Summers Endl | Crusty Bread • Fresh Beer • Salty Air

SUMMER’S END

There’s always a little sadness when summer starts slipping away. The days get shorter, the evenings cool off, and eventually we all start finding our way back indoors.

For me, that means baking bread again. It means the first cool-weather trips to the coast, a fresh beer at Fort George, something warm and crusty from Blue Scorcher next door, and that salty Astoria air that somehow feels completely different once fall is on its way.

That’s where Summer’s End came from.

Warm, crusty bread meets the bright, slightly bitter freshness of a just-poured beer and cool salt air drifting in from the coast. It’s comforting and familiar, but still has that little bit of open-road freedom — like sneaking away for one more coastal afternoon before the rain really settles in.

And then there’s our sad little roadside bear, surrounded by signs promising food, drink, and places to go, looking like he’d give anything to leave his post and join everybody else. He just felt right for a scent about saying goodbye to summer while looking forward to all the small traditions that come next.

A little melancholy. A lot of comfort. And one last good day before fall.