Lucky Lab Is Delightfully Old Portland as Fuck

Since opening 11 years ago, the Northwest Quimby Street Lucky Lab feels delightfully un-fucked-with by the new-build neighborhood creeping around it.

(Lucky Lab, Emily Joan Greene)

1945 NW Quimby St., 503-517-4352, luckylab.com. Noon-10 pm Sunday, 11 am-11 pm Monday-Wednesday, 11 am-midnight Thursday-Saturday.

Since opening 11 years ago, the Northwest Quimby Street Lucky Lab feels delightfully un-fucked-with by the new-build neighborhood creeping around it. The bar is still cavernous, adorned from wall to wall in dog art, and exists in a design-and-function brewpub stasis unaltered since opening day. Much of the beer comes from way back when: The Superdog IPA and Stumptown Porter have been the brewery's flagships since the original Hawthorne brewery opened in 1995. And while the Lab's not Portland's only dog-themed brewery—woof woof, Hair of the Dog—it's got to be the most dog-forward.

(Lucky Lab, Emily Joan Greene)
(Lucky Lab, Emily Joan Greene)

There are dogs on everything here, from dog bowls to an enormous "No Barking" sign hanging above the water station and an outdoor dog lounge. There is a modest, occasional barrel program, and one of its finest beers remains the Hawthorne's Best Bitter. It's a place where you stop in for Terry's tuna melt and pitchers for $14.70 after parking your bike at a maroon indoor bike rack. You might have grown up going to places like these—every bit as much a pub as it is a brewery. And so it continues down here on Quimby: Old Portland as fuck, same as it ever was.

Drink this: The Superdog IPA (6.7 percent ABV) is an IPA from another era, trapped in amber from the prehistoric days of the IPA boom and a nicely balanced take on the form.

Beer_Banner

Welcome to the 2017 Portland Beer Guide

This Year's Guide Is Dedicated to Dean Pottle

Our Top Ten Beers of the Year

Brewery Directory 

Day Sips: Get Out of Town

An Oral History of the Horse Brass

The Best Portland Bars for Hardcore Bar Geeks | Portland's Best Cider Bars | These Are the Bars in Portland Where We Get Our Beer to Go | Where to Get Crowlers in Portland | Big Beer Halls Where You Can Drink With Half of Portland | The Six Best Spots to Take Little Ones For a Little Nip | Warm & Cozy Beer Caves | Portland Spots Where Great Food and Beer Come Together | Tap a Belgian or German at These Portland Bars

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.