Bars & Nightlife

Korkage Wine Bar Relocating to Three Square Grill Space

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:00:00 -0700

A new tenant is already getting ready to reopen in the space recently vacated by Hillsdale neighborhood establishment Three Square Grill—and the moving bill will be pretty low.

Korkage Wine Bar and Shop will move across the street from its curent location into the former Three Square Grill's space by July.

With the move, owners Tamairah Boleyn and Earl Johnson plan to unveil a full menu. The team revealed a new direction in a press release, spotlighting aims for "multi-course small bites and family-feast style dining for lunch" and "brunch and dinner featuring fresh, local ingredients".

The wine bar—which will continue to offer a large Northwest-centric bottle collection and live entertainment at the new location—has gained a loyal following in and out of the Hillsdale community. Now, Boleyn and Johnson hope to leverage that loyalty to help them grow. The team is launching a Kickstarter campaign in the coming days, aimed at raising funds to help complete the new space.

Korkage will shutter its current location on June 27. Boleyn and Johnson plan on a July 9 reopening with expanded hours at 6320 SW Capitol Highway.

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Pitchers to the People!

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:31:00 -0700

Image: Nomad

THE GOLD RUSH

(Serves 10)

2½ cups bourbon
1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (no pulp)
1 cup honey syrup (mix three parts honey with one part hot water, and stir to combine)
Fully combine lemon juice and honey syrup, add bourbon, and serve over ice.

— Evan Zimmerman (The Woodsman, Ava Gene’s)

THE DON-DON PUNCH

(Serves 12)

1 quart water
5 bags Earl Grey tea
3 grapefruits
12 ounces superfine sugar
1 750 ml bottle Smith & Cross Rum
8 oz VSOP Cognac
6 oz Luxardo Amaretto di Saschira
1 liter ice block

(1) BRING water to just off a boil, add tea bags, and boil for 4 minutes.

(2) SET aside to cool.

(3) SPIRAL PEEL grapefruits into a pitcher, cover with sugar, and let rest for at least one hour to make an oleo saccharum.

(4) ADD 10 ounces fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.

(5) MIX Smith and Cross rum with VSOP Cognac and Luxardo Amaretto in a large bowl, then add cooled tea.

(6) ADD block of ice, allow to dilute and chill for 15 minutes, and serve.

(7) REMOVE ice block after 45 minutes.

—Douglas Derrick (Nostrana)

JASPER’S PUNCHBOWL

(Serves 12)

10 limes
2 oranges
1 cup superfine sugar
16 oz Bacardi 8
8 oz Tawny Port
1 cup lime juice
1½ oz Angostura bitters
½ nutmeg, grated
18 oz strong black tea

(1) BREW three batches of tea: 2 bags per 6 ounces water, five minutes each.

(2) SPIRAL peel limes and oranges, cover with sugar, and let rest for at least one hour to make an oleo saccharum.

(3) COMBINE all components and mix, adjusting with more lime juice if necessary.

(4) REMOVE lime and orange peels and serve in cups over 3 or 4 cubes of ice.

—Michael Shea (Rum Club)

Portland's Newest Beer Spots

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:30:00 -0700

Image: Branden Andersen

Get your growler filled with the latest in beer technology at the Tin Bucket on N. Williams Ave.

It's important to stay informed, because beer waits for no one. Here's the latest in brew news from around Portland:

Tin Bucket, a new growler-fill station/bottle shop/taproom on North Williams, carries 40 different beers poured from state-of-the-art, spaceship-like Pegas CrafTap fill stations, which purge growlers with CO2 (to prevent air contamination) before filling them with beer from the bottom up (no foam = more beer) and topping off with another CO2 purge that caps the growler with a nice foamy head to ensure a proper seal. The result? No spoiled beer—even after two weeks.

The shop offers a combination of rustic, raw wooden tables, a bar handmade by one of the owners, and the growler stations providing a bit of space-age industrialism. The beer wall boasts about 200 bottles, most hailing from local breweries. Owner Jason Monge says he hopes to fill his currently empty shelf space with more imports soon.

