Skip to main content
INSIDE PORTLAND
Higgins
1239 SW Broadway, 503-222-9070, higginsportland.com.
Higgins was the first fine-dining spot in Portland to focus on beer from local breweries, and in their classic wood-grain bar they always keep one cask-conditioned beer from a local brewery on tap—recently a 12-percent Orange Giant barleywine from Ecliptic.
Toffee Club
1006 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 971-254-9518, toffeeclubpdx.com.
In the site of the former Hawthorne Strip, Toffee Club is an English-style soccer pub owned by English fans of footie. The cask beers are often English styles from American breweries, most recently a best bitter from Machine House.
The Moon and Sixpence
2014 NE 42nd Ave., 503-288-7802.
At British pub Moon and Sixpence, you can always get a cask-conditioned pull of North Coast's Red Seal Ale—one of the West Coast's most esteemed hoppy, malty classics. A second cask rotates, recently pouring a hoppy, malty Double Mountain IRA.
The Rookery
1331 SW Broadway, 503-222-7673, ravenandrosepdx.com.
This upstairs bar inside the Ladd Carriage House, an English stick-style building from 1883, keeps a cask with exceptional next-wave beers suited for it, such as Ancestry Brewing's ESB.
Horse Brass
4534 SE Belmont St., 503-232-2202, horsebrass.com.
If you only drink one beer from Rogue all year, make it a Younger's Special Bitter from the cask at Horse Brass, inspired by Younger's classic session ale. Horse Brass has two more cask taps that rotate among local beermakers.
Bailey's Taproom
213 SW Broadway, 503-295-1004, baileystaproom.com.
The Westside's finest taproom, Bailey's, bought its beer engine as a first birthday present back in 2008. And every week since, they've rotated in a new cask beer—refusing to keep it on tap for longer than four days.
Cider Riot!
807 NE Couch St., 503-662-8275, ciderriot.com.
In November, Cider Riot inaugurated a festival devoted to cask ciders and beer—the Pressing Matters Proper Cider and Real Ale Festival—and often keeps a vintage or special cider in a cask on the bar, whether their 1763 or Kingston Black.
County Cork
1329 NE Fremont St., 503-284-4805.
Friendly, low-key Irish spot the County Cork regularly keeps a rotating cask at the bar serving up IPAs, stouts, ales or what-have-you.
Deschutes
210 NW 11th Ave., 503-296-4906, deschutesbrewery.com.
Deschutes' Portland outpost always keeps a cask beer on tap, which can range from cask-conditioned takes on classics like Mirror Pond pale to its off-the-wall collaborations with Hair of the Dog.
Cascade Brewing Barrel House
939 SE Belmont St., 503-265-8603, cascadebrewingbarrelhouse.com.
Cascade makes a dramatic show of tapping a cask beer each and every Tuesday, when guest tappers potentially make a horrible mess while opening up specialty and one-off beers.
Bar Avignon
2138 SE Division St., 503-517-0808, baravignon.com.
A French eatery known for wine and oysters, Bar Avignon also offers a cask tap they're kind enough to discount by a dollar every weekday from 5-6 pm.
Lucky Lab
915 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-236-3555, luckylab.com.
Lucky Lab is devoted to a lot of the English styles, and accordingly rotates a cask line among their Blue Dog English Pale Ale, Black Lab Stout, or bitters, like their Hawthorne's Best.
Roscoe's
8105 SE Stark St., 503-255-0049, roscoespdx.com.
Montavilla beer bar Roscoe's always devotes a tap to cask beer, recently an Apres Milk Stout from Migration, along with 19 other beers on tap.
Woodsman Tavern
4537 SE Division St., 971-373-8264, woodsmantavern.com.
Perhaps it's owner Duane Sorenson's deep love of the Horse Brass, but swanky cocktail eatery Woodsman Tavern always keeps two beers on cask.
Interurban
4057 N Mississippi Ave., 503-284-6669, interurbanpdx.com.
Interurban has developed a reputation for doing everything well, from beer to cocktails to food, and so of course it has a rotating cask.
Belmont Station
4500 SE Stark St., 503-232-8538, belmont-station.com.
Belmont Station may be the only beer bar in town with a perpetual mead cask—usually a Dansk Mjød from Denmark—tapped alongside a rotating beer cask.
OUTSIDE PORTLAND
Brewers Union Local 180
48329 E 1st St., Oakridge, 541-782-2024, brewersunion.com.
To get an old-school English ale from Oregon's only cask-only brewery, you'll have to visit the country town of Oakridge, east of Eugene. The scenery, and the beer, make the trip worth it.
Block 15
300 SW Jefferson Ave., Corvallis, 541-758-2077, block15.com.
At their spacious downtown Corvallis restaurant, Block 15 always keeps a cask-conditioned ale available, usually sifting between their darker brews like amber and porter.
Santiam
2544 19th St. SE, Salem, 503-689-1260, santiambrewing.com.
Santiam has a dedicated "cask bar" featuring four cellar temperature casks—two dedicated to Stonehenge IPA and Spitfire ESB flagships, and two more that rotate among other Santiam brews.
Plank Town
346 Main St., Springfield, 541-746-1890, planktownbrewing.com.
Springfield's Plank Town, just east of Eugene, always serves two of its beers conditioned in casks, recently a barrel-aged amber and a Highland Skirt Scottish brew.