Place I am happy not to go back to

All of these places I have been to once and they did nothing for me so I am happy not to return.

• Kell’s Brew Pub

  210 NW 21st.  – kellsbrewpub.com – Visited on 5/18/2013

  Jeanette and I visited Kells Brew pub on a rainy Saturday about three in the afternoon. When we first arrived it seamed like this was going to be a good experience. The place had a nice large open room with a variety of different type of seating including several closed booths. They had four of there own brewed beers on tap and a few micro brew guess taps and some imported Irish beers about ten total. The price was a little high. I had their Irish Red which was not trilling but drinkable. We chatted for a while and the atmosphere was nice. We decide to order some food which had an Irish theme to it and was midrange in price. We had a surprise wedding party show up that in someway added to the charm. Then everything went down hill. They put the soccer game on the big screen TVs they have and put the sound up to ear shattering level. We tried to move to a new location but you could not escape their sound sound system (do you really have to have a screaming commentary while watch soccer, can’t you just see what they are doing?). If we had not ordered food we would have gotten out of there. Unfortunately the food was not good at any price. So we tough it out through blaring commentators, so-so food and trying to yell to carry on a conversion. The wedding party got chased out and headed elsewhere and we soon followed them. Kells a place I hope to never return to unless the bartender can find the thing called the volume control.

• Victory

  3652 SE Division – thevictorybar.com – Visted on 2/01/2013

  Where is the line between a bar and pub, Victory Bar straddles that line. They have about a dozen micro brews on tap but also feature mix drink specials. The place looks like it has been there for a while in an old storefront location on Division. It looks like a local hang out for the neighborhood. We got there in time for happy hour and when I arrive it was not to crowded but by the time we left the place was full. They had  three items on the happy hour menu and we all had the baked spatzle (the menu said they were famous for their spatzle). It was sort of a mac and cheese with fat noodles. It was fairly tasty but nothing I would go back for. The menu was limited and a little pricey. The beer selection covered a limited range featuring pale Belgians, ryes and pale ales and really no stouts or porters. It had a mix of bar, table and booth seating and enough space you could carry on a private conversation. They had mono sex bathrooms that were OK.

• Stickman Brewer & Skewery

  40 N. State Street, Lake Oswego – stickmanbeer.com  – Visited 11/19/2012

  I past this place last summer and saw they were remodeling it. So we got a chance to go back on a rainy Sunday afternoon to check it out. It has a nice variety of seating in the bar area while the dinning room is just open floor with tables. They have a large patio area right on Lake Oswego that I am sure is a big hit in the summer. They have a small brewery on site but out of dozen or so beers that were available none of them were theirs. So all guess taps at this time. We sampled several beers from their board of available beers and found none of them very good (price was also a bit high). Hopefully that will change once they have their own beers available. They are featuring Japanese skewers and make a big deal out of how good they are. We tried three different types of which none of them would bring me back to the place. Service was good with the bar tender being very friendly and helpful. There was almost no one in the place when were there so service could change if the place got crowded.

• Apex

  1216 SE Division St. – apexbar.com  – 50 beers on tap, no food.

• The Beermongers

  1125 SE Division St. – thebeermongers.com

  Some what like Belmont Station, a dozen specialty beers on tap and a number of bottle beers available. Offer 5 oz tasting for a $1-2 which was nice. No food

• Prost!

  4237 N Mississippi – Prostportland.com – Visisted 1/04/2014

  Imported German beers, To busy, noisy and to small

• Rogue Distillery & Public House

  1339 NW Flanders – Rogue.com

  Update on this place. Went there several times 2019 and it was much better. Still on the expensive side.

• Bailey’s Taproom

  213 SW Broadway – Baileystaproom.com

  20 beers on rotating taps, Digital board on what they have, No food, busy but not my kind of atmosphere. Judging by the crowd it is many other folks favorite.

• LaurelThirst Public House

  2958 NE Glisan

  Known for the Music, Funky pub. Just did a walk in and walked right out.

• Occidental Brewing

  6635 N. Baltimore Ave. – occidentalbrewing.com – Visited Feb. 2014

  This is a brewery right in my neighborhood. I stop in to check them out as my last stop on Zwickelmania 2014. They have come a long ways from when I first tried their beer a couple of years ago. They are adding new styles that sound good. Still no food so not the experience I am looking  for.

• Coalition Brewing

  2724 SE Ankeny St. – coalitionbrewing.com

  A taproom for their beers

• The Common Brewing

  1810 SE 10th – commonbrewery.com

  A tasteing room for their beers. They just moved up from a garage into this new space