Kevin Candelaria’s bartending experience goes back a long way, probably longer than it should. He started mixing drinks at his grandparents’ bar in Southern Texas when he was 16 and has been bartending ever since.
Candelaria has worked Portland’s bar scene for over a decade. He was a bar manager at the now-closed On Deck Sports Bar and Grill and a manager at 10 Barrel. You very well may have had a drink that Candelaria made. “It’s a passion of mine. It will probably never, ever go away,” he says.
Toward the end of summer 2025, Candelaria partnered with Colin Costanzo, a friend he met while working at On Deck, to open Rain and Rye, a mobile bar experience. The co-owners spent the last few months popping up around the city and catering at events. Now, Rain and Rye is prepared to open in Portland’s Delta Carts while it continues to cater at events.
The co-owners describe Rain and Rye as a full bar on wheels, offering a variety of signature cocktails with four taps. However, they mean “full bar” in every sense, bringing the experience of hanging out at a bar along with the drinks. Patrons can climb a spiral staircase on the side of the cart and hang out on its roof. The front area also flips down into a roped patio area.
“Being able to go up the stairs and go up onto the rooftop, and having the sides of the bar fold down to patios, it brings a completely different experience to what everybody else has,” Costanzo says. “I’m super excited to get it out there and really have people see it, experience it.”
Unfortunately, the timing of their launch at the end of summer meant the business has been far more rain than rye. “We didn’t really get to capitalize on last year’s weather,” Candelaria says. “There’s summer, and then there’s rain.”
However, with their debut at the Delta Carts, aiming for an April 1 launch, the duo is prepared to seize the sunny days ahead, ultimately hoping to open a brick-and-mortar bar somewhere down the line.
“It’s a little too early to tell how this year is going to go, but for right now, it feels like we’re on the right track to expand relatively quickly,” Candelaria says. “We’re ready to rock and roll.”
