The science that turns a good place to drink into a GREAT place can be as simple as how many jiggers of gin go into a dry double martini or as complex as the laws of thermodynamics. It's all about chemistry. For this edition of Willamette Week's annual drink guide, "Mixology," a group of well-fueled imbibers donned white lab coats to conduct an extremely unscientific survey of our local bar scene.

The listings that follow include more than 125 local lounges in alphabetical order (also indexed by neighborhood and type on page 5). Each bar profile includes this handy information:

- Name of establishment.

- Killer Compound: Why this place is cool.

- Warning Label: What you should watch out for.

- Brief description of said establishment.

- All the little extras that make this place special: pool, video poker (designated with a VP), happy hour, strippers, pinball, trivia, etc.

- Address, phone number, hours and days open. Bars sometimes conduct their own experiments when it comes to hours, like closing early when the crowd thins out, so it's never a bad idea to call before you go.

Our guide also puts the amazing world of the Happy Hour under the microscope to see what we can find, and we distill 10 handy tips for finding your way to a cold one even when you're broke.

Although we've tried to cover as many places as humanly possible, one of your favorite liquid laboratories may be missing in action. Maybe it makes our head dizzy, or maybe we just don't know about it. So drop us a line and let us know what you think about our choices. Until then, drink up!

Byron Beck

Special Sections Editor

See complete Drink Pull-out section at www.wweek.com/special_sections/drink2005/

Editor

Byron Beck

Imbibers

Mark Baumgarten, Jason Coyne, Nick Budnick, Kelly N. Clarke, Kim B. Colton, Autumn DePoe, Tomi Douglas, Zach Dundas, Ian Gillingham, Jay Horton, Nigel Jaquiss, Casey Jarman, Brian Libby, Joe Lino, Seth Lorinczi, Ivy Manning, Morgan Moody, Amy McCullough, Annamaria Pardini, Mary Putnam, Margaret Seiler, Henry Stern, Angela Valdez, Bryan Van Norden

Copy Editors

Ian Gillingham, Margaret Seiler

Art Direction

Samantha Gardner

Photographer

Michael Rubenstein

Illustrator

Paul Guinan

See complete Drink Pull-out section at www.wweek.com/special_sections/drink2005/