It's that time again—St. Patrick's Day! Although it's a Wednesday this year, that shouldn't stop you from having a good time, so here's my "official" pub-hopping guide for the holiday. As always, it's not definitive, but a list of the places that strike me as St. Patty's-appropriate (more in the spirit of the pub rather than the club).

And, a number of places will have St. Patty's-specific menus and events going on, too.

A friend of mine is very close to opening a new beer bar over on Bend's westside, and this weekend we got a chance to look in on the progress and get some updates to blog about.

Located next to WineStyles, just off of College Way at the base of the hill, the Abbey Pub is the name of the place. As of right now, they are planning on opening up this Wednesday, which is ambitious but doable. You may have seen the build-out going on in the eastern part of the building—while we were there, a guy walked up to find out if they were open yet, and Geoff (the owner) said that since their sign went up, people have been coming by and asking about it.

The Abbey is going be a beer bar, in the spirit of the Bier Stein in Eugene and Belmont Station in Portland: they will have between six and 12 beers on tap, and will be offering something like 150 (to start) specialty bottles for sale in their coolers. The bottled beer isn't just to go; you'll be able to buy the bottle(s) and open them up on-premise to enjoy.

Here's the initial draft beer lineup:

• Laurelwood Free Range Red
• Double Mountain Kolsch
• Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
• Green Flash West Coast IPA
• Walking Man Homo Erectus (Imperial IPA)
• Hopworks Urban Brewery Organic Survival "Seven-Grain" Stout
• Stone Arrogant Bastard
• Lagunitas Lucky 13
• Trumer Pils
• Caldera Dry Hop Orange

There will be a food menu as well, though I don't yet know what it looks like; I would expect appetizers and pub fare, with some desserts being added later.

Hours for the Abbey are going to be 11am to 10pm—though I don't know yet what days they're planning to be open (dumb oversight on my part to not ask).

The location used to be an ice cream shop, but they've put a lot of good work into it and I really like how it's turned out. Check out the additional pictures below—you can see there's still some work to do before Wednesday—like I said, ambitious but doable.

I'll post any updates to the schedule or anything, too, so stay tuned—but right now, plan on visiting the Abbey as of this Wednesday the 5th.

The Bulletin's Frequency blog has what looks to be an exclusive first look at Bend's newest nightclub, The Underground. With lots of details, and pictures. Some pulls:

A new nightclub is opening in Bend, in the spot (under the Spotted Mule on Third Street) that used to house Club 97, which has been closed for six or seven years, depending on who you ask.

...they’ve said goodbye to Club 97’s “cowboy bar” look, Costa said, repainting walls and generally sprucing the place up. The team did some remodeling work to create a VIP area that has its own bar, seating area and outdoor/smoking spot. VIPs will pay a fee (that hasn’t yet been determined, McCutcheon said) and that will give them cover-free entrance to the club, a separate door to avoid lines, early notice about concerts and early opportunities to buy tickets, McCutcheon said.

The Underground has four bars and 18,000 square feet, of which about 15,000 is accessible to the public. There’s also about 2,500 square feet of outdoor space that’s open to the public, including an outdoor bar that’s sheltered from the weather. Club 97’s capacity was in the “upper 800s,” McCutcheon said, but the new owners have done some things to try to push that closer to 1,000.

The club’s size makes it one of the largest in Oregon, and comparable in size to the Showbox in Seattle and the Knitting Factory in Boise, McCutcheon said.

They plan to open Friday night featuring "local funk-rockers El Dante" and hope to attract all genres of music, whatever people are willing to pay for.

No word on drinks and menu pricing, other than prices will be "extremely competitive." Although they're talking to the local microbreweries so that's a good sign.

Should be interesting to see how a Club 97 nightclub replacement does in Bend right now. Has anyone caught any advertising? Particularly if they're opening Friday, I'd expect to have heard something before now.

Hard to believe, but everyone's favorite drinking holiday is just around the corner: Tuesday the 17th. Like the last couple of years, it's time for the "official" Pub Hopper's Guide. It's not definitive, but a list of the places that strike me as St. Patty's-appropriate.

