Image: Nomad

LOCAL TWISTS: Put some Portland spirit into your daiquiri with Bull Run Distillery’s Pacific Rum or New Deal Distillery’s Workshop White Rum.

Hold on. Before you protest, lend an ear: we speak not of the blended strawberry abominations you’ll find poolside in Las Vegas. No, a true daiquiri bears almost no resemblance to such imposters. A true daiquiri is a classic—it belongs in the cocktail hall of fame, right alongside the martini and the manhattan, and it deserves your attention. 

As the Rum Club’s Michael Shea explains simply, a daiquiri is “rum, lime, and sugar, shaken hard and served up.” That’s it: two ounces rum, one ounce lime juice, three-quarters of an ounce simple syrup, and you can’t go wrong. But, as with any classic, the formula is both an archetype and a springboard for tinkering. Hemingway, for instance, preferred his daiquiris with grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur in place of sugar. (He also preferred them as doubles, and was known for downing dozens in a single sitting.) With slight adjustments, homing in on your own tailored version à la Hemingway should be a pleasant exercise. 

First, experiment with different proportions and white rums—a few of Shea’s favorites are Chairman’s Reserve, Bacardi Heritage, and Banks 5 Island, all of which deliver the requisite body for a good backbone of flavor. Next, take your simple syrup up a notch by using demerara or palm sugar for a little tropical terroir. If you’re feeling bold, see what a little Bénédictine does, or a drop or two of Herbsaint, or a few dashes of bitters.

In short, the daiquiri is your playground—refreshing, sour, and endlessly entertaining. The Rum Club’s signature version, deeper and richer than the original but still zippy on the palate, is an exhilarating discovery you’re unlikely to grow tired of. There’s a good reason it’s Shea’s favorite way to cap a night behind the bar.  

Image: Nomad

RUM CLUB DAIQUIRI

• 2 oz Bacardi 8 rum
• ¾ oz fresh-squeezed lime juice  
• ½ oz demerara syrup
  (2:1 demerara sugar to water)  
• ¼ oz maraschino liqueur
  (Shea recommends Maraska) 
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters 
• 8 drops absinthe

(1) COMBINE all ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker.
(2) SHAKE hard for six seconds and strain into a coupe.

Dust off that library card; it’s time to go drinking. Alan Davis, the owner of Southeast Portland’s Produce Row, is opening a new bar with noted spirit savant Tommy Klus at the helm.  Dubbed “Multnomah Whiskey Library,” the new whiskey-forward clubhouse on SW Alder near 12th Avenue will feature an obsessively curated archive of spirits, tableside whiskey service, and a full curriculum of booze education.

Here are five reasons to get excited about MWL, set to open this summer.

1. It’s a whiskey library: The turn of the century (the 20th century, that is) library-meets-British gentleman’s club space is set in 2200 square feet with 25-foot high ceilings, brick walls, aged wood, and two skylights ornamented with stained glass. Seventeen bookshelves will hold 1500 bottles dedicated to different spirits, with an emphasis on “whiskeys of the world.” Each 12-foot-tall shelf will be organized categorically by region, ingredient, and distilleries’ production practices. In short, this is a whiskey lover’s paradise.

2.It’s a secret, kind of: Davis insists MWL is not a speakeasy. But to find the place, enter a doorway on Alder between the English Department and Lille Boutique, walk down a 20-foot corridor, and up a flight of stairs to a door with minimal signage.    

3. Whiskey on wheels: Don’t get up! At MWL, bartenders will pull bottles off the wall and wheel them around the room in carts, offering patrons a unique style of table service, with drinks poured tableside.  

4. Back to school: In addition to a private tasting room, which can be rented for meetings or private tastings, whiskey education will be a huge part of the MWL’s blueprint, offering one-off seminars, sequenced classes, and frequent field trips to distilleries around the world. The private tasting room will also feature lockers—think whiskey humidors—for rent, where patrons can keep bottles on hand.

5. Tommy Klus, Head Librarian: One of Portland’s shining star mixologists, Tommy Klus earned a reputation for himself at Bluehour, Teardrop, and Kask, and occasionally guest-curating cocktail menus around town. Now Klus has taken on the title of “Curator” at MWL—a whiskey librarian overseeing the collection of Speyside, Islay, and Highland lining the shelves—shaking and stirring a list of classic cocktails and shushing visitors when they get too rowdy.

Stay tuned.

