Hemp Bar’s Last Mocktail Pouring in June
After an exciting two years, East Fork Cultivars has made the difficult decision to close Hemp Bar.
In 2020, we joined a group of friends to purchase an historic, rundown building in Portland’s up-and-coming Foster-Powell neighborhood. Despite the uncertainty posed by COVID and a societal inflection point on race and policing, we forged ahead with a vision of “bringing our farm to Portland.”
We worked throughout 2020 rehabbing the old building, welcoming a group of muralists to paint the exterior while we busily worked inside to resurrect the shabby gem.
In May of 2021 we opened Hemp Bar, East Fork’s retail experiment combining CBD products made with hemp sourced from our farm, a creative mocktail program, cannabis science education, and a family-friendly, welcoming space for social consumption.
We took inspiration from Amsterdam coffee shops and Parisian cafés to craft the feel of Hemp Bar, a vibe that’s been universally loved by those that have come through the doors over the last two years.
Over the years we drew visitors from several communities: our Foster-Powell neighbors, sober and sober-curious people looking for bar vibes without the booze, our fellow cannabis industry professionals, and tourists looking for a unique experience. We are grateful for the memories we made together, and sad this chapter is coming to an end.
As a business we have moved through many growing pains, ups and downs, good and bad. Even with the positive feedback and our supportive regulars, the hemp and cannabis markets are currently facing trouble, and Hemp Bar hasn’t been able to gain enough traction to carry on in its current format.
While saying goodbye to Hemp Bar is hard, East Fork Cultivars is in it for the long haul. We’ve decided to shutter Hemp Bar to preserve our core enterprise, and thankfully our products have never been more accessible. You can find all of your favorite hemp products on www.eastforkhemp.com, and at several hundred retailers in Oregon and beyond.
We hope that if you’ve been a supporter of Hemp Bar — or been meaning to drop in — that you stop by and say farewell to the space and our team before we close. June 9 will be our final day of service at Hemp Bar.
To make it more worth your while we’ve placed all items at Hemp Bar on sale from now until we pour our final mocktail in June.
To keep up with our latest projects, make sure to follow along on Instagram (@eastforkcultivars and @eastfork.hemp) and subscribe to our email newsletter to stay up to date on product launches, discounts, events, and updates from our farm.
Some Hemp Bar Highlights over the years…
By Matthew Singer for Willamette Week
“If the products have barely any THC, what’s even the point? But owner Nathan Howard insists that, depending on how much you ingest and the makeup of an individual’s endocannabinoid system, you can feel 0.3%.
“That makes [Hemp Bar] essentially a weed cafe,” Howard says, “but we’re just not leading people to get too stoned.”
By Brianna Wheeler for Willamette Week
Once my companion and I ordered our first round of CBD mocktails and took our seats outside, the shape of Hemp Bar began to come into sharper focus. Each of the four signature mocktails felt assembled for both a consummate cocktail enthusiast and a vegan on a juice cleanse. The Cocomo is a perfectly foamy interpretation of a classic daiquiri, and the Strawberry Basil Smash was a bright, fresh homage to a summer garden. The lemon and lavender Purple Llama was refreshingly fizzy, and the Orange Fire simmered with ginger and a flash of cayenne. Each drink had a satisfying balance of therapeutic botanicals and theatrical, mixologist flash. We were dazzled, soothed and blissed out all in equal measure.
Sitting in front of the shop, our conversation intermittently drowned by the busy traffic of Foster, snacking on salted and fried fava beans—which the server suggested as the fatty beans help the body absorb CBD—we decided the Hemp Bar felt like it was designed for us: contemporary adult cannabis users who appreciate both a surreptitious canna-lounge and a breezily uncluttered neighborhood juice joint, and certainly wouldn’t mind seeing the two concepts come together in way that supports long, cozy hangout sessions.
By Melody Gonzales for KOIN
“In 2018, the federal government legalized hemp across all 50 states, making low THC cannabis legal and so we’ve embraced that,” Walker said. “We grow USDA organic hemp on our farm and work with lots of different product makers to make it accessible, in products that you can ingest and put on your skin.”
By Janey Wong for Portland Mercury
Drinks on Hemp Bar’s extensive mocktail list are by default made with 20 [mg] of CBD in the form of East Fork’s CBD drops, an organic beverage enhancer. First developed at the request of the now defunct Townshend’s Tea, the USDA certified organic drops are essentially the backbone of Hemp Bar. The “fast-acting” emulsified tincture has a milky quality and is super soluble in liquid. For those interested in mixing CBD into their own drinks at home, Hemp Bar sells the drops in one or four ounce bottles. Folks can also order mocktails sans CBD.
By Brianna Wheeler for Willamette Week
Opening a flagship store is becoming standard practice for growing cannabis farms, but East Fork Cultivars’ Hemp Bar is more than a brick-and-mortar retail shop. It’s a hybrid hemp dispensary, mocktail lounge, vegan cafe, CBD outlet, and low-key Amsterdam-style coffee house. Oh—Hemp Bar should also be considered ground zero for plant-based medicinal education. Come here to learn why humans should probably be juicing raw cannabis on the regular, or just have a seat and enjoy a vegan cheese plate with an herbal hot toddy. Both energies are wholly welcome.
By Brianna Wheeler for Willamette Week
“No conversation about Oregon hemp is complete without mentioning East Fork Cultivars, the trailblazing business behind Portland’s celebrated Hemp Bar. Integrating one (or all) of the brand’s tinctures into your daily wellness routine could prove beneficial for years to come. Aside from leveling out your mood and relieving pain, CBD can act as a neuroprotectant and has anti-inflammatory properties.”
By Katherine Chew Hamilton for Portland Monthly
If you’re into CBD as a form of letting loose, Hemp Bar has a full menu of mocktails made with 20 milligrams of CBD extract from East Fork Cultivars cannabis. Many are made with kombucha, ranging from watermelon to ginger lemon, while you’ll also find one with local Wilderton nonalcoholic spirit. They’re zhuzhed up with everything from lavender to cayenne to nutmeg.