We walked out with 64-ounces of Georgetown’s Lucielle IPA, sealed with CO2 and a soft promise of a one-year shelf life. But who could wait that long? We'll show a bit of reserve and leave it in the fridge for a month to test the power of the CrafTap.

A short sprint away is NE Dekum's Oregon Public House, the world’s first nonprofit pub, celebrating its grand opening this week. Here's how it works: patrons grab a favorite pint on tap, and when it comes time to pay, servers will ask which charity the payment should support (from a list of eight options including Habitat for Humanity and Friends of Trees). At the end of every month, the staff tallies up the votes, and the profit is distributed accordingly. In other words, if 23 percent of patrons want to donate to Habitat for Humanity, that organization gets 23 percent of the overall profit.

Of course, if you’re feeling very charitable, you could always buy a round for the house (for just $350).

“Anything put in this neighborhood is going to flourish,” an OPH bartender shared with a touch of pride. With spots like the Tin Bucket and Oregon Public House popping up, it’s no wonder this corner of Portland is thriving.

The Tin Bucket
3520 N. Williams Ave
503-477-7689

Oregon Public House
700 NE Dekum St
503-828-0884

New Willamette Valley Tasting Rooms and Events

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:00:00 -0700

Image: Rachell Coe

Dundee lands landmark tasting room: Lauded Evening Land Vineyards may make award-winning wine in Oregon, California, and Burgundy, but they've made do without a tasting room—until now. Their first tasting room is coming to downtown Dundee, next to the Inn at Red Hills and Paulée Restaurant on Highway 99W, on Memorial Day Weekend. The kick-off party will take place on Saturday, May 25 through Monday, May 27 from 10 am to 5 pm. More information.

Ponzi Vineyard's modern tasting room reveals opening date: Oregon's noted multi-generation winery's third tasting room will open its doors in Sherwood on June 15, offering table-side wine tasting service, guided winery tours, two bocce ball courts. More information.

Apolloni's wine cave: Apolloni Vineyards—one of Forest Grove's leading producers of Pinot Noir and Italian style wines—celebrated the grand opening of its new Tuscan-inspired, open-to-the-public wine cave this month. The underground cave, one of only a few in Oregon, echoes the Apolloni family’s villa, vineyards, and cave in Italy south of Venice, and relies on 100% passive geothermal regulation to maintain optimal temperature and humidity. For more information and directions please visit apolloni.com.

Custom wine growlers at Bistro Marquee: Thanks to recent Oregon regulation changes, growlers can now be filled on-site at bottle shops and restaurants with wine and cider. Bistro Marquee, the new SW Market Street eatery (debuting Monday, May 20) from Thirst Bistro's Leslie Palmer, is one of the first eateries to brand and sell their own wine growlers. For more information, visit BistroMarquee.com.

5 best new release Oregon rosés: Sustainable wine guru Jeffrey Weissler shared his tasting notes for the best new summer sips from his NE Glisan wine shop Pairings Portland. Find the full list on Eat Beat.

Paulée's one year anniversary celebration “Flights and Bites”: Wine country hotspot Paulée will jumpstart summer with its 1 year anniversary celebration. In honor of the restaurant’s new neighbors (upcoming tasting rooms for Evening Lands, Le Cadeau, and Tertulia) executive chef Sean Temple will serve four special bites alongside four AVA-specific flights (including one NW beer flight) on Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19 and Saturday, May 25 through Monday, May 27 from 11 am until 9:30 pm at Paulée Restaurant (1410 N Highway 99W, Dundee).

Memorial Day Wine Tastings: Each year, over 150 wineries in Oregon's wine country open their doors for weekend-long celebrations to kick off summer with free tastings, tours, and activities. Head to the Willamette Valley Wineries website or the Visit Washington County website to plan your weekend wine escape.

Summer concert series at regional wineries: Tickets are going fast for the summer's hottest concerts, including open-air events at Maryhill Winery and McMenamins Edgefield. Find the full lineups right this way.

Take Five: Oregon's Best New Release Rosés

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:00:00 -0700

Welcome back to Take Five, a fresh Eat Beat feature that offers up five must-try culinary finds from food and drink experts around town. Next up, think pink...

