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Portland has become something of a base for up-and-coming alternative-rock bands, which perform in clubs scattered throughout the city. Good jazz groups perform nightly in a handful of bars as well.
Portland’s most diverting neighborhoods for bar-hopping are, not surprisingly, its favored dining districts, too—the West End, Pearl District, and Nob Hill on the west side of the Willamette River, within walking distance (or a streetcar ride) of downtown hotels; Alberta Street, North Mississippi Avenue, East Burnside Street in the 20s, the Central East Side, Belmont Street, Hawthorne Boulevard, and Division Street on the East Side. Note that many of the restaurants listed in Where to Eat also double as highly popular nightspots; especially notable for sipping and socializing are Bluehour, Clyde Common, Departure, Interurban, Irving Street Kitchen, RingSide Steakhouse, Smallwares, and Veritable Quandary.
The best way to experience quite a few of the city's hottest spots is to check out the happy hour menus offered at most Portland bars; these offer excellent deals on both food and drinks. Typically, bars present late-afternoon happy hour deals from about 4 until 6 pm; a smaller number of establishments also offer late-night happy hours from 9 or 10 until typically 11 or midnight.
It’s worth noting that Portland is a bit less of a late-night destination than many cities its size—chalk this up, perhaps, to the local love of the outdoors, as many locals like to set out early on weekend mornings for road trips, hikes, and bike rides. Bars often become quite crowded by late afternoon or early evening, and they tend to peak in popularity—even on weekends—by midnight. You’ll find some exceptions downtown, especially among the handful of warehouse-style dance clubs around Old Town and Chinatown, which pulse well beyond last call (2 am).
Portland’s reputation for high-quality microbreweries rivals that of any city in the country; you’ll find dozens of small breweries around town producing hoppy IPAs (Oregonians tend to favor crisp, aromatic, bitter beers), complex Belgian-inspired saisons, unfiltered farmhouse-style beers, potent barley wines, rich porters, and luscious stouts. Most of them serve food to complement their brews, and several others have food carts parked beside them and encourage patrons to bring food inside from other restaurants to snack while they sip. "Brew theaters," former neighborhood movie houses where patrons enjoy food, suds, and both recent and vintage theatrical releases, are part of the microbrewery phenomenon here . Many are branches of McMenamins, a locally owned chain of quirky bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and hotels, many of them installed in restored historic buildings.
In recent years, a number of artisanal distilleries and boutique wineries have opened in Portland; most have tasting rooms open during weekends and some weekdays, usually during the afternoon and early evening (some are listed as Sights). A wine-tasting rooms stay open late and serve food and other drinks and are listed in Nightlife.
From the preponderance of coffeehouses around town, it may be safe to assume that espresso flows through the veins of Portlanders. Indeed, the city has been at the forefront of the nation’s artisanal coffee-roasting movement. It’s the home of the now nationally renowned Stumptown Coffee as well as a few hundred indie cafés around the city, many serving their own house-roasted beans and others serving Stumptown or other locally favored beans, such as Coava and Water Avenue Coffee. Many Portland coffeehouses close by 6 or 7 at night, but you will find a few late-evening options. Regardless of when you stop in, the social vibe and eclectic crowd is typically similar to those of local bars (a fair share of Portland coffeehouses also serve beer, wine, and even cocktails).
Although Portland has a sizable and highly visible gay community, there’s no LGBT nightlife district per se. For years there were several gay bars in the West End, but all but one of these (Scandal’s) has closed or moved. Old Town and the downtown blocks near it have about a half-dozen gay bars of varying popularity, but this is very much a city where gay and mainstream culture blend together, and many—perhaps most—LGBT Portlanders hang out at the same bars and lounges as everybody else. Especially in hip East Side neighborhoods like Alberta, Mississippi, Hawthorne, and the Central East Side, you’ll typically encounter a mixed gay–straight crowd at most establishments.
A minimal aesthetic defines this on-trend hangout in Slabtown. Potted plants hang above the bar and candles illuminate tables lining the street-facing windows. Expert bartenders shake up classic cocktails and fizzy highballs prepared with locally inspired ingredients like Douglas fir brandy, and a curated list of Pacific Northwest and Old World wines. The food menu is farm-driven and changes seasonally.
