The Old Gold

The Old Gold is a whiskey bar and restaurant at 2105 N Killingsworth Street in the Overlook neighbourhood, and it tells its own origin story plainly: we tried to open the Old Gold in 2006, and we actually opened the Old Gold in 2011. The five years in between were spent, in the bar's words, plotting and scheming and dreaming up a way to open a bar in its little corner of North Portland. Willamette Week reported in May 2016 that Ezra Caraeff had quit his post as the Portland Mercury's music editor after eleven years to open the place, and described a room where the focus rests squarely on the immense library of international whiskeys behind the bar, accessible via library ladder. There are whiskey flights, whiskey-and-beer pairings and whiskey-education classes, plus a front patio and a kitchen running hand-popped popcorn in five seasonings, chickpea-battered buffalo cauliflower, an elk burger with bourbon bacon jam, a panko katsu chicken sandwich and a vegan tofu banh mi.

For a whiskey bar, the zero-proof bench is unusually deep, and it is properly headed "Non-Alcoholic Cocktails" on the menu rather than buried under soft drinks. Peppino Garibaldi ($10) is a Garibaldi-style build using Pathfinder non-alcoholic amaro with orange juice and grenadine, served tall. Two drinks use Drømme Calm: the Not Toddy ($13) with honey syrup, lemon, orange juice, cinnamon and nutmeg, and Prince Valium ($12) with lemon and honey syrup over a large cube. Lady Luck ($8) is grapefruit, lemon, rosemary syrup, peach bitters and soda, and the Ginger Cooler ($6) pairs lime, honey syrup and black walnut bitters under ginger beer in a pint glass — with an honest note beside it offering to add Mellow Corn and make it a cocktail for $12. A separate non-alcoholic beer list carries Athletic Brewing Golden Ale, RationAle West Coast IPA and Happy Mountain ginger kombucha at $6 each. Usefully for families and under-21s, the bar states no age restrictions before 9pm daily, and happy hour runs Monday to Friday from 3 to 5pm.