What’s shakin this Fall? With Portland’s burgeoning craft cocktail scene we went in search of what’s on the menu for Autumn.
This year skip the pumpkin pie or sweet potato casserole that you usually bring to the family for your Thanksgiving feast. Instead mix it up a little by trying your hand at a fall themed cocktail! Or, here’s an idea! By pass the hard part, actually making the cocktail yourself, and instead take your crew out for a night on the town over the Holiday weekend to experience some fall concoctions brought to you by 5 of our favorite cocktail bars in town.
Fall is a great time of year, especially if you’re a fan of the brown liquid loveliness like bourbons, dark rums and even sweet vermouths that come into play as the autumnal equinox gets into full swing. Below you’ll find a review of 5 great spots to visit this fall and what’s shakin behind the bar from some of Portland’s top mixologists. If your internal mixologist is up to it, give these lovely recipes at try at your own cocktail lab this Thanksgiving.
The Venue: Teardrop Lounge
The Skinny: It’s like stepping inside a stadium where the main attraction is the cocktail! Get up close and intimate with your drink and how it’s made at Teardrop. Award winning mixologist and properetor Daniel Shoemaker heads up the team of talent here at this swank downtown location.
The Cocktail: Twenty-Three Skidoo
The Recipe:
Build in a chilled bucket (aka mixer)
1 tsp. rich demerera (2 parts demerera sugar to 1 part boiling water, stir well until dissolved)
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash Regan’s orange bitters
Stir to incorporate, add one large cube,
add 2 oz. High West double rye whiskey
1/4 oz. cherry digestif (homemade)
Stir for 20 seconds. Garnish with an orange peel.
The Venue: Circa 33
The Skinny: Just off SE 33rd Avenue, the name’s a little play on their cross street and the year 1933, when prohibition was repealed. Taking the year theme even further, the cocktail menu features drinks labeled by Century, from the 18th through 21st Centuries.
The Cocktail: The Ontario
The Recipe:
1.5 oz Jim Beam Rye
.5 oz Calisaya
.5 oz simple syrup
2 dashes Peychauds bitters
Served on the rocks with an orange twist
The Venue: Sapphire Hotel
The Skinny: When a bar’s owned by two women you know it’s going to be sultry and sexy, and thus Sapphire Hotel fits the bill. Coming to know that your dad isn’t really your dad is a subject that requires a stiff drink and a smoke! And forget the lemon peel, garnish! This matter requires a few puffs to help ease the pain.
The Cocktail: “You’re Not My Real Dad?”
The Recipe:
2oz whiskey
1/2 oz scotch syrup (made in house)
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1 dash Orange Bitters
2 dashes Cedar Bitters (made in house)
Stir & strain into a scotch spritzed bucket with one large ice cube.
Garnished with a cigarette
The Venue: Beaker and Flask
The Skinny: Hipper than hip. And you get a two for one deal with easy bar hopping; as Rum Club is just around the other side of the building. Although the exterior looks a little like a furniture sale room, you’ll get nothing short of a wow factor out of the interior of this go to venue for craft cocktails in Portland.
The Cocktail: The Jack Horner from barman Douglas Strodtman
The Recipe:
1.5 lairds bonded,
1.5 plum cardamom syrup ( made in house from locally farmed plum)
1/3 lemon,
a dash of old fashioned
and ginger beer
The Venue: East Burn
The Skinny: Not exactly a cocktail bar, but certainly one of Portland’s best spots for a drink; East Burn features a recently redesigned cocktail menu by Jopa Corvus. Here’s a little something you can sip on for fall certousy of Jopa and the crew at East Burn.
The Cocktail: Bourbon Cherry Buck by Jopa Corvus
The Recipe:
1.5oz bulleit bourbon
.5 Benedictine
.5 lemon juice
.5 black cherry concentrate
Shaken, topped with ginger beer
