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Like any good prospector, Prospect Bottleshop & Bar (1611 NE Killingsworth St., 971-229-0422, prospectbottleshop.com)
understands the importance of location. Northeast 16th Avenue and
Killingsworth Street was, until recently, an odd gap in the fabric of
fast-gentrifying Concordia, plugged only with Podnah's Pit. When I lived
there seven years ago, a team of drug addicts crowded around the nearby minimart pay phone day and night, making weird noises. But now, there's a
pleasant little tea shop stocked by an owner who spent months traveling
in China. The block will soon boast Handsome Pizza and, in the middle
of it all, Prospect, bringing wine, beer and cider to a stretch of
street that has none of that. Sure, Prospect's got the bright lighting
and art-pocked white walls of a dentist's reception area. And the Base
Camp and can-heavy selection in the beer coolers speaks mostly to
neighborhood drinkers on their way to the mountain. But I'm going to be
here anyway, and so should you. Why? First off, they encourage you to
bring your own food, which means you can laugh at all the people waiting
in line for brisket at Podnah's or La Taq as you cart your takeout next
door to Prospect, where there's wine aplenty and five seasonal beers on
tap, including Commons Zoigl—an obscure and clean Bavarian lager style.
But especially I'll come for the selection of Basque, Asturian and
French ciders. Most shops favor local, but the owner here is a
legitimate fan of the old cider ways—beautifully tannic concoctions made
from the bitterest of apples, unfiltered, with sediment on the bottom like a river that could be panned for the purest gold.
WWeek 2015