Wyrd Leather and Mead
4515 SE 41st Ave, Portland, OR 97202
Some days the modern world is just too hard to deal with. Some days with stress of work, technology, phone calls and being a grownup. It’s all too much.
So…… let’s be Vikings instead!
Wyrd leather and mead is a gathering place of the local forge and crafting community. Where local artisans sell their hand hewn goods; from leather bracers to iron works and hand carved runes. Fresh natural honey and scents; Now their most alluring venture. Fresh brewed Mead!
With an all new location set in the Woodstock neighborhood of Portland, a trip to this mead hall is worth it just for the ambience alone. When you arrive this hidden gem, following the signs down a bit of stairs to find yourself transported into an old time Viking Great Hall. Complete with stonework set in aged wood on the walls, handcrafted armor and shields mounted with pride, and a roaring fire set to the corner we can grab a horn and speak merry stories around. It is really a rush to come into this place and feel the energy and life built into it. You can really sense the passion that went into building this location.
Of course all of this comes Covid friendly with spaces between the seats for social distancing and proper sanitation. There are no worries of a plague wiping out these Vikings.
Now for the drinks! Of course their main attraction is the mead. Not only do they brew their own on site, made with fresh locally sourced honey and Oregon fruit of the season. They also host a large variety of meads from various other brewers. Giving us more choices than we know what to do with.
Thank Odin for drink flights.
For $12 you can order a flight of four of their meads on tap, even so the list can be intimidating to choose from. Fortunately their menu suggest a Cast the Runes option where the bartender will give you his four recommendations of tasters. We ordered two of those and had a great deal of fun comparing all the different meads. Somewhere only so-so, like the Ginger Mead or Dark Mead which were a bit too spiced for us. Still others were fantastic like the Wyrd Apple Cyser mead which blended apple sweetness and honey in perfect melody, or the Blackberry mead, which we managed to get a bottle of for home. It was so good that we drained it in one night and are eagerly waiting for summer so they will brew some more.
Overall it was a very fun way to experience a type of drink we didn’t know we loved. Now we are dedicated mead drinkers and all the happier for it.
Still you need food to go with your drinks and Wyrd has that covered. Offering a selection of boards to share round the table. Offered both in large sizes for big groups, or half orders if you want something just for one or two people. Of these we ordered The Monks Meal board coming with a small assortment of cheeses and served with a rustic cut bread. Perfect to pair with drinks. And only $10 for the half order making for a well sized and priced appetizer.
Along with the Treebeard board coming with a light assortment of veggie, peppers and fruits. Since it is always refreshing to have a crunch of freshness to pair with your cheeses.
At $8 for a half order the most fun parts was the honey. The same locally sourced honey from the drinks is placed on the table so you can drizzle this sweetness on your bites.
Next came the Skyrim Soup! This nerdy named soup is potato soup made with cheddar and leeks. It’s is a fine and simple soup made to stick to your ribs and make you feel full and hearty. At $4 a cup and $6 a bowl, it is very comforting on a cold evening.
If you’re still hungry after all of that, they also offer sandwiches for $8. Easy choices like ham or turkey but they also have weekly specials. This week they had a Brie and Prosciutto sandwich, served on the same style rustic bread from the cheese board, and be sure they do not skimp on the fillings. Never have we seen such an amount of prosciutto piled high on a single hoagie. There is no way to leave hungry after eating one of these.
All said and done we had a blast checking out wyrd leather and mead. The food was fun and comforting if not especially outstanding. The drinks were new to us, tasty and interesting. The decor was absolutely perfect. This is a great spot to hang out with your friends and enjoy a good Viking time.
We give Wyrd Leather-and Mead Nine axes out of ten. 🪓 🪓🪓🪓🪓🪓🪓🪓🪓
Sibling Grubbery 