Portland Attorney, Jim Westwood Beerchaser of the Quarter for January – March, 2013

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Thebeerchaser

Attorney and Model Citizen, Jim Westwood

It is fitting and proper to recognize those who distinguish themselves, not only in their trade or profession, but also for their contributions to the overall community. Portland lawyer, Jim Westwood, is the epitome of civic virtue and an accomplished appellate lawyer. Besides, he and Thebeerchaser are alums of both Oregon City High School and Portland State University.

He therefore joins such luminaries as Princeton Professor Emeritus, Dr. Harry Frankfurt, author of “On Bullshit,” crime novelist, James Crumley, former Oregon State Beaver and NFL football player and mountaineer, Craig Hanneman, and even the crew of the historic USS Constitution as a Beerchaser honoree.

We spent a recent evening drinking beer at The Tanker and Beer, two more establishments on Thebeerchaser Tour of Portland Taverns, Pubs and Bars. Reviews of both venues will be posted on this blog in the next ten days.

Westwood at Beer drinking beer….(stay tuned for the forthcoming review of Beer)

Those of you old enough to remember black and white TV sets, will probably also remember the “GE College Bowl” quiz show. It pitted a four-person college team of erudite students against another school for a half-hour showdown each Sunday evening during the 1960’s and ’70’s.

Westwood, Coach Padrow and the PSU College Bowl Team

Westwood (Center – left) , Coach Padrow and the PSU College Bowl Team (Portland State University Magazine May 2, 2005)

Westwood was the captain and is the only surviving first-team member of the legendary Portland State College team coached by legendary speech professor, Ben Padrow.

The PSC team played the same upset role Florida Gulf Coast University has so far in 2013 March Madness, by defeating their opponents for five straight weeks before they retired as champions with the sum of $15,275 in scholarships.

The legacy of the PSU scholars is evident:

“The 415 points scored in their final match ties them for fifth-highest single-game total achieved, and their 1725 points total set a new record at the time, and is fourth highest overall. The March 26, 1965 issue of Time has an article on how the College Bowl victories helped change Portland State’s image as “the flunk-out school” for University of Oregon and Oregon State drop-outs…” (Portland State Alumni Association News article by Kathryn Kirkland, May 2, 2005)

: Portland State University Campus – now rivals the U of O and OSU

Rod Hill

Jack Cappell

Bruce Sussman

Jim Westwood .

An IBM meteorologist console in 1965 (From Wikipedia – a work of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin. – public domain)

What do all these gents have in common? Well, all are current or past meteorologists for Portland Network TV stations. Jim helped pay his college tuition by predicting low pressure fronts and daily temperatures for KGW in the ’60’s.

Last year, he again used his experience in front of the camera to play a nutty professor in a video published by the Multnomah Bar Foundation to teach students about the US Constitution.

Nutty Professor or a former Jason Bourne??

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He changed from physics to history as a major “because of the math….”. After graduation from Portland State, Westwood served in the military as a Naval Intelligence Officer for several years. Because of his superior language skills, he spent a year learning Thai – an extremely difficult language to master.

While he still cannot talk about what he did in the military, Jim’s tenure as a “spook” may have led him to subscribe to the following premise: “When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy.”

After the military, he spent three years and graduated from Columbia Law School in New York City, which in 2012 was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the top law school in the US for future employment of law grads. After serving for two years as the Assistant to the President of PSU, he’s practiced law in Portland since 1978 at both the Miller Nash firm and Stoel Rives, where he is now a senior counsel.

He is considered a constitutional scholar, and has been designated from 1998 to 2013 in Best Lawyers in America and as an Oregon Super Lawyer. Jim has volunteered for 11 years as a coach for “We the People” high school constitutional law teams for Grant High and De la Salle North Catholic High School. Marilyn Cover, Executive Director of the Classroom Law Project (CLP), stated, “He’s a great teacher, a great coach and a great model citizen.” He was honored last year as the 2012 Legal Citizen of the Year by the CLP.

