The Rose & Raindrop is going to be closing in just over 1 month. As such, I’ve been twice in the last month to enjoy it while I can. Tonight Joe and I met to sample some fine cask ales – the dregs from the Portland Cask Ale Festival – and shoot the breeze. The previous visit, they had no cask ales… for shame!
I like the Rose & Raindrop. It’s in a gorgeous building (which is a curse, as it turns out), it has more history than you want to shake a stick at, and it has a robust selection of craft beers – including several cask ales. There are other “draws” that I don’t quite get; wireless internet, raw oysters, the TB clinic… but there’s also the smoking thing. R&R is one of the few great beer bars that allows smoking. As such – it’s bound to skank up anything you bring in to the bar. The skank can be so repelling that I only go maybe twice a year. And half those visits are for the cask ales.
Of the four places you can get a good real ale in Portland, half are in smoky bars, and the other half are Bridgeport(s). If you’re not a cask fan, fine; but the gentle body, sligthly less edgy flavor and wonderful overall sensation are hard to pass on. So much so that I’ll give up 24 hours of smell just to enjoy it.
If you’ve not tried a cask ale, or not been to the Rose & Raindrop – I highly recommend visiting before December 31st. And if they have the Mt. Hood Hogsback Oatmeal stout on cask – get it. And savor it. It’s not that easy to find, and it’s as perfect an ale as I’ve found so far.
I like raw oysters, yet the terrify me at the same time.
Ah man they had hogs back on cask….mmmm…soooo yummy! Wish I could have gone.
As for the smoking, another reason I don’t get it is that it takes away from the beer experience. Its so hard to get a good aroma/smell of the beer with all the smoke at R&R. I wonder how many wine bars allow smoking?
I don’t get raw oysters. Why would you pay a lot for a raw shellfish just to shoot it? It’s like a dare. Still – they’re not bad.
BBQed oysters are good, raw are not so good.