"Cocktail culture" is a phrase that is thrown around with abandon these days. As in which town has one and which one doesn't, whose bartenders have a photo spread in which national magazine and…well, the list goes on.
Here in Portland, as usual, it's a little different. Bartenders are colleagues rather than competitors. They do guest bartending stints "behind the stick" that are the talk of local Twitter feeds. They probably even act as godparents for each other's children.
From October 20th through the 23rd, Portland will be showing the rest of the country how it's done during Portland Cocktail Week. Put on by the Oregon Bartenders Guild and shepherded by the ever-thoughtful Dave Shenaut, it should be quite the shindig, robots, jugglers and all. Read all about it in my article, "5 Questions with Cocktail Week Guru Dave Shenaut," in the October 2011 issue of MIX magazine.
Photo by Taylor Schefstrom for MIX magazine.
We do live in a strange and wonderful place! I read that there will even be a temporary cocktail food cart, as a fundraiser for the Oregon Bartenders Guild. Cool!
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed there is, Michele. It's at the Cartopia pod at SE 12th & Hawthorne. Cheers!
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