Neiner's Beer Garden Diary

Would make Merry and Pippen proud! From their website:

Named by Imbibe Magazine as one of the 100 Best Places to Drink Beer in America, features 62 taps that serve an eclectic mix of craft beer from across the country.

One Man’s Experience

After the semi-surreal experience of running into a random Atlantan peer at Prost!, I am totally geeked to go try my luck at another Portland beer garden.  Driving through the city, bicycle riders and I pass by and under bridges and drive along side the river.

With a name like The Green Dragon, I don’t know whether to expect something from Hobbiton or a biker bar.  I find my way down some gentle slopes to a military-green bunker with plumes of trees sprouting out.  A little bit of both?

It is quite catching.  I don’t even know how to enter.  There are doors, but none of them seem right.

I decide to just take a little walk up and down the block.  I find an entrance that is a little past the “bunker” in a separate little building.

It is the tap and tasting room.  There is a full restaurant to the right and a nice indoor beer hall to the left.  There are a few strange decorations around.  The mannequin or puppet guy sitting above the doorway to the garden was particularly creepy.

As I make my way out back, I am greeted by a wonderful outdoor space.  It is completely shaded by the low sun and the towering trees.  There are picnic tables lined around the outside and an wide open center walkway.  Friends and families are all sitting out enjoying the afternoon.

It is a space that can be accommodating and cozy at half capacity and looks as if it is ready for a crowd any time as well.  The openness of the grounds mixed with the shelter of the trees, fences, buildings and bunker give me a sense of comfort.

I am curious about the bunker though!  I see it is guarded by a few grills, one of which doubles as a pink pig.  But I see 2 children run out of it the inside laughing, so I think it may be safe.

Inside is a tiny little game room with a small place for people to sit.  There is a closed door that would take one deeper in, but I decide against searching further.  I don’t know why, but I get the feeling that the game room is off limits and I am trespassing.

I only stop in to the Green Dragon for a quick brew and look around.  It’s a shame though because it really has a great relaxing feel to it.  They operate as part of a brewery too and offer tours every hour.  It is a great mixture of indoor/outdoor, restaurant/brewery and neighborhood bar/hideway.

“Oh you can search far and wide,
You can drink the whole town dry,
But you’ll never find a beer so brown,

Oh you’ll never find a beer so brown,

As the one we drink in our hometown,
As the one we drink in our hometown.
You can drink your fancy ales,
You can drink them by the flagon,
But the only brew for the brave and true,
Comes from the Green Dragon!!”

– Merry and Pippen, Lord of the Rings