Wine fanatic Jeffrey Weissler has spent the last five years chronicling the best of the world's sustainable wines and wineries on his website consciouswine.com, but his real passion lies in face-to-face celebration of the goods in the glass with good friends and good food. Inspired to make that passion a daily reality, Weissler took the leap from digital denizen to brick-and-mortar shop owner this year.

His irreverent, education-centric wine shop Pairings Portland will celebrate its grand opening this Saturday, May 11 across the street from the microrestaurant row The Ocean on NE Glisan from 11 am to 9:30 pm.

Here, Weissler shares his tasting notes for the five new-release Oregon rosés he'll be toasting (and teaching) with all summer long:

1. Lumos ‘Chiquita’ Rose 2012, $20

Hard to not drink the whole bottle! Wonderful strawberry, watermelon and cranberry flavors harmonize with an easy texture and style that keeps you coming back for more. Great combo of sophisticated, elegant, and irresistible.

2. Teutonic Wine Company ‘Laurel Vyd’ Rose 2012, $18

Pretty strawberry color. Strawberry and watermelon nose, yet on the palate flavors show a focused, drier, earthier style with flavors of cranberry and cherry popping their heads up. If the picnic basket has a mix of goods, this wine will be a rockstar!

3. JK Carriere ‘Glass’ Pinot Noir Rose 2012, $22

Fresh, lively nose invites you in with floral, strawberry, and citrus tones. Medium bodied with hints of spice, and a smooth textural quality with lots of "linger action". It's fresh, zingy, fruit driven, and dry all at once.

4. Brooks Pinot Noir Rose 2012, $20

Fresh cranberry and strawberry hints on the nose, with a touch of straw and hay—reminds of being out in a country field. Really dry overall with a juicy citrus rind finish, this would be great to pair with savory foods to help bring the fruit to the surface.

5. Quady North Rose 2012, $15

Easy drinking with a touch of earthy flavors that then burst into a mouthful of fruit. A little time in bottle and the flavors will flesh out (if it’s at all like Quady's past vintages). Great value!

Pairings Portland Wine Shop
455 NE 24th Ave
pairingsportland.com

Want more seasonal sips? Check out our shopping guide for backyard barbecue-friendly India Session Ales.

GQ Names Woodsman Tavern a Top Whiskey Bar

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:00:00 -0700

Image: Allison Jones

This time last year, Duane Sorenson's SE Division landmark the Woodsman Tavern was basking in the glow of its place amongst GQ's 10 Best New American Restaurants, and this month the mag is back for another round.

In a new roundup of the country's Top 10 Whiskey Bars, Woodsman barman Evan Zimmerman gets high marks for his "Portlandified take on the Manhattan—it has Lapsang tea—and the Omaha Sour, which will make you wonder if there's something you're missing in Nebraska."

Check out the full list of America's top brown-booze destinations on the GQ website, where the Woodsman shares list space with NYC's Ward III, Chicago's Longman & Eagle, and Charleston's FIG.

For even more whiskey news, catch the latest update from the hotly-anticipated Multnomah Whiskey Library, hitting the West End this summer.

10 Reasons to Read 'Beer Lover's Oregon'

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:01:00 -0700

Image: Courtesy Globe Pequot

Logan Thompson—beer fiend and native of the Pacific Northwest— took on the enviable task of traveling around our beautiful state for his new Beer Lover’s Oregon, an exploration of local breweries from Widmer to Draper Brewing. Here are ten reasons why you should seek out this beer book among a sea of others:

