Bar Guide 2014: Lompoc Tavern

By MARTIN CIZMAR

(NEW!) Lompoc Tavern

1620 NW 23rd Ave., 894-9374, lompocbrewing.com. 11-1 am Monday-Thursday, 11-2 am Friday-Saturday, 11am-midnight Sunday.

The new Lompoc Tavern on Northwest 23rd Avenue is a poor substitute for the delightfully shabby original—well, aside from the food, which is better now. And the beer is better and more adventurous now that it's made on a larger, cleaner system at the 5th Quadrant space in North Portland. Previously housed in an old shanty with a roof of dripping green moss and walls seemingly papered with stubbed-out cigarette butts, the Northwest Lompoc reopened last year as a neat little nook on the ground floor of a tony condo complex that also has a froyo shop. Lompoc bottles regular and imperial IPAs (Kick Axe and C-Note) along with seasonal brews like Monster Mash, but you'll want to swing by the bar for the small-batch stuff, including a playfully light-golden saison and a thick bourbon barrel-aged porter. MARTIN CIZMAR.

Happy hour: 4–6 pm, 10 pm–close daily. $3.50 Lompoc pints ($2.50 Mondays), $1 off cocktails.

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