Never Enough Cool Pubs

Many of you have been to and raved about the Victory Bar. For those of you who haven't--or, God forbid can't--let me paint a quick picture. It's a neighborhood place on the never-quite-as-cool-as-it's-neighboring-streets Division St. Obama's HQ used to be down the road--evidence that the property value to coolness ratio was just right. It's about the size of a big Starbucks, dark, and cozy. The music playlist oscillates between funk and late Motown to avant retro white, like Joy Division and the Velvet Underground. You can imagine how they manage therefore to swing catering simutaneously to old beerhounds like me and young, svelte people drinking cocktails. (Perhaps by dint of habit, the bartender carded me. First time in a decade.)

It will not uniformly delight the masses. They've gone for a very specific (and to me, pleasurable) vibe. But that's what's great about independent, corrner bars. I only wish there were about a hundred more.

(I'm here now, writing this on my iPhone, drinking a Russian River Salvation. Perfect.)

You Loves the Horse Brass

Big surprise.

I have now closed the poll, and with 105 votes in, the Horse Brass is the big winner. But the rest of the findings were less predictable. The next two pubs, which had only slightly less support, have opened in the past year or so. Some of the old standards didn't stack up as well. Below are the final results:

Pub___________________Votes____%
Horse Brass_____________30____29%
Bailey's Taproom________25____24%
Green Dragon____________23____22%
Concordia Ale House_____11____10%
Moon and Sixpence________5_____5%
Higgins__________________4_____4%
Pilsner Room_____________3_____3%
Produce Row______________2_____2%
The Henry________________2_____2%

I guess I thought Produce Row would attract a little more attention, and possibly the Henry (though its upscale vibe and density of Pearlies puts it at odds culturally with the Lucky Lab types whom I assume occupy a large percent of this blog's readership). I'll reflect on my view of our best pubs at least by Saturday. I've been meaning to do it as a part of this series.

Thanks to all who voted--

Your Favorite Portland Pub

I'm going to keep voting open until I get 100 responses (I'm at 75 now). So please vote if you haven't already:

It's nearly a three-way tie so far:

28% Horse Brass
25% Bailey's Taproom
21% Green Dragon

So get your vote in before I close the poll down.

Portland's Best Pubs

So, realizing that my noon-3pm slot would no longer be occupied by the Cheers to Belgian Beers event (which, contrary to reports, starts at three along with the UCLA-Memphis game), I went grocery shopping. Saturday afternoon's a bad time to go grocery shopping, so I had a chance to study Portland Monthly's Best Bars article. Of 50 places, they devoted a total of four to pubs specializing in beer: Horse Brass (no-brainer), Higgins, Green Dragon, and the Henry. In a town famous for beer, it's instructive that the self-appointed city mag devotes only 8% of its top fifty to suds.

So let's use those as a base and expand it a bit. What's your fave pub? I'll leave this up for a few days and post my list of best alehouse/taprooms in town next week.

Bailey's Taproom

213 SW Broadway
Hours: Mon-Sat, 4 pm - Midnight

Here is the dilemma: you have friends coming in from out of town, and they want to sample from the feast that is Beervana. They instinctively want to go to a brewpub, but you know that this will limit the feast--no matter how good Roots Coconut Porter may be, you can't get a Ninkasi Believer or Hair of the Dog Blue Dot there.

Options have heretofore included 80% solutions, workable, but provisional: The Henry, with an amazing selection but cheater pints and yuppie atmosphere; the Horse Brass, good selection but a haze of cigarette smoke; Higgins, with a great selection of international beers, but modest locals. And so on.

Fortunately, Portland now has a 100% solution with the newly-opened Bailey's Taproom, just across Ankeny from the Tugboat downtown. It is smoke-free, centrally-located, has a great list of taps, and serves beer in 20-ounce imperial glasses. That's the superfecta of taprooms!

But the accolades don't stop there. This is a place that's all about beer, and it has the best selection in the city--period. The website is updated regularly, so check back to see what's pouring. As an example, here are some of the beers pouring today--many rare enough that you'll find them at only a handful of places, if at all:

• Deschutes Green Lakes
• Raccoon Lodge Tempter Tripel
• Hair of the Dog Greg
• Full Sail Vesuvious
• Ninkasi Ceridwen Harvest Lager
• Double Mountain Pale Ale

The bottle list features mainly out-of-staters, but includes some beers that have garnered national attention, like Ommegang Three Philosophers (NY), North Coast Brother Thelonius (CA), and Allagash Grand Cru (ME). They also have a well-selected, if small offering of Oregon wine, so you can take non-beery types. Food is limited, cafe-style, to cheese and chocolate, but these both go beautifully with wine and beer. Tres continental.

But don't be put off--it's not as upscale in feel as the menu suggests. There is a living-room area for lounging, and cafe tables for discussion and food. It actually has a bit of a coffeehouse feel, and with the free wi-fi, you can end your day in front of a computer with a more suitable beverage. When I was there, just after work last Friday, the four groups of people who came in were serious beer folk, downscale in jeans and flannel.

I see why--this is mecca for a beer geek.