As Portland bars close at a pace not seen in years, the 800-square-foot cocktail bar on Sandy Blvd. is still pouring cocktails.
Rum Club, the inner Southeast Portland bar co-owned by Michael and Wendi Shea, turns 15 on Saturday, July 18. The milestone lands amid a brutal stretch for the city's nightlife.
According to The Oregonian, approximately 20 notable bars have closed since fall 2025, including Pink Rabbit in the Pearl District, the nearly 80-year-old Leaky Roof in Goose Hollow, and Deadshot, the inventive cocktail spot opened by Rum Club alum Adam Robinson.
Robinson closed Deadshot at the end of 2025 after more than seven years. "The truth is simple — sales just aren't there anymore, while costs keep climbing," he wrote at the time, according to The Oregonian.
Michael Shea, who still bartends at Rum Club, said in an anniversary press release that the bar hasn't been immune. He dropped Friday happy hour after the pandemic hollowed out downtown's workforce.
Shea said the commuters who once packed every seat by 5:30 p.m. on Fridays stopped coming.
"That business is gone," Shea said.
Anniversary party and specials
The bar is running anniversary drink specials Monday, July 13, through Thursday, July 16: the Rum Club Daiquiri for $8 and the Pedro Martinez for $10 during happy hour.
The 15th birthday party is Sunday, July 19, starting at 2 p.m. The first 90 minutes are ticketed at $30 (2 p.m. entry) or $20 (3:30 p.m. entry) on Eventbrite, with proceeds benefiting the Oregon Humane Society. The bar will offer a 2011-priced menu, and Alejandro De La Para will make free tacos until they run out.
A 'waiting room' that outlasted its host
Shea and co-founder Kevin Ludwig opened Rum Club on Monday, July 18, 2011, as a "waiting room" for guests of the then-popular Beaker and Flask next door, according to the press release. When Beaker and Flask closed, Shea bought out Ludwig's share and kept going.
The bar sits in a triangle-shaped building at the intersection of SE Sandy Boulevard, SE 7th Avenue, and SE Washington Street. Inside: a horseshoe-shaped bar with 12 to 14 stools, 30 table seats, hand-selected wallpaper, and a knotty-pine-style ceiling that Shea shellacked by hand. A 20-seat partially covered patio wraps the corner at Sandy and 8th.
Two cocktails have survived all 15 years on the menu. The Rum Club Daiquiri, created by Ludwig, blends añejo Puerto Rican rum with lime, demerara sugar, Angostura bitters, maraschino, and a few drops of absinthe. It launched at $8 in 2011. The Pedro Martinez, a rum Manhattan riff, is served on a big cube with lemon oil.
Training ground
The bar's alumni list reads like a map of Portland's cocktail scene. Adam Robinson went on to open Deadshot and Too Soon. Emily Mistell landed at Hey Love and The End. Devon and Tyler Treadwell opened Tulip Shop Tavern. Nicholas Cifuni launched Yardy Rum Bar. Dylan McAffrey-Allen went to Bruno's.
Shea runs the operation with five or six front-of-house staff and cook Jesse Eastman, who has worked the bar's tiny glass-top-stove kitchen since 2018. Eastman produces crudos, ceviches, aguachiles, and a signature Boka Dushi curry with tofu sourced from neighboring Ota Tofu. The menu includes a full page of non-alcoholic cocktails made with house-produced cinnamon and hibiscus syrups.
Rum Club is open daily, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tickets for the July 19 party are available on Eventbrite.
