The Hospitality Suite

Holding it down at the OG Cartopia cartfooda triangle on Hawthorne, The Hospitality Suite is PDX's first and only "craft cocktail cart", and's serving a rotating selection of beer and boozy standards "made correctly" (and often creatively) under a roomy tent where you can imbibe while enjoying your favorite pod pabulum like fried pie from Whiffies, Potato Campion poutine, or Perierra crepes, which's appropriate considering drinking often makes you want to French.

Wait. How Did This Happen?: Meant to be a promotion for the Oregon Bartenders Guild and the upcoming Cocktail Week, organizers admittedly had no idea if Liquor Control would approve such madness. Well they did, permitting a legal bar during a series of weekend nights from 6p to midnight, where for a "donation" to the Guild drinkers can get a 'tail, all of which hopefully promotes "smarter, more responsible drinking", just like that one part of the PBS News Hour drinking game: "Take a sip of Pinot every time Lehrer asks a pundit about fiduciary responsibility in a declining global market!"

This Sounds Awesome. Let's Drink: Helmed by two top-notch Guild tenders, the Suite's mandate is to educate tipplers on what makes a classic 'tail extraordinary, which it does by way of a menu that varies based on the barfolk's mood and bottles donated by sponsors. Possible results: the fruity/vodka-y Love Drunk Punch, the ginny Serenity Prayer topped with jasmine mead, and the This Too Shall Pass boilermaker sporting a Buckman Breweries Chamomellow brewski and a shot of Becherovka, although you can expect to see even obscurer boozes in coming weeks, so clearly the ragingly popular Midori is out.

While the Suite's initial plan is to remain active until the end of Portland Cocktail Week, organizers point out that if the experiment in pod imbibing works, they'll stick around as long as they can, which unlike a French kiss, is hopefully more than just lip service.