Bar Guide 2014: Ecliptic Brewing

By Rebecca Jacobson

Ecliptic Brewing

825 N Cook St., 265-8002, eclipticbrewing.com. 11 am-10 pm Sunday-Thursday, 11 am-midnight Friday-Saturday.

Whether or not you've been to Ecliptic Brewing, you've almost certainly had John Harris' beer. The Oregon brewing luminary perfected the recipes for Deschutes' Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Ale, plus McMenamins' Hammerhead. Harris spent three decades working under others, most recently at Full Sail. Now, he's his own boss, running a just-opened brewpub in a colossal former auto-body shop just off of Mississippi Avenue. The space pays homage to Harris' love of astronomy, with constellations pinpricked in the concrete walls, and the beers are named after stars. Try the supremely balanced Procyon Pale Ale or the Spica Hefepils, which is bottom-fermented like a Pilsner but unfiltered—it's a cloudy golden lager with a pleasant, lingering bitterness. The mildly roasty Mintaka Stout and the softly herbal Spica HefePils, especially, are well-suited to food pairing. Get them with the sweet and spicy drumsticks ($9), expertly confited and sparked with a caramelly sauce. REBECCA JACOBSON.

Happy Hour: 3-6 pm daily. $1 off pints and specialty cocktails, $2 off select food items.   

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