Where to Drink This Week

“What would happen if we brewed an imperial Pilsner like an IPA?” Drink Gigantic x Upright’s Czech Your Cold to find out.

Czech Cold IPA Photo courtesy of Gigantic Brewing.
By WW Staff

1. Gigantic Brewing Tap Room and Champagne Lounge

5224 SE 26th Ave., 503-208-3416, giganticbrewing.com. 2-9 pm Monday-Friday, noon-9 pm Saturday-Sunday.

When considering a collaboration, Upright Brewing’s Alex Ganum posed this question to Gigantic founders Ben Love and Van Havig: “What would happen if we brewed an imperial Pilsner like an IPA?” Naturally, that led the trio to experiment, and the result is Czech Your Cold IPA, a crisp, light-bodied brew with hints of lemongrass and lemon peel. You can find it on tap and in bottles at Gigantic’s flagship as well as its two other locations.

2. Fracture Brewing

1015 SE Stark St., fracturebrewingpdx.com. 4-10 pm Wednesday-Thursday, noon-11 pm Friday-Saturday, noon-8 pm Sunday.

This month, the Lil’ America food cart pod welcomed its final tenant, and if you haven’t checked out the eclectic mix of vendors—Guyanese bakes are sold feet from crab boils, vegan corn dogs and Hainanese chicken rice—the recent opening is a good excuse to get out there. Be sure to order a beer (but, really, you should get several) made by Fracture’s Darren Provenzano. During our last visit, the medallionlike West Coast IPA and the canary-colored Hazy were both standouts, but the Pilsner trio (classic, West Coast, New Zealand) is what really stole our hearts. Yes, they all taste different.

3. MILK+T

Inside the Portland Food Hall, 827 SW 2nd Ave., milkandt.com. Noon-6 pm Tuesday-Thursday, noon-8 pm Friday-Sunday.

MILK+T, pronounced “milk and tea,” is a Beaverton Asian- and women-run bubble tea bar making the leap across the West Hills by opening an outpost in downtown Portland. A pint-sized version of the suburban shop is part of the revival of the Portland Food Hall, which was slow to reopen following the pandemic lockdown. Despite MILK+T’s closet-sized space, it serves drinks with big flavors and premium ingredients, like the Classic (a black milk tea) and the adorably named Piglet (strawberry coconut milk).

4. Workshop Food and Drink

1407 SE Belmont St., 971-229-1465, fermenterpdx.com. 5-10 pm Thursday-Sunday, 5-11 pm Friday-Saturday.

Aaron Adams, the chef behind the self-dubbed “beneficial bacteria emporium” Fermenter, has launched a late-night lounge right next door to that house of fermented foods. Small plates at Workshop Food and Drink are all vegan and inspired by Adams’ Cuban roots, but we’re most excited about the deep list of cocktails. Many use kitchen byproducts to help offset waste, like Yes Whey, a classic milk punch with a housemade cashew yogurt whey.

5. McMenamins 23rd Avenue Bottle Shop

2290 NW Thurman St., 971-202-7256, mcmenamins.com. 10 am-10 pm daily.

For the second year, McMenamins has partnered with Great Notion Brewing so that each can make the other’s beer recipe while giving it a unique spin. This time around, the industry old timer has produced two different Great Notion beers: What’s Colder Than Cold, a double IPA inspired by Juice Box fermented with lager yeast for a crisp finish, and an even bolder 13.9% ABV Ice Cold Triple IPA. The latter could only be bottled because McMenamins has a distilling license. Drink with care.

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