Image: Allison Jones

This time last year, Duane Sorenson's SE Division landmark the Woodsman Tavern was basking in the glow of its place amongst GQ's 10 Best New American Restaurants, and this month the mag is back for another round. 

In a new roundup of the country's Top 10 Whiskey Bars, Woodsman barman Evan Zimmerman gets high marks for his "Portlandified take on the Manhattan—it has Lapsang tea—and the Omaha Sour, which will make you wonder if there's something you're missing in Nebraska."

Check out the full list of America's top brown-booze destinations on the GQ website, where the Woodsman shares list space with NYC's Ward III, Chicago's Longman & Eagle, and Charleston's FIG. 

For even more whiskey news, catch the latest update from the hotly-anticipated Multnomah Whiskey Library, hitting the West End this summer.

Image: Nomad

THE GOLD RUSH 

(Serves 10)

• 2½ cups bourbon
• 1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (no pulp)
• 1 cup honey syrup (mix three parts honey with one part hot water, and stir to combine) 
• Fully combine lemon juice and honey syrup, add bourbon, and serve over ice.

— Evan Zimmerman  (The Woodsman, Ava Gene’s)

THE DON-DON PUNCH

(Serves 12) 

• 1 quart water
• 5 bags Earl Grey tea
• 3 grapefruits
• 12 ounces superfine sugar
• 1 750 ml bottle Smith & Cross Rum
• 8 oz VSOP Cognac
• 6 oz Luxardo Amaretto di Saschira
• 1 liter ice block

(1) BRING water to just off a boil, add tea bags, and boil for 4 minutes.

(2) SET aside to cool.

(3) SPIRAL PEEL grapefruits into a pitcher, cover with sugar, and let rest for at least one hour to make an oleo saccharum.

(4) ADD 10 ounces fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.

(5) MIX Smith and Cross rum with VSOP Cognac and Luxardo Amaretto in a large bowl, then add cooled tea.

(6) ADD block of ice, allow to dilute and chill for 15 minutes, and serve.

(7) REMOVE ice block after 45 minutes.

—Douglas Derrick (Nostrana)

JASPER’S PUNCHBOWL

(Serves 12)

• 10 limes
• 2 oranges
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 16 oz Bacardi 8
• 8 oz Tawny Port 
• 1 cup lime juice
• 1½ oz Angostura bitters
• ½ nutmeg, grated
• 18 oz strong black tea 

(1) BREW three batches of tea: 2 bags per 6 ounces water, five minutes each.

(2) SPIRAL peel limes and oranges, cover with sugar, and let rest for at least one hour to make an oleo saccharum.

(3) COMBINE all components and mix, adjusting with more lime juice if necessary.

(4) REMOVE lime and orange peels and serve in cups over 3 or 4 cubes of ice.

—Michael Shea (Rum Club)

Image: Nomad

THE GOLD RUSH 

(Serves 10)

• 2½ cups bourbon
• 1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (no pulp)
• 1 cup honey syrup (mix three parts honey with one part hot water, and stir to combine) 
• Fully combine lemon juice and honey syrup, add bourbon, and serve over ice.

— Evan Zimmerman  (The Woodsman, Ava Gene’s)

THE DON-DON PUNCH

(Serves 12) 

• 1 quart water
• 5 bags Earl Grey tea
• 3 grapefruits
• 12 ounces superfine sugar
• 1 750 ml bottle Smith & Cross Rum
• 8 oz VSOP Cognac
• 6 oz Luxardo Amaretto di Saschira
• 1 liter ice block

(1) BRING water to just off a boil, add tea bags, and boil for 4 minutes.

(2) SET aside to cool.

(3) SPIRAL PEEL grapefruits into a pitcher, cover with sugar, and let rest for at least one hour to make an oleo saccharum.

(4) ADD 10 ounces fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.

(5) MIX Smith and Cross rum with VSOP Cognac and Luxardo Amaretto in a large bowl, then add cooled tea.

(6) ADD block of ice, allow to dilute and chill for 15 minutes, and serve.

(7) REMOVE ice block after 45 minutes.

—Douglas Derrick (Nostrana)

JASPER’S PUNCHBOWL

(Serves 12)

• 10 limes
• 2 oranges
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 16 oz Bacardi 8
• 8 oz Tawny Port 
• 1 cup lime juice
• 1½ oz Angostura bitters
• ½ nutmeg, grated
• 18 oz strong black tea 

(1) BREW three batches of tea: 2 bags per 6 ounces water, five minutes each.

