Bailey's Taproom and the Importance of Good Pubs
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Last Friday, Brewpublic broke the very sad news that Bailey’s Taproom had closed permanently due to Covid. Founded in 2007, Bailey’s was the first of Portland’s modern beer bars and played a critical role in helping small, underappreciated breweries find audiences. It was an important moment, when the industry needed a course change. A decade after the great shakeout of the late 1990s, breweries were finally starting to open again by 2007. Many were specialized (Heater Allen, Upright, the Commons) or quirky (Breakside, Block 15) or located outside the city (Double Mountain, Ninkasi, Fort George). These breweries weren’t the founders or the survivors—they were third wave start-ups that sparked a remarkable decade-long run and have come to be accepted as industry leaders. They were the companies that created craft beer as we know it today. Yet in 2007 they were unknowns at the fringe of Beervana, not the respected breweries we know today.
Geoff Phillips. Photo: Level Beer
Geoff Phillips founded Bailey’s on a gritty stretch of Broadway in downtown Portland on a similar shoestring, hoping to appeal to the same kinds of drinkers as those late-aughts breweries. Good beer bars seem obvious now—Portland has dozens—but despite the decades craft beer had been around, Geoff’s vision was new. In earlier decades, breweries sold their beer on-site, in a brewpub, or to regular restaurants and bars. The notion of a pub that didn’t serve food but featured hard-to-get specialty beers from local breweries? Not a thing. “It was funny trying to describe to people what a beer bar was when I was looking to open up. They just didn't get it,” he said.
Drinkers didn’t get it, either, not at first. Particularly in Oregon, craft beer revolved around breweries. For beer geeks, the brewery was the locus of interest. If you wanted a selection, you might visit a fest. So in the early days, Geoff hustled, pulling pints and focusing on those less-known breweries to appeal to the adventurous vanguard. It was rough going. “I'm extremely fortunate the original owners of the building took a chance on me,” he said. “I had zero experience, and just a poorly written business plan.” Yet that lack of experience allowed him to explore new ways of appealing to customers. He began hosting events and micro-fests—again, new innovations. People slowly started to realize that if they wanted a selection of unusual or cutting-edge beer, they’d find it at Bailey’s. The approach began to pay off, as we found Bailey’s and began realizing what impressive beers these new folks were making.
I personally recall sitting in the pub not long after it opened with a pint of light lager from a new outfit in Eugene called Ninkasi. Schwag was so far ahead of the lager curve it didn’t enjoy a lot of sales then. First IPLs and then full-flavorored traditional lagers would have to come along before breweries would experiment with the kind of beers made in million-barrel factories. Yet if you were going to find such a rarity, you’d find it there.
Mike Wright at Microhopic 2 in 2010. Photo: Angelo De Ieso/Brewpublic
A few years later I attended an event showcasing local nanobreweries. One of the breweries had just opened in the far-north neighborhood of Woodlawn with a three-barrel system. I don’t even remember what Ben Edmunds was pouring (a Texas brown ale, Google sez), but that debut turned out all right. Joining Breakside that day were Migration, Coalition, Natian, and the one I remember so distinctly—a true, garage-based nano called Beetje. Mike Wright was pouring his Urban Farmhouse Ale, a beer whose textured palate I can still call to mind.
Unaffiliated pubs are part of the less-examined glue that built modern brewing. Even before the first breweries arrived, places like Portland’s Horse Brass were prepping the field by offering imports. Later they would be instrumental in championing pioneers like BridgePort. With Bailey’s, new breweries were given critical oxygen and access to avid fans who would create a bridge to solvency. Geoff’s tastes and interests perfectly aligned with where the market would go, and being on tap at Bailey’s was a kind of validation. Clearly not every brewery he championed survived, but he gave each one a platform absent in the Portland of 2007. (Survival itself isn’t a great benchmark, either. What a joy The Commons—as Mike Wright renamed Beetje—was during its decade of life.)
Good pubs do so much. Beyond supporting local breweries and creating excitement for the beers they serve, they can become focal points and community gathering spaces. People don’t just go to good pubs for beer, they begin to inhabit them. The outpouring of love for Bailey’s on social media has been emotional and intense, and stands as a testament to what Geoff created. Like any good pub, Bailey’s was unique. The location, the ambiance, the faces—everything about it. And as such it is irreplaceable.
When he emailed, Geoff said something quite poignant. “Bailey’s meant so much to me,” he acknowledged. But “the most heart-wrenching thing is reading the comments all over social media. Bailey’s meant a lot to a lot of people, and I’m just devastated I didn’t keep it going for them.” I believe I speak for everyone when I say we don’t blame you, Geoff. Covid has brutalized businesses downtown. We appreciate your work and the amazing memories you’ve left us.
In Brewers’ Words
You don’t have to take my word for how much Bailey’s meant to local breweries. I reached out to some of those folks getting started when Geoff founded Bailey’s to reflect on what it meant to them. Their comments illustrate just how important a single pub can be.
