Food & Drink How does one gauge the best beer one had when one spends the entire year playing a game called "I Want to Drink Every Beer Made?" Does he pick the beer where the taste of hops linger long past the pint emptying? Does he opt for the sour ale that visiting beer geeks contemplate pouring our travel shampoo bottles just to sneak 3.2 ounces back home? In my case, I’ll pick the one I’m kicking myself ...   More

SCOOP The most successful local theater production of the year was Sweeney Todd, which sold 19,859 tickets at Portland Center Stage. Patton Oswalt wasHelium Comedy Club’sbiggest draw, selling outall three   More

Food & Drink It's that time of the year again: When newspapers take a break from reporting actual news and pad column inches with "the year that was" facts and retrospectives. In compiling ours (look out for it on Wednesday!) we queried the OLCC with the top selling liquor in Oregon this year. Being able to track this kind of data is one of the few advantages to this nanny control state of ours. So what was Oregon ...   More

Food & Drink After two weeks of slim pickings, a torrent of new liquor license applications.Katie Potter and Christopher Loverro have applied to open a cafe, The Hazel Room, in the building at 3279 SE Hawthorne Blvd. that formerly housed the Dollar Scholar and currently houses the Mag Big crafts/art/fashion shop.A 7-Eleven will soon open in the former Blockbuster Video on Southeast Foster Road, to the delight of ...   More

Devour 2012 Top Picks: Clear Creek Distillery to meet the master.CorksCru to feel the chill in your bonesHollywood Fred Meyer for volume.Saraveza ’cause it’s so darn cute.Stone Barn Brandyworks to    More

Cover Story Steve Pharo has something just outside his Milwaukie office door that Joe Gilliam wants—$70 million worth of vodka, whiskey, tequila and every other distilled spirit sold in Oregon. PHARO - IM   More

Drank Well, that about says it all, doesn’t it? This new release from Portland’s Deco Distilling is Christmas in a bottle: a very sweet, thick, rum-based liqueur with strong flavors of clove, cinnam   More

News The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has extended its "temporary" 50 cent surcharge on each bottle of distilled spirits. The surcharge was supposed to end June 30. But thanks to a unanimous commission vote this week, the surcharge will now be in effect until at least June 30, 2011. The reasons for extending the surcharge two more years? To generate an estimated $27 million over that time period ...   More