At their cocktail supply store, Bull in China, Lucas Plant and Daniel Osborne evoke a bar nerd’s fantasy. Make your way to their shop in the back of North Portland’s Workshop Vintage, where you can snag the basics—jigger, strainer, shaker—and discover house-made, hand-blown mixing glasses, classic bartending tomes, and ornate stemware scoured from the deepest reaches of vintage Portland. Below, Plant and Osborne reveal their favorite finds.
Bull in China Lewis Bag and Ice Mallet The perfect mint julep or snowcapped tiki drink requires impeccable crushed ice: just stuff this durable, hand-sewn canvas bag with ice, and hulk-smash away with the hefty black walnut mallet. $100
Bull in China Mixing Glass Hand-blown in Northwest Portland, this hammered, pocked mixing glass went through rigorous testing at the city’s busiest bars—like Teardrop Lounge and Expatriate—before getting the B in C stamp of approval. $60
Vintage Punch Bowl In their rotating selection of found vintage glassware, the duo always keeps a punch bowl in stock. “The punch bowl symbolizes the great things in life: a gathering of friends, having fun, and sharing delicious cocktails,” says Plant. $25
“The David” Bar Knife “A lot of us bartenders tend to go for cheap knives behind the bar, most of which dull quickly,” explains Plant. These Portland-made Station Knives sport precise, four-and-a-half-inch blades ideal for carving citrus and trimming mint. $250
Commissary Syrups and Gommes Commissary mixologists Daniel Shoemaker and Sean Hoard craft some of the most labor-intensive and hard-to-find juices and syrups—from demerara sugar syrup and pineapple gomme to Bloody Mary mix and horchata—so that casual drinkers can whip up their own high-end cocktails at home. $14–20
Cocktails on Tap: The Art of Mixing Spirits and Beer by Jacob Grier This month, local beer-cocktail pioneer Jacob Grier releases his bible of more than 50 sudsy combinations, like the “Green Devil,” with Duvel pale ale, gin, and absinthe. “Jacob’s knowledge of the world of suds and cocktails is extensive,” Plant says. “We’ve been counting down the days until it’s released.” $24.95
Related to the Bloody Mary by name only, Chauncey Roach’s excellent forenoon delight (above) balances the bite of tequila and green chile with refreshing hits of celery bitters, lime, and kummel—a Dutch liqueur flavored with caraway, cumin, and fennel. It is strange, it is complex, and it is wonderful. $9
Crowned with a high-rising column of fizz, Dave Shenaut’s chosen cocktail is quintessential morning-after material. Hard-to-find Hayman’s sloe gin—a London dry gin steeped with wild sloe berries for a tart zing—commingles with heavy cream, lemon juice, egg whites, and seltzer for the most refined milkshake in all the land. $9
Still craving the bracing buzz of a mimosa? Opt for ISK’s inspired spin, with nary a drop of OJ in sight. Fresh grapefruit juice fills the citrus slot, with two Italian bitter liqueurs balancing the mix: Aperol, with notes of bitter orange and rhubarb; and Cynar, a deeply herbaceous, artichoke-fueled concoction. Finished with a splash of Prosecco, this effervescent sipper goes down quick. $11
Wine can capture only so much of a place. But throw in roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs, and spices, and you have a heady terroir—the true flavor of a landscape, stored in a bottle. That’s the big idea behind an emerging cluster of Oregonians tackling vermouth, the age-old European aperitif made of wine fortified with brandy and infused with botanicals.
“We took what we knew about the origins of vermouth, and lifted it from Italy to Oregon,” says Neil Kopplin, one of the founders of Imbue Cellars. “Our goal was to make something delicious, fresh, and well-balanced enough that everyone would be able to appreciate it.” Indeed, most casual American drinkers think of vermouth as that mysterious dusty bottle that does unknown things to a martini or a manhattan. But like the rest of Oregon’s vermouth pioneers, Imbue’s two offerings—the flagship Bittersweet Vermouth and the more assertively bitter, amaro-inspired Petal & Thorn—are designed to be just as enjoyable on the rocks as they are mixed in a fancy cocktail. Here, we offer a cocktail to get you started, plus a guide to Oregon’s current wave of craft vermouths.
