Heresy or Genius? You Decide!

I have to admit, when I heard that beer cocktails were the latest thang on cocktail menus, it got one of those big-time eyerolls usually reserved for bartenders who ask if I want my martini with gin or vodka.

Really? Cocktails made with beer? Spare me!

But, as usually happens when I get all up on my high horse, a comeuppance wasn't far behind, and it came in the guise of nice guy and bartender extraordinaire Jacob Grier (left) of Metrovino. He'd been playing around with beer cocktails, seeing if our local microbrews could be insinuated into some cocktails for the benefit of spirit, brew and drinker.

You might remember him from my post about Kopstootje, the Dutch tradition of drinking genevere with a beer back, when he had the bright idea to introduce the folks from Bols to Upright Brewing's Alex Ganum. So when asked to come up with a couple of unique libations using the Brazilian sugar cane spirit called cachaça, he knew he'd found a good candidate for his experiments with beer.

The first round of the drink was good, but not quite the knockout Grier wanted, so with some juggling of ingredients—he decided to jettison the traditional mint because it added an unpleasant bitterness—he came up with a libation he's calling the Caip-beer-inha, a twist on the national drink of Brazil.

While some might argue that Ninkasi's Total Domination IPA is a fabulous beer on its own and a caipirinha doesn't need any help, thank you very much (neither of which I can deny), the combination does have a certain je ne sais quoi as a summer sipper. Try it at your next lawn party and see if it doesn't get some nods of approval!

Caip-beer-inha

From Jacob Grier

2 oz Novo Fogo silver cachaça
Half a lime, quartered
1 spoon superfine white sugar
Ninkasi Total Domination IPA

Muddle the lime and sugar, add cachaça and ice and shake. Dump contents into a rocks glass, top with more ice, and finish with the beer.

Kopstootje!

Tal Nadari shook his head when he described trying to introduce Americans to the concept of Kopstootje* or "little head butt" in Dutch. Basically the same idea as a shot and a beer, a small tulip glass is filled to the brim with Genever, the juniper-flavored liquor of the Netherlands, and served with a beer back.

Check out that meniscus!

"The Americans would shoot the Genever and then drink their beer," Nadari said, rolling his eyes. And because the liquor is poured till it's practically overflowing the glass, picking it up without spilling is almost impossible. "They spilled a lot," he said. "It was a mess."

What's supposed to happen instead is to stand at the bar directly in front of the Genever, bend at the waist and take just a sip of the drink from the rim of the tulip glass. Then the beer is lifted in the traditional Dutch toast, "Prost!" Basically after that it's up to each drinker to decide on the order of sips of liquor and beer, but chugging either is definitely considered bad form.

Nadari (far right in photo, right), a managing director at Lucas Bols, was giddy over the release of his product in Portland. That's because while Genever is normally served with a light lager, Jacob Grier (center), a well-known local mixologist and blogger who was hired by Bols just over a year ago, encouraged him to think outside the box for the event.

In a brilliant move, Grier introduced Nadari to Upright Brewing's Alex Ganum (left). Nadari expected to discuss which of Ganum's farmhouse ales might match well with Genever's flavor profile.

"Instead he said he'd brew a beer just for the event!" Nadari said, obviously still thrilled at Ganum's offer.

What Ganum concocted was a bière de garde, what Grier described as "a rustic French beer that uses lager yeasts fermented at warm temperatures, fitting into Upright’s farmhouse style. [It] diverges from the traditional with the addition of many of the same botanicals that go into Bols Genever, including aniseed, ginger, angelica root, licorice, and juniper berries. The result is a dry beer with subtle notes of spice."

What I tasted in the Genever ("Please don't call it gin," begged Nadari) was a slight juniper hit surrounded by other botanical spices swimming in a very lightly sweet, pleasantly medium-bodied liqueur. A sip of the beer that followed it was bracingly chilled and intriguingly spicy, perhaps a bit gingery, and the perfect complement to the Genever.

Ganum's "Kopstootje Bière," will be available on tap in limited quantities at several local bars (see list, below), and many will have Genever chilling in the bar fridge. Get it while you can, and don't forget: bend at the waist, sip, lift your beer and shout "Prost!"

* Kopstootje is pronounced kawp-stow-gee

Details: Dutch Kopstootje, Bols Genever and Upright Brewing's Bière de Garde available for a limited time and in limited quantities at Beaker and Flask, Broder, Clyde Common, Cruz Room, Grain & Gristle, Hop & Vine, Irving Street Kitchen, Spirit of ‘77, Spints Alehouse, St. Jack, and Temple Bar. (Best to call first and check that it's still in stock before heading over.)

Upright Citizen

It was like that when I first had Ayers Creek's flint-corn polenta at Cafe Castagna. Or Kevin Gibson's glacier lettuce salad at Evoe. I couldn't get the flavors or textures out of my mind and had to find out what they were, how they were grown and, above all, to get some for myself.

We were at Ned Ludd for a quick dinner a few weeks ago and it happened again. The waiter was describing the beers they had on tap and he mentioned one made with rye from a new local brewery. We asked for a taste and soon found ourselves with a couple of pints that had a rich, dry maltiness with just the right amount of bitterness to balance the brew. Akin to Chimay Grande Reserve in its body and color, and made right in the 'hood by Upright Brewing owner Alex Ganum (top photo, center), it's a food-friendly, Belgian-style ale that will appeal to those of us who are used to the drier, hoppier Northwest-style brews.

Since Dave had been wanting to check out the brewery, we ventured down to the recently redeveloped Left Bank Building, a historic structure that in the 1940s and 50s had housed a famous jazz club called The Dude Ranch that featured top-flight musicians of the day like Nat "King" Cole, Lionel Hampton and Louis Armstrong. The brewery is located on the basement level of the building, with a bare-bones tasting room (left) on one side. The day we were there, Ganum himself was pouring beer from six taps in the wall, offering free 2-oz. tastes and 12-oz. glasses for $2.

Unusual among Portland beers, he names each of his brews after its starting gravity in Belgian brewing degrees, with 4, 5, 6 (the rye) and 7 in the current lineup, including a saison-style called Flora Rustica and a version of 6 that was barrel-aged with chocolate and chiles. In an interview on Taplister.com, he describes his naming scheme as "our personal backlash against the stupid, over-branded beer names" so common in micro-brewing circles.

Sounds like he'll fit right in.

Details: Upright Brewing, 240 N. Broadway, Suite 2. Phone 503-735-5337.