Heading for a few days camping near Florence (OR). Gonna drive a bit down the South Oregon coast..its always been a bad beer destination ( except for a few years in the early-mid 90s. The Places section is virtually empty. Haven't seen any reviews for Wakonda brews for about 2 years. Anyone know about a place not on the Places list? After Salem getting better, seems to South Oregon coast is the only real beer desert in Oregon. Surrpising Coos bay area is a pretty good sized town
Wish I had better news for you, but... The GF and I did a day trip drive to Florence this past weekend (Saturday). We strolled around the Bayfront area near the river (where all the tourist shops and trendy restaurants are), and I walked into several different places, before going with the tried and true Beachcombers. Unfortunatelly, this still seems to be your best bet in Florence by far... I think they had close to 20 different craft options on tap, as well as a modest size cold box on the right as you walk in from the street. They also sell growlers there now, and pricing is very reasonable I thought. It's been a few years since I was last in Florence, and previous visits, you could generally find Wakonda beers at a couple of different places (at least) around town. Not this time. I didn't see there stuff anywhere, and when I asked about them at Beachcombers, no one was able to tell me anything about them. So I don't know what the story is with them now (the website seems to indicate that they're still active), but for whatever reason, their beers don't seem to be available around town any more (at least not that I saw). Sorry.
Ah well it was the camping i was looking forward to anyway! Its a strange part of Oregon for beer..or lack of. Wonder why?
Yeah, makes no sense to me either. Florence gets a lot of tourists, and it's obvious a lot of folks wandering around have money and seem fairly affluent. Also, beachcombers seeme to be doing a pretty good business... so yeah, given that demographic, you'd think there'd be more of a craft beer presence in the area. Yet for whatever reason, there just isn't...
Looks like we got signs of life in Coos Bay https://www.facebook.com/7DevilsBrewingCo Unfortunately too late for my visit
I stopped by the Wakonda taproom a few years back, and had quite a good time. The beers were pretty tasty. It's kind of out there in an industrial park near the airport, but worth a visit.
Strange that the legendary Roger's Zoo escaped any notice of BA'ers for more than 25 years. Now that location is called Liberty Pub and I think they do pizzas and good beer like the old Zoo, which was quirky and maybe a little too unkempt for some people. Liberty Pub is in North Bend and likely has the best taps in the area.
