Where We’re Excited to Drink This Week

Hammer & Stitch taproom will remind you of an earlier era of craft beer, when breweries often popped up on the industrial fringes and tracking them down felt like a scavenger hunt.

Hammer_Stitch_by Adam Babkes_night facade_1200 Hammer & Stitch (Adam Babkes)
By WW Staff

1. Jackie’s

Jackie’s, 930 SE Sandy Blvd., jackiespdx.com. 4 pm-midnight Monday-Friday, 11 am-1 am Saturday, 11 am-midnight Sunday.

It’s easy to mistake Jackie’s for its predecessor Century Bar—all dolled up with a new paint job and potted plants—but for its chic veneer, Jackie’s is a sports bar at heart. Wide-screen TVs are just about anywhere you look, playing the game at a volume level where your friends can talk trash but not have to scream in each other’s faces. The cocktail pitchers are technically the better deal per glass, but the signature house drinks are easier to switch between and worth the range. The gorgeous watermelon-hibiscus-lime agua fresca margarita was our favorite. We awarded the silver medal to the confectionary halva mule—the fruity, slightly bitter (and therefore gay icon) Ms. Pittman made due with the bronze.

2. The Red Fox

5128 N Albina Ave., 503-282-2934, redfoxpdx.com. 3 pm-midnight Sunday-Thursday, 3 pm-2 am Friday-Saturday.

The Red Fox’s entire food and drink menu consists of fewer than 10 items. That’s one way of reading this tucked-away, no-frills joint. Another way is to call it what it is—a genuine neighborhood treasure adored by all who know of its existence. The Red Fox is the very definition of “local”: It’s a small spot featuring cozy outside tables, cool music and a precious, low-key vibe.

3. Good Luck Charm

203 SE Grand Ave., facebook.com/goodluckcharmpdx. 4 pm-2:30 am Tuesday-Thursday, 4-10 pm Friday-Monday.

Formerly the Elvis Room, formerly East End, Good Luck Charm is the same old bar under a new name, with all the same Elvis Room stuff on the walls—including that enormous, mesmerizing painting of a bored-looking, long-hair cat. New menu, new drinks, who dis? Good Luck Charm’s basement has a powerful chill and a secondary, subterranean bar that opens on weekends or “when it gets busy.”

4. Hammer & Stitch

2377 NW Wilson St., 971-254-8982, hsbrew.co. 11:30 am-8 pm Wednesday-Thursday, 11:30 am -9 pm Friday-Saturday, 11:30 am-7:30 pm Sunday.

A visit to the Hammer & Stitch taproom will remind you of an earlier era of craft beer, when breweries often popped up on the industrial fringes and tracking them down felt like a scavenger hunt. The brewery’s motto is “Keep it simple stupid,” but “simple” does not equate to dull. The lager stands out for its bracing minimalism—each straw yellow sip is light, crisp and offers a quick burst of bubbles.

5. Roadside Attraction

1000 SE 12th Ave., 503-233-0743. 3-11 pm daily.

Shrouded in foliage and draped in all sorts of rusting accoutrements, from license plates to dock equipment, the front patio of Roadside Attraction has always felt like a refuge from the modern world. That it’s still cash only after all these years only exacerbates the sense that the place somehow exists off the grid.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.