Bar Review: Bootleggers Whiskey Bar

Strolling down Broadway Street in ye olde Beaverton, you'll notice some large barrels with tabletops standing outside a dark, nondescript storefront. Bootleggers Whiskey Bar (12424 SW Broadway St., 747-2474, facebook.com/bootleggersbw) is a newcomer to the neighborhood, intended to look as if it's always been there. Mugshots of Lucky Luciano and Al Capone, along with other Prohibition-era photos, line the dark maroon walls. Look around and you'll also notice an ancient—idle, obviously—cash register and models of old-timey cars. Crooner and big-band music plays in the background. Opened with much fanfare as Beaverton's own Prohibition-themed bar, Bootleggers is more a kitschy tribute to an indeterminate time in the past. The drink menu is a throwback dedicated to Prohibition cocktails, including many tantalizing options, from the minty Southside to the tropical Mary Pickford. But I find my eye drawn to the old-fashioned ($12) made with rye—as all old-fashioneds should be. A 20-something woman pleads with her boyfriend to get up and dance as "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" plays in the background. Meanwhile, you're sitting alone at the far end of the dimly lit bar, sipping on a smooth yet stiff drink, stuck somewhere between Don Draper, Nucky Thompson and several empty, low-slung, black leather chairs. 

WWeek 2015