Oregon Vermouth: A Drinking Guide
Ransom Dry Vermouth $20 for 500 mL, 18.4% ABV
With a base of pinot noir blanc, winemaker-distiller Tad Seestedt’s super-dry, summery potion boasts notes of bitter apple and heady spices.
Interrobang Sweet Vermouth $18 for 375 mL, 17.5% ABV
Inspired by an ancient German recipe, Karl Weichold’s sweet vermouth, fortified with Clear Creek Brandy, oozes fruity hits of woodsy blackberry, apricot, and cherry.
Cana’s Feast Chinato d’Erbetti $45 for 750 mL, 17.4% ABV
Winemaker Patrick Taylor’s Barolo-style Chinato drinks like a deeply spicy Italian wine, with earthy notes of raisins, black pepper, and sour cherry.
Hammer & Tongs Sac’Résine $35 for 750 mL, 17.5% ABV
Meaning “sacred resins,” Taylor’s side label of vermouths uses a formula that splits the difference between dry white and sweet red for a head-spinningly herbal and citrusy sip.
Make It!
The Gateway Cocktail:Vermouth & Tonic
“It’s like a light gin and tonic, with a tea-like quality,” says Kopplin. “All of the citrus rises to the top, with a real richness on the finish.”
2 oz Imbue Bittersweet Vermouth 2 oz tonic Orange twist Combine all ingredients over ice and serve.
— OR —
2 oz Imbue Petal & Thorn 2 oz tonic Squeeze of lime juice Combine all ingredients over ice and serve.
Tequila-fueled margaritas might be a summer classic, but Biwa’s Gabe Rosen has a better base for sun-soaked marathon sipping: shochu*, a slightly sweet, low-proof Japanese spirit that tastes a bit like sake or vodka with a fruity, toasty kick.
At the chef’s laid-back new ramen and juice bar, Noraneko, Rosen features nearly a dozen “chuhai” (shochu highballs), mixing the mellow spirit with fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, fragrant oolong tea, cucumber, and other bright flavors to make seriously “sessionable” cocktails you can sip all day long. (They’re also a classy upgrade from the syrupy hard lemonades certain friends demand that you include in your home cooler.) “Shochu adds an X factor to casual drinks,” Rosen says. “And you can have four of them and still stumble home.”
MAKE IT!
At Noraneko, Rosen leans on Jinro 24, shochu’s Korean, sugar- and citric acid–spiked cousin, for chuhai. “It’s a truly magical beverage, the Bacardi of East Asia.” Swap Jinro out for higher-end Japanese shochu brands (see “Five to Try,” below) for more nuanced cocktails.
GRAPEFRUIT CHUHAI
Combine 2 oz Jinro soju, 1½ oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, ½ oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and ½ oz simple syrup with ice in a 10 oz glass, and top with soda water or Fresca.
OOLONG CHUHAI
Pour 2 oz Jinro soju or Iichiko or Kakushigura shochu over ice in a 10 oz glass, and top with iced oolong tea.
CRANBERRY CHUHAI
Combine 2 oz Jinro soju, ½ oz Starvation Alley cranberry juice, and ½ oz simple syrup with ice in a 10 oz glass, and top with soda water.
*SHOCHU 101: This low-alcohol spirit (around 50 proof) is fermented with koji mold and distilled from a wide variety of foodstuffs, from rice, sweet potatoes, and barley to sesame seeds and carrots.
FIVE SHOCHUS TO TRY: Hakutake Like sake, this approachable brand’s base is rice—think crisp, clean, and slightly sweet. $32.85//Kurokame Made from sweet potato and black koji, it’s a love-it-or-hate-it sip with tones of acetone up front, followed by a toasty, fruit-leather finish. $34.30//Iichiko Smoother than Hakutake, this barley spirit “just screams strawberry and banana,” says Rosen. $29.90//Kakushigura A rich, blonde, barley outlier that’s aged in oak barrels for a “round, tutti-frutti” sweetness. $31.15//Jinro 24 Soju Shochu’s Korean “mixed grain” counterpart is one of the best-selling liquors in the world, thanks to South Korea’s inexhaustible thirst for the bright, punchy booze. $11. These brands are sold at many local liquor stores.
