Guess Who’s Coming to…..Beerchase!!

Posted on May 15, 2025 by Thebeerchaser

Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post #1)

At the end of April, we were delighted to have two separate house guests. Archie, our three-year old grand-pup, visited for ten days from Seattle while his family was on a Hawaiian vacation.

And my old consultant friend with whom I worked at the Schwabe law firm before I retired in 2011 – “West Coast” Dave Hicks – flew in from an east-coast business trip for two days before he returned home to Ventura, Ca.

In the early days of my Beerchasing hobby and over the next five years, Dave was a frequent companion as you can see from the photos below at the Double Barrel, Reel-Em Inn, the Horse Brass Pub, the Richmond Bar, Crackerjacks, Belmont Station and the Ranger Station.

Dave has used his Princeton and University of San Diego Law School education well and is now Chief of Staff at Garnett Capital Advisors – a financial services firm specializing in managing loan portfolio sales for credit-granting institutions.

He is also known to use his experience as a Princeton Nassoon – the university’s oldest acapella group – with his identical-twin brother, to entertain at parties although he refrained from doing this at the dive bars we visited.

We usually toasted one of my first and most memorable Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter, the late Dr. Harry Frankfurt – Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Princeton and author of the wonderful essay “On Bullshit.” (#2 – #4)

The Princeton Nassoons in 2008

Some Trepidation…?

Archie had visited and stayed overnight with us in the past, but it was always with his family – Mom and Dad and two young daughters.

Question No. 1: “How would he react to staying with us for ten days?”

Question No. 2: “How would he react to our male out-of-town visitor for a day and one-half? Did he have an aversion to the Ivy League?”

Well, our concerns were short-lived. Archie immediately went over to Dave sitting on the couch and curled up next to him and rolled over to have his stomach rubbed. Dave is a walker and the next day, he and I took Archie on a long walk on which Dave was the main leash holder. And the pup was a prince for his entire stay with us.

Trepidation unwarranted!

Beerchasing

Dave and I had an ambitious agenda. On the Friday afternoon, we drove the twenty-four miles to the Mount Angel Abbey to have some beers at the Benedictine Brewery and St Michael Taproom and say “hello” to Fr. Martin, the Manager and Head Brewer.

Fr. Martin stopped his work to say hello

No brewery will ever surpass my affection for this enterprise on the grounds of the Abbey in Mount Angel Oregon – one of just three owned and operated by Benedictine monks in the US.

Those who follow this blog, may recall that I was involved in the planning and development of the Brewery starting in 2016 until it opened in late 2018 including the amazing event in 2017, when over 125 monks, priests, seminarians and volunteers and members of the Mount Angel community, gathered for an “old-fashioned barn rising.”

As shown in the videos in this post, we started with a cement slab that cloudy morning and by the end of the day, had a framed structure for the brewery and taproom. https://thebeerchaser.com/2017/11/21/the-benedictine-brewery-beam-me-up/ (#5 – #11)

Dave and I had a great sampler of six beers and toured the beautiful Abbey Hilltop including a visit to the famous Alvar Aalto Library before returning to our home in West Linn. (#12 – #13)

Dave had invited Janet and me to dinner the next evening at the Bellpine Restuarant at the top of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtown Portland. While Janet spent her Saturday afternoon on a variety of activities, Dave and I drove into Portland for beers at two of my favorite downtown dive bars.

The Yamhill Pub – as I stated in the title of my 2015 blog post https://thebeerchaser.com/2015/05/14/the-yamhill-pub-a-dive-bar-with-character-or-grunge/ the aura of this hole-in-the-wall was best described in the now defunct Portland Barfly Website (another COVID victim…)

“A genuine dive-bar lurking midst the downtown shopping arcade, the Yamhill Pub maintains an unreconstructed seediness through blaring juke, food…(and, for that matter, toilets) best avoided, actively-encouraged graffiti upon the smoke-stained walls, pennies-a-serving pitchers, and a fiercely-protective cadre of underemployed regulars (seniors, rockers, bike messengers) willing to throw themselves in front of Hummers to prevent the forces of gentrification. Intimidating for the first-time visitor, but that’s sort of the point.”

