Neat

By Matthew Korfhage

Brand-new Hawthorne whiskey bar Neat is a house of unlikely things. One of its bartenders—Sidecar 11 veteran Aaron Howard—has his own line of shrubs, drinking vinegars he makes according to his grandmother's recipe for mixing into cocktails. One wall contains a series of portraits of mustached women—with actual hair appended to the pictures. Behind the bar, you'll notice a bottle of undrunk Pappy Van Winkle, and on a recent weeknight Howard brought out a bottle of 99-year-old Madeira he'd been saving up. He has many such bottles. And, wonder of wonders, Neat has an actual liquor license—hard fought, apparently, after taking over from previous bar Prettyman's General and realizing the bar wasn't equipped as expected. There are also some very fine, subtle cocktails—each with at least one ingredient obscure enough most would have to ask how to pronounce it. Whereas the previous bar occupant could be called a bit precious, Neat has the decency to actually house precious things.

Happy hour: $1 off beer, wine and cocktails. Food specials.

Entertainment: Staring at pictures of mustached ladies.

2637 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 503-267-2800. 4 pm-close daily.

Willamette Week

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Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage has lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Munich and Bordeaux, but comes from Portland, where he makes guides to the city and writes about food, booze and books. He likes the Oxford comma but can't use it in the newspaper.

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