My partner and I have made a habit of enjoying a pint at Belmont Station on Monday evenings (she works nearby). There are always exciting beers on draft, and even if there aren’t usually nearly as many session-strength beers as I’d like, it’s hard to ever complain about the tap list, when any of the 800-1000 bottled beers in the shop can be opened and consumed on-premises.
We call this time “office hours” since it’s an opportunity for friends to drop in and find us for a drink if they like.
The last few weeks Belmont Station has had a series of events called “Barrel Monday” where they have a pair of barrel-aged beers on draft. Last week I enjoyed a glass of Russian River Consecration—a little hard around the edges, but a very respectable sour ale.
Tonight’s Barrel Monday featured Deschutes 2009 Abyss and Black Butte XXI, and if they’re trying to bring customers in, it’s working; the bar side of the place was about as full as I’ve seen it. Pleasantly mild weather surely helped. They also had a deeper selection of lower-alcohol beers on, too, including Heater-Allen IsarWeizen (a decent Bavarian wheat beer, which was tasty enough but lacked the beautiful head and carbonation of traditional hefes) and a southeast Portland classic: Rogue Younger’s Special Bitter on cask.
I ran into a half-dozen old friends over the course of a couple beers and made a couple new ones. It’s good to sit on the sidewalk with a beer. Do you have a regular watering hole, where you expect to bump into people? Or do you enjoy pints wherever you find yourself?
