Bijou

• 1 ounce gin
• 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
• 3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
• 1 dash orange bitters

Combine ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass and stir until cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and lemon zest.

Looking at a recipe that includes equal parts gin and Chartreuse, “herbal” is the first word to come to mind. While the Bijou traditionally uses equal parts of the first three ingredients, I tempered the Chartreuse by uping the gin to a full ounce. If you think this might still be a little much for your tastes, use an ounce of gin and start with 1/2 ounce Chartreuse, tasting it after mixing and adding the final 1/4 ounce only if you want that extra bit.

For a bit of extra complexity, cut a wide piece of lemon zest and squeeze the oils over the surface of the glass before serving. The lemon compliments the other flavors in a really nice way.

Sadly, your time to try out these cocktails is limited: Carlyle just announced that they’ll be closing their doors on February 14. We stopped in the other night to check out the closing cocktail menu and chat with Jacob about spirits, CocktailCamp, and his plans once the restaurant closes.

Carlyle has been full nearly every night since the closure was announced, but we managed to find a couple seats at the bar, which was off to one side of the main dining room. The restaurant is upscale, but also nice and comfortable with simple decor and quiet Chet Baker playing in the background. The entire bar selection was on display at the back of the bar on ceiling-high shelves (which left me wondering how they get the bottles off the top shelves).

We ordered our first round from the menu, which was primarily made up of . Sarai started with the Erica’s Impulse — brandy, allspice dram, lemon, simple syrup, and orange bitters — while I went with H’ronmeer’s Flame, made with rye, Ramazzotti, Carpano Antica and finished with flamed orange zest (and apparently named after a comic book character). Both were fantastic, and I would have been happy alternating between just those two all evening.

But where’s the fun in that? While that might be a good plan for an evening at home, when a better bartender than myself is mixing the drinks, I want to experiment a little more. So for our second round, we had drinks based on Rowan’s Creek bourbon, which we hadn’t tried before but comes highly recommended. Sarai and a simple Old Fashioned, made without muddled fruit but garnished with a cherry and healthy piece of orange zest. I don’t know if my drink had a name, but it was a simple Manhattan variant made with Carpano Antica and Pelinkovak, a Croatian amaro. I frequently make Manhattans with amari in place of vermouth, so this was right up my alley. The Pelinkovak was new to me but it’s found its way onto my shopping list. Combined with the Rowan’s Creek, it made for a nice, complex drink.

Jacob’s plans once Carlyle closes are up in the air right now but he mentioned the possibility of leaving Portland for Los Angeles, so you’d do well to visit Carlyle before February 14.

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The wait is over! We are happy to announce CocktailCamp PDX, taking place on Sunday, April 11, 2010 at New Deal Distillery in SE Portland, Oregon.

CocktailCamp will feature a full day of presentations by some of Portland’s best bartenders, local craft distillers, and creative hobbyists, talking about the things that excite them in the world of cocktails, and will wrap up with a panel discussion and Q&A session. While all this is happening, we’ll also have space set aside for ad hoc conversations amongst attendees. Things will kick off at 10:00am and finish up at 5:00pm, followed by an after party at a location to be determined.

We are now accepting presentation proposals. If you’d like to get involved, tell us who you are and what you’d like to talk about. The deadline for submissions is midnight, February 8, and we’ll be announcing our five selections on February 15.

CocktailCamp is a community-focused effort and needs help from you to make it happen. If you’re interested in helping out, please read over our sponsorship information and get in touch.

Tickets are now on sale! You can buy your tickets for just $10 via Paypal on the CocktailCamp web site. Space is limited, so get your tickets early.

We’ll have lots more news coming up so stay tuned. Subscribe to our RSS feed and follow @Cocktailia on Twitter to get the latest as it happens.

See you in Portland!

Red Hook

• 2 ounces rye
• 1/2 ounce Punt e Mes sweet vermouth
• 1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
• Dash of Angostura bitters
• Dash of orange bitters

Combine ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass and stir until cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The Red Hook is a variant of the Manhattan, with half the vermouth and the addition of the maraschino. When I served it to Sarai without telling her what it was, she said “It smells like a Manhattan…”

This recipe usually calls for up to 1/2 ounce of maraschino, but I nearly always tone it down a bit, as maraschino is so sweet that you risk upsetting the balance of the drink. The proportions above worked great, but I think I’ll try it with Rittenhouse 100 next time instead of Sazerac rye. This drink originated with Enzo Errico at NYC’s Milk and Honey.

After browsing the spirits and liqueurs on display in the lobby, we were led into the main distilling area, where the fermenting tanks and pot stills are located. The first thing we noticed was the atmosphere in the room, which was warm and humid. The second thing was the smell of fresh pears, the pears which filled probably 20 very large crates stacked up in the room. A full truckload, we learned. They’re delivered not-quite-ripe and kept in a warm and humid room until they reach the perfect point to go into the fermenting tanks. These are the pears that go into Clear Creek’s signature pear eau de vie. They smelled amazing.

After learning about the delivery, fermenting, and distilling process, we were led into a darker, warmer room where the aging happens. This is a smaller room lined with racks upon racks of barrels, aging the various spirits being produced. Here we learned details of the aging process, the types of barrels used and the length of time the various spirits spend in them.

After the tour came the part we were all waiting for: the tasting. A table was arranged with the full range of Clear Creek products and lots of empty glasses. We worked our way through the eaux de vie, sampled a few liqueurs and grappas, and finished up with a small batch Scotch-inspired single malt whiskey they’ve been making. As we sampled each, Steve told us a little about its origin, some details on its creation, and how its best served (straight, please; Steve’s generally not a fan of mixed cocktails).

Clear Creek’s whiskey, in particular, is noteworthy. Made with Scotch peat-malted barley, it’s basically Scotch, except that it’s made in Oregon rather than Scotland. Not quite what I expected, but it was interesting and very good. Unfortunately, their current bottling is gone and the next won’t be ready until the end of 2010, so I’ll have to wait a while before trying it at home. I did take the opportunity to bring home a bottle of their signature pear eau de vie instead, something which I can definitely put to good use.

After our visit, Jen wrote up her own article about Clear Creek for Oregon Live.

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Inspired by these two things, aaronpk here in Portland has created his own Anvil pocket list. These little four page books contain the entire 100 drink list, including the ingredients for each cocktail, and are sized to fit in your wallet, bag, or purse, so you can check your progress and get some ideas anywhere you are.

Update

Aaron has kindly provided the PDF he used to make these, so you can print up your own. Enjoy!
Download anvil-pocket-list.pdf

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Improved Whiskey Cocktail

• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1 tsp simple syrup
• 1/2 tsp maraschino liqueur
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 dash absinthe
• Lemon zest for garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass and stir until cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Cut a thin slice of lemon zest over the surface of the drink and drop it into the glass.

The Improved cocktail is a Jerry Thomas creation, and the Improved Whiskey Cocktail was further popularized (if you can call it that) by David Wondrich, columnist for Esquire and author of Imbibe! (the book, not the magazine).

While a very nice drink, I think it could actually be further improved by either reducing or omitting entirely the simple syrup. While this recipe isn’t too sweet exactly, it could stand a little less sweetener.

The bar was small and comfortable, if a bit loud, with plenty of seating. Nothing on the featured cocktail menu did it for me this evening, so I opted for classics, but Sarai and Susannah both ordered from the menu and everything they had was very good. They seem to do a lot of housemade bitters and such here; I would love to spend a little time sitting at the bar sampling things, but coming as it did at the end of our stay, we were getting a bit tired and didn’t have the energy for a full night of cocktails. I did get a chance to talk to the bartender on duty for a few minutes though and he was very friendly, asking about the bars here in Portland and Seattle as well as talking about what he’s doing there.

Of the four bars we visited, 69 Colebrooke Row was the favorite of both Sarai and myself, and also Susannah, a friend of ours in London who accompanied us on our barhopping adventures. We all agreed that this was the one we’ll come back to.

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The highlight of the event was the unveiling of the new line of House Spirits whiskey, which comes in three varieties: a 90 proof straight malt whiskey, a 113 proof barrel strength variety, and the “white dog”, a 100 proof unaged whiskey. All three are part of their apocathary line of special, small batch spirits made available for a limited time.

All three of these were available for tasting, of course, and they were also pouring the other members of the apocathary line: House Spirits Rum, Gammal Krogstad, and Oregon Ouzo. The Gammal Krogstad is an aged version of their Krogstad Aquavit which I have had, but this aged version was something new to me. The others I hadn’t had before either.

Everything I tasted was very good but the whiskey really stole the show. The main 90 proof bottling would make a great everyday whiskey, but I instead opted to bring home a bottle of the barrel strength, which has an extra level of complexity that was just amazing. At $49 for a 375ml bottle, this one isn’t an everyday whiskey, but we didn’t waste any time in trying it at home. We made Manhattans: House Spirits barrel strength whiskey, Carpano Antica, and Jerry Thomas bitters. Fantastic.

The vendors were selling lots of good stuff to go along with your whiskey: specialty cheeses, chocolates, coffee, and cigars, and Imbibe Magazine was there to provide reading material for inspiration. Prepared food was by the Garden State and Whiffies food carts.

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Easy holiday eggnog

• 12 eggs
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 cup bourbon
• 2/3 cup white rum
• 1/3 cup dark rum
• 1/3 cup apricot brandy
• 1/3 cup peach brandy
• 4 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream

Carefully separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one large mixing bowl and the whites in another. Mix egg yolks with a electric mixer on medium to combine. Add powdered sugar and spices and continue to mix until blended. Stir in the bourbon, rum, and brandies, followed by the milk and cream.

Wash the mixture off the beaters, then beat the egg whites in their own bowl until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites into the egg yolk mixture and whisk until evenly blended. Pour eggnog into punch bowl and serve, sprinkling each glass with a bit more nutmeg.

This recipe comes to us from Elizabeth’s on 37th, in Savannah, Georgia, and was reprinted in this month’s Imbibe Magazine. It’s very different from my usual eggnog recipe, but even better. This one very well may become my new holiday tradition. However good my other one is, the brandies in this one add a level of flavor that just isn’t present in the old one.

According to Imbibe, this recipe will keep in the refrigerator for up to two months, mentioning that the extra time will allow the flavors to marry. In my experience, though, it’s best fresh. After spending the night in the refrigerator, the fluffiness from the egg whites is lost and you’re left with an entirely liquid drink. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still very good, just not quite the same.

Eggnog is great for experimentation. Try using a spiced rum in place of the dark rum in this one, or dropping a bit of Angostura bitters on top of your glass. Pair it with shortbread cookies or gingerbread.