(2) SPIRAL peel limes and oranges, cover with sugar, and let rest for at least one hour to make an oleo saccharum.

(3) COMBINE all components and mix, adjusting with more lime juice if necessary.

(4) REMOVE lime and orange peels and serve in cups over 3 or 4 cubes of ice.

—Michael Shea (Rum Club)

Image: Nomad

THE GOLD RUSH 

(Serves 10)

• 2½ cups bourbon
• 1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (no pulp)
• 1 cup honey syrup (mix three parts honey with one part hot water, and stir to combine) 
• Fully combine lemon juice and honey syrup, add bourbon, and serve over ice.

— Evan Zimmerman  (The Woodsman, Ava Gene’s)

THE DON-DON PUNCH

(Serves 12) 

• 1 quart water
• 5 bags Earl Grey tea
• 3 grapefruits
• 12 ounces superfine sugar
• 1 750 ml bottle Smith & Cross Rum
• 8 oz VSOP Cognac
• 6 oz Luxardo Amaretto di Saschira
• 1 liter ice block

(1) BRING water to just off a boil, add tea bags, and boil for 4 minutes.

(2) SET aside to cool.

(3) SPIRAL PEEL grapefruits into a pitcher, cover with sugar, and let rest for at least one hour to make an oleo saccharum.

(4) ADD 10 ounces fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.

(5) MIX Smith and Cross rum with VSOP Cognac and Luxardo Amaretto in a large bowl, then add cooled tea.

(6) ADD block of ice, allow to dilute and chill for 15 minutes, and serve.

(7) REMOVE ice block after 45 minutes.

—Douglas Derrick (Nostrana)

JASPER’S PUNCHBOWL

(Serves 12)

• 10 limes
• 2 oranges
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 16 oz Bacardi 8
• 8 oz Tawny Port 
• 1 cup lime juice
• 1½ oz Angostura bitters
• ½ nutmeg, grated
• 18 oz strong black tea 

(1) BREW three batches of tea: 2 bags per 6 ounces water, five minutes each.

(2) SPIRAL peel limes and oranges, cover with sugar, and let rest for at least one hour to make an oleo saccharum.

(3) COMBINE all components and mix, adjusting with more lime juice if necessary.

(4) REMOVE lime and orange peels and serve in cups over 3 or 4 cubes of ice.

—Michael Shea (Rum Club)

Image: Nomad

It’s easy to forget the singular flavor of fresh snap peas. Worlds apart from their mushy, frozen brethren, these crisp pockets of sweet joy are summer’s natural candy. In an age of food-forward drinks, some enterprising mixologist was bound to juice their garden-bright charms into an essential summer cocktail. 

Bartender Daniel Strong devised his snap pea cocktail for Northeast Portland’s Yakuza Lounge in 2008, and it’s been a menu favorite ever since. First, Strong tried pairing the freshly blended pea juice with playful accents—vanilla syrup, peppered rims, citrus vodka. But the pea flavor stood on its own, needing little more than the simplest touch: “I use one of the smoothest vodkas, add just a little bit of sugar to offset, and then some citrus for a bit of vibrancy.” The result is beautifully balanced, with just a slight hint of sweetness and acidity to highlight the boozy, vegetal flavor.

Ensuring that the peas make it into the drink may be the hardest part. “When I’m juicing them,” Strong admits, “it’s three in the juicer one in your mouth.” Luckily, peas are ripe for the picking this season.

Snap Pea Martini

• 1½ oz vodka (Strong recommends Medoyeff)
• 2½ oz juiced snap peas (run about a cup of peas through a juicer, or blend and strain with cheesecloth)
• ½ oz 2-to-1 simple syrup
• ½ oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
• ½ oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in an ice-filled shaker, shake vigorously, strain, and serve in a martini glass. 

Barwinism  bär-wen-izem (n) 

The ability to adapt one’s manner, behavior, or appearance in order to successfully (and expeditiously) get a bartender’s attention.  In a sentence: “If you want to get a drink, whatever you do, don’t raise your hand. Just silently nod and look cool. And take off those glasses; he hates anything ‘hipster.’ It’s pure barwinism in here.”  See also: Survival of the hottest; Natural Light selection; Bro-Magnons

Image: Nomad

Fernet Branca is much more than a bitter Italian digestif. It’s now an essential nightcap (and super-cool secret handshake) for hipster tipplers and dapper bartenders. Train your taste buds for the esoteric world of this minty, medicinal amaro with these local cocktails. 

