A Brief History of Roscoe's as the Portland beer bar celebrates their anniversary
Outer southeast Portland beer bar Roscoe’s is celebrating a milestone 17th anniversary with an anniversary beer summit on the leadup to New Year’s this Friday, Saturday, Sunday, December 29 - 31st, 2024. It’s been an eventful few years for dive bars and the beer industry, and Roscoe’s manages the rare feat of being both. Let’s take a look back at what makes this bar one of the most beloved in Oregon.
Roscoe’s beer bar and owner Jeremy Lewis
Jeremy Lewis and Quyen Ly are two longtime friends who have owned and operated Roscoe’s for the past 16 years taking it from locals dive to esteemed beer destination. When they acquired the vacant space in 2006 they had no experience running a bar and were saddled with a costly project with nothing but a dream to get by on. At the time Lewis owned an insurance agency that he started right out of college and Quyen ran the sushi program for Zupan’s Markets and now also owns Miyamoto Sushi right behind Roscoe’s.
“Before Roscoe’s Quyen and I were barflies,” says Roscoe’s co-owner Jeremy Lewis. “We would spend our evenings hanging out at Reel M Inn drinking Bridgeport Blue Heron and Full Sail Amber (Henry’s on the nights when money was in short supply) foolishly talking about the reasons we should open our own bar.”
No one is exactly sure when Roscoe’s first opened under previous ownership, but the bar was rundown and had changed the name to Clifford’s before going out of business in early 2006. Located in the Montavilla neighborhood east of Mt. Tabor, the area was a lot seedier at the time and there was almost no other businesses on the block. From all accounts the bar had been a haven for bikers, dealers, hookers, down on their luck locals, and a few good apples, it was NOT a beer bar - or atleast not a CRAFT beer bar. This was before other recognizable fixtures like Country Cat and The Observatory moved in, but there was a snowboarding shop across the street called Grenade Gloves and young ski bums were among the bars first customers.
vintage photo, left to right: Roscoe’s owner Quyen Ly, Flat Tail Brewing founder Dave Marliave, and Roscoe’s co-owner Jeremy Lewis
With a love of old pubs and dive bars but no clientele, Lewis and Ly looked for advice from an industry legend. One of the west coasts first beer bars Horse Brass Pub had established the cozy dingy pub vibe with world class libations before anyone else and it’s legendary owner/publican Don Younger was more than happy to share his wisdom. “He said that if we built a place that we wanted to hang out, that other like minded individuals would enjoy it,” recalls Lewis.
Roscoe’s is now swathed in black paint with creaky floorboards and strange eccentric art, a jukebox, a TV playing retro movies, a couple pool tables, and a tiny alleyway smoking patio that most people don’t know about. You would never guess that they have one of the best and fastest rotating beer lists in-town, or about the secret sushi menu or vintage bottle list unless you know to ask - and that’s part of the charm. Although the pub looks well worn and lived in now, it was actually quite different decor when Quyen and Lewis moved in.
“There were carpeted floors everywhere,” Lewis remembers, but they couldn’t afford to keep the bar shut and replace them immediately, so he and Quyen would come in after hours and pull up layers of carpet and tile, and take down wood paneling that covered the now exposed brick. Some of the walls were even painted an unpleasant shade of yellow. “Scraping the tile up was the worst. We then sanded and finished the floors. It took a couple of weeks of coming in at 2:30 in the morning to accomplish the task. The tile in the back room was stuck too tight, so we ended up just painting over it.”
At the outset there were 9 taps at the bar, “Which was pretty solid for 2006,” but they immediately updated it to 12 and overhauled the selection to some of their favorite beers available at the time. After years of upgrades the taplist is now up to 20 including dedicated cask, sour and cider tap lines, and two nitro taps.
It still wasn’t easy and it took many years for Roscoe’s to establish itself and get the craft beer community to recognize it’s importance. Lewis and Ly sunk all the money they had into the business without realizing how long it would take to turn any type of a profit or just how much work it would take to do so. “There were definitely some sleepless nights worrying about how we would make ends meet,” says Lewis.
The pandemic era has not been kind to the hospitality industry, and Roscoe’s hasn’t been immune to it’s challenges but has managed to come out even stronger. The biggest upgrade is an extensive covered streetside parklet running the length of the pub and Miyamoto Sushi behind it on the 81st side street. In the colder months they have tabletop fire pits for warmth and they now have QR codes to view the menu or order with, although they haven’t replaced table service or printed menus either. The uncertainty of the pandemic and staffing a busy establishment have been the biggest hurdles, but ones that they are now better equipped for with 15 years of experience and both Saraveza and the new Tiny Bubble Room bar in the ownership family.
“The first three years of the business were far more stressful than these last two have been. When we first started we didn’t have the depth of knowledge that we have now. I think one of the biggest lessons that we learned early on, and has been completely reinforced by the last two years, is that it takes great customers and great employees to make a business run. We have been very fortunate to have both the best customers, and the best employees that I can imagine. We are so thankful for everyone that has helped make Roscoe’s the place it has become.”
Roscoe’s 17th anniversary runs December 29 - 31st with different beers being tapped as the kegs kick. Roscoe’s will have fresh, vintage and barrel-aged beers from some of their favorite breweries on tap. Including beers from:
Russian River Brewing Beatification
Russian River Brewing Pliny the Elder
PFriem Family Brewers 2016 Belgian Christmas
Ghost Town Brewing Hammer Smash Citra
Block 15 Brewing Hoppy New Year
Fort George Brewing Etymology Barleywine
Fort George Brewing Technology Party Triple IPA
Fort George Brewing Pass the Balaton
Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus
Beachwood Brewing Peak Pursuit IPA
Bells Brewery 2015 Expedition Stout
De Dolle Stille Nacht
Cloudburst Brewing No New Friends hazy IPA
Upright Brewing Saracenera
and many more
Roscoe’s 17th Anniversary Summit
December 29 - December 31st from 1pm - 10pm
8105 SE Stark St Portland, OR 97215
https://www.roscoespdx.com/
Roscoe’s on a recent snowy Portland night