And like last time, I'm also noting when a place has a specific St. Patty's thing going on (I've bolded the name and included a blurb).

I got this email from the folks at Jokers Bar & Grill:

Come To Jokers ONE YEAR Anniversary Party This Saturday!!!

As a Thank you to Central Oregon for supporting JOKERS all year we are bringing in National Touring DJ!!!

And Better Yet...NO COVER ALL NIGHT!!!

We will be having specials all day from noon on!!! Come early and sit on the deck and enjoy a great cocktail!!

This promises to be a huge party so get there early and have yourself a cold beer or cocktail or maybe even a Jello Shot!!

We will also be raffling off Great Stuff all night long!! We have Gallagher Tickets, Ralphie May Tickets, VIP PASSES, Gift Cards and Much more!!

Last but not least...Appetizers will be half off all day and night!!

Cya at JOKERS!!!

Profusion of capitalization and exclamation points aside, has it really been one year already? And, on the flip side of that, has it really only been one year?

Sounds like it's going to be a fun weekend, with both the Brewfest and now this going on. Too bad I'm out of town...

Early in the day an anonymous tipster passed along a rumor that The Grove was closing. Sounded like a good thing to blog about, but I didn't want to pass along a rumor that could (potentially) be damaging, so I fired off an email to The Grove to see if it could be substantiated. (Didn't get the reply yet.)

I needn't have bothered. I picked up The Source today and right there on their front page: Say It Ain't So: Grove announces its last show. Beat me by 10 miles.

The Bend Restaurants Blog has a post about it too.

Kind of ironic that when I posted about Storm and the Balls playing there last Sunday, that it was to be one of their last shows.

As promised when I blogged about it before, JC's expanded space was officially opened to the public today. Not monumental news, but it's always noteworthy in this town when a construction project finishes on time.

Don't forget they're having their grand opening this Saturday, St. Patrick's Day, too.

I thought it'd be fun to write up a guide to places to go if you're going pub hopping on St. Patrick's Day. My only criteria? Pretty loose and arbitrary; any place that I think of as primarily where you would go for a drink—not necessarily to eat. And it has to be a pub or tavern or thereabouts—not restaurant lounges, and nothing fancy. Sorry Astro Lounge, I'm lookin' at you.

Basically, the kinds of places I think would make for a good Irish pub crawl. Any other suggestions?

From the comments: Devin Barber writes:

Ty Barnett will be performing Nov. 8th at Jokers Bar & Grill. He was on Last Comic Standing and Jay Leno invited him to sit on the couch when he did the Tonight Show. I know this because I'll be opening for him that night. Be there, it will be a gut busting night.

That's next Wednesday; sorry, no mention of cost or times, though. If I find out, I'll post them.

The Bulletin surprises me today and publishes a really good happy hour guide. Almost all of what they cover is in Bend, but they also hit a few in Redmond, Sisters, Madras, Prineville, and Sunriver. They don't just cover who has happy hours (and they admit it's not a complete list, either), but they make sure to list what days and hours they take place, and the prices of drinks and food on special.

Oh yeah, the Bend listings are divided by "upscale" and "casual" dining. At first I thought they had omitted a bunch of places but no, just read farther down.

I don't know if I'm behind the times on this or what, but how long has there been a bar in the old Elks building downtown? I'm talking about Jokers Bar & Grill (nothing to see on that site). It's apparently the top floor of the Elks building at 70 NW Newport. How new is it?

The only reason I found out about it is that they're a sponsor of Shannon's roller derby club. What's the scoop?

On Tuesdays down at the Bendistillery Martini Bar, martinis are only $3. $3!! That's a great price. Ever been down to their bar? It's located in the Brooks Street alley overlooking Drake Park, just past the breezeway. They're open from 4pm til midnight Tuesday through Saturday.

They're a great place to get a before- or after-dinner drink downtown—if you can get in. It's often fairly busy there, especially out on the patio during the summertime.

Oh and another neat resource: check out their page full of recipes.