Jamie Floyd, Ninkasi Brewing (founded 2006)
Geoff was such a great influence on the beer culture of downtown. All of the early pint nights there were super fun and always had a host of other brewers there. Reminded me of the Rose and the Raindrop in that way. I had an apartment over on 14th and Morrison to help with all of the time I was spending in Portland so it was one of my locals when I was there and would roll in a lot after getting off the train from Eugene and usually there would be industry friends or even just friends and it was a trusted place for great options and new breweries and great conversations. One of my favorite spots to attend other people’s events and taste their beers and share support. Geoff always had so many great ideas and loved sharing them with me and others and that spirit of camaraderie is one of the very best parts of our industry and is part of what drew the general Portlander and tourists into its doors.
I raised a couple in their honor yesterday.
Matt Swihart, Double Mountain (founded 2007)
Bailey’s opened the same year Double did, back in 2007. In the beer world, the mid-2000s we were emerging from a market that corrected to put the brakes on the overbuilt breweries of the late 90s. Many of the larger craft brewers that had extra capacity were chasing the market by making lighter, less interesting, less hoppy beers, and that left a gaping hole for small, nimble, more aggressive brewers. Enter Bailey's to create a hip, tasty beer bar, dedicated solely to those hard-to-find, one-off beers sought after but [rarely] found.
Geoff and company picked up seemingly every unique fresh offering that hit the streets. New brewers were flexing their muscles with fresh hop beers, barrel-aging, sours, Double IPAs, Belgian-inspired blends, and creating a buzz and energy around the more interesting, more deeply traditional approach to brewing, and the more revered. The energy of the taproom was fresh with new approaches and new techniques and gave homage that beer demanded the same respect of art and craft as any great wine or spirit or culinary perfection. Bailey's was one of those original outposts where you were lucky to get your beer on tap, knew it would get replaced quickly, and then delighted when you could get back on tap with your latest small batch creation.
What I do know is that no matter the course of history, or disease, or war, there will always be a place to get a pint and commingle with friends to enjoy beer. Bailey’s was a shrine that way and will be sorely missed.
Geoff (left) joined Jason Barbee (center) and Shane Watterson to found Level Brewing in 2016. Photo: Brewpublic
Rick and Lisa Allen, Heater Allen (founded 2007)
Rick: “Bailey’s was very important to us when we were starting up. They regularly and frequently bought kegs from us when we had few other outlets in Portland and they provided the venue for a number of our early beer releases as well. Having spent most of my previous work life in downtown Portland, it was great to have a place where my former co-workers could taste what I was doing with my crazy new venture. Over the years, the marketplace got more crowded, and Bailey’s carried our beer less frequently, but they certainly were a major help to getting Heater Allen established in Portland.”
Lisa: “Bailey's was willing to carry beers that weren't super mainstream and for us, a brewery making lagers in the early 2010s, it was important tap space to have. And it wasn't just for Heater Allen; you always knew that you could find interesting and fun beers at Bailey’s. In more recent years they also started holding their educational seminars, which were great not just for the public, but brewers as well. While I understand why they’re closing, 2020 was tough on all of us, and it will definitely be a spot that is missed.”
Alex Ganum, Upright (founded 2009)
It was such a wonderful place to enjoy beers; I have many memories of walking over the Broadway bridge after work to meet friends or finish a little paperwork at the bar. The crew did a killer job with the varied customer base that was always there, talking everyone through the taplist and turning folks onto quirkier specialty beers from small producers. They supported us from the beginning, worked professionally while showing tons of character and a fun vibe, and always seemed enthusiastic and genuine. Really can't say enough about how great all my experiences were with Bailey's, as a brewer and a patron.
Chris Nemlowill, Fort George (Founded 2007)
Bailey’s Taproom was always a great launching place to get your beer noticed. We had several beer release events at Bailey’s that were very successful when we were first starting out. I also always enjoyed meeting up with other brewers at Bailey’s to see what was new.
The main thing I was always impressed with was the list of beer Geoff and crew curated. There was always something that stood out or was cutting edge by pushing a new beer style forward or reviving something I had never experienced.
It will be a big loss.
Ben Edmunds, Breakside Brewery (founded 2010)
Bailey's played a huge part in getting the Breakside name and our early pub beers in front of people. Geoff and his crew were leaders of a new wave of beer bar—part of a shift in pub culture and beer-buying that gave producers a tremendous platform for showcasing new beers. They were eager to work with small and self-distributing breweries, quick to buy kegs of almost every new release, happy to buy niche beers, committed to showcasing a wide range of styles even as some of those styles waned in popularity.
We sold our first keg of beer to Bailey's in late 2010, one of first out-of-house sales for sure, and I feel lucky that we got to work on so many projects with Geoff, Michael, Bill, and Ryan through the years including a personal favorite—Entropy, a gin barrel-aged farmhouse ale, that then-Breaksider Tom Fischer brewed and blended with his wife (and longtime Bailey's beertender) Janelle Harrie. I remember my first visit there in the spring of 2008, when Geoff and Michael were the only bartenders, the beer menu was handwritten on a mirror, and my friends and I entertained ourselves with the old board games in the corner. Over the years, I have fond memories of symposiums, Brewpublic's Killer Beer Fests, and the Belgian, German, and Barrel-Aged fests that they hosted every year.
Portland was already a good beer city in 2006 with lots of brewpubs and a few great (and smoke-filled) beer bars, but Bailey's—along with Saraveza, Roscoe's, The Hop and Vine, The Beermongers, and the Biercafe at Belmont Station—catapulted the city's tap scene forward at the end of that decade and helped set the standard for what we know today.