Pursuant to our recent visit to Public Coast Brewing in Cannon Beach in May, I mentioned that I’d made the extra time to be able to explore Cannon Beach rather than having to rush. In particular I’d wanted the chance to visit Bill’s Tavern & Brewhouse, the OG brewpub in town. It was also a gorgeous 84 degrees the day we arrived, so we had to hit the beach too.

Bill’s Tavern & Brewhouse doesn’t have an online presence that I can find; the closest is this unofficial Facebook page. Bill’s has been brewing since 1997, though the tavern business itself has been around quite a bit longer. Jack Harris was the first brewer, and his tenure last nine years before leaving to open Fort George Brewery up the coast in Astoria. Beers are brewed on a 7-barrel brewhouse and there were eight on tap when we visited.

Because we’d be eating a big dinner later with Public Coast Brewing, we opted for a light lunch, splitting a chicken strips basket. I paired it with a pint of Mayger Amber, which was fairly roasty (not something I’d expect) with a hefty dose of caramel malts. I followed that up with a half-pint of Peated Porter with Rye, which was tasty and as advertised—a light peaty smokiness with a touch of rye spice.

The beers were fine, I enjoyed the Porter a bit more, and the chicken and fries hit the spot. Overall, my impression (granted, not spending too much time there and only a first visit) was that Bill’s straddles the “working class pub” and the “resort town tourist stop” roles pretty well, and I’d love to come back and try the other beers some time.

Here is a gallery of additional photo’s I snapped while at Bill’s Tavern:

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After Bill’s, we strolled through downtown, checking out the boutique shops and attractions. I recommend stopping in to the Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe, especially on a hot day—we got milkshakes to go, and they were delicious. I also discovered a cool, off-the-beaten-track bookstore in a bit of a nook that was charming (no beer books that I could find, though)—Jupiter’s Books. There are some great finds to be had if you explore a bit.

Make no mistake, however, Cannon Beach is a resort and tourist town. There are tourists, and traffic, and you’ll be paying tourist prices. The congestion isn’t nearly as bad as Seaside (well, to be fair, I’ve traveled through Seaside during the height of summer but only visited Cannon Beach in the shoulder season, so it might be as bad or worse), but tourism is the foundation and lifeblood of the town, so keep that in mind when visiting. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but be prepared.

One of our last stops before preparing for dinner was the Cannon Beach Distillery, just a block away from Pelican Brewing’s local brewpub. This was a funky, fun space with some interesting variety of spirits including rums, agave spirits (similar to tequila), gins, whiskeys, and more. I got a sample of three spirits, and while at this juncture I don’t recall exactly what I ordered, I do know that one was the Xalapa Agave with jalapeno, which was quite interesting.

A sad note about the Distillery: the owner announced on Facebook that due to the cost of doing business with the OLCC in Oregon, he will be seeking to sell or close the business within the next year and move to Colorado. Which is really too bad because CBD by all rights should thrive in a town like Cannon Beach. We’ll see what the future brings.

It was at the Distillery that we met up with D.J. Paul of Brewpublic and then wandered over to the Pelican pub to check out the space and grab a beer.

It’s a big space, airy and open with plenty of exposed wood. The full lineup of Pelican’s beer are featured on tap, though many are brewed at the Tillamook and Pacific City facilities. I opted for a locally-brewed one, Azacca Player, which was a limited-release single hop beer brewed with—you guessed it—Azacca hops. It was crisp and tasty and a good way to finish pre-gaming before dinner.

The rest of the evening consisted of the beer dinner at Public Coast which I wrote about here. The next morning was another beautiful day, and spent some time getting up close with Haystack Rock and the tidepools before breakfast.

We had time to kill with a full day available, and flirted with the idea of staying an extra night. Ultimately a friend suggested driving up to Astoria (only 25 miles north), which sounded like a fine idea (and isn’t too much farther from home than Cannon Beach overall). So we trekked north, and made a few stops.

The first was Buoy Beer Company, for a light lunch and, well, a beer. We’d only been to Buoy once before a few years back, and it was past time for another visit. It was low key; I had a salad and a 10-ounce glass (half pint) of Cream Ale which was a generous pour. Ironically, it turns out the previous time we visited Buoy I had the Cream Ale then as well… it’s that good!

After lunch was a stop at Frite & Scoop for some ice cream, which is probably the best ice cream place in town though the parking situation is terrible. We walked down the nearby dock with the ice cream to look out over the water of the  Columbia River and I couldn’t help but be fascinated by this car:

I don’t know why it’s there or what the story is. But there should be a local beer inspired by it.

Three final quick-ish stops before we left town: Reveille Cider, Reach Break Brewing, and Bridge & Tunnel Bottleshop. I posted about all three last year (albeit in a photo dump, rather than a full writeup), all three are just down the block from Fort George Brewery and Reveille and Reach Break share a building, although they have to cordon off their respective patio spaces from each other.

We sampled several ciders at Reveille, then I sampled a couple of Reach Break beers before settling on a crowler to go of the Stone Miner, a 7% abv “Grisette Supériere” brewed with peach and apricot. Perusing B&T across the street, we found several additional beers to pick up to bring home.

All told it’s pretty hard to beat the north Oregon Coast on a warm sunny day, and as a bonus, the tourist traffic was minimal. I’m already looking forward to the next trip up that way.