The Liquor Store

By Jay Horton

Passers-by still ask if the Liquor Store sells liquor, and patrons smoking outside still aren't sure how to respond. Does a tailor sell fabric? Happy-hour regulars at the Belmont Street bar and club are drawn in for enlightened takes on bar-food staples—the Timberline chef drops by each Monday to help out with happy-hour pizza—while the nightly invasion of dressed-to-impress concertgoers depends more on the venue's top-shelf sound system and eclectic booking. With interiors showcasing an embarrassment of purposeless signifiers (vintage newspapers, stacks of vinyl, clarinet, pot-bellied stove), the space can seem like a satire of a grad-student Tinder profile. But in the end, a good bar exceeds the sum of its parts no less than a good drink: $10 for a divine Seelbach affords not just the expert preparation of rarefied ingredients (whiskey, bitters, cava float, Créole Shrubb liqueur), but also a temporary pied-à-terre that attracts the cream of like-minded drinking partners. Many places sell liquor, after all, but leisure is only available for rent.

HAPPY HOUR: 4-7 pm daily. $1 off draft beers and signature cocktails, $2-$6 plates.

ENTERTAIMENT: Silent-screen classics are continuously projected against the back wall. Up-and-coming bands take the subterranean stage most evenings.

3341 SE Belmont St., 503-754-7782, theliquorstorepdx.com. 4 pm-2:30 am daily.

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