Order The Rickey

Early last night we breezed into Ping, Pok Pok's new Chinese fusion sister restaurant in Old Town. We had a nice two-top at the window and the sun was going down over the west hills. In other words, we were in the ideal place for a cocktail.

As this was our initial voyage to Ping, it was reassuring to see one of my favorite new cocktails on the list. The pomegranate gin rickey: featuring pomegranate drinking vinegar, gin, lemon and soda for $8.

This drink is also served at Pok Pok.

I have yet to try them all, but this has be one of Portland's best cocktails.

For more on the drinking vinegar trend, see this Portland Monthly article.

A One-Word Call To Action

After recently coming across MIX, a lifestyle publication from The Oregonian that covers the local food and beverage beat, I was interested to see another title, Imbibe Magazine, at the New Seasons check out stand yesterday.



I made an impulse purchase and brought the mag home with my four bags of high priced groceries. There are some interesting articles inside, like this one about a new breed of moonshiners.

Imbibe Magazine’s Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Karen Foley (who migrated to Portland from Savannah) was interviewed by The Portland Tribune in 2006 when the magazine launched.

“There’s tons of food magazines,” she says, “but the interesting thing that I found when I started looking around was that there wasn’t anything like Imbibe that existed. There wasn’t a single magazine that was taking the approach of a food magazine and applying it to beverages, looking at drinks as cuisine and also looking at drinks from a very cultural perspective.”

Around the world, there are special customs and stories tied to drinking, and that goes well beyond the social bonding associated with alcohol. From ancient tea ceremonies to the athletic posturing of bottled-water brands, from Oktoberfest to lemonade stands, there’s plenty of ground to be covered both in and outside of Cocktail Nation.

The Trib notes that Imbibe is the only "nationally geared, mainstream periodical" to be headquartered in Portland.

Jeff's Common Mix

Jeff Morgenthaler, 37, is a bartender at Clyde Common in Portland. He's been tending bar since 1996 and writing about it since 2004. He strives to elevate the experience of having a drink from something mundane to something more culinary.

Alchemy Under The Rose

Portland—When I arrive at House Spirits Distillery in industrial SE Portland, Mike Sherwood is bent over a box taping it up so he can send it on its way. It turns out to be emblematic, as this CEO is a sleeves rolled all the up kind of guy.

Sherwood, it turns out, leases space from the distillery, where he produces his own micro distilled spirits, which he markets under the Sub Rosa label.



Sub Rosa offers two products—Tarragon Vodka and Saffron Vodka. Sherwood is also planning to release a rum that’s aging in oak and a gallingal liquer. Lucky reporter that I am, I got to sample them all today in a private tasting.

As I swirl the Saffron vodka around in my mouth, Sherwood says, "note the toasted cumin coming up underneath. No one's doing that." No one, but Sub Rosa that is.

Sherwood’s motto is “Work hard. Play hard. Have fun.” in that order. It’s clear he’s having fun now, as his passion for his handcrafted product is obvious. On point one, Sherwood says it takes three-to-five years to establish a new spirits brand and that he’s only one and half years in. So, he has his work cut out for him.

Luckily, work and Sherwood are friends. He’s a former software executive, concert promoter and guild builder. He also helped to build and run Rogue’s distillery operation at the coast. Today, he works the wine harvest to help pay the bills, he consults, builds web sites and runs his bootstrapped micro spirits company—a job which demands proficiency in product development, manufacturing and distribution (hence the taped up box), sales and marketing. It’s a lot for one guy to do, which is why Sherwood doesn’t blog, Tweet or text. He has enough to do.

Sherwood says, “You want to make something that’s distinctive” and he has. No one else is making Saffron or Tarragon vodka. Even if one was, they wouldn’t have the fennel fronds or lemon mint from Sherwood’s Dundee garden or the organic tarragon from a farm in Gresham. Nor his knack for finding success via a routine of experimentation.



Sherwood says be bold. “Don’t be afraid to construct a cocktail.”

Thankfully, more and more skilled bartenders are taking him up on the suggestion. “Go to Wildwood any weekend and Ryan will make you a nice drink,” suggests Sherwood.

Sherwood also recommends brunch at Toast. “They use the Saffron vodka in their bloody marys.”

Sub Rosa vodkas retail for $29.95 and can be purchased at finer liquor stores in the Portland metro. Sub Rosa is also sold in WA, CA, CO, Washington DC and is on its way to IL and TN.

Sub Rosa vodka recipes
Hot Summer Night [aka Tarragon Smash]


1-1/2 oz Sub Rosa Tarragon vodka
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
Fresh mint leaves

Fresh tarragon leaves
Squirt [or sparkling water]
Lemon twist and mint sprig garnish

Muddle a pinch of mint/tarragon leaves with the lemon juice, simple syrup in bottom of rocks glass. Fill the glass with ice, pour in the vodka, and fill with Squirt. Garnish with a lemon twist and mint sprig. Great refreshing spring and summer drink. This is a mojito like cocktail. Really nice.

Ginger Snap

1 1/2 oz. Sub Rosa Saffron vodka
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. orange juice

1/2 oz. simple syrup

Shake vigorously in a mixing glass filled with ice. Pour over crushed ice in a short glass. Garnish with a sprig of fresh Cilantro. Very gingery and on the tart side, but quite nice. Cilantro garnish adds some great aromatics to this drink. Very refreshing and bright.

Rogue Picks Up Customer's Tabs FTW

The United States government has allocated $787 billion to bail out banks, car makers and others during this recession. But the Feds aren’t the only ones taking action.

Rogue Nation has put together a bailout plan to aid Rogue Nation citizens during these difficult times. The Rogue Nation Bailout Program (RNBOP) is a twice-a-day ritual at each of Rogue’s embassies where the brewery pays 100% of a customer’s tab. Each unsuspecting person or group is randomly chosen, inducted into the Rogue Nation (if not already a citizen) and relieved of their debt to Rogue. Since the program was put into effect, Rogue has bailed out over 350 tabs.



At the Rogue Ales Public House in San Francisco, Janet Wallace and three of her friends were watching Super Bowl XLIII when they were randomly chosen to be “bailed out” of their tab. Wallace says “It’s always fun to get something for free, especially so when the something free comes completely unexpected.”

“And when you have a buzz on.” She didn’t actually say that, but I think it’s needed.

An IPA That Totally Dominates Its Category

When we moved to Oregon last summer and I first encountered the Ninkasi Brewing micro brand, I honestly didn't know what to make of it. I thought maybe it was beer from Japan. Eugene never occurred to me. Thankfully, I now know how to pronounce Nin-Cah-See and to look for Total Domination IPA on tap and at retail.



I'm a big fan of the IPAs and Oregon has many nearly perfect IPAs to choose from, Ninkasi's Total Domination being one.

Spikester on Beer Advocate says this about the beer:

Hazy amber with small head and large amount of very fine bubble lacings. Floral piney hop nose. Taste is piney orange grapefruit hops and the malts lend a sweetness that gives this a good balance for the style. A very nice IPA as the hops are plentiful but not overwhelming. Nice long bitter-sweet finish. Mouthfeel is very nice and not overly carbonated. One I find in most local stores and at around $4 US for a bomber it is hard to pass up. One of my regular IPAs.

The consumer reviewers on 97 Bottles give it an 88 or B+. Because I love the citrus and piney hops in Total Domination it rates higher in my book.