The book is in-depth, to say the least. Thompson takes us from Barley Brown in Baker City to Bridgeport in Portland, from Walkabout Medford to…well…whatever’s in Southeastern Oregon. (Just kidding, we love you Beer Valley Brewing in Ontario.)
Each brewery and brewpub profile includes all the information you’ll need. Readers have access to the founders' bios, photos, flagship beers, future projects, twitter handles, and intel on which beers are available year-round or seasonally.
The “Beer Lover’s Pick” feature gives you a vetted beer to try without playing "Beer Book Roulette" (unless you're into that sort of thing; see number 10).
The book speaks a language any beer lover can understand. While many beer books can get a bit technical, Thompson beer shouldn’t be complicated—in the end, it’s still beer.
It’s a book worthy of your coffee table, whether it is in the living room or basement beer cave. With 68 breweries reviewed (in addition to his reviews of brewpubs and bars), it’s a great way to pass the time while you're sipping some suds.
Thompson isn't focused only on the here and now of the beer world, but gives due attention to individual brewers' origins via solid history sections for each location.
All Oregon breweries get equal spotlight. Thompson doesn’t leave out the little guys, whether they be hand-crafters or gluten-free.
It makes you T-H-I-R-S-T-Y. Don’t crack this tome open mid-way through the workday—you may suddenly “come down with something” right around happy hour.
If you’re planning to visit another part of the state, you can take the guesswork out of finding a good beer. Breweries, brewpubs, and beer bars are listed by region, so you’ll be set from border to border.
It makes for a great game of “Beer Roulette.” For the uninitiated this game entails grabbing a book or catalog of beers and finding a way to randomize your selection for the evening (we’ve done everything from putting beer menus on dart boards to grabbing random bottle caps from bottle shop collections—nothing is off-limits). Flip through the book and stop on a random page, then head over to Belmont Station and grab the destined brew. Cheers!

Find Beer Lover’s Oregon at Powell's bookstores and online at www.powells.com.

Next-Generation Oregon Winemakers

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:30:00 -0700

Image: Thomas Pitilli

When Oregon’s first winemakers broke ground in the Willamette Valley in the 1960s and ’70s, each passing year came with a struggle. Now, the vines are rooted securely and the wines are savored from Toronto to Tokyo. And as more and more winemakers have entrusted their progeny to carry on their lives’ work, the focus has multiplied: innovative marketing, sustainable certification, new tasting rooms and wineries—and raising yet another generation of winemakers.

So what drives the children of so many Oregon winemakers to follow in their parents’ boot prints? According to Alex and Alison Sokol Blosser, who inherited Sokol Blosser Winery from their mother, Susan, in 2008, the world of grapes casts a powerful spell. “Pinot noir is not an easy grape to grow,” Alex says. “It takes a lot of passion to do it year after year. When you grow up watching that kind of dedication to something so difficult, you either think your parents are insane or really cool. It gets in your blood and sucks you in.

Here are five more Willamette Valley wineries where grape-loving offspring caught the fever:

Jesse Lange
Lange Estate Winery

Jesse joined dad Don’s winemaking team in 2006, and the father-son duo continues to produce some of the state’s best pinot noir. Jesse has strengthened the estate’s commitment to sustainability. Try: 2010 Three Hills Cuvee Pinot Noir ($40)

Adam Godlee Cambell
Elk Cove

Adam took over from his parents in 1999, and he’s now working on doubling the family’s Yamhill vineyards. He’s planting new varietals, exploring low-intervention winemaking practices like gravity flow, and continues to produce award-winning pinot gris and pinot noir. Try: 2012 Pinot Gris ($19)

Luisa and Maria Ponzi
Ponzi Vineyards

Luisa was one of the first next-generation winemakers in Oregon—she’s been melding her passion for classic Burgundian practices with the family’s established New World style since 1993. With the help of her sister Maria, director of sales and marketing, Luisa will launch a new tasting room overlooking their vineyards this summer. Try: 2011 Tavola Pinot Noir ($25)

Ben, Mimi, Jon & Jessie Casteel
Bethel Heights Vineyard

Launched as a mash-up of in-laws, brothers, sisters, and cousins, Bethel Heights has been a family affair since 1977. The next-gen team is made up of four cousins. In 2002, they launched a blended “Best Of” reserve pinot noir in addition to the winery’s signature single-vineyard selections. Try: 2010 Casteel Reserve Pinot Noir ($60)

Morgan Broadley
Broadley Vineyards

Proving that it’s not just the big guns that attract family talent, the relatively small Broadley Vineyards is now co-owned by the son of founders Craig and Claudia Broadley. Morgan has