This was my fourth visit to the Yamhill, and I was happy to see that it was still in business. As one regular commented to me in 2015, “Mark my words, this place will be gone in five years and that will be a tragedy.”

Willamette Week reported in November 2020, that Kevin Hill, the owner, launched a $15,000 GoFundMe campaign to raise $15,000 to save the bar – evidently it worked.

But grunge is still the watchword – from the graffiti-infested walls, the bathrooms and even the entrance sign in which the name has become essentially illegible. Look at the difference in the sign over the front door between 2015 and last month!

But as stated in its own Wikipedia page and as affirmed by, Neal, our friendly bartender, the Yamhill Pub, founded in 1939, still retains its legacy for draft PBR. “The bar has been recognized as the top Pabst Blue Ribbon seller in Oregon.”

Not only that, but at one time in the ’90’s they were #5 in North America!! Before I could scoff, he pointed out this PBR sign (see below) from 2012 – Number 18 in North America in PBR sales.

Dave and I chatted with Neal about Portland bars and watched the The Other Guys – a “buddy-action-comedy” movie with Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell and Michael Keaton which was streaming on the of the two small screen TVs hanging at the corners of the bar. (It seemed appropriate given the setting.)

Kelly’s Olympian – We walked around Portland some more – noting how the City was coming back from the depths but still had a way to go – and I suggested we drop into another favorite dive. Kelly’s Olympian, which evolved even before the Yamill (in 1902 – the third oldest Portland bar in continuing operation) has class and a great theme as you will see from the pictures below and this description from their website:

“The crowning glory is the collection of a dozen vintage motorcycles hanging from the ceiling and about, each restored to perfection. One of the owners is a motorcycle enthusiast and finally found a home for his impressive motorcycle collection.

Complementing the motorcycles are other motorcycle accessories, combined with museum quality neon signs, antique gas pumps and historic photos of Portland and motorcycles.”

If you enjoy history, read the full account in my 2015 blog post. Even the name chronicles the legacy:

“The name was derived from the name of one of the original owners, ‘Kelly’, and the Olympia Brewing Company, which was involved in the inaugural opening so that it could sell its product, Olympia Beer. It was originally called ‘The Olympian Saloon’. The name ‘Kelly’s’ was added a few years later…..”

And part of the bar’s historic identity goes back even further. The sections of downtown Portland – mostly in Old Town Chinatown – were known for their “Shanghai Tunnels.” According to Wikipedia, this is really a misnomer, and an urban legend:

“They connected the basements of many hotels and taverns to the waterfront of the Willamette River. They were built to move goods from the ships docked on the Willamette to the basement storage areas, allowing businesses to avoid streetcar and train traffic on the streets when delivering their goods.”

I had seen some of these on a tour by Adam Milne, owner of Old Town Pizza and Brewing, below his establishment in Old Town (right three photos below), but behind the Kelly’s Olympian Bar is a stairway down to the basement (photo on the left).

In my 2015 first visit to the bar, Lucia, the Manager, verified that servers still descend the stairs through the trapdoor behind the bar to get ice and that’s where their kegs are also stored.

We left after Dave refused to believe my story that the 1912 Princeton Student Body President visiting Portland one summer, got drunk at Kelly’s and was last seen being shuttled to a Chinese freighter.

Bellpine at the Top of the Ritz Carlton – We headed to West Linn to pick up Janet and get into our fancier duds and then drove back into Portland where notwithstanding our offer to dine on pub food at a brewery, Dave treated us to a wonderful six-course dinner (plus dessert) at the Bellpine on the 35th floor of the Ritz.

“Led by acclaimed Executive Chef Pedro Almeida, the culinary journey features ingredients indigenous to the region and is accentuated with world-class wine selections and unique spirits crafted by the region’s master distillers.”

Although the opulent bar was sparsely occupied on a Saturday night, the restaurant was hopping and it was a wonderful meal (yes, I drank wine instead of a PBR) and a fitting farewell to Dave who flew out the next morning to his Ventura, Ca. home. (#14 – #16)

Final Note

I chuckled on the way back home about having a bit of culture shock based on our three establishments that day ending with Bellpine after Kelly’s Olympian and beginning at the Yamhill Pub. Perhaps it was tantamount to a high-rise outhouse…..

