When presented with a new spirit, there’s occasionally a struggle to hit a “right” cocktail for the spirit. But as unusual a spirit as the Vinn Baijiu rice vodka is, something about the nose reminded me of a quebranta pisco, oddly enough. But that was enough to inspired exploring around the Pisco Sour, and with some minor tweaks, I bring you the Baijiu Sour:

1 ½ oz. Vinn Baijiu
½ oz. lime juice
½ oz. grapefruit juice
½ oz. rich (2:1) simple syrup
¼ egg white
3 drops Fee’s Old Fashioned Bitters

Dry shake egg white.
Shake egg whites, and other ingredients sharply with ice.
Strain, but do not double strain, into a rocks glass.
Add 3 drops of Fee’s Old Fashioned Bitters, arranged interestingly

Even though the baijiu is not quite as strong as most piscos, this cocktail benefits by dropping the proof (and the baijiu) a bit to make the nose and flavors blend a bit better. Using more traditional pisco sour proportions, the baijiu would overpower.

In late October, I had the honor of managing the judging of the cocktail contest at the Great American Distillers Festival. As a result, I got to enjoy them all, and want to share some of my favorites with our readers.

Not surprisingly one of my favorites was the winner in the final round of competition. For that, round all the winners from the day before had 15 minutes after they had picked two secret ingredients, to have a cocktail ready for the judges. Art Tierce walked up, took a taste of each secret ingredient, and in roughly half the time allowed, proceeded to own the whole thing.

Bring it Home Portland

1 ½ oz. Hudson Manhattan Rye
¾ oz. Lemon Juice
½ oz. Sage and Sea Farms Sweet Cherry Shrub
1 bar spoon B.G. Reynolds Vanilla Syrup
Splash of Cava
Lemon Zest, discarded

Build without ice in a mixing glass.
Add ice, shake, and top with sparkling wine.
Double strain into a chilled coupe.
Express a peel of lemon over the glass, and discard the peel.

Art added “it was nice to have Hudson whiskies as the base and not knowing what your mystery ingredient would be is always fun. Great to see someone making delicious shrubs and luck of the draw would have it that rye and cherries would be my pick.”

The gent loves a challenge, and given 15 minutes with surprise ingredients came up with a fine cocktail, and took the GADF prize.

Art Tierce bartends at Teardrop Lounge in Portland.

In late October, I had the honor of managing the judging of the cocktail contest at Great American Distillers Festival. As a result, I got to enjoy them all, and want to share some of my favorites with our readers.

This cocktail combines the warmth of whiskey and ginger (two tastes that go so well together) with vinegar and semi-sweet ale, which you might not normally put tgether. The whole cocktail was a nice, warm, slightly earthy, slightly spicy feel that seems to work especially well this time of year, when the days are darker and the nights are longer.

Ingredients:

2 oz. bourbon (Matt used Breckenridge)

1 ½ oz. apple/ginger shrub (see below)

¼ oz. Angostura bitters

2 oz. brown ale (Matt used Avery Ellie’s Brown from Boulder, CO)

Instructions:

1. Combine bourbon, shrub, and bitters in ice-filled shaker
2. Shake
3. Strain into rocks glass over fresh ice
4. Top with brown ale
5. Garnish with lemon twist after expelling lemon oil over drink

Apple/ginger shrub

Ingredients:

16 oz Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar

~20 slices of ginger peeled with veggie peeler

Agave nectar (roughly 5-6 oz.)

Instructions:

1. Pour vinegar over peeled ginger
2. Infuse for 3 days
3. Strain
4. Add agave nectar, approx 3:1 (roughly 5-6 oz) to taste and mix
5. Bottle or otherwise store in a container with a tight-fitting lid

Matt Lanning tends bar in Boulder, Colorado. He can be most easily tracked down at https://www.facebook.com/mattlanning

In late October, I had the honor of managing the judging of the cocktail contest at the Great American Distillers Festival. As a result, I got to enjoy them all, and want to share some of my favorites with our readers.

Gold Fashioned

2 oz. Vermont Gold Vodka
⅓ oz. Gum syrup
2 dashes Angostura
1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6
Orange peel for garnish

Mix Sanbitter soda 70/30 with water and freeze for at least a day
Given that the cube will be not quite as solid and sturdy as regular water ice, large ice cube trays give better results

Adam commented “The idea behind this drink was to create a cocktail that would do three things, do the spirit justice, appeal to vodka drinkers, and appeal to the cocktail crowd. With a spirit like vodka that can be very tricky, which is why I took the simplistic approach of an Old Fashioned, but then the drink starts to get geeky as the ice melts.” For what it’s worth, the judges came back to this cocktail after it had sat for a few minutes, and some of the Sanbitter ice had melted, and added points to Adam’s score. This cocktail grew better with just a little time to settle and “get geeky”.

Adam Robinson is a Portland, OR based bartender currently managing the bar program at Scott Dolich’s domestically focused restaurant, The Bent Brick. He’s best reached via Twitter as @bitterwesley

In late October, I had the honor of managing the judging of the cocktail contest at The Great American Distillers Festival. As a result, I got to enjoy them all, and want to share some of my favorites with our readers.

Recipe: Tamarillo Tippler by Nathan Gerdes

This cocktail was a play with local and seasonal ingredients, taking a Portland spin on a South American source. The Tamarillos are native to the Andes of South America and although fall is upon us up here, south of the equator spring has just arrived and these unique fruits are just starting to ripen. With Encanto Pisco and fresh Tamarillos in mind, the remainder of the ingredients were just there to support and bolster the other existing flavors; pushing the sour, tart, and herbaceous tones a littler further.

Ingredients:
2 oz. Encanto Pisco
3/4 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz. Gran Classico
1/2 oz. simple syrup
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
Half of a tamarillo

Instructions:
Muddle half of a tamarillo in the bottom of a mixing tin. The motion should be more of a slow grinding, rather than a vigorous pile-driver style muddling. Add ice and all other ingredients, except the soda and garnish. Shake all ingredients, double strain over fresh ice in a chimney (collins) glass. Top with soda water. Garnish with a lime wheel and slice of tamarillo.

Nathan Gerdes manages the bar program at H5O Bistro and also bartends at Thatch Tiki Bar.

Baijiu translates roughly to “white liquor”, and while Vinn Baijiu is labelled “vodka” it has characteristics that make it feel like it’s somewhere between vodka and white whiskey. Given that it’s made of brown rice, it also likely will confuse some who will think it a shochu or soju. Outside China, all baijiu have these categorization issues as well as being known for having a harsh nose that may put off many Western drinkers, which is going to give Vinn some market barriers to overcome.

Nose: not very alcoholic, but seriously funky like the nose of some white dog whiskies, a bit floral, with scents of wet grass, cooked rice, Nigori sake, nutty, yeasty, light earth, slightly sour, wet clay, light sulphur, light touch of maple, rubber, fusel oils.

Taste: light bodied, mix of sweet and sour, fairly smooth though a touch oily, with a light warmth with white pepper and a bit of Szechuan pepper notes, vegetal, nutty, rice, a touch lemony, with odd earthy minerals coming through, wet clay, lemongrass, kombu, parsnip.

Finish: mild sweetness and sourness persist, with some lingering white pepper and mineral salts, oddly a touch metallic.

Sipped on its own, Vinn Baijiu has a lot of odd complexity to the nose, and the taste. It has some similarity to a white dog spirit and weirdly also to a some tequilas and quebranta piscos. From some initial attempts grapefruit and lime juices seem promising cocktail components. More ideas as we experiment further.

Vinn Baijiu, (Tanoshii, Wilsonville, OR) $20

Sample provided by Vinn Distillery.

Nowadays, there are almost as many different Zombie recipes as there are zombies in most low budget horror films. The reason for that is that while this cocktail has a long established name (1939), Don the Beachcomber, was very guarded with the recipes to his inventions, even keeping secret ingredients from his own staff at his bars. Our variant is a take off of the close-to-original brought back to “life” by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry.

Recipe: Zombie

1 1/2 oz. Jamaican rum
1 1/2 oz. Gold Puerto Rican rum (we use Don Q)
1 oz. 151-proof Demerara rum
1/8 tsp. Pastis (such as Pernod or Herbsaint)
1/2 oz. Falernum
1/2 oz. B.J. Reynold’s Donn’s Mix
1 tsp. Grenadine (please use fresh, or anything but Rose’s)
1 dash Angostura bitters

Pour all ingredients except the 151-proof Demerara rum into a mixing glass.
Pack a chimney glass with crushed ice.
Add additional ice to the mixing glass and shake.
Strain into the chimney glass.
Pour the 151-proof Demerara rum on top.
Garnish with a mint sprig.
Serve with a straw.

An alternate suggestion: to add to the forbidden and formidable nature of the drink, substitute your favorite absinthe for the pastis.

While some cocktails began as a way of disguising bitter medicines, this cocktail began as a medicine of as different sort: a hangover cure. The Savoy Cocktail Book suggests that a Corpse Reviver No. 2 “be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.” For us, it is usually a brunch cocktail, enjoyed in the morning (or afternoon depending on our “steam and energy”).

Corpse Reviver No.2
3/4 ounce gin (Plymouth works well, so does Aviation)
3/4 ounce Triple Sec (Cointreau works well)
3/4 ounce Lillet Blanc (some choose to use Cocchi Americano)
3/4 ounce Lemon Juice
Rinse of Absinthe

Rinse chilled cocktail glass with absinthe.
Combine ingredients in a shaker.
Shake ingredients sharply with ice.
Strain into cocktail glass.
Garnish with a brandied cherry.

Some variations on the Corpse Reviver No. 2 call for 1 ounce of each, rather than the ¾ ounce that we use. If you do pour that more formidable one, Harry Craddock’s quip “Four of these taken in quick succession will un-revive the corpse again.” perhaps would need to be restated to suggest “three”, rather than “four”.

Portland Cocktail Week kicks off today and runs through Sunday with a series of social gatherings and seminars for cocktail connoisseurs and bartenders from across the country. The event is interwoven with the Great American Distillers Festival taking place in Portland this weekend, which should make for a wonderful whirlwind of cocktail-fueled adventures throughout the city.

A few highlights are below. For the full list of events and to buy tickets to Portland Cocktail Week click here and then click on “Schedule”. Tickets to the Great American Distillers Festival are $10 for a one day pass or $16 for a two-day pass, including some starter drink tickets. Those can be purchased when you arrive at the Left Bank Annex. While you’re there, be sure to check out the Great American Distillers Festival Cocktail Competition. Details below.

Great American Distillers Festival $1,000 Cocktail Competition

Enjoy samples from 20 of the best bartenders from across the nation as they compete shaker-to-shaker in this annual cocktail competition. The $1,000 Great American Distillers Festival Cocktail Competition is sponsored by Tuthilltown Spirits, the makers of Hudson Bay whiskeys. Each bartender was paired with a spirit, which they have used to craft a unique cocktail recipe for the competition. To taste some of their creations, look for the competition tables on Saturday from 1 to 7 pm. On Sunday, the finalists will compete with products provided by Tuthilltown Spirits.

Portland Cocktail Week Spirited Social Events — Oct. 20-23

THURSDAY: Travel Pernod Ricard, A Welcome to Portland Cocktail Week
Portland Cocktail Week begins at Wilf’s — one of Portland’s most elegant destinations and iconic jazz clubs. With an atmosphere that conjures mid-century glamour, Wilf’s is the ideal backdrop for our most sophisticated gathering. To enjoy this party, all you’ll need is your most refined attire — we’ll bring the classic cocktails starring Pernod Ricard’s stellar portfolio. Thurs., Oct. 20, 8pm to midnight, Tickets.

FRIDAY: Yacht Rockin with Don Q Rum
Kenny Loggins once said, “This is it. The waiting is over.” As usual, Mr. Loggins could not be more right. You’ve waited long enough, and now the party you’ve been dreaming of is finally here. Our host, Don Q Rum, will whisk you away to a smoother time when the dulcet tones of Michael McDonald’s voice set the mood casually encouraging you to slip on your boat shoes and float past all of life’s troubles. With a drink in hand, get ready to sing along to your favorite 80s soft rock hits with your very own backing band. Fri., Oct. 21, 8pm to midnight, Tickets.

SATURDAY: Robots Versus Human Bartenders
Sure, robots can make cocktails, but can they do it better than their human counterparts? The Oregon Bartenders Guild is betting they can’t. To prove human dominance, they’ve invited their mechanical rivals to an all out battle on their home turf, the Jupiter Hotel. Cheer on your favorite bartenders (whether they be human or robot) with a cocktail and tasty bites. Sat., Oct. 22, 8pm to midnight, Tickets.

SUNDAY: Speed Rack at PDXCW
On the Sunday of Portland Cocktail Week, 16 women will compete head to head in this intense test of speed and accuracy, but only one will be crowned Miss Speed Rack Portland. Tickets get you complimentary punches, cocktails, beer and food from 1 to 4pm, as well as a chance to watch the best female bartenders the Northwest has to offer duke it out in this fun and unique competition. Sun., Oct. 23, 1 to 4pm, Tickets.

Once upon a time the Daiquiri was not the gloppy sweet, faux fruit beverage dispensed from a slushee-machine at your French Quarter/Las Vegas/insert-other-home-of-debauchery-here tourist trap. It was once a fine sweet but tart drink, savored in pre-revolution Cuba, Florida, and elsewhere.

Our favorite version is the one to which Ernest Hemingway’s name became attached, because of his preference for a less sweet variant than the norm. This one is slightly less sweet and more bitter and complex. I think the addition of grapefruit juice and other tweaks to the classic daiquiri makes for a more refreshing cocktail, especially with brunch, as we tend to have them. While there are several recipes floating around, this is the one we prefer:

Hemingway Daiquiri
2 oz. Light Rum (we use Don-Q Cristal)
¾ oz. Lime Juice (fresh-squeezed!)
½ oz. Grapefruit Juice (fresh squeezed from Oro Blanco, if possible)
¼ oz. Maraschino Liqueur (we use Luxardo)

Shake sharply with ice.
Strain into cocktail glass.

Some prefer the drink served over shaved ice, but we think it is quite refreshing without.