Ok – the answer is “Nutty Professor!”

His other civic and professional contributions are too numerous to mention but include a term as President of the City Club of Portland (1991-2) and the Board of the Multnomah Bar Foundation.

So join Thebeerchaser in hoisting a mug to Jim Westwood. Your toast might be more appropriate if you convey it in Thai as a tribute to his military service. If you need a tutorial, the following excerpt from Wikipedia may help. While drinking, keep in mind the last sentence below:

“From the perspective of linguistic typology, Thai can be considered to be an analytic language. The word order is subject – verb- object, although the subject is often omitted. Verbs do not inflect. Duplication conveys the idea of doing the verb intensively.” (Some of the Thai vowels are illustrated below)


	unrounded		unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/i/ -ิ	/iː/ -ี	/ɯ/ -ึ	/ɯː/ -ื-	/u/ -ุ	/uː/ -ู
Close-mid	/e/ เ-ะ	/eː/ เ-	/ɤ/ เ-อะ	/ɤː/ เ-อ	/o/ โ-ะ	/oː/ โ-
Open-mid	/ɛ/ แ-ะ	/ɛː/ แ-			/ɔ/ เ-าะ	/ɔː/ -อ

Belmont Inn – Check That Name….

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Thebeerchaser

The Belmont Inn on Belmont Street!!

Draft Magazine recently named Belmont Station as one of the top 100 beer bars in America. While Thebeerchaser prides himself on his due diligence in scoping out and then visiting bars, this one got by him. Perhaps the slip up in confusing The Belmont Inn (sometimes the moniker Belmont’s Inn is also used) with the similarly named venue is understandable, however, because Belmont Station is actually on Stark Street. Although the Belmont Inn is not in the top 100 bars, we still had good beer, reasonable food and another “shot” at Big Buck Hunter.

Poet and essayist, Walt Whitman said, “I have learned that to be with those I like is enough,” and the companions on a Beerchaser visit can definitely affect the experience. I was therefore fortunate to have David Dickson and Adam Davis join me in hoisting a mug. Dickson has been featured in previous reviews including The Muddy Rudder Public House and Davis Street Tavern and can be considered a Beer Tour regular.

David Dickson (l) and Adam Davis

Davis is one of the founders of the NW’s premier polling and public opinion firm DHM (Davis Hibbitts and Midghall, Inc.). Adam’s erudition and audacity are notable and starting out with a Vodka Tonic with a touch of Peach Schnapps was indicative of his eagerness to go off the beaten path.

After finishing his freshman year at Grant High School, Adam moved to Estacada (home of The Rangers) where he served as student body president. He worked on the “Go-19” Campaign to lower the voting age and was one of the founders of the first high school chapter of OSPIRG. Some suggest his political instincts were shaped in downtown Estacada at The Legendary Safari Club which in those days was not strict in checking OLCC cards.

: One of the Distinguishing Features of the Safari Club was its “Menagerie…”

The Original Safari Club in Downtown Estacada

After attending Willamette University for one year he transferred to Portland State, where he graduated. While at PSU, he also served as then State Representative and now Congressman, Earl Blumenauer’s first administrative assistant.

Some suggest Thebeerchaser was a victim of the curse, “May your life be filled with lawyers,” and Adam reinforced that plague since he graduated from U of O Law School and then practiced for a year before starting his opinion polling work. His current work involves a lot of interesting stuff and he needs to use a power point presentation to explain what he actually does for a living.

Service by Brett

Willamette Week in its 2007 Drinkers’ Guide – A Sinful Guide to Portland’s Best Bars” described Belmont’s Inn: “There’s plenty of beer, the crowd is diverse and finding a seat is rarely a problem.”

There are very few other reviews of this bar and it can be described as a nice, but not distinctive, neighborhood tavern with a bunch of beer options (23 on tap in addition to PBR and Bud) and good, reasonably priced food.

