Bar None: Bailey's Taproom
POSTED: 1:15 pm PDT March 27,
2009
April 2, 2008 -- 
By Angelo De Ieso
For those with a palate for craft beer, chocolate and cheese, Bailey’s Taproom is an essential rendezvous point. Located in the heart of downtown Portland, just off south of Burnside on SW Broadway, proprietor Geoffrey Phillips has been sharing his passion for choice beer from this historic corner spot since August of 2007.
With 20 rotating craft brews on tap and several bottled favorites, Bailey’s offers an extensive sampling of Pacific Northwest flavor that goes beyond any typical tavern. Thanks to prodigious foresight by local connoisseurs like Fred Eckhardt and audacious brewers such as Alan Sprints (Hair of the Dog Brewing Company), inventive flavor composites and beer-and-food pairings are gaining mainstream notoriety. Phillips recognized the winsome possibilities of complementary savors: “I’m not sure about the future of pairing favorable flavorful ingredients, but so far it has been great” he says.
Though the Taproom menu consists of only select Northwest and California cheeses and rich chocolate from Eugene — all of which elevate the brews to a more complex level — you can also enjoy a full meal from El Grillo’s across the street. You’re welcome to bring the Mexican fare into Bailey’s for a unique pub grub experience.
Other Bailey’s neighbors include Tugboat, the legendary Mary’s Club strip haven and the sleekly metropolitan Saucebox. With a spacious design and tall windowed walls filled with plants, the bustling urban life of SW Broadway is immediate, yet quelled by the relaxed ambiance inside.
Bailey’s represents an artfully deconstructed plaster-over-brick design that is a refined mix of modern and comfortable proposition. The musical stylings of Elvis Costello, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam and Gorillaz provide the soundtrack as you explore selections like Fort George Cavatica Imperial Stout, Leavenworth Organic Pilsner, Ninkasi Soulstice Bavarian Dunkel Weisse or New Old Lompoc’s Harvest Man Fresh Hop Alt. These are just a few of the rotating tap selections now flowing.
The crowd is a random and select mix of Pacific Northwest characters. Bailey’s happily marries the everyday beer enthusiast with the highbrow sophisticate. Star Wars Stormtrooper figurines adorn the tap island behind a dramatic barfront floral arrangement. Signs made of beer bottle caps toward the front window are indicative of an impassioned ownership. These are the kind of beers that make us all proud to be from ‘round here.
By Angelo De IesoFor those with a palate for craft beer, chocolate and cheese, Bailey’s Taproom is an essential rendezvous point. Located in the heart of downtown Portland, just off south of Burnside on SW Broadway, proprietor Geoffrey Phillips has been sharing his passion for choice beer from this historic corner spot since August of 2007.
With 20 rotating craft brews on tap and several bottled favorites, Bailey’s offers an extensive sampling of Pacific Northwest flavor that goes beyond any typical tavern. Thanks to prodigious foresight by local connoisseurs like Fred Eckhardt and audacious brewers such as Alan Sprints (Hair of the Dog Brewing Company), inventive flavor composites and beer-and-food pairings are gaining mainstream notoriety. Phillips recognized the winsome possibilities of complementary savors: “I’m not sure about the future of pairing favorable flavorful ingredients, but so far it has been great” he says.
Though the Taproom menu consists of only select Northwest and California cheeses and rich chocolate from Eugene — all of which elevate the brews to a more complex level — you can also enjoy a full meal from El Grillo’s across the street. You’re welcome to bring the Mexican fare into Bailey’s for a unique pub grub experience.
Other Bailey’s neighbors include Tugboat, the legendary Mary’s Club strip haven and the sleekly metropolitan Saucebox. With a spacious design and tall windowed walls filled with plants, the bustling urban life of SW Broadway is immediate, yet quelled by the relaxed ambiance inside.
Bailey’s represents an artfully deconstructed plaster-over-brick design that is a refined mix of modern and comfortable proposition. The musical stylings of Elvis Costello, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam and Gorillaz provide the soundtrack as you explore selections like Fort George Cavatica Imperial Stout, Leavenworth Organic Pilsner, Ninkasi Soulstice Bavarian Dunkel Weisse or New Old Lompoc’s Harvest Man Fresh Hop Alt. These are just a few of the rotating tap selections now flowing.
The crowd is a random and select mix of Pacific Northwest characters. Bailey’s happily marries the everyday beer enthusiast with the highbrow sophisticate. Star Wars Stormtrooper figurines adorn the tap island behind a dramatic barfront floral arrangement. Signs made of beer bottle caps toward the front window are indicative of an impassioned ownership. These are the kind of beers that make us all proud to be from ‘round here.
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