FANCIULLI ($8)

WHERE Interurban

WHY Essentially a manhattan with Fernet subbed in for bitters, the Fanciulli is perhaps the most common Fernet cocktail. This elegantly simple version allows the flavors to sing in a bold yet balanced profile.

FEATHER & NAIL ($9)

WHERE The Box Social

WHY A perfect introduction to Fernet, this piquant potion sharpens the spirit’s bitter, herbal flavor with spicy ginger liqueur and sweetened lime juice.

HAND OF FATE ($12)

WHERE Ox

WHY One of three Fernet cocktails at this Argentine eatery (Fernet is, after all, Argentina’s de facto national drink), the Hand of Fate greets you with a punch of rye whiskey and Fernet and fades to a sweet, mellow goodbye of curaçao liqueur and mole bitters.

WHITE FLAG ($9)

WHERE Teardrop

WHY In bar manager Sean Hoard’s fantastic concoction (technically off-menu, but available), a splash of Fernet adds complexity to a sun-dappled mix of gin, pink-grapefruit liqueur, lemon juice, and agave nectar, all kicked up with a pinch of salt.

Image: Ashley Anderson

Craig Hermann remembers his childhood trips to Disneyland. Unlike other kids, once inside those pearliest of gates, Hermann ignored Space Mountain and made a beeline for the Enchanted Tiki Room—a lush, junglelike, singing-parrot-filled space, opened back in 1963 in the heart of Adventureland.

These days, Hermann, 41, is known in the small but fanatical world of tiki enthusiasts as “Colonel Tiki.” Over the past five years, Hermann and his wife, Heather, have transformed the basement of their N Russet Street home into the Monkey Hut, a 750-square-foot nexus for the nation’s mai tai–swigging Martin Denny aficionados.

“What I love about tiki is the dream aspect,” Hermann says as he mixes up a Navy Grog and pours it into a personalized Monkey Hut glass. Hermann and his wife first encountered this tropicália underworld in San Francisco in the late ’90s, thanks to a now-defunct Yahoo group. Eager to realize their tiki fantasies, they moved to Portland in 2003. A systems administrator for TriMet by day, Hermann soon became the head organizer for Tiki Kon. The pinnacle of the annual three-day event—which may draw 250 this month—is a daylong crawl through Portland’s private and public tiki bars. The Monkey Hut is considered an unmissable highlight.

“Good tiki bars should have a sense of danger—of riskiness—as well as a womblike feeling,” Hermann says. The Monkey Hut embodies all those qualities. A disorienting walk down steep, creaky basement steps leads into pitch-blackness. As your eyes adjust, they feast on masks, nets, “war clubs,” and skulls packed on every wall, bathed in red and green lights. It’s chaotic and primal but somehow comforting. 

“You’re surrounded by the art,” muses the Colonel. “With the music, it’s really like a performance event that you’re taking part in—almost like a movie set. It should be drug-trippy without taking drugs—an exotic otherworld that expands your senses.”

Colonel Tiki's Navy Grog

"Based on Don the Beachcomber's recipe, with a nod to Trader Vic's"

• ¾ oz white grapefruit juice (canned can work)
• ¾ oz lime juice
• 1 oz orange blossom honey mix*
• 1 oz Cruzan Puerto Rican light rum 
• 1 oz Coruba dark Jamaican rum 
• 1 oz El Dorado 5 demerara rum 
• ¼ oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Liqueur (or other pimento dram)
• 6 oz crushed ice
• 1 oz club soda

(1) SHAKE all ingredients except club soda over the ice, until frosty in the shaker. Colonel Tiki says:
“For better effect, use a Hamilton Beach drinks mixer ... Think of it as a superpowered swizzle stick.”

(2) POUR directly into a double rocks glass.

(3) ADD club soda and stir.

(4) GARNISH with a lime wheel and a rock-candy swizzle stick.

*Mix equal parts warmed water and orange blossom honey and refrigerate. Colonel Tiki commands: “Do not use clover honey. Insist on quality orange blossom.

Tiki Kon takes place in Portland and Vancouver July 12–14. 