1) MARK BITTERMAN KNOWS MORE ABOUT BITTERS THAN ANYONE ON THE PLANET.
Surely, certainly, no human cares more, or writes more vividly, about bitters—the world’s most mysterious flavor extracts and soulful cocktail ingredient. We, mere bitters mortals, just shake a few drops of Angostura into a highball and call it good. Not Bitterman. Earlier this year, the Portlander taste-tested 500 varieties leached from every plant, seed, bark, herb, and flower, the eye-opening to the mouth-rolfing. He dropped tinctures on his tongue, swigged dashes in water or booze, gurgled amaro (the drinkable sister of bitters), concocted brews full of gentian root and lemon peels, and marched medicinal decoctions to a place they’ve rarely gone before: the kitchen.
The tasting notes, rating scales, and recipes that Bitterman forged in the aftermath are enlightening, hallucinogenic, and always entertaining. They’re also the backbone to Bitterman’s Field Guide to Bitters and Amari, due out October 27. It’s the first book to telegraph this growing force in America’s cocktail culture and argue a place for bitters at the food table. (Fernet flan, this is your moment.)
Bitterman, a boyish 48, is best known as a salt preacher. His first book, Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes, nabbed James Beard gold in 2011. The Northwest PDX location of his salt shop, the Meadow, houses the country’s largest chocolate bar collection. But bitters are also a longtime preoccupation. And Bitterman has the rigor, the imagination, and, yes, the name for the job of chronicling their recent boom.
In his field guide, we meet the likes of Coffee Rye, Crunk Drops, Burlesque, Ms. Piggy Peppercorn Bacon, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, in which Bitterman detects notes of “pine, barley threshings, licorice stick, cereal, Ivory soap, and a bay seen in a rear view mirror.” He suggests we try it in a whiskey root beer float. Who could argue?
2) ALL DRINKS ARE BETTER WITH BITTERS.
That’s the gospel according to Mark. Without it, a cocktail has no balance. And not just a few drops of bitters, either. “That’s BS,” he says. “You want flavor. A generous dash (10 drops) delivers a serious bounce, lengthens liquor, cuts sweetness, and adds a bolt of bitter lightning.” Those qualities are on full display in Bitterman’s amaro- and vanilla bitters–laced martini spin (check out the recipe, below right.)
“Angostura is the ruler, the Yoda or the Darth Vader ... But as with any dominant force, talking solely about Angostura when you talk about bitters isn’t just limiting or wrong ... it’s missing the point.”—Mark Bitterman
3) BITTERS INSPIRE POETRY.
Forget wine notes and their tedious clichés. Bitterman’s tasting notes are inspired reading. Behold:
Tonic (The Bitter Truth) “Steve McQueen in a citrus racecar.”
Woodland (Portland Bitters Project) “Mountain pine trees, pine pollen, faint sage-chamomile forest floor; the air you breathe while dangling bare feet in a cold mountain stream.”
Bangkok Betty Thai Spice (Bitter Queens) “A sizzling food cart of Thai spices and Lipton onion soup mix, in a good way.”
Sambal (The Drunken Crane Bitters)“Redolent of a fish market after closing, then our boat was attacked by massive salty cold squid soup, onion, celery, and carrots.”
Orange Bitters (Cocktailpunk) “Standing at a roadside fruit stand in California, with Alice Waters peeling and eating strong, clean, cold oranges.”
Gangsta Lee’n (Bitters, Old Men)“Bootleg whiskey, smoldering cigarettes in an ashtray, Band-Aids.”
4) YOU, TOO, CAN BE A CRAZY BITTERS GENIUS.
Want to build your own collection? Start with the key flavor categories, from citrus to flat-out wacky. We asked Bitterman to get us started, with a must-have bottle from each.
”The best thing to happen to a martini since the invention of the ice cube, with notes of fresh bright orange, unused cedar cigar box, and a pheromone musk-ish quality. A great all-purpose bitter for orange complexity—bourbon drinks to custards.”
