Zermeño, the brewer. “It’s pretty popular with the ladies.”

That sour is made with hibiscus, berries and milk sugar to balance out the tart, Zermeño said.

“It gives it a little bit of sweet so it doesn’t overly bite your palate with tartness. I add a little bit of vanilla bean at the end as a dry hop, and it all plays really well together.”

Food prices will range from $7 to $30, depending on the dish, slightly higher than the prices offered by the fledgling brewery’s local competitors. However, Becksted hopes the modern, industrial vibe of the brewery will fill the hole in the local market he saw prior to opening.

“We have a really big brewery across the bay, and I figured it would be neat to do something a little different out here,” Becksted said.

The craft beer, too, is unique at the brewery, according to the in-house brewer.

“I don’t see a lot of people doing the styles of beers I’m going to be doing here,” Zermeño said. “We’re going to be doing some pretty interesting kettle sours and hazy IPAs. Those are pretty trendy still, and we’ll be doing a handful of those I think will be pretty popular.”

The opening of the brewery’s doors isn’t the last of the new business’s development. Becksted has plans to expand what the brewery offers and use the feedback he and staff get from customers.

“We have plans to expand and add more tanks, add a canning line, more distribution,” Becksted said. “This is just a start, really.”

29 August, 2019