The Portland Harbor Hotel opens up their annual Ice Bar this weekend.  What used to be a month-long installation in the courtyard of this downtown hotel has been condensed into one cold January weekend.  A rare chance to drink like the Swedes.  I can’t claim to have ever bundled up in deerskin gloves and ski gear to attend this rite of Winter, but I have heard from reliable sources that after the first few nights, the Ice Bar was scarcely attended in the past.  Perhaps this is due to the fact that it is poorly advertised and dragged out for a month.  I have the feeling that attaching your face to the vodka ice luge and pounding Shipyards to fight the cold looses its icy luster after a night or two.  It seems the operators of the Harbor Hotel have gotten wise to that fact and given the Ice Bar a life span of 48 hours.  The doors to the courtyard open at 4pm on Friday (1/25).  Free food (from Browne Trading and others), a bit of country music and a few fire pits, which serve at the yang to the Ice Bars yin, will add to the atmosphere.  An Ice carving competition is being held from 9am to noon on Saturday and then the bar opens back up at 4pm.  More info in the To Do section. 

 


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