Saraveza Bottle Shop and Pasty Tavern

It's already been open for a year, but last week I finally made my first visit to Saraveza. Sarah Pederson's bar is a much-needed outpost of good beer in that part of North Portland. The smallish space has an atmosphere something like a coffeeshop, with 10 taps of quality draft beer, and hundreds of snob-worthy bottles in stand-up coolers. There's a nice food menu, and kids are allowed in the place until 9 PM.

The decor is over-the-top Wisconsin, to the point of all the tap handles representing various flavors of wimpy downstream beer, from Bud to Schlitz. Hey wait a minute, I ordered a Russian River, not an Old Milwaukee -- oh, okay, it's just the handle. In fact, it's a Cascade Fall Gose that was served to me in that Coors goblet (and sitting next to a tiny snifter of 21% Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA). I've never been to Wisconsin -- despite a lifelong love for the 1880's-era Milwaukee antics of Peck's Bad Boy -- so I can't judge whether Saraveza authentically captures the Sconnie bar vibe. For me it's a little disorienting for a place to serve mostly craft beer, yet decorate with factory lager memorabilia. But it's definitely a unique approach, and probably bothers me less than it would any poor Schlitz drinker that happens to step up to the bar.

Saraveza's kitchen focuses on pasties, little fried pies made from scratch, with some cheeky junk-food options like Rice Krispie treats and a Ritz Cracker plate. When I stopped in with my friend Bill, we had just eaten a big lunch, so the only thing we tried was the jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and bacon, very tasty. Any of the bottles of beer at Saraveza are available to go at a discount from the drink-here price.

It's interesting how quickly Saraveza worked its way into the hearts of Portland beer folk. It's one of only two bars in town to have a live webcam on its tap list at Taplister (East Burn is the other). When Brewpublic celebrated its one-year anniversary, one of the parties was at Saraveza (the other one being at Bailey's Taproom, itself a relative newcomer). Sarah says she plans to put in a beer engine and start serving a cask-conditioned beer, but apart from that no big changes are planned. It's been a great first year, why change anything?