Our Favorite Spots For German, English and Belgian Imports

Eurocentric.

La Moule
2500 SE Clinton St., 971-339-2822, lamoulepdx.com.
Chef Aaron Barnett's Belgophile mussels and steak frites bar keeps an underground selection of very good Belgian beer, from St. Bernardus Abt 12 to a VanderGhinste Roodbruin and Tripel Karmeliet by Brouwerij Bosteels, not to mention $4 Bavik Pils at happy hour.

(Thomas Teal)

Stammtisch
401 NE 28th Ave., 503-206-7983, stammtischpdx.com.
Stammtisch is not just Portland's finest German bar, it's also the best German restaurant in town—with an epic Schweinshaxen and choucrute garnie, great currywurst and 20 rotating taps of rarely seen German quaffs like unfiltered Pilsner, schwarzbier, früh Kölsch and German-style hard cider.

(Joe Riedl)

The Abbey
716 NW 21st Ave., 1650 NW 23rd Ave., theabbeybar.com.
The Abbey has two locations perplexingly close to one another: The original one on 21st has a hard focus on Belgian beers, while the one in Slabtown ranges freely among Germans and Danes and local versions of Euro-brew—and is very likely to have weird new-school Euro-beers in styles you've never seen in your life. If you're confused by the coolers, they're grouped and kept not by style but ideal beer temp.

Stein Haus
2366 SE 82nd Ave., 503-954-1797, facebook.com/steinhauspdx.
This Teutonic cousin to Roscoe's beer bar (page 34) is located in a strange Hansel-and-Gretel house built decades ago, and always keeps a solid selection of German taps from rauchbier to dunkelweiss for excellent back-patio drinking on 82nd Avenue.

(Stein Haus, Henry Cromett)

World Foods
830 NW Everett St., 503-802-0755; 9845 SW Barbur Blvd., 503-244-0670, worldfoods.com.
Both the Pearl's World Foods Euro-mart and its Barbur Boulevard cousin are sneakily two of the best imported-beer bottle stores in town—with deep sections of Belgian, German and other bottles tucked away in the back. But take note they also import a lot of Holy Mountain beer from Seattle.

Prost!
4237 N Mississippi Ave., 503-954-2674, prostportland.com.
Prost! owner Dan Hart is Oregon's top ambassador of German beer, making an annual pilgrimage to Oktoberfest and running three bars that not only have one of the biggest and best German beer selections on the West Coast, but are sometimes the first American to import kegs from tiny continental lagerhauses.

Autobahn 101
1512 SW Highway 101, Lincoln City, 541-614-1811.
Lincoln City is one of the Oregon Coast's most overlooked cities, and this pub and lunch spot, located right off the highway, is itself an easy-to-miss highlight. The handsome blond-wood parlor offers a full slate of German ales, mostly from the 141-year-old Ayinger Brewery. In fact, Autobahn claims to be the only place in the country serving the brewery's Kirtabier lager.

The Black Sheep
51 N Main St., Ashland, 541-482-6414, theblacksheep.com.
Ashland is home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Black Sheep is a bar for the groundlings, a rollicking meat market where the air smells of malt liquor and the simple beer list (Guinness, Harp, Newcastle and a few local taps) is paired with lots of British paraphernalia, including a 1,700-pound bright red phone booth imported from across the pond.

Bargarten
6045 Keizer Station Blvd., Keizer, 503-967-1819, bargarten.com.
This modern German-style beer hall is surrounded by a sea of suburban glass and concrete. Bargarten sports a gigantic wrap-around bar, and there's a lengthy menu of German classics, plus some things are decidedly not old-country gutbürgerlich, like the tortilla-wrapped schnitzel "Schnacos." The taps dispense familiar German brands like Bitburger, Veltins, Radeberger, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Ayinger and Spaten.

Mount Angel Sausage Co.
105 S Garfield St., Mt. Angel, 503-845-2322, mtangelsausage.com.
Nestled in the Bavarian village of Mount Angel, this sausage house is known for its handmade links and wide selection of German beers, which includes offerings like Hackerp-Schorr, Hofbräu and Paulaner, with a couple local choices to sweeten the deal. Get a half-liter of the perfect sausage beer, Hofbräu dunkel, a mild amber lager that's wheaty and fizzy. On your way out, stop by the small market area where they sell their frozen sausage, German groceries, and 76 varieties of beer.

(Rosie Struve)

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