Well, it appears to be official: the Green Dragon Bistro and Pub where I have parked myself on many an evening in the last year is changing hands (technically, again) and will be fully owned and operated by Rogue Brewing.  Now, in and of itself ownership by Rogue is not a bad thing given that I like Rogue’s beer and the pizza at their NW Portland pub is quite good, but their beer and food is super-expensive–$5/pint or more at their locations–and they have no Happy Hour.  Yeah, that’s not exactly on the top of my must-have list, but it’s worth mentioning.

On top of that, the people behind the bar, in the kitchen, and even who were going to operate the not-yet-open brewery in the back don’t necessarily have a future here, plus there’s no telling what will happen to the rotating taps, the atmosphere, and the clientelle such as myself who frequent the pub.  Lastly, my status as a Founder of the Green Dragon, my giant mug in which I get free beer and a discount on food is likely to go away.  I will most certainly get my money back, but that’s not the point.  I paid what was then (and still is, as a mater of fact) a significant chunk of money–my entire savings at the time!–to buy into the sort of place that I could see myself frequenting on a regular basis.  And I did.  And I have.  And I may not anymore.

It’s a little frustrating truly expressing the feelings I have over this.  After all, it’s just a pub!  Places change hands all the time and sometimes things stay the same, other times they change for the better or for the worse.  I don’t know what will happen here when the title and name change hands, but I’m thinking this is a glass half empty sort of situation.  I’ve read what Rogue wants to do to the place and what they want to keep, but I just don’t know.  I’ll have to wait and see.  The Green Dragon might come out of this sale being better than before, or it might become a hollow shell of its former self.  Only time will tell.

But for now, I sit here with my mug in hand, drinking a pint and honoring the place I’ve come to enjoy spending time in the last year, hopefully not as a wake.  Don’t get me wrong–there are plenty of good places to go and grab a pint in this city, but not many of them compete with the Dragon as a public house.  I can get beer anywhere.  I have several breweries within walking distance of my apartment, and even the new sandwich shop I dig a few blocks away has a single tap, but the 18 rotating taps here, decent food, and people who know my name (most of the time, at least) don’t really compete with too many other places around.  The closest to that is Bailey’s Taproom, but they don’t serve any food.  And they don’t know my name because they aren’t ten blocks away from my apartment.

This past weekend Hanne was quite the busy beaver and she spent most of the time working while I spent most of my weekend tooling around on my computer, playing games and just generally being happy that my job stops at 4:00 PM on Friday.  Not exactly time well spent, but whatever–it was the weekend.  Friday night we met my Dad and her Dad up in North Portland at a new beer bar that I’ve been wanting to try.  They had a number of taps (eight or ten, something like that), about 100 different bottled beers (or what felt like 100), and a nice selection of Cornish pasties.  It was a pretty specialized place, but the beer was great, the atmosphere was great, and if it wasn’t 30 minutes away by public transportation I’d go there more frequently.  Hanne and I try and go out on Fridays, and I think we’re going to head to Hopworks Urban Brewery this Friday, which I was at recent for the Fresh Hop “Tastival” with our Dads that Hanne had to miss due to schoolwork.  That was an odd day, if I remember it, and I have to say–there are a few blank moments.  I remember beer, and walking home, and then to the grocery store, and cooking food, and lots of wine, but a few specifics evade me.

We tried our best to go out on Saturday night instead of cooking a nice dinner and staying in, but we were thwarted at every turn.  Our initial plan was to get dinner at Ken’s Artisan Pizza and then catch a showing of WALL-E at the Laurelhurst Theater, but Ken’s had a 45-minute wait and the movie was sold out.  We ended up having Tex-Mex at an OK place in the neighborhood, a glass of wine at Noble Rot, and then finished the evening with several episodes of “House.”  Except for the going out part, it was exactly like many of our other Saturday nights.

Sunday we did make dinner to make up for Saturday, though, combining bok choy, ginger, carrot, and garlic in soy sauce, wrapping won-ton wrappers around it, and steaming it in my steamer that’s gone unused since I figured out how to make rice on the stove.  We also cooked some edamame, which we were horrified to realize we’d never made before despite both of us having the capability of eating meals solely based on soy bean pods coated with salt and pepper.  The dumplings had a bit too much ginger, but we’ll fix that next time.  The edamame was perfect.

Almost time for another mourning beer.