And unfortunately, the 2019 timing of the development of the Ritz, by noted Portland developer, Walt Bowen, was disastrous. A fascinating March 2025 Willamette Week article charts the history:

“After two huge wins, he was ready to gamble again. A new project, called Block 216, would be his most ambitious ever. It would have five floors of prime office space, a Ritz-Carlton hotel, and 132 Ritz-Carlton condominiums…

That may be the most ill-timed guarantee in the history of Portland real estate. A year later, the world locked down because of COVID-19. Hotels emptied. People fled urban condos for ranch houses in the suburbs…

It appears Bowen’s dream tower will instead be a 460-foot tombstone for his career. As first reported by WW on March 5, the construction lender for Block 216 said in an earnings report that ‘ownership and serial asset disposition on the components would be the best net present value outcome for the loan.’

Translation: take the keys and sell the building in pieces.” (#17)

Well at least Kelly’s and the Yamhill will still be serving good cheap beer!

External Photo Attribution

#1. Garnet Capital Website (https://www.garnetcapital.com/aboutus/management#1)

#2. Wikimedia Commons (File:2008NassoonsHolzhaus.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Lhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en – Attribution: Nassoons at English Wikipedia – 5 July 2008.

#3. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:On Bullshit cover.jpeg – Wikimedia Commons) This image of simple geometry is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. Author: Dr. Harry Frankfurst, Princeton University Press – 2008.

#4. Wikimedia Commons (File:Harry Frankfurt at 2017 ACLS Annual Meeting.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Author: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN30Qk9j0bKuWF2ulC9CtVQ – 29 October 2018.

#5 – #11. Benedictine Brewery Website (https://www.benedictinebrewery.com/home-1).

#12 – #13. Mount Angel Abbey Website (https://www.mountangelabbey.org/).

#14 – #17. Wikimedia Commons (File:Portland, Oregon, May 2024 – 54.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Another Believer – 19 May 2024. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Another_Believer).

Summer Simmers – Part II

Posted on July 24, 2023 by Thebeerchaser

Sun_(Sol)

Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. External photo attribution at the end of the post. (#1)

During the summer months, I’ve decided to address some random items – some having to do with bars and breweries and some captured while sipping a gin martini at the beach (up with olives). As in the first post in this series, I’ll end with three jokes from my files.

Bullshit Will Never be the Same!

It’s psychologically challenging when one knows that a sad event is on the horizon, but the timing is unknown – kind of an ominous foreshadowing, if you will. Now perhaps that’s an exaggeration in this case, but I was saddened when I received an e-mail from former Beerchasing Regular, “West Coast Dave Hicks.”

I say former, because after I retired and he moved for a time to the East Coast, our forays to such great bars as Crackerjacks Pub, the Double Barrel Tavern, the Ranger Station, Sloan’s Tavern and the Richmond Bar were relegated to just memories of great beer and great chats.

Dave sent me the obituary of Princeton Emeritus Professor Dr. Harry Frankfurt, author of the wonderful seventy-four page 1986 essay/book On Bullshit. The good professor died on July 16th at ninety-four. (#2)

When I started this blog in late 2011, I decided that besides reviewing bars and breweries, I would feature an interesting individual or group each quarter. My Beerchasers-of-the-Quarter might not have anything to do with beer or bars, but in my opinion they’ve made a meaningful contribution to society and their story should be told.

In almost every case, I’ve known the individual or group and they’ve ranged from athletes, authors, media personalities, military heroes and even academicians (including my graduate school professor in Public Finance).

One of the few I did not know, but felt compelled to “honor” in 2012 after reading his brilliant essay, was Dr. Frankfurt. As a lark, I looked up his contact info at Princeton and sent him an e-mail describing Thebeerchaser blog and his designation as B-O-Q.

I thought it would get caught in Princeton’s spam filter or that a person with this distinguished Ph.D.’s schedule would just ignore it..

So I was surprised and thrilled to receive the e-mail below several days later. His cryptic reference in the last sentence also indicated that he read my very long blog post in its entirety.

Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 7:36 AM
To: Williams, Donald
Subject: RE: Hello Dr. Frankfurt

Dear Mr. Williams,

First of all, thank you for the honor of naming me the January 12, 2012 Beerchaser of the Quarter.