The Campfire Confessional

Created by Lydia Reissmueller of Tender Bar

• 2 oz cognac (Hennessy recommended)
• ¾ oz fresh lemon juice
• ¾ oz fresh orange juice
• ¾ oz Pok Pok Som honey drinking vinegar (see pokpoksom.com)
• 1 oz water
• 3 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 pinch fresh herbs: a freeform mixture of rosemary, thyme, sweet woodruff, or anything edible you find on the forest floor

Shake everything up in a mason jar. Screw the lid on tight. Stick the jar in your backpack. Drink around sundown. No ice required.  

Image: Nomad

Just say the words and watch as your quotidian concerns evaporate: “spiked sorbet.” At his brand-new scoop shop on SE Clinton Street, Fifty Licks owner Chad Draizin embraces this infallible formula, rafting his homemade frozen concoctions over sparkling wines and fruity beers. In this summer-stretching recipe, Draizin’s homage to Rhode Island’s famed lemon sorbet (churned with pith, peel, and all) melts in a martini glass under a bracing slug of bourbon.

Rhode Island-Style Lemon Granita* 

(Makes 1 pint)

• 3 lemons 
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups water

1.  WASH lemons thoroughly with soap and water, and cut into quarters.
2. ADD sugar, water, and lemons to a food processor, and purée for 2 minutes.
3. STRAIN mixture into a shallow casserole or pan using a large spoon to squeeze the pulp against the walls of the strainer.
4. PLACE juice in freezer, and scrape its surface and sides with a fork every 20 minutes for an hour, breaking up any large clumps. 
5. FREEZE the granita for another hour (for a total of 2 hours). Use right away or store, covered, in freezer for up to 2 weeks.

Frozen Whiskey Lemonade

• 2 oz lemon granita 
• 3 tbsp bourbon or rye 
• 1 lemon, juiced (about 2 1/2 tbsp)
• 2 tbsp simple syrup
• 1 dash Peychaud’s bitters

1. SCOOP lemon granita (a dollop a little bigger than a golf ball) into a martini glass.
2. FILL a cocktail shaker with ice and add whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup, and shake.
3. STRAIN over granita. 
4. FINISH with a dash of bitters and serve with an espresso spoon.

*If you’re not up for homemade granita, pick some up at the new Fifty Licks scoop shop: 2021 SE Clinton St.

Image: Courtesy Raven & Rose

Some folks might not consider salt a stand-alone food, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be paired with liquor. The folks at Raven and Rose know this, and so on Saturday, October 26, they'll host an event to celebrate perhaps the most natural pairing of them all: salt and tequila.

A collaboration between the SW Broadway restaurant and Jacobsen Salt Co., this salute to all things saline will feature seafood-focused small plates from R&R chef David Padberg and savory tequila cocktails from bar director Dave Shenaut, both enhanced by Ben Jacobsen’s traditionally harvested sea salt from the Oregon Coast. Jacobsen himself will be on hand to present his line of salts and share his passion for sea salt harvesting.

Image: Courtesy Raven & Rose

Raven & Rose's specially selected barrel of highland agave Casa Noble Reposado.

Held in the restaurant’s upstairs Rookery Bar, this event also introduces the most recent addition to Raven & Rose’s single-barrel spirits program, a barrel of Casa Noble Reposado tequila made with agave grown in the coastal highlands of Mexico.

Shenaut personally selected this tequila, traveling to the distillery to choose between eight barrels, all of which had been made at the same time and aged in new toasted French oak for 11 months. The barrel he picked had “the most of everything,” Shenaut told us. “It had the longest finish, it was the heaviest on the palate, and it was the most robust, flavor-wise. It’s a tequila I’d want to make an Old Fashioned with.” 

Not to be limited to a single recipe, though, Shenaut will spotlight this exclusive new single-barrel tequila in a wide variety of cocktails, from a Pineapple Margarita with ghost chile salt to a spiced (and spiked) hot chocolate with cinnamon, chile, and salt. Attendees can enjoy these meticulously crafted concoctions alongside a seafood menu from Padberg including octopus ceviche on Saltines and baked mussels with pumpkin puree and chili salt crumbs. 

The event will fill Raven and Rose's Rookery Bar from 3 to 5 pm, and tickets are $50 per person. For reservations, call the restaurant at 503-222-7673 or email event manager Natalia Toral at natalia@ravenandrosepdx.com.