This laid-back brewpub and pioneer of the Northwest sour-beer movement is a good place for friends and sour-beer lovers to share tart flights of several varieties, including Blackcap Raspberry, Kriek, and potent (10.1% ABV) Sang Noir. You'll find 24 rotating taps, small plates, and sandwiches to complement the sour beers, and ample outdoor seating.
Part of the Central East Side's burgeoning wine scene, this urban winery and taproom is set inside a dramatic and spacious Quonset-hut structure, which was once home to an auto-repair shop. Order any of the outstanding wines produced on-site, or delve into the happily esoteric menu of unusual wines from all over the West Coast, with a few French varieties in the mix. The kitchen turns out seriously good food, too. The only drawback here is that Coopers Hall is closed to the public on weekends, when it's booked with events.
A favorite LGBTQ+ hangout in the Central East Side, Crush serves up tasty pub grub, strong cocktails, and DJ-fueled dance parties. The front section is mellow and good for conversation, while the back area contains a small but lively dance floor, and there's a large sidewalk patio as well.
Fans of boldly flavored brews flock to this spacious, airy brewery and pub at the south end of the Mississippi strip, which also has a big pup-friendly patio that's abuzz with revelers on summer afternoons. Founder John Harris is as obsessed with astronomy as he is with beer, hence the cosmic names of beers, which include Quasar Pale Ale and Phobos Single Hop Red Ale. Brewery tours are offered at noon three times a week.
Based in a large garage-like space in Southeast Portland's trendy Buckman neighborhood, ENSO produces superb wines, including Malbec, Dry Riesling, and the especially popular L'American blend of Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. The high-ceilinged, industrial-chic tasting lounge—with exposed air ducts, a timber-beam ceiling, and a wall of windows (open on warm days)—serves local cheese and charcuterie plates and other tasty snacks.
Operated by Kyle Webster and his wife, celeb-chef partner Naomi Pomeroy, this intimate, candlelit spot has a devoted following for its balanced, boozy cocktails and addictively delicious Asian bar snacks, like Burmese coconut noodles and Laotian-inspired ahi tacos. Each of the eight nightly cocktails are meticulously crafted.
Revisit your teen years at this massive, old-school Old Town arcade filled with more than 100 classic arcade games and about 50 pinball machines, including vintage Atari, Super Nintendo, and Killer Queen. There are two full bars and a kitchen serving reliably good nachos, tacos, and ice-cream sundaes—and now that you are no longer a teen, you can have as much as you like. Over 21 after 5 pm.
An intimate and inclusive neighborhood music venue, with balcony seating and old Oriental rugs covering the standing-room-only floor, community-oriented Mississippi Studios offers high-quality live music performances every night of the week in a wide range of genres. Between sets, you can jump back and forth from the adjacent BarBar, a hip, comfortable bar serving delicious burgers and vegan fare and a covered back patio.
Southeast Portland's stately early-1900s former Washington High School building has been converted into a state-of-the-art concert hall, featuring noted pop and world-beat music acts and comedians, from Steve Earle to Tig Notaro, plus film festivals and other intriguing events. There are two bars on-site, including a roof deck (April–October) with great views of the Downtown skyline.
This debonair basement space has an elegant marble bar, dark-wood paneling, and a beautiful backlit bar. The specialty here, as the name suggests, is whiskey—in both cocktail and sipping form. And there's superb bar food (steak tartare, softshell-crab sandwiches) to boot. Reservations aren't a bad idea here, especially on weekends.
Located next door to the roastery, the light and open, bamboo wood–filled Coava Coffee Roasters offers some of the highest-quality single-origin, pour-over coffees in the city. There's a second branch in the Hawthorne District.
Java aficionados serious about single-origin coffee favor this Central East Side roastery, which sources its beans from top growers in Colombia, Ethiopia, and Indonesia, roasts on custom-built machines, and provides its house-roasted coffees to many restaurants and cafés around town. There's also a Downtown location.