I have looked at the blog in which you announced my receipt of this distinction, and I was impressed by its wit, its charm, and its erudition. Also, I enjoyed the pictures.

I intend to follow your blog regularly. I am especially interested in keeping up with the debate over whether to remove the letter M from the alphabet. I believe that, with regard to this issue, my mind is still completely open.

Anyhow, thanks very much for writing.

Sincerely, Harry Frankfurt

In 2020 with the prevalence of lies and BS (he makes a distinction) I felt compelled to republish the original post and add some updated commentary: https://thebeerchaser.com/2020/03/12/bs-revisited-if-only-i-had-known-in-2012/ ( #3-#4)

*+* BULLSHIT rubber stamp on the desk of a Street Photographer

I will mourn the passing of Harry Frankfurt, in part, because he won’t be around to comment on the 2024 Presidential Elections.

And as we listen to the forthcoming debates and interviews we can’t say the Professor did not warn us:

“The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closely related realm of politics, are replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigated that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms of the concept.”

As an admonition when a candidate steps over the line, perhaps the moderator of each debate should whip out the poster below: (#5)

Farewell to Another Icon

The world was saddened with the death of Tony Bennett last week at the age of 96. He won twenty Grammy Awards and sold over fifty million records during his career.

The crooner captivated audiences for seven decades with his wonderful tunes and his charismatic personality, philosophy of life and support of humanitarian causes. He was a model for all generations.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto, like Thebeerchaser, was born in Long Island, New York. He struggled with significant personal issues during his life, but overcame them and continued to be a “masterful stylist of American musical standards.”

“(He had) an easy, courtly manner and an uncommonly rich and durable tenor that made him a master of caressing a ballad or brightening an up-tempo number.” (APNews.com)

And who has not whistled or hummed, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in the shower….? (#6)

Tony Bennett and wife, Susan

I wrote about him in a 2020 blog post – one not about entertainers but lawyers. My post was intended to make some observations about my almost forty years working with attorneys.

The opportunity to interact with these professionals during my entire career almost all of whom were ethical, smart, dedicated advocates with amazing work ethics and elevated senses of humor was a real benefit.

I tried to identify some general traits of lawyers that kept me on my toes in communicating. The last one I mentioned and the relevance to the preceding narrative is described below in this excerpt from the August 2020 post of Thebeerchaser:

Need to Have the LAST Word

Over my forty years working with lawyers, I learned that one way to garner their respect was to respond emphatically and with confidence in any (or every) kind of debate whether it was in conversation or electronically.

I learned, however, that even if I prevailed in substance, I should expect, and to some extent, encourage the lawyer to have the last word. It was a good method to save further time deliberating and allow a win–win result.

My favorite example of the lawyer insisting on the last word, occurred with one of Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt’s very good lawyers from our Vancouver Office who was on a sabbatical in Italy with his wife.

This counselor was very active in professional and civic activities and served on the Washington State Bar Board of Governors.

They were walking up to the entrance of an exclusive restaurant in Rome and out comes a group of several people led by a distinguished looking gentleman in an impeccably-tailored suit.

Obviously, I wasn’t a witness, but I was told that the conversation went essentially like this as the lawyer and his wife approached the group and he addressed the guy in the lead:

Lawyer: Hi. I know I’ve seen you before. Are you from the Pacific Northwest?

Stranger: No.

Lawyer: Wow! I know I’ve seen you before… Are you involved with the Vancouver, Washington Chamber of Commerce?

Stranger: No.

Lawyer: This is just puzzling to me because I’m positive I’ve seen you before. Did you have any dealings with the Washington State Bar Association?

Stranger: No……. I’m Tony Bennett

Lawyer: Oh my God. You’re right!! (emphasis added) (#7–#8)

(And “I didn’t leave my heart in Vancouver, Washington!”)

In Closing…

I mentioned in my most recent blog post Summer Simmers – Part 1, that since we will be moving later this year, I’ve been mandated by my wife, Janet, to go through the stacks of files scattered at various places in our house including my office and the garage.

In my diligent efforts to help Oregon’s recycling efforts, I’ve found that I’m most inclined to keep files entitled “Bar Jokes,” “Lawyer Jokes” and “Quotations.”

