Blind Ox Taproom opens in former Untapped space
There used to be a nice little neighborhood beer bar called Untapped, up on North Interstate Avenue. It did all right from opening in 2014, but the pandemic did it in, and closed its doors at the end of October 2020. What the former owners didn't do was gut the place. A lot of infrastructure was still there when the owners of the Blind Ox Taphouse on Northeast Fremont Street decided to take it over and open their second bar.
That Fremont Blind Ox was also something of a takeover, as the premises had previously been home to Alameda Brewing until early November 2018. Although the pandemic was still more than a year away, Alameda had also run into problems and had to shut down. The space was vacant for months, until Blind Ox announce its takeover and opening there. The first Blind Ox is dedicated to variety: a sizable tap list, house-made ice creams made with booze and nitrogen, a kitchen space currently leased out to Nacheaux (which itself upgrade from a food-cart operation to sharing brick-and-mortar with Blind Ox), and live music, again made possible as vaccinated Portlanders return to re-opened bars and restaurants.
Interstate Blind Ox is more pared-down, mainly a beer bar with a wide-ranging tap selection and a small cooler space with beers available to go. For anyone who'd been to the former Untapped bar, the changes are minimal, the feel is still neighborhood bar, and it's a convenient stop for good beer for locals. The most significant change, besides the sign and name, might have been the overhaul of the beer delivery lines to ensure freshness. Besides the single-room bar space, there are tables out front for al-fresco imbibing. Its location at the corner of N Interstate and N Skidmore is just a half-mile west of N Mississippi Avenue's Prost German beer bar, making Blind Ox Interstate a nice little addition to a North Portland pub crawl. It's in a fairly high-density neighborhood, so parking can be a little challenging, but there's a good public-transit alternative, as the Yellow MAX line has a stop right across the street. As if that isn't enough, Blind Ox Interstate is announcing live music events on its Facebook feed.
The best thing about the new Blind Ox bar is that it continues as the former Untapped bar was: a decent little locals' pub with a good draft selection.
Blind Ox Taphouse - Interstate
