By Ryan J. Prado

If ever there were a more fitting pair to envy in this city of ours, it’d be the divine coupling of drag queens and beer. Certainly, you can find the two mingling with each other at any number of Portland’s finest clubs, but too often, the queens seem to gobble up all the attention, and poor, poor beer is relegated to the status of mere sidekick. Until now.

“Beers for Queers: Unique Beer for Unique People” is set to bring beer center stage on Tuesday, March 2 at Saraveza Bottle Shop and Pasty Tavern (1004 N. Killingsworth St.). Hosted by Portland’s self-dubbed “tranny-pop sensations” CJ and the Dolls, this beer-lovers event will be both an educational suds exposition—with six Northwest-crafted brews on tap—and one of the first appearances by CJ and the Dolls outside of the club circuit. Although the crew won’t be performing, they’ll be there to talk beer, drink beer, think beer, and serve beer. In short, this event is about one thing: beer.

CJ is the creation of Mickey Pollizatto, who also works at Saraveza as a bartender. His proclivity for organizing events at establishments he’s worked at has resulted in past CJ-steeped events. Beers for Queers is the first event of its kind at the relatively new Saraveza; the idea took off at Pollizatto’s casual mention of it.

“One day I walked in, off-duty, to get lunch, and I said, ‘I think we should have an event called Beers for Queers!’” says Pollizatto. “That was the beginning of it, and then Sarah [Pederson, Saraveza’s owner] immediately started playing secretary and organizing it all.”

At first, Pollizatto was hesitant to move forward with the idea because of his apprehension about taking CJ outside of the confines of a nightclub act. The ultimate vision of Beers for Queers proved reason enough to unleash the alter ego.

“This isn’t a music event, it’s really a beer event,” Pollizatto clarifies. “Working here, I see queer people come in and out all the time, and I wanted to create an event here that would bring everybody together.”

Pederson shares the enthusiasm.

“In our minds, it’s going to be a really fun, upbeat type of thing that we’d happily want to replicate,” she says. “In talking about this event, it’s such a huge group of people who enjoy beer. In general, beer is targeted at 30- and 40-year-old men; it excludes women a lot. So it’s kind of fun to invite specifically a group of people who aren’t targeted for beer.”

With that inclusivity comes a far-reaching selection of beers from the Northwest, handpicked by Pollizatto, and house-made hors d’oeuvres to be paired with each round of brews. Thus far, the lineup is comprised of a black lager, a Belgian IPA, an American golden strong ale, a Kölsch, a Pacific Northwest sour, a mystery beer, and at the top of the hops, the first keg ever of Le Freak Belgian IPA from Green Flash Brewing Company in California.

“Up until now this beer was only available in the bottle,” explains Pederson. “From a beer geek’s perspective this is worth seeking out.” Green Flash plans on making Le Freak a regular draft item in Oregon—sparked from the Beers for Queers request, Pederson says.

“I tried to pick all West Coast and Pacific Northwest beers, even though Germany is my favorite as far as beers go,” says Pollizatto, whose CJ and the Dolls performed in Germany as recently as September 2009 for Berlin’s Queer Music Festival. “We have a broad range of styles out here; it’s not all hop crazy. ... Working here, I’ve learned so much about beer that [the brews I selected] are the kind of starter beers that really started making me point apart from PBR.”

Pederson and Pollizatto encourage attendees to get into the spirit by dressing up in their campiest cocktail dresses. Saraveza servers will be decked out in Dolls-worthy garb as well.

Tickets to “Beers for Queers: Unique Beer for Unique People” are available for purchase now at Saraveza. Cost is $45 in advance, $50 at the door, if still available. There will be no holding or mailing of tickets. The event starts at 7 p.m. March 2.

For more information about Saraveza, visit www.saraveza.com.