Small Bar – A PDX Pop-Up Event

Living in Portland, there’s always a pop-up of something happening… Jamaican food, a Fresh Hop Festival, Hand-Made Goods – you name it, Portland has a pop-up for it.

Though this was a first for me – a pop-up bar featuring great local craft beer, classic cocktails, and delicious tacos. Better yet, it’s happening every Tuesday and Wednesday (4pm to 12am), now through the end of Februrary at Function PDX – an event space on NW 23rd.

It’s called Small Bar, yet it’s name underscores the size of the vibe that emanated throughout the premises last Tuesday when I joined some friends for their opening night.

Co-founders Nick Lopez and Reichele Caviteno immediately made me feel welcome as I pulled up a barstool. As I checked out the menu – filled with delicious offerings from pFriem Brewing and hand-made tacos on one side, then classic cocktails on the other, Reichele filled me in on all the details and offered recommendations.

Tonight, pFriem will continue to be featured, along with a $7 Four Roses Old Fashioned special, although each week they’ll be offering different specials and featuring other breweries as well.

According to Nick, the whole enterprise is a test to determine the feasibility of such an operation in the Alphabet District, adding that “January is historically the worst for bars and Tuesday/Wednesday are the worst days of the week, so when we’re done we’ll have some pretty hard ‘worst case scenario’ data.”

And while they’re set to continue until the end of February, they’re planning to stay open for as long it continues to make sense for both Small Bar and Function PDX.

So be sure to check out their facebook and instagram pages to keep up with their drink specials and which breweries will be taking over their taps. It’s a pop-up you won’t want to miss!