David Dickson, being a Stanford grad and having spent most of his career in management at academic institutions, made an effort to impress Adam in our political discussion with the assertion, “In democracy, it’s your vote that counts while in feudalism, it’s your count that votes…..” He started with a Double Mt Indian Red Ale from Hood River while I drank an excellent Spire Mountain Dark N Dry Cider (it was…) from Olympia. We collectively followed up with Portland’s Breakside Brewing Pilsner.

The Bar at the Belmont Inn

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After appetizers, we all had good meals choosing from their excellent selection of 1/2 pound burgers. They also have a robust selection of salads and sandwiches.

Since they don’t have a working web page, it’s a challenge to determine when the Happy Hour occurs, but it appears it’s from about 11:30 to 7:00 each weekday and more confined on weekends. They are open 365 days each year.

There are three pool tables, five video poker terminals and five or more traditional pin-ball machines in addition to the ubiquitous Big Buck Hunter.

The “Old Style” Pinball Games

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David, in his quest to become the world’s best fake marksman, gravitated towards this electronic big-game hunt, while Adam spewed memories of the “real” prey at the Safari Club in Estacada

“If only I had spent more time shooting and less time studying in Palo Alto….”

Some of the reviews suggested the service was less than stellar, but we found Brett and Angie were friendly, helpful and efficient. Although the Belmont Inn may not make not ever be considered one of the nation’s top bars, it has a diverse group of regulars, friendly staff and a memorable selection of beer. And according to Adam, it is one of a limited number of establishments where one can get a good Peach Schnapps.

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The Belmont Inn 3357 SE Belmont

Bartender Brett and David Dickson with Thebeerchaser logo

Say “Tug Boat (Brewery)” Ten Times Really Fast……

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Thebeerchaser

Sam Adams at the entrance to the Tug Boat Brewery

Wait a minute, I guess “Toy Boat” is the phrasing that’s supposed to mess up your diction when rapidly repeated. However, Portland’s Tug Boat Brewery, is a treasure waiting for you on SW Ankeny Street in downtown Portland. Notwithstanding the fact that I worked downtown every year since its founding in 1993, I had never even seen it. Ankeny Street reminded me of my long-ago trips to Dan and Louis’ Oyster Bar (near what is now Voodoo Donuts) where I used to take dates in high school.

I spent a productive and enjoyable two-hours at the Tugboat with former Portland Mayor and now, the new City Club Executive Director, Sam Adams, talking about issues and his vision for the City Club of Portland, which Thebeerchaser joined in 1971 after graduating from Oregon State. Established in 1916, the City Club is Oregon’s premier public affairs forum and promotes civic engagement through its volunteer research and other activities. Sam was selected from a pool of 80 very qualified applicants.

He was in a good mood (I suggested that it resulted from not having to listen to Randy Leonard on a daily basis anymore) and has dynamic ideas for City Club. He did not fall for the joke I tried to pull, however. (Have him order a Samuel Adams Lager and the bartender bring a picture of the former Mayor to the table.)

Sam Adams, new Executive Director of the City Club of Portland

Sam suggested we visit the Tugboat, described by the following excerpt from Willamette Week’s 2011 Drink Guide:

“You’d be forgiven for mistaking Tugboat for a classy Prohibition-era speakeasy. The dimly lit microbrewery, Portland’s smallest and downtown’s oldest, brews tiny batches of browns, ambers and stouts………the laid back pub is surrounded by books; regulars strike up conversation behind a battered copy of Ulysses. “

Note: Not to digress, but the only problem I have with the above quote is that assuming the WW reporter was old enough to visit a speakeasy, he or she would have to be about 110 years old to make this assertion!

No legal beer? No wonder there were speakeasys.

No legal beer? Glad that none of us were around to experience this period.

