A Toast to the End of Time, Pt. 1: A Nod to a Classic

It suddenly occurred to me that I was running out of time…and not just to get gifts for friends and family, not to get the tree decorated, the mantel hung with garlands or dotted with candles ready to light.

No, I was running out of time itself.

That's because, in case you've been living in a cave without wi-fi the last few months, some Mayan dudes about a million years ago came up with this thing called the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar (left). To make a loooong story short, their calendar is purported to run out on Dec. 21, 2012. Which means, as you might imagine, that some wackos have been running around with their hair on fire proclaiming that the world is going to end on that date.

So, on the very very off-chance they're right, I want to be prepared. And because the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of what I want to be doing when we all go poof is toasting it with the appropriate libation, I've asked a few of Portland's premier bartenders what their personal choices might be for that purpose.

First up is Brandon Wise, current president of the Oregon Bartenders Guild as well as the self-described "presiding barman" at the newly opened (and widely raved) Imperial and Penny Diner. Wise, a classic guy if ever there was one, chose a classic cocktail called the Last Word as his pick to salute our plunge into eternity.

According to Wikipedia, the Last Word is "a gin-based Prohibition-era cocktail originally developed at the Detroit Athletic Club." It goes on to say that the drink has enjoyed a new burst of popularity thanks to another classic barman, Murray Stenson of Seattle's Zig Zag Café.

If that sounds like a drink you'd like to be draining as the universe come to a screeching halt, here's a recipe to take you out in style.

Last Word
From "The Essential Bartenders Guide" by Robert Hess.

1/2 oz. gin

1/2 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice

1/2 oz. green Chartreuse

1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur


Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Read the other posts in this series: Tiki On! and Shenaut-be-wan Speaks.

Top illustration: Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau (the best).

Getting Schooled

You fly over it when the plane comes in for a landing at PDX; you drive over it when you head north to Vancouver or Seattle. To its credit, Vancouver has several restaurants near the Interstate Bridge overlooking the river, but I'm hard-pressed to think of more than a couple where you can drink or dine on its banks on the Oregon side.

Dan More, Salty's bar manager.

One of those is Salty's on the Columbia. Originally opened as Bart's Wharf in 1961, the building was sold and remodeled in the late 80s, keeping the sweeping decks with views of the marinas and river traffic but, sadly, losing the tuck-and-roll turquoise booths and swivel chairs that populated its dining room. I'd never been there before, but when Dan More, Salty's beverage manager, invited me to come by for a cocktail class, I happily hopped in Chili and drove out for some seat time in front of his bar.

The Aviation.

A recent transplant from Seattle, More's classic cocktail style is inspired by Murray Stenson of the Zig Zag Café, with the philosophy that "simplicity is the key." He set me up with the makings for three of the bar's signature drinks, kindly providing recipes to share, below. My next challenge is to work on him to give up the recipe for the bar's so-good-I'd-drink-it-on-its-own Bloody Mary mix.

Aviation

2 oz. Aviation Gin
1/2 oz. Luxardo maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
Brandied cherry or amarena cherry

Fill cocktail shaker half full of ice. "Too many people go way over the top and overuse ice," More said. Pour gin, maraschino liqueur and lemon juice in shaker, shake briefly and strain into cocktail glass. Add cherry and serve.

Lilikoi Margarita

From Salty's bartender Sam Dixon from his stint at the Hali’imaile General Store on Maui. 
2 slices orange, 1/4" thick
2 slices lemon, 1/4" thick
3 slices lime, 1/4" thick
2 oz. Cazadores Reposado tequila
3/4 oz. Cointreau
1/2 oz. Lilikoi (passion fruit) purée
Lime
Li hing mui plum sugar powder, available online or at Asian groceries

Rim a tall cocktail glass with lime and dip in plum sugar. Place fruit slices in bottom of pint glass and muddle, pressing out the juices but not pulverizing the fruit. Add ice till 2/3 full, adding tequila, Cointreau and purée. Top with metal shaker (called a Boston Shaker). Shake and strain into rimmed glass, garnish with slice of lime.

Sazerac
1 sugar cube
1/2 oz. water
3 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters
2 oz. Sazerac Rye
Pernod or absinthe
Lemon twist

Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice water, letting it sit and chill while preparing drink. Put sugar cube, water and bitter in a pint glass and muddle, crushing the sugar cube and dissolving it in the water. Fill the glass 2/3 full of ice, add rye and stir. Dry the chilled old-fashioned glass and rinse with a small amount of Pernod, pouring out any that remains. Strain rye mixture into glass and serve with a lemon twist.

Details: Salty's on the Columbia, 3839 NE Marine Dr. 503-288-4444.

Cutting Edge Cocktails? Right Here, Of Course!

Once again, the Grey Lady has caught on to what we Northwesterners already know. In a story in today's Dining section, titled "Let 100 (O.K., 8) Bartending Philosophies Bloom," out of a list of two dozen cutting edge bars, three are in Oregon and two are in Seattle.

Not that I'm feeling smug or anything, but when the leading newspaper in the U.S. says that more than twenty percent of the coolest bars in the country are right here, well, you gotta wonder what's wrong with the rest of the nation, don't you?

To get specific, it lauds Jeffrey Morgenthaler of the Bel Ami Lounge in Eugene for a gin and tonic made with his own recipe for agave-sweetened quinine syrup. In Portland, Daniel Shoemaker at the Teardrop Lounge, who crafts his own vermouth, falernum, blueberry shrub (a kind of cordial) and 15 bitters (quite the ambitious guy, I'd say) is listed with Kevin Ludwig of Clyde Common, who rebuilt the Negroni around Krogstad aquavit from House Spirits.

In Seattle, the two finalists are Murray Stenson at the Zig Zag Cafe (photo, top), who is apparently infusing tea into his gin, and Jamie Boudreau at Tini Bigs for his iterations on the classic martini.

It should be noted that Portland is also hailed for the nine craft distilleries within its city limits, and that Lee Medoff and Christian Krogstad are called out for their efforts at House Spirits (see Clyde Common, above). And in the Food Stuff column in the same section, Florence Fabricant raves Rogue Spirit's Spruce Gin (photo, left).

Which begs the question: When's the rest of the country going to catch up?

Top photo by Stuart Isett for The New York Times. Spruce gin by Tony Cenicola for The New York Times.