So, unless I hear vehement objections from Beerchaser followers, I will periodically continue to include an example from each of these categories:

Lawyer Joke

A trial lawyer known for his aggressive personality sat in his car in the immense courthouse parking lot during a lunch recess. He saw an old guy who obviously could not remember where he parked. So every time the guy held the remote in the air, the lawyer honked his horn.

Bar Joke

A skeleton walks into a bar and the bartender says, “What’ll it be?” The skeleton replies, “I’ll have a beer and a mop.” (#9-#10)

(Next time, why don’t you try a dry martini?)

Quotation

“When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather – not terrified like all the passengers in his car.” (Anonymous)

Cheers!

External Photo Attribution

#1. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Sun (Sol).gif – Wikimedia Commons) This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. Author: NASA – 22 April 2008.

#2. Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_Frankfurt_at_2017_ACLS_Annual_Meeting.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Author:
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) – 29 October 2018.

#3. Princeton University (https://philosophy.princeton.edu/people/harry-frankfurt)

#4. Wikimedia Commons (File:BULLSHIT rubber stamp on the desk of a Street Photographer.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Lupus in Saxonia 25 March 2022.

#5. Wikimedia Commons (File:Bullshit.svg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape by Anynobody, composing work: Mabdul . Source: Own work using Bsahead.svg: and No sign.svg: 7 November 2011.

#6. Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tony_Bennett_and_Susan_Crow.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Author: Jeremiah Garcia 9 February 2008.

#7. Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tony_Bennett_in_2003.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Author: Tom Beetz – 11 July 2003.

#8. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SF_From_Marin_Highlands3.jpg) This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Paul.h at English Wikipedia. This applies worldwide.)

#9. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human-Skeleton.jpg) The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Author: Skimsta – March 2010.

#10. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mop.svg) I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. Author:
Mop.png: AwOc – 25 March 2010.

October Origins

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Thebeerchaser

This slogan is dear to my heart – see below….

(Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title above to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened.)

The Origins of Beer

In previous posts, I’ve talked about the legacy of Benedictine Monks in the history of beer which dates from the 5th century along with the great story of St. Brigid of Ireland. This remarkable woman was a patron saint of several things, including dairymaids, cattle, midwives, and newborns. But there’s also evidence of an equal passion for beer.

“…..when the lepers she nursed implored her for beer, and there was none to be had, she changed the water, which was used for the bath, into an excellent beer, by the sheer strength of her blessing and dealt it out to the thirsty in plenty.”

Going back further, Wikipedia chronicles the earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation — 13,000-year-old residues of a beer near Israel. The earliest clear chemical evidence of beer produced from barley dates to about 3500–3100 BC, in western Iran.

“During the building of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, each worker got a daily ration of four to five liters of beer, which served as both nutrition and refreshment that was crucial to the pyramids’ construction.”

Well, my education on the history of beer was supplemented last week, when my good friend, “West Coast Dave Hicks,” a consultant with whom I worked at my law firm before I retired, sent me the following article, which of course, piqued my interest:

http://Ancient Poop Shows People In Austria Enjoyed Beer And Blue Cheese 2,700 Years Ago)

Dave is one of the smartest guys I know, having graduated first from Princeton (cum laude) where he was also a bass in the famous Princeton acapella singing group, The Nassoons. and then from University of San Diego Law School – including a semester of study in Paris.

He then started his consulting career, which has taken him all over the world. On his trips to Portland, there have been numerous memorable Beerchasing expeditions.

The diverse watering holes we hit included the Horse Brass Pub, Sloan’s Tavern, the Double Barrel, Reel M Inn and Richmond Bar, to name just a few, where we have raised a mug and eaten unhealthy pub food.

The article relates how archeologists found evidence of what may have been the first cheeseburger and beer combo!

“Several thousand years ago, an Iron Age salt miner took a dump in what is now …… Austria. In all likelihood, the pooper never gave their little deposit a second thought.

He would be rather surprised to learn that it has now become a scientific artifact, enabling researchers to discover that Europeans ate blue cheese and drank beer 2,700 years ago.”

