Skip to main content
6716 SE 16th Ave., 971-279-2198, bibleclubpdx.com. 5-midnight Wednesday-Thursday, 5 pm-1 am Friday-Saturday, 4-11 pm Sunday.
Established: March 11, 2016
At Sellwood "speakeasy" the Bible Club, liquor's legal, the address is available to anyone with a phone and there are no passwords or fake-secret knocks. If anything, bartenders Nathan Elliott and Jessica Braasch are even more welcoming cocktail ambassadors than other mixologists in town. But then, they have to be. In an off-track house bar where everything is a century old except the Square machine—from vintage cash register to vintage dial phone to the giant Bible Club sign that gave the bar its name—more than half the customers are from out of town, here for an old-tyme cocktail-bar experience so dense it makes Epcot seem like underkill. Really, the place looks less like a bar than the home of an octogenarian hoarder, a 3-D Grey Gardens for drunks with twirly mustaches.
But from a peaty Scotch-on-Scotch Penicillin ($14) that could disinfect a surgical knife to a $16 Log Road Legger whose rye picks up savory notes from chanterelle syrup and rosemary, the drinks easily outshine the crystal glasses, velvet titty paintings and lace doilies. Not in the mood for fuss? In the summer, there's a much cheaper patio bar out back, with bottle cocktails and eight beer taps.
Bar story: Bible Club is the lifelong dream of a former San Francisco jewelry maker whose legal name is Ryk Maverick—no relation to Lovecraft's Jon Horrid, apparently.
Welcome to Bar Guide 2017 | Where To Find a Copy of Bar Guide 2017
The 100 Best Bars in Portland | How We Selected Them
Bar of the Year 2017: Bar Casa Vale
2. Century | 3. The Know | 4. Lombard House | 5. The Old Portland
Portland's Party Patios, Porches and Rooftops | Scumbag Breakfasts, Ranked
$6-and-Under Happy Hour Burgers | Portland's Finest Restaurant Bars | Late-Night Happy Hours | $1 Oyster Happy Hour Deals | Best Bar Pizzas | Dope Discount Nachos | Fancy Jell-O Shots | Tapas
Where to Play Shuffleboard | Pinball | Pool Halls