“The place even has an Emmy on display (Thebeerchaser verified that this is correct and the father of one of the bartenders was the Director of “Rich Man, Poor Man”)…..It has nabbed some much-deserved medals for its unfiltered beers, making it a perfect environment for casual drinkers looking for peace and conversation. “

A Limited, but Quality Selection of Drafts

Matt, one of the bartenders, was extremely helpful and based on his prior employment as a pedi-cab tour operator giving Portland brewery tours, also knowledgeable.

He stated that the Tugboat location was originally a coffee shop. The interesting furnishings as described above and below are all remnants from the prior tenant.

Matt and Thebeerchaser with the famous logo…..

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Distinguishing Characteristics

The Beer: Unlike most breweries, Tugboat does not distribute their beer – they produce just enough – only eight kegs per batch – to serve in the brew-pub – it’s truly a craft beer.

Because they do not mass produce it, the beer is not filtered. “…our ales retain their freshness because the yeast is allowed to live…The pasteurization process that strips body and color from beer is a necessary evil in ‘big batch’ commercial brewing. But, thankfully, that ain’t us. We filter our coffee. Not our beer.”

Although the number of Tugboat brews available that night was limited to about four, Sam and I thought their beer was very good (we had a Red Cloud and Snow Plow IPA). They also have other draft beer available. Since I was driving and Sam rode his bike, we did not have the courage to try their Chernobyl Stout (13.5%!) I also tried a Pear Cider which was excellent.

Almost all of the Internet reviews were positive although some, such as this somewhat pretentious critique by PortlandBarFly asserted that the beer is too hoppy: “….Leftist bike messengers, fauxhemians, silly old men that wish to be taken for professors, the sort of couples that enjoy playing board games before strangers – there’s a suffering self-satisfaction about the crowds keeping Portland’s smallest brewery afloat that makes one wish to jump atop the bar and force regulars to admit their beer just isn’t very good. The emperor has no clothes and far too many hops.”

Is there really a copy of “Ulysses” in this collection?

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In contrast, some out-of-town visitors were impressed, “I LOVE THIS PLACE!….an eclectic mix of people and everyone’s so approachable and nice! I wish I could live here. (They did not clarify whether they meant Portland or in the Brewery itself…) “I’m ready to crown it one of the friendliest establishments in Portland.” (Bing – 4/29/12)

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The Interior and Furnishings: “This place is awfully unassuming from the outside – just a door down a side street and some heavily tinted windows. But that adds to the effect of being inside and feeling like you stepped into someone’s basement rumpus room.” (Bing – 8/21/12)

A comfortable “rumpus room” environment…

On one wall, there are thirty-five 33 RPM album covers from the past – and speaking of eclectic, one row consisted of The Village People, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Grand Funk Railroad, The Royal Marines and Peter Nero’s “Summer of ’42.”

Before CDs and Pandora…..

One person suggested that there was even a secret door to Portland’s infamous Mary’s Club in the back, but the bartender stated that this was true of the Mexican restaurant next door.

The food is pretty limited, but reasonably priced and good: “When the pita plate came out, everyone raved about the
hummus, but when the nachos came out, jaws dropped. I would have to guess there
was an entire bag of chips on the plate, loaded up with cheese, peppers,
olives, etc. for just $7.” (Bing – 8/21/12)

Grand Funk – old but after Prohibition….

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Tugboat has only one wide-screen TV which purportedly cannot be tuned to any sports channel…..

Terry Nelson (husband), Megan McEnroe-Nelson (wife), and John McEnroe (father-in-law/father) are proud of their own owner-operated brewery and have an establishment with good beer and an environment with great character and ambiance.

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Tugboat Brewery 711 SW Ankenny

45 degrees latitude 132 degrees longitude

A limited menu but good food at a reasonable price.

Thebeerchaser

Bars, Breweries and Watering Holes – An Exploration

Monthly Archives: March 2013

Portland Attorney, Jim Westwood Beerchaser of the Quarter for January – March, 2013

Belmont Inn – Check That Name….

Say “Tug Boat (Brewery)” Ten Times Really Fast……