[spicy] The Bitter End’s Jamaican Jerk
”This will lift off the top of your head, then light a sagebrush fire in there. It’s ruthlessly spicy, a chile demon to dance in hot chocolate, hot buttered rum, Bloody Marys, or barbecue.”
[aromatic] Boker’s Bitters, by Dr. Adam Elmegirab
”A pre-Prohibition formula, it’s more modest and effective than the ubiquitous Angostura. If you love old-fashioneds or manhattans, it’s a must have: a regal construction of orange and orange blossom, with an ancestral medicinal background of black lemon powder, cardamom, and clove.”
[lavender] E. Smith Mercantile’s Lavender Bitters
”Lavender bitters suffuse food and drink in a floral and herbal breeze. This one mixes gracefully in gin cocktails, salad dressings, and zesty sauces. A few drops in tapioca pudding will permanently rearrange your expectations of dessert.”
[flat-out wacky] De-Ooievaar’s Groene Pommeranz
”I love [using] unexpected flavors. This one tastes like an old stone wall and all that grows on it and adds an impenetrable thicket of green herbs, sage, and lichen flavors to roasted squash, tabbouleh, and hamburger meat. I put it in a Pimm’s Cup and watch people freak out.”
5) YOU CAN COOK WITH BITTERS.
The book makes an impressive case that bitters belong in the kitchen—lifting salad dressings, deepening meats, sharpening chocolate, and rethinking butters. Bitterman drives that last point home here with a boozy, bittered root beer “float” to glaze winter’s finest tuber.
MAKE IT!
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Spiced Root Beer Butter
Rub 4 sweet potatoes with vegetable oil, sprinkle with coarse salt, and bake for around 45 minutes, or until tender, in a 450-degree oven. Meanwhile, combine ¼ cup golden rum and 1 cup root beer in a small saucepan. Boil over medium-high heat until the sauce has reduced to about ¼ cup. Remove from heat and season with¼ tsp salt, 4 dashes orange bitters, 4 dashes baking spice bitters, and 4 dashes chile bitters. Stir in 3 tbsp unsalted butter. When potatoes are fully cooked, split them in half lengthwise and pour root beer butter all over the flesh. Serve hot.
Autumn lovers, surrender your woolen sweaters and decorative gourds. This is not a boozy offshoot of some precious pumpkin spice latte. Despite its lofty cream dome and freckled nutmeg shards, the fascinating “Pumpkin Pie” cocktail at SE Division Street’s American Local is round, light, melon-flavored, and decidedly un-dessertlike. Bar manager Brett Adamson says the trick is raw butternut squash: “It’s cleaner and fresher than a roasted purée.” Adamson juices a whole squash, mixes it with cinnamon-and-clove-spiced simple syrup, and spikes it with a pair of fruity and butterscotchy rums before shaking it all together with egg white and half-and-half. The result? A frothy stunner that celebrates the season without getting bogged down in eggnog clog. Take that, Starbucks.
American Local’s Pumpkin Pie Cocktail
(Makes one cocktail)
1 oz squash-spice simple syrup*
1½ oz dark rum (Adamson recommends Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva)
⅛ oz Stroh 80 liqueur or Appleton 151
1 egg white
½ oz half-and-half
1 dash Angostura bitters
Nutmeg for garnish
COMBINE Add all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake “dry” (no ice) for a minute, or until frothy. Add a scoop of ice to the shaker and agitate a minute longer. Strain into coupe and top with fresh-grated nutmeg.
*Squash-Spice Simple Syrup
1 whole butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and juiced (or puréed in a blender and strained)
2 cups demerara sugar
2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
½ whole nutmeg seed, grated
1 star anise
COMBINE Add everything but the squash juice and bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Let syrup cool to room temperature and strain. Mix 4 parts butternut squash juice to 1 part spiced simple syrup. Simple syrup will keep for a week in the refrigerator.
Deadshot at Holdfast—launching July 25—does a 180 on the fine dining concept, with à la carte plates, Asian-inflected drinks, and absolutely no reservations.
