contents PUB CRAWLS BREWPUBS BREW CLUB PROFILE BRITISH, IRISH CHI-CHI THE SCIENCE OF DRINKING FUN AND GAMES GAY BARS KARAOKE OLD MEN OUTDOORS SPORTS BARS THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS WINE WINE WORDS

Cocktails Ladies and Gentlemen, right before your very eyes, amaretto and tangerine juice turns into a life-saving tonic! BY CHRISTINA MELANDER melander@wweek.com Though the hysteria over all things swing has quieted to an occasional squeal, everyone continues to shout about cocktails. And why not? A carefully concocted drink is worth lionizing and revisiting. Choose your maker wisely--a cocktail is contingent upon the whim and wisdom of the bartender. It doesn't matter if your drink was mixed with Tom Cruisean fanfare, its quality lies not only in the liquor and the mixer with which it was made but in pouring precision. Portland may be a brewpub mecca, but people here still stand up for the hard stuff. Hard alcohol is how many bars make their money and how revelers lose their secrets. With a zillion different liquors out there, cocktails offer a brightly colored carnival of discovery. After recovering from an obsession with amaretto sours in college, I swore off the sweet, nutty liquid. Yet at an Oscar party this year, I was served a vivid orange drink that turned out to be tangerine juice mixed with amaretto. Sipping that sauce was orgasmic. Fortunately for anti-beer brethren, even the diviest bars furnish cocktails. Still, knocking back G&Ts at Chopsticks Express and Atwater's are vastly different experiences, and not just because of the atmosphere and price. It shouldn't matter whether you are consuming a Scotch neat or a Bay Breeze, smoothness is paramount. All the establishments listed here deliver satisfying libations and share these in common: evocative character, calculated décor and above-average bar fare. ATWATER'S Want to impress visitors with your big, metropolitan city? The first night they get to town, take them up to the U.S. Bank Tower's 30th floor to behold a panorama that kicks L.A.'s ass. The view makes Portland appear larger and livelier than it really is. Your guests will also appreciate Atwater's sumptuous swank and its velvet drinks. A restaurant that in any other city would impose a shirt-and-tie dress code, Atwater's exhibits less pomp than you'd expect. The greyhounds here are divine. You deserve to treat yourself right at a place like this, so go for the top shelf. Make it a Belvedere martini with three olives or a single Basil Hayden's, no rocks. A live jazz band plays Tuesday through Saturday, further upping the ante. Your friends will find you most gracious. 111 SW 5TH AVE., 275-3600. OPEN DAILY. BEER, WINE AND LIQUOR. BRAZEN BEAN Oh, the joy of lounging in a bar straight out of Wallpaper. The style is neo-Gothic, without any gloom: high ceilings, heavy curtain swags, pedestal tables, a discreet humidor, honey-colored walls. Fastidious fetishists love the Brazen Bean--it is immaculate right down to the "ashtrays" on the porch. No ordinary cigarette extinguishers, these stone receptacles are filled with white sand, not the kitty litter variety. In that white sand are the initials BB, traced in imitation of the Bill Blass insignia (back to back B's). Acute attention to detail is also present in the quality and presentation of food and drink. The range of cocktails perfectly suits polar personal tastes: banana martinis and Cherry Cocktails (Kettel One, amaretto, cherry) satisfy sweet tooths, a Sake Silver Martini (a piquant combination of gin and sake with the surprise of caper berries) appeals to drier palates and the beautifully blush Pomegranate Martini walks the center line between tart and saccharin. Unusual light fare--Caesar salad wrapped in a spinach tortilla, artichoke pâté--and a quintet of desserts (chocolate fondue anyone?) complete the well-planned menu. Prices tilt the scale toward New York, but you get what you pay for. 2075 NW GLISAN ST., 294-0636. CLOSED SUNDAYS. BEER, WINE AND LIQUOR. COLOSSO Let the creamy interior of Colosso take you into its fold while you ward off worries with a Casella, a tart lollipop of a drink: Absolut Kurant with lime, cranberry juice and Sprite. Colosso is a friendly place, if a bit too chummy for unacquainted, first-time customers. The cocktail list best reflects the fledgling restaurant's close-knit character: The drinks are named for the staff and patrons who adapted old favorites with top-shelf liquors and fresh juices. For example, Chandra's Spanish Coffee, Colosso's most popular drink, uses espresso instead of regular coffee in its recipe of Kahlua, triple sec, Bacardi 151 and whipped cream. Mr. Higgins--Tangueray, fresh orange juice and ginger ale on the rocks--is named after a customer's basset hound. Opened one year ago, the tapas bar handily generated a neighborhood clientele before receiving its liquor license eight months later. Beyond the 18-drink-strong cocktail list ($4.50 to $5.50 each), Colosso offers many wines and a handful of beers to complement its tapas. 