Before Jeffrey Morgenthaler arrived and rewrote the rules, Portland cocktail bars were merely good. After Morgenthaler took the bar programme at Clyde Common, they became legendary. His barrel-aged cocktail technique, debuted here in 2009, spread across the global industry and is now standard practice at serious bars everywhere. The man moved on, but Clyde Common never lost the programme's DNA.
The bar occupies the ground floor of the Ace Hotel on SW Stark, sharing space with the brasserie dining room in an arrangement that somehow makes both experiences better. The room is long and slightly industrial, with communal tables down the centre, a proper bar running one wall, and the kind of comfortable noise level that means you can actually talk. The light is dim but not theatrical. This is a bar for people who want to drink well and eat well and not make a production of either.
The cocktail list rewards study. There are classics done properly, seasonal signatures built around Pacific Northwest ingredients, and a back bar with more vermouth and amaro than you will see at most cocktail bars twice the size. The food programme holds its own alongside the drinks, which is rarer than it should be. Order the steak tartare, stay for the Negroni, and take stock of how many excellent bars in the Pacific Northwest owe something to this room.
Tuesday through Thursday from 6pm to 8pm hits the sweet spot: the dinner rush has started, the bar is animated, but you can still get a seat without queuing. Friday and Saturday after 9pm gets loud and crowded — excellent if that is your preference. Sunday brunch is something of a secret, a relaxed window with the same excellent cocktail programme available from 10am.
Serious drinkers who want substance without ceremony. Food-and-drink people who believe the two should share equal billing. Out-of-towners who want to understand why Portland matters. Bartenders visiting to pay their respects to a room that changed their profession. The Portland cocktail bar scene is excellent, but this is where it started.