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CHAMPS ELYSEE 
Oven and Shaker, $12

Barman Ryan Magarian’s bright combination of caramelly Hardy VS Cognac and floral Yellow Chartreuse, brightened with fresh lemon juice and bitters, is an unfailing summer-stretcher.

THINGS DONE CHANGED 
Ox, $10

This celebrated eatery has mastered more than Argentine meats—a traditional pisco sour (grape brandy and frothy egg whites) reaches new heights with smoked lemon syrup and jalapeño oil for a deeply smoky, spicy, and oddly refreshing sipper.

MISSISSIPPI SIDECAR 
Sidecar 11, $8

N Mississippi Avenue’s jewel box of a bar serves its eponymous cocktail simply but pridefully: Korbel brandy and Harlequin orange liqueur with a touch of lemon, served up in a martini glass with a sugared rim.

BRANDY ALEXANDER MILKSHAKE 
Tasty n Alder, $10

In downtown’s growing West End, this “grown-ass milkshake” is the most satisfying brain freeze on the block: El Presidente brandy, crème de cacao, Aztec chocolate bitters, and Ruby Jewel vanilla ice cream, whisked to frothy perfection.

Image: Nomad

For the bartenders at Sidecar 11, nothing tantalizes quite like a dusty bottle. The contents might be stunning (a flawless, citrusy, 99-year-old Francesco Cinzano Italian vermouth) or slightly sickening (the 1966 Chateau Talbot that was quickly tossed). But you never know until you open it. And that’s precisely why Sidecar’s bartenders keep opening beguiling bottles from unnamed local sources at their monthly “special pours.” 

It began with that Cinzano vermouth. In 1914, it began its journey from Italy, eventually landing in an unassuming Northeast Portland basement, perhaps stashed away during Prohibition. In late 2012, a mysterious wooden box tucked up in the beams of that century-old house was bravely pried open, and out dropped three bottles. Two shattered on the floor; one survived. Sidecar beverage manager Aaron Howard caught wind of this relic, made a quick offer on the bottle, and set a date to open it. Within weeks, he’d presold a dozen $40 manhattans featuring the rare 1914 Cinzano. On January 30, 2013, the drinkers assembled. “This place was packed, but you could hear a pin drop,” Howard remembers. “As soon as I popped the lead seal, all you could smell was orange, lemon, and marmalade. It was absolutely amazing.”

SIDECAR 11
3955 N Mississippi Ave
503-208-3798

At special events over the ensuing months, Sidecar’s staff has opened bottles of Blandy’s Bual Madeira from 1920, compared a 1962 Sauternes with a 2009 vintage from the same vineyard, and uncorked a 1964 Chianti Classico. (They discovered, happily, that Chianti actually can age, quite well). On Veterans Day, November 11, they’ll pop a pristine 17-year Ballantine’s scotch whisky from 1940 (above) that traveled back with a GI from World War II. Twenty-four lucky drinkers will take a leap back in time, sampling one-ounce pours for $60. We suggest you take it neat. 

At the family-owned, Wilsonville-based Vinn Distillery, traditional Chinese spirits are made using custom-constructed stills with a proprietary yeast blend and meticulously monitored fermentation process. 

Historically consumed neat, at room temperature, a new generation is beginning to experiment with the company's signature rice-based spirit baijiu (the unofficial national drink of China) as an ingredient in cocktails and highballs with success.

Here are three ways to shake things up at home.

Oryza

2 oz dry sake (Hakutsuru is inexpensive and works well, but any dry sake will do)
1 oz baijiu
Squeeze of lemon juice

Stir sake, lemon, and baijiu over ice, then strain into a rocks glass and top with ice cubes.
This simple cocktail is light, refreshing, and fortifying—and goes great with fish.

 Pacific Rim

1.5 oz baijiu
1.5 oz fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
.5 oz ginger simple syrup*
.5 oz lime juice
Soda water

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice, then top with soda water

*Ginger Simple Syrup

Place 1 cup sugar and ½ cup water over medium heat. Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add 1/3 cup grated ginger, then remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 15-20 minutes, until the syrup has a pronounced ginger flavor.

 Vesper

2 oz baijiu or rice vodka
.5 oz Lillet Blanc
Lemon twist

Combine baijiu and Lillet in a mixing glass over ice. Stir, then strain and serve up with a twist.