1932 NE BROADWAY, 288-3333. OPEN DAILY. BEER, WINE AND LIQUOR. THE GYPSY The Gypsy is rife with kitsch décor, but it appeals to patrons who disdain vintage vestments. The cavernous restaurant and lounge are dark, modernly styled and pulsing with pretty good pop tunes. Yet even though the music isn't blaring, a couple of hours at the Gypsy can feel like the inside a big headache. It's noisy, smoky and overwrought with stimuli, basically your average, swinging joint. So if you feel a bender coming on, this is a good place to start and maybe finish. Chances are, if you partake in a party bowl--nervy $15 concoctions of at least four liquors served in 60-ounce fishbowls--your night may end swiftly. If you don't feel like sharing, pick your personal cooler from a list of special martinis and lounge favorites--Leo's Lemonade (vodka, Chambourd, sweet-and-sour and 7-Up) is nice. The great thing about getting wasted at the Gypsy? Their full menu is served until closing. 625 NW 21ST AVE., 796-1859. OPEN DAILY. BEER, WINE AND LIQUOR. MUU-MUU'S Successfully combining affordable, Asian-inspired cuisine and tiki-bar cheekiness, Muu-Muu's has emerged as both a neighborhood standby and a hipster destination. The convenient location next to Cinema 21 doesn't hurt either; Muu-Muu's is a logical pre- and post-movie choice, which makes it difficult to get a table during the heart of weekend nights. Muu-Muu's seasonal drink specials ($5 to $5.50) tend to be confectionery: The Chocolate Mint Sundae includes dark crème de cacao, Kahlua and crème de menthe; a sultry White Russian mixes cinnamon-infused vodka with Kahlua and cream. If the sound of those make your teeth ache, you may be surprised by the Creamsicle, a spot-on screwdriver amped by vanilla Stoli--there's not a drop of cream in there and it's no sweeter than a soda. 612 NW 21ST AVE., 223-8169. OPEN DAILY. BEER, WINE AND LIQUOR. SAUCEBOX With drinks like the Soft Spot (rum, grapefruit juice, lemon-lime and bitters) and the Best Drink (fresh mint and sugar muddled with ice, gin, lemon-lime and ginger brew), Saucebox is deservedly lauded for its cocktails. But at Saucebox, the best-looking beverage comes in a beer glass. There's a passel of exotic bottled beers, notably La Trappe, a Trappist ale from Holland with an alcohol content of 8 percent, but draft brews are served in tall, gorgeous pint glasses that would make Charles Eames beam. Saucebox has many, many spirits: signature cocktails, slightly altered classics, house-infused brandies and vodkas, single-malt Scotch, sake, port, wine by the glass and bottle, and oft-overlooked aperitifs. Still, as grand as the drink selection is, it's hard to be completely satisfied without sampling the menu as well. Give into a few starters and be sure to try the asparagus and prawn salad before exiting this super suave boîte. 214 SW BROADWAY, 241-3393. OPEN DAILY. BEER, WINE AND LIQUOR. VIRGINIA CAFE The garish neon sign outside casts a light very different from the homey glow found inside the Virginia Cafe. It's easy to walk by the nondescript storefront 300 times without wanting to go in, but after that first eventual visit, you'll be back. The VC has been kicking around since 1914, the dark-paneled interior is reminiscent of an old diner car. This is the place to go when you want a simple drink, straightforward eats and swift service. You won't get anything fancy, but that's not why you're here. At the end of the day, workers downtown cram into the tiny booths for some good, cheap fun. The beer selection is nothing extraordinary--Guinness, Bud, Lompoc IPA and Amber, and Black Butte Porter on tap as well as a few domestic bottles--but well drinks and call drinks are offered at $2 and $2.50, respectively, on Thursday and Saturday nights. Sometimes you just don't need a lot of choices. 725 SW PARK AVE., 227-0033. OPEN DAILY. BEER, WINE AND LIQUOR.