Tell me your secrets.

Just across the river in Vancouver off of Hwy. 14, is Ginger Pop. I dislike the name and the location in a retail strip, but once you are inside it is magical. Good food, rotating art selection and an amazing tap list featuring mainly local beers. On Tuesdays, from 3-6, their draft beers are only $2! http://www.gingerpopthai.com/ Love the idea of this thread!

 

When I'm not heading to an actual "destination" bar or brewery I tend to stick to my neighborhood, so here's a handful of my favorite SE spots in stumbling distance of my house:

• Hobnob has delicious food (especially the burgers) and a solid rotating tap list.
  
• Belmont Inn for the "dive bar meets awesome draft list" award. Also, Big Buck Hunter. When I was there on Wednesday they had Hub Abomb, pFriem Winter, and Baerlic Scottish Ale (among others) on tap.
  
• Cheese Bar has a better bottle and tap selection than many "beer bars" around the country. Pro-tip: don't order off the menu. Instead, just order "a couple ounces" of each cheese and meat variety in the display that you're interested in and they'll slice it up and plate it for you. You can customize the portion size and variety to suit your tastes rather than commit to a pre-selected cheese/meat board.
• The Liquor Store {not a real liquor store} has awesome happy hour food and a small but well chosen draft list. $2 Wasabi deviled eggs, $4 spinach and atichoke dip, $5 flatbread pizzas are all good for soaking up beer. They also make some god damn amazing cocktails, so it's a good place to bring people who aren't into beer.

 

Another vote for the Belmont Inn. At worst you'll usually find RPM, fresh Workhorse, and a Breakside hoppy beer on tap. Burger and wings are solid.

 

The only time we typically end up there is Wednesday nights for trivia, or to pre-game before heading to the nickel arcade. On a related note, the Triple Nickel has a solid tap list if you're in the mood for karoake or giant jenga.

 

Get a part-time job at a bar/restaurant. Even just a couple hours a week. Lots of places will have "industry" night one day a week, where anybody who brings in a pay stub from any bar/restaurant gets a discount that day. In my regular rotation I get industry day at different places Sun/Mon/Tuesdays, and one place gives a 10% off entire tab (including food) every day. Start with happy hour prices, then get a discount on top of that, and you can save a few scheckels.

 

Take my AHA discount to Oakshire which does $3 off growler fills for members and throw that at their weekly special $8 growler and get 64oz of delicious beer for only $5.

 

Since the OP didn't specifically limit this to the greater Portland area, I'm going to mention two of my locals: the Swamp Tavern and Jones Radiator.
The Swamp is a longtime Spokane dive bar institution that happens to have 9 of their 10 taps devoted to craft beer, plus another 90 or so bottled and canned options ranging from animal beers and ciders to 120 Min IPA. People from all walks of life can be encountered there, it has a very cool outside patio with a fireplace, and it's about a dozen minutes by foot from my place.
Jones Radiator is a tiny, 1920s era former radiator shop with a dozen craft taps, craft cocktails and a surprisingly impressive menu for a kitchen so small you'd have to step outside of it just to change your mind. No TVs, so you have to talk to your fellow patrons, and I'm met some tremendously cool people there. The only problem is it's capacity (49 incl staff), so if there's an event, you either show up early or don't bother to show up at all.

When going to or from family that lives in the south sound area, it's just wrong not to stop by Red Hot, which in turn lends itself well to wandering over to E9. In Oly, the Eastside is a must.

 

Once again finding myself wishing I lived about 5 hours closer to Red Hot. Probably just as well - at this point I'm too old to adjust to the traffic over there.

 

PSSST: So many regular offerings (shelf beers) are as good or better than rare, hyped-up, over-priced, low bottle count, wait in a line, get on a list, trade your new born child for whales.

P.S.: Shhhh, don't tell anyone

 

Ill give out my somewhat off the radar bottle shops.

Zupans on Belmont has a great selection

Beaumont market always has great stuff

 

Sounds like a cool place, but I'm with you on the name. Sounds like the work name of a red headed actress in a mattress opus.

 

I am up and down I-5 all the time for work. My secret: don't be afraid to try something new or off the radar. Whether it is a brewpub, beer store, laundromat, or some funky ethnic cuisine.

'what kind of beer do you have' has gotten me more successes than failures. Sometimes you get 'we got both kinds, Bud and Bud Light' and that is when you just turn around and walk out.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Be a pioneer. Just don't die of dysentery.

 

I'd actually really like to do that at one of the local breweries. My dad works at a winery about 4 times a month as a post-retirement gig, and at this point it's just for the discount. He was going to quit at 65, and now he's pushing 69 (wow, try taking that out of context) and he's still doing it for great wine at cheap prices. Sometimes he forgets to cash the paycheck for a couple weeks. If they told him they were going to stop paying him, it might not be a dealbreaker, so long as he can still buy wine at a discount and get an industry discount at other wineries.

 

Take anything; host, keg washer, offer to help with maintenance, offer to help with special events, wash dishes, whatevs. Get your servers permit and your card from the local health dep't: http://www.liq.wa.gov/licensing/get-mast-permit-0 . Plus, it kinda opens doors in other ways too.

 

Yachatts Farm Store and brewing, Solid tap list, I found Anderson Valley Blood Orange Gose there. http://yachatsbrewing.com