Thanks to Dave for keeping us informed and the next time he comes to Portland, I guess we need to come up with beer name to honor the ancient “dumpster.” Since I don’t think either directly or indirectly referencing fecal matter in the name of a beer would fly, what about “Outhouse Ale?”

But what brewery would take this on? Fortunately, through research, I noticed that there is an Out.Haus Ale Brewery in Northwood, New Hampshire. Perhaps they would brew this on as a seasonal basis.

The Origin of “Dirt”!

From Dirty Donnie to Dirty to Dirt…

I often get questions from those who view the header of Thebeerchaser (credit is due to my long-term friend, fraternity brother and Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter, Jud Blakely) which has the moniker, “Don ‘Dirt’ Williams,” where this moniker originated. Often, the questioner suspects it was based on some nefarious exploit from my college years.

Well to set the record straight, it did emanate from college, but from my fraternity brothers at the SAE house at Oregon State University. I was on an NROTC Scholarship and in my freshman year, decided that to get in shape and because I admired my fellow frat bro and NROTC, colleague, Walt Ebel, I joined the Army ROTC group named “Raiders.” Walt had signed up previously.

In retrospect, it was kind of ludicrous. On Saturday mornings, we would dress up in utilities, go down to the Armory on campus and then run several miles holding rifles, do the obstacle course and try to look cool. Well, at that time, my height was 5’10” and I weighed about 120 pounds dripping wet.

There was an illustrator named “Hutch”, who made a decent living by doing cartoon caricatures of OSU students. He would tour the dorms and fraternities and feed off the comments of colleagues of his subject to create his image. Hutch was quite talented.

So when it was my time, there were about twenty of us in the SAE living room and my peers started yelling, “He’s a Raider.” Well, below is the end product.

From “Dirty Donnie,” to “Dirty,” to “Dirt”!

And “Dirty Donnie” hit a chord. It then mutated to “Dirty” and then just plain “Dirt.” Although my time in Raiders was less than one year, that appellation has stuck for over fifty years. And I love it!

When my younger brother, Rick – also an NROTC midshipman, joined the SAE’s several years later, as one might predict, his nickname became “Dust.”

An example was twenty-five years after OSU graduation, while I was working for the Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt law firm in the PacWest Center. The Building Manger was Doug Bean and Associates, a high-end commercial real estate firm.

Doug Bean was a fraternity brother at OSU and transferred to the U of O where he graduated and then formed his very successful real estate and property management firm. He had an office in the PacWest Center as did I.

When Doug would see me in the lobby, he would yell across the space in a booming voice which caught the attention of other people in the lobby of the thirty-floor high-rise, “Hey Dirt. How’s it going?”

In retrospect, the original college label of “Dirt” has kept me grounded, let to many down-to- earth conversations and I’m proud to say that Dirt remains a part of my identity!

The Origin of Freeland Spirits – Part II

Why is Thebeerchaser Touting Bourbon? *11

In a recent Beerchaser post, I wrote about a relatively new distillery in NW Portland that is a great story. I became aware of this enterprise when my son-in-law gave me a bottle of Freeland Spirits Bourbon a few months ago. It was the best bourbon I’ve ever had and I researched the origination of the the business.

“Freeland Spirits celebrates the women of the craft. From the gals who grow the grain, to those who run the still, we’re creating superior spirits that celebrate all the Northwest has to offer.”

You should check out the story of how co-owners, Jill Kuehler and Molly Troupe demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit, opened Freeland in 2017 and have never looked back – even during a pandemic. Well, they are expanding and had the Grand Opening of their new Tasting Room on N. State Street on October 14th. They’ll be open daily from noon to 6 PM.

And Speaking of Outhouses….

With apologies for redundancy to regular followers of Thebeerchaser, but since I talked about poop in this post and it’s the month of Octoberfest, I feel it appropriate to restate one of my favorite lawyer stories from my post: https://thebeerchaser.com/2021/05/27/lawyers-continued-summer-associates-part-i/

In this litigation – filed in the early ‘90’s, a Portland resident filed a $53,220 lawsuit against the Mount Angel Octoberfest claiming the portable toilet he entered was pushed over by unruly patrons. His lawyer claimed:

“Plaintiff was violently thrown around the inside of said portable toilet, became intimately mixed with the contents thereof, sustained a fracture of his right wrist as well as other contusions and abrasions.”

“Intimately mixed with the contents thereof…”

Unfortunately, I could not determine the result of this lawsuit and assume – just like the contents of the overturned chamber – it settled. Thus, a jury never had to contemplate either culpability or damages as a group exercise – one which might have proven to be an odorous task.

Cheers

* External Photo Attribution

*1. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olaf_Simony-Jensen_-_K%C3%A6lderinteri%C3%B8r_med_munke_i_festligt_lag_-_1904.png

*2. Wikimedia Commons – Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic. Author: Wolfgang Sauber – 21 July 2011. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigid_of_Kildare#/media/File:Saint_Non’s_Chapel_-_Fenster_3_St.Bride.jpg)

*3 Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EMS-89615-Rosecrucian-Egyptian-BeerMaking.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: E. Michael Smith Chiefio 12 May, 2007

*4 Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salzbergwerk,_Deutschen_Museum.JPG) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Germany license. Author: High Contrast – 2010

*5 Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_Feces.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. Author: Cacetudo 29 May 2006.

*6 Out.Haus Ales Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/Out.Haus/photos/10158449282739118).

*7 Wikimedia Commons (http://By U.S. Army – U.S. Army, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45595228) Source: US Army 2015

*8 Oregon State NROTC Alumni Website (https://www.osu-nrotc-alumni.org/) Courtesy Jud Blakely.

*9 Doug Bean and Associates Website (http://dougbean.com/people-2/doug-bean/)

*10 Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons – PacWest Center

*11 – 14 Freeland Spirits Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/freelandspirits/photos/?ref=page_internal)

*15 Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Outhouse,_Lake_Providence,_LA_IMG_7386.JPG) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Author: Billy Hathorn – 17 May, 2013

The Double Barrel Tavern – Take a Shot!

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Thebeerchaser

Take a Shot!!

Marcus Archambeault and Warren Boothby are no strangers to the Portland bar scene….or Beerchaser followers. They are the owners of two previously reviewed watering holes – Gold Dust Meridian (GDM 10/2012) and Club 21 (9/2014) And for that matter, the prior count should be raised to three since they are “remaking” the classic dive bar Sandy Hut – more affectionately known to regulars of this historic bar as “The Handy Slut” – reviewed by Thebeerchaser in February of 2014.

And the Double Barrel, like their other establishments, has its own character and ambiance, differentiating it and making one want to return.

The Double Barrel – has its own identity – and so does Dave Hicks….

Joining me for my visit was Beerchaser Regular, “West Coast” Dave Hicks, Princeton undergrad, who went on to get his law degree and is now a San Francisco-based consultant in the legal industry.

The Double Barrel opened in February of 2014 in the historic building which previously housed the Seven Corners Bar and Grill and before that K.J’s, Wynner’s and Dilly’s. This excerpt from Portland Bar Fly.com describes the change well:

Formerly, Seven Corners, the GDM/Club 21 boys got themselves a new toy and man, are you gonna want to play with it! An extensive remodel of the long malingering premises reveals the hundred year-old store front’s charming old bones, and dresses them up with a clever neo-vintage take on a Wild West saloon. Horseshoe bar with whiskey kegs holding up the booze and a rustic lodge-style fireplace add to the ambience.

: Named for Whiskey Barrels not the shot gun…

And the two entrepreneurs also take into consideration the neighborhoods of their venues when making changes:

Consideration of both the interior and exterior of the bar

A great fireplace and mantle in the remade interior

“(One neighbor) was pleased with what the two had done with the Double Barrel bar at 21st and Division, and how they reverted the property back to some of its original luster. ‘We got a lot of inspiration from the old-schoolers in that neighborhood,’ says Archambeault. ‘We wanted to pay homage to the old Division by making a place that is a local place, an old-school place.'”

This is not just rhetoric based on a telephone conversation I had with Marcus about the work on the Double Barrel. For example, the design in the floor is a septagram (seven-pointed star – a mural of sorts with seven stars surrounded by a circle). “We wanted to honor the tradition and history of the Seven Corners – the name of the neighborhood based on the seven streets intersecting division in that vicinity.”

: Recognizing the history of Seven Corners

And then there’s the menu. Each of their venues has it own specialties. For example, at Club 21, we feasted on their “Build-a-Burger,” and at GDM we ordered seconds on the “Classic mac.” The review from the Neighborhood Notes publication (3/27/2014) describes what holds court at the Double Barrel:

“Expect salads, snacks (tater tots, onion rings, hush puppies and gator bites), wings six ways, and eight signature burgers and sandwiches (including one called the Triple Threat that’s made with roasted pork loin, pulled pork and—because why not?—bacon)……”

Absolutely outstanding wings

Most of the social media reviews are positive such as this one from Yelp last December: “The juiciest (real meat not processed) hamburger cooked to perfection on the softest bun. The onion rings were so tasty and crispy. A 9 out of 10 – must try place…..”

: Menu specialty items…

Not to belabor, but the $5 Single Barrel Burger was heralded during “Portland Burger Week” by the Portland Mercury in August 2014:

“…. a charred Painted Hills ground chuck patty with proper 80/20 juiciness. They throw on tender bacon and deep-fried jalapeño rings, then douse it with their killer creative masterstroke: a house-made spicy Southern pimento cheese that gets all the other ingredients in a line and creates a marriage ceremony “in your mouth.”

Our own experience sampling the Happy Hour (an expansive 2:00 until 7:00 every day) options was really positive except for the Hush Puppies, which were soggy and flavorless. That said, the fried cauliflower bites with pimento dip and the “little smokies” were scarfed up immediately and the delicious wings were already addressed.

Since Thebeerchaser’s passion is investigating the history, background and context of the bars visited, it is worth spending some more time on the thought process of Archambeault and Boothby in their work on the Double Barrel the end result of which is summarized aptly below in Willamette Weeks 2014 Bar Guide:

“But a month in, Double Barrel is classic in form, dim of light and somehow already aged into its space. It feels like yours the first damn time you walk in. Order a bourbon….. and drink to dear old dad.”

I followed up with a telephone conversation with Marcus Archambeault on some of the specifics:

P1030232 Beerchaser: “How did you come up with the name?”

MA: “Our corporate name is Double Barrel Inc. (May 2011 incorporation). We also liked the double entendre – it references both the shotgun – consistent with the western theme of the bar and the barrels in which whiskey is aged and which are a feature in the bar.”

Beerchaser: “The long horseshoe bar is amazing and the whiskey barrels are a great touch. Where did you get them?”

MA: “We let the building speak to us. We took the original bar and all the paneling and wood when we removed the dropped ceiling and restored to the original height. It’s largely recycled from the original building.”

The whiskey barrels were obtained from the liquor store in Sellwood and we had to open up the slats to put them around the support beam and then put them back together – a tedious process!”

The games are a nice touch (darts, Big Buck HD and old-style pinball – and DB is probably the only bar in town in which you will see an chicken and egg vending machine.

A prize inside??

And since it is a bar, we should at least briefly address the beer, described by Willamette Week – again in its 2014 bar review:

“Double Barrel’s insistence on carrying not only Pabst and Oly, but also Hamm’s, Coors, Rainier, High Life and Tecate seems like an almost ham-fisted statement (Thebeerchaser strongly disagrees with this premise!), though there are also eight taps spouting local standards like Migration and Boneyard.”

Dave Hicks had a Heater Allen Pilsner and I enjoyed a Commons Farmhouse Ale (Willamette Week’s 2013 Beer-of-the-Year) after I first hoisted a draft Hamms – in a “hamm-fisted” and rebellious manner! They also had a cider on tap.

The Double Barrel is a great bar and another testament to Archambeault’s and Boothby’s vision and creativity – expect to see that imagination in the revitalized Sandy Hut when it reopens in May.

Dave Hicks and friendly bartender, Jesse – worked at the DB since its opening

And finally, since it has been quite awhile since you have seen a bar joke in a Beerchaser post, it is only fitting with the theme of the Double Barrel that you are offered these to old western gems (with apologies):

A horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Hey, why the long face?”

A three-legged dog walks into a bar and says to the bartender, “I’m looking for the guy who shot my paw!”

Bars and Taverns – the center of stories and jokes for centuries

The Double Barrel Tavern

2002 SE Division Street Portland

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The Double Barrel Tavern – Take a Shot!