Drink 2007: Introduction

[May 23rd, 2007] New York is the city that never sleeps. Paris is the city of love. And Portland?

Ah, yes. Portland is the city that drinks.

Or at least you might think so after taking a peek at Willamette Week's annual discerning Drinker's Guide to our fair city.

For this year's issue, as in the past, we sent out an army of local lushes—oops, writers—with the mission of kicking back a few at the cozy Kiknbaque Lounge or the even cozier Driftwood Room, as well as more than 150 other places serving beer, wine and other alcohol-fueled bevvies.*

The joints are arranged as follows:
Name of establishment, listed in alphabetical order.
Address, telephone number, and days and nights open.
Bartender's choice: A drink, anecdote or observation from the men and women who put up with your ass on a daily basis, whether they like you or not.
A brief description of said establishment.
And all the little extras that make this place special: games, video poker, happy hour, strippers and stuff like that.

We also had a fun little contest with this year's issue. The PDX Bar Worker Photo Contest gave servers, bartenders and owners the opportunity to give it their best shot and provide us with a killer photograph of their establishment. Some of them are featured on the following pages. We've also posted what we consider to be the 10 best on wweek.com . Now it's your turn to visit the website and vote for your favorite. The winner receives $300 in cash (that should buy a few rounds for the bar), and the top five vote-getters will win cool prizes like Holga cameras and other "stuff."

Be sure to check out our stories on the history of drinking in this town, a nifty roundup of local wine outlets and our quick takes on hotel bars, dance clubs and brew pubs.

We've packed a lot in the following pages. You might enjoy it better with a drink in your hand. I know I will.

Cheers,

Byron "I'm Not a Heavy Drinker" Beck

Special Sections Editor

*We've tried to cover as many places as our budget (and livers) allowed, but we might've missed one of your favorites. Perhaps it's because we don't know about it or, well, were too drunk to remember whether we went there. Whatever the case, email bbeck@wweek.com and we'll put it on our "to-drink" list.

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Barkeep: Byron Beck
Bartender: Ben Waterhouse
Imbibers: Elianna Bar-El, Stephen Marc Beaudoin, Jocelyn Brady, Wayne Bund, Michael Byrne, Bradley Campbell, Kelly Clarke, Shoshanna Cohen, William Crawford, Nick Deshais, Kat Hyatt, Nigel Jaquiss, Casey Jarman, AP Kryza, Joe Lino, Jessica Machado, Ivy Manning, Amy McCullough, Aaron Mesh, Joanna Miller, Carin Moonin, Becky Ohlsen, James Pitkin, Paige Richmond, Anika Sabin, Katie Shimer, Laura Shinn, Jason Simms, Beth Slovic, Ethan Smith, Hank Stern, Mike Thelin.
Copy Tipplers: Kat Hyatt, Ian Gillingham, Hanna Neuschwander
Art Director: Tom Humphrey
Assistant Art Director: Cari Vander Yacht
Designers: Erik Blad, Brian Brown, Maggie Gardner, Tom Humphrey, Ben Mollica, Cari Vander Yacht
Photographers: Jaclyn Campanaro, Jason Quigley, Missy Prince, Anna Shelton, Faulkner Short, and Portland's bar workers.
Publisher: Shawna Mckeown
The Art Department Thanks: Goodfoot Lounge, Slammer Tavern, Spare Room, Blue Moon Camera, Jen Lein, all the bars who submitted photos, the cover crew: Adonia, Adrian, Anna, Danny, Jade, and Bobby the light scribe.