They say it takes 300 shots to understand the appeal of baijiu. Historically tossed back neat, at room temperature, the 9,000-year-old Chinese spirit (pronounced BYE-joe and meaning “white liquor”) is made from a range of distilled grains, including barley, sorghum, rice, and millet. It’s China’s unofficial national drink, and the world’s most popular spirit. But with alcohol content often surging to 65 percent, Chinese baijiu is notorious for going down like fire and inducing chills along the way.

A visit to Vinn Distillery’s tranquil Southeast Portland tasting room proves otherwise: subtle and elegant, Vinn’s spirits have a touch of heat at the front, but go down smooth. The Ly family (mom, dad, and five children) launched the company in Wilsonville in 2009, using custom stills modeled on versions used by relatives in China and Vietnam to make rice-based baijiu, maijiu (rice wine), and vodka. The family’s formulas, passed down through more than seven generations, include a proprietary yeast blend prepared by hand, meticulously monitored fermentation, and longer-than-average aging to cool things down for discerning palates. “Our process is simple, and we want to keep it this way,” says daughter Michelle Ly.

All of this ensures an unfamiliar yet alluring form of baijiu: creamy and earthy, with hints of almond and caramel. We’re guessing it won’t take 300 tastes for Vinn to attract converts. 

Tasting Notes

Baijiu: Distilled from brown rice and aged for over a year, Vinn’s baijiu combines vegetal qualities of tequila with the earthiness of sake. Notes of baking chocolate, mushroom, pepper, and rain-soaked soil are supported by a backbone of toasty brown rice and a slightly sour sweetness.

MAijiu: Vinn makes two maijius, or fortified rice wines: Ice, a nutty, savory, sherry-like wine made from brown rice; and Fire, made from black rice, with plummy fruit-skin notes and a sweet finish. 

Vodka: Most familiar to a Western palate, Vinn’s vodka is smooth and balanced with just the slightest aroma of cooked rice, like steam from a pot. This is a great way to enter the world of rice spirits for cautious drinkers used to wheat- and rye-based vodkas.  

 Try It 

Oryza COCKTAIL: Stir 2 oz sake, 1 oz baijiu, and 1 squeeze lemon juice with ice, strain into a rocks glass and top with ice cubes. Find more recipes using Vinn’s baijiu.

On Long Beach Peninsula, that thin finger of sand extending from Southern Washington’s coastline, Starvation Alley Farms is busy growing your new favorite cocktail mixer. In a bog surrounded by 10 acres of Northwest farmland, young owners Jared Oakes and Jessika Tantisook wade through the waist-high water to skim and collect cranberries every October. Waterlogged boggers yank thick fistfuls of weeds entangling the crimson haul before sending the berries to be cleaned and flash-frozen (check out photos of Starvation Alley’s cranberry harvest).

Each week throughout the year, the team thaws and cold-presses just enough of its berries to make another fresh batch of juice for its growing Northwest fan base at farmers markets, restaurants, and bars—only around 100 gallons a month. It’s worth all the trouble: the four-year-old, all-organic operation’s mouth-puckering cranberry juice bears little resemblance to the overly sweet, ultrapasteurized supermarket brands you’re used to. 

At the Woodsman Tavern, beverage director Evan Zimmerman embraces Starvation’s labor-intensive version of the oft-maligned mixer: “We’ve always shrugged our shoulders when people ask for vodka cranberries or cosmopolitans—we refuse to use that Ocean Spray crap.” Zimmerman’s newest creation, the Upland Sour, a scotch-based cocktail with cardamom spice and a thimbleful of Starvation Alley juice, is proof that cranberries are making a comeback. “You don’t need to use much,” says Zimmerman, “but, man, does it pack a wallop.” 

Upland Sour

Combine 1 oz blended scotch, 1 oz applejack, 1 oz cardamom maple syrup,* 1 oz lemon juice, ½ oz egg whites, and a scant ½ oz Starvation Alley cranberry juice** in a mixing glass. Fill with ice and shake. Strain into a lowball glass and serve with ice. 

*To make cardamom maple syrup, combine 2 cups Grade B maple syrup and 2 tbsp whole cardamom pods and steep over medium heat for 12–15 minutes. Strain syrup before storing. 

**Starvation Alley’s “Cranberry for Concoctions” juice is available atFood Front Cooperative Grocery; find more locations online. 

Image: Nomad

Ross Hunsinger is the first to admit that bartending isn’t, generally speaking, introspective. But as Aviary’s bar manager since the NE Alberta Street restaurant opened over three years ago, the 29-year-old has taken a philosophical approach to mixology. Hunsinger finds inspiration for drinks in literature, music, or, really, anywhere. Then he translates those abstractions into alcohol, with an artist’s insouciance. “I do it until it tastes good,” says Hunsinger, who never uses jiggers or measuring tools in the creation process. “The best ones make you say, oh yeah, that whole thing. That was a whole thing. That was this time of life, and this is what it tasted like.” We asked Hunsinger to explain his art using a drink on the menu, and one that’s still in progress.

On the Menu: & Yet & Yet 

A vibrant green drink on ice: clean Hangar 1 vodka, Midori, Dolin Blanc vermouth, dill, lime 

Inspiration: Do Make Say Think’s album & Yet & Yet 

Hunsinger first heard this record in someone’s backyard in 2011. Girlfriends were around, as was beer. “This lifting of rain and cold and heaviness, and light coming,” Hunsinger recalls of the moment’s vibe. “Springtime is coming.”  

Process: When he played the record at his bar, he and some coworkers discussed the music’s essential “springiness”—twinkly and pretty, with a hint of lingering winter gloom. Somehow, Midori’s bad rap entered the conversation, and a formula making use of the melony Japanese liqueur took shape. Hunsinger’s first attempt involved vodka, cilantro, and lemon, which “tasted like garbage.” Forays into cilantro-and-gin territory also proved disastrous. About a week and a half and five or six iterations later, the balance was perfected. “I kind of settled on the obvious thing of clean,” Hunsinger says. “Just make it clean and delicious.” 

WORK IN PROGRESS: UNTITLED

A yet-to-be-determined brown liquor drink, always neat, in a rocks glass 

Inspiration: Schroeder, the piano-playing intellect from Peanuts

“After the whole Peanuts shtick, Schroeder probably went to college, where he probably DJ’d parties or did college radio. He probably likes indie bands and podcasts. He certainly travels. He’s one of those aggrandizing hipsters, over everyone’s head and drinking something weird and not that good just for the sake of drinking it.” 

Process: The trouble, according to Hunsinger, lies in the tension between presentation and flavor: while Schroeder might drink something pretentiously bad, the final cocktail needs to taste secretly good. Schroeder would be a cognac or rye guy, so Hunsinger has tried subbing those spirits into boulevardiers and negronis: “meh.” Though Hunsinger is still many experiments away from the finished product, the first page of his notebook, where he scrawls his drink ideas and notes, expresses his credo: “90 percent of what you do is garbage.” 

Image: Brooke Bass

Featured Mixed in PDX Cocktails at the Driftwood Room: Floating Straw, Ghost in the Machine, Driftwood Sazerac, and Local Honey

This spring, the Driftwood Room at Hotel deLuxe expands their history of partnership with the city’s most celebrated culinary sensations by mixing up cocktails inspired by four local brands. The Mixed in PDX series features artisan producers Salt & Straw, Jacobsen Salt, Bee Local Honey, and Smith Teamaker—and it's delicious. 

The Driftwood Room's lead bartender Mike Robertson was given free reign to create the swanky bar's summer cocktail menu and says he “really wanted to feature the quality ingredients” that he was tasked to work with for the special series. Here’s what he came up with:

Image: Brooke Bass

Mixed in PDX Cocktails at the Driftwood Room

• Local Honey—Aria gin, Farigoule wild thyme liqueur, Bee Local honey, and fresh lemon juice
• Ghost in the Machine—Volstead and Hot Monkey vodkas, Aperol, blood orange and grapefruit juices, fresh lemon juice, basil simple syrup, Jacobsen Smoked Ghost Chili Salt rim
• Driftwood Sazerac—Smith Teamaker hibiscus tea simple syrup, Pacifique Absinthe, Bulleit Rye, Angostura and Peychaud bitters
• Floating Straw—Deschutes Black Butte Porter and Salt & Straw Sea Salt Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbon

 The Mixed in PDX cocktail series debuted on April 11 and will be available through the end of summer. I was lucky enough to sip each of these crave-worthy cocktails and can only hope that they’ll extend that end date...preferably indefinitely! 

Want to sample some of these locally inspired drinks yourself? Head to the Hotel deLuxe, located at 729 SW 15th Ave. The Driftwood Room is open from 2 pm to 11:30 pm Sunday-Thursday and 2 pm to 12:30 am on Friday and Saturday. Happy sipping!