This is just clean, free advice: If you get a chance to visit Oregon, I insist you drive from Portland to Bend for the three hours of three different terrains. And if you’re friends with any local beavers, there’s a good chance they’ll have one of Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s barrel-aged Negronis nearby, so stay close! And be polite. Beavers appreciate good manners.
Oregon
I love Oregon, for if it is anything, it is unapologetic—in its natural beauty, its woodsy charm, and its insistence on unusual, eccentric gatekeepers celebrating individuality and expressionism. Oregon offers endless outdoor activities in pretty much every direction. One of my all-time favorite drives in this country is the three-hour journey from Portland to Bend, where you move through one hour of rolling hills and valleys, one hour of open prairie with the Sisters Mountains and wild horses in the distance, and one hour of lush, thick forest and rivers with trees taller than fairy tales.
The most American cocktail? They all are, right? I always say that cocktails are the US’s primary contribution to the culinary world, along with Coca-Cola. And if you think about it, I think it’s really true. Those iconic American dishes like pizza, spaghetti, and frankfurters, all that, they were brought over from other cultures. But this idea of a single-serving cocktail created solely for the individual, that could only have come from America.
—Jeffrey Morgenthaler, bar manager, Clyde Common and Pépé le Moko (Portland)
Oregon is worth its weight in ghost towns, hazelnuts, bicycle paths, and Douglas firs. The Goonies was filmed here, as was Portlandia, and Springfield, is the inspiration for the town of Springfield in The Simpsons. And shout out to Eugene for being the first city with one-way streets, which have driven my parents and other older people up the wall in many other cities since they were developed.
Bend has seen some nice cocktail programs cropping up on the wings of its notable breweries. Stihl Whiskey Bar, which has more than 350 labels, is a great place to start. And it only takes stepping inside the Brown Owl to make one wanna hoot.
The cocktail scene in Portland (aka the City of Roses—check out the International Rose Test Garden sometime, which features some five hundred varieties of roses) has been running strong for years. When the craft cocktail movement was taking shape in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco in the early 2000s, Portland was the little engine making waves up in the modest northwestern corner of the United States. Thanks to people like Jeffrey Morgenthaler at Clyde Common, Daniel Shoemaker of the Teardrop Lounge, the staff at Multnomah Whiskey Library, and the staff at many other bars and restaurants, Portland has an abundance of well-deserved fame for its commitment to improving its surroundings. Terrific destination bars such as Rum Club, Angel Face, and Expatriate are assembling cocktails and hospitality as well as any in the country. And food-focused restaurants like Tusk, Holdfast’s Deadshot, and Jacqueline are combining unforgettable food options with well-crafted cocktails, forcing people like me to lose sleep at night. I will not forget the Piggy Back at Hamlet any time soon: a shot of smoky mezcal served with a side of prosciutto ham. The two get along like they’re sharing a clean, crisp high five with each sip and nibble.
I was never really a drinker until I started working in bars. By the time I became a bartender it was the mid-90s and the whole swing revival thing was happening, and people were starting to discover cocktails again. So at one point I became enamored with bone dry Sapphire martinis with a twist—basically a giant cold glass of gin. My first “cocktail” was probably a big splash of gin from a plastic handle of cheap stuff my friend Adam and I stole from a party and mixed with Mountain Dew.
—Jeffrey Morgenthaler, bar manager, Clyde Common and Pépé le Moko (Portland)
A modern Oregon cocktail that deserves some recognition is the Barrel-Aged Negroni, created by Jeffrey Morgenthaler at Clyde Common. This was arguably one of the most talked-about cocktails in the early part of the twenty-first century, and if Jeffrey Morgenthaler had been living in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York, he would be a household name by now. But the funny thing is, the serious bartenders in those cities were all talking about him, and more specifically, his aged Negroni, which was inspired by a trip to 69 Colebrooke Row in London. Morgenthaler put the classic equal-parts Negroni inside a used, charred whiskey barrel and let it age for a few weeks. The barrel aging allows the harsher elements in the cocktail to settle a little more, and the result was a rounder, textured, softened, Cadillac version of the original Negroni.
Oregon is also the home of some terrific distilleries these days, such as Aviation American Gin, Krogstad Aquavit, Crater Lake Spirits, and New Deal Distillery, which makes a wonderful assembly of liqueurs and a knockout pear brandy. “Founder Tom Burkleaux is someone you’re always happy to see at the bar,” says local author Jacob Grier about New Deal, “no matter which side of it you’re on.” Grier is a big fan of New Deal’s Cascadia liqueur, a bittersweet gentian made with wild lavender, rose petals, and a variety of Pacific Northwest botanicals.
Oregon Spirit
Clear Creek started distilling in 1985, long before most of the other modern-day distilleries were taking shape and developing their own spirit wares. Clear Creek makes a fine assembly of brandies, liqueurs, grap-pas, and single-barrel whiskey. The Bartlett pear brandy has been a staple for many years, and the Douglas fir brandy, paying homage to the Oregon state tree, is not only unique, but versatile in cocktails as well. Jim Meehan pays respects to the company’s craft distillation in Meehan’s Bartender Manual, where he calls it one of the more venerable distilleries in America.
BAR SNACK
“Safety meeting” is a term for taking a quick nip of liquor or a shot of something to get through a busy or challenging shift. Bartenders in Portland, Oregon, are not allowed to do this, as it is against the law. A business’s first violation within being open for a two-year period results in a thirty-day liquor license suspension, which can cripple most small businesses. A bar in Old Town even sued one of its bartenders to the tune of $115,000 in January 2019 for being drunk on the job.
Oregon’s Oldest Bar
Huber’s, an upscale tavern with stained-glass skylights, palm trees, warm wooden booths, and a happy-go-lucky staff, has been in business since 1879, when every drink served was accompanied by a turkey sandwich. Though the free turkey sandwiches have flown away, the Spanish Coffees, created in the early 1970s, are here to stay. One can’t visit the iconic Huber’s without having a Spanish Coffee, which is not in fact Spanish but Portlandian, as it originated in Rip City, gathering enough accolades you might believe Kahlúa was invented in Oregon: Huber’s sells more of it than any bar in the country.
I have tons of respect and love for Jeffrey Morgenthaler. Please don’t tell him I said that, his ego is big enough. I have watched him grow and develop into a strong, independent, honest, and consistently don’t-give-a-fuck personality that he is. He’s smart, he thinks about our profession constantly, and he keeps a low profile except when sharing some truly well-developed gems of bartending wisdom.
—Andrew Volk, owner, Hunt + Alpine Club (Portland, ME)
Oregon Cocktail Bars
These spots should be part of every tourist map and Lonely Planet guide-book to the Pacific Northwest. Go to Clyde Common for the Barrel-Aged Negroni, and go to Pépé Le Moko (located right around the corner) for a modern version of the Grasshopper. Go. Just. Go. The staff are all knowledgeable, tattooed, and gracious, and Jeffrey Morgenthaler is a consummate professional. If you get a chance to sit at Morgenthaler’s bar, go and do it. He’s the quintessential bartender in so many ways, and truly cares about the integrity of researching and executing the best versions of cocktails we have come to know and celebrate in the past few decades, along with inventing new ones. He has fun while bartending. And you’re having a blast because the drinks are fantastic. Everyone wins. Just don’t freak him out by gawking at him.
Oregon Bucket List Bar
Do you want everything in your bucket list bar? Then, at Holman’s, everything you shall have! Holman’s has endless wall tchotchkes, decorative ceiling lamps, Coca-Cola signs, classic beer signs, multiple pinball machines, mac and cheese, a wide variety of whiskey options (and a Whiskey Club), and an outdoor garden patio—and what’s more, they are the ambassadors of the Bloody Mary Bar, operated Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., featuring vodkas infused with basil, garlic, horseradish, habanero, jalapeño, cucumber, and Thai sriracha. Luke Dirks (co-owner of Tusk and my former colleague at Happy Cooking Hospitality), thank you for showing the way!
BAR SNACK
There are more than eighteen hundred bottles at Multnomah Whiskey Library, which is on the second floor of a building and easy to miss if it’s raining (which it is on any given Portland day). But when you find it, oh boy. Rows and rows of shelves resemble a library in one of the opening scenes of an Indiana Jones movie, right before the action kicks in, which makes me feel a little bit like Indiana Jones, only I’m not cool enough to wear the hat, or crack the whip, but that’s okay, because everyone working there makes you feel as though you are, so watch them whip, then watch me nae nae.
Amaretto Sour
Morgenthaler created this version of a classic sour because he felt most Amaretto Sours were too sweet, and for once in his life, he was right. Difford’s Guide rated Morgenthaler’s Amaretto Sour the fourth-most-ordered cocktail in 2017, which is a tremendous accomplishment, and deservedly so. When Morgenthaler began making the Amaretto Sour with egg white, the rest of the bartending country followed.
1½ ounces Amaretto
¾ ounce cask-proof bourbon 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon rich simple syrup (2:1 sugar to water)
½ ounce fresh egg white
Garnishes: lemon peel and brandied cherry
Shake the ingredients without ice for a healthy 10 to 15 seconds. Add ice to the shaker and shake again until chilled. Strain over fresh ice in a chilled rocks glass and garnish with the lemon and cherry. “Serve and grin like an idiot as your friends freak out,” as Morgenthaler himself says.
My favorite American bartender? I only knew her by her nickname, “KaBoom.” She worked at a bar called Rum Club in Portland. I’ve sat at this bar multiple times and watched her get absolutely destroyed by a room full of bartenders drinking at her bar. Never lost focus, never stopped being hospitable, never looked down, and just kicked that bar’s ass right back. It was poetry in motion.
—Michael Toscano, brand ambassador, Woodford Reserve (New York)
Stumptown Boulevard
This is a spin on the Boulevardier, which is a spin on the Negroni, which we can already agree is a delicious cocktail everyone should try. The outstanding J. Rieger’s Caffé amaro uses Sumatran coffee mixed with orange peel, cardamom, vanilla, and gentian, flavors that play quite well with the maple and vanilla in bourbon and the bitter, herbaceous brightness of Campari. And if Simon Kelly, proud son and devotee of the heralded Boulevardier cocktail, is anywhere near where you are while drinking this cocktail, then you are having a great night.
1 ounce bourbon
1 ounce J. Rieger’s Caffé amaro (if not available, bummer, but try upping the Campari to 1 ounce and adding a bit more cold brew, about ¾ ounce)
½ ounce sweet vermouth
½ ounce Campari
½ ounce cold brew coffee (preferably Stumptown, as I owe them my focus, hustle, and sanity while writing this book, or the homemade version on this page)
Garnish: orange peel
Stir the ingredients with ice until properly diluted; strain over a large ice cube in a chilled double rocks glass and garnish with the orange.
BAR SNACK
The Bone Luge shot was created by Jacob Grier one night at Portland’s Laurelhurst Market steakhouse in a light bulb moment of drunken inspiration. Grier and friends had a plate of bone marrow and shots of tequila at their table. Someone started the challenge of drinking the shot as it cascaded down the bone marrow tube, like an ice luge—that is, downing it from the other end of the bone after it passed through the remnants of marrow. After the experience was Instagrammed and tweeted, it soon became an international drinking trend. The Wall Street Journal featured the Bone Luge on its front page, and if that’s not making it in America, I don’t know what is.