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Salt is the secret to Whiskey Soda Lounge's jelly beer
(also known as "bia wun," "beer woon"), which Andy Ricker's profitable
Pok Pok waiting room has been serving for five summers now, enough so
that people have forgotten it was a waiting room and not a destination
unto itself—amid Division's born-yesterday hordes, it's now almost a
classic rather than an arriviste. The machine that makes the popular
jelly beer, which looks like a grocery-store wine chiller but also has a
built-in agitator, is filled with saltwater that gets below freezing.
When you order one, the bartender tosses a 12-ounce bottle of Singha
Thai beer in the tub until it freezes. The bartender gets a straw ready,
cracks the top and tells you to get sipping. The frozen suds spurt out,
meaning you have to suck hard and fast. It's reason enough to visit.
Our Favorite 178 Portland Bars | Bar of the Year: Stammtisch | Best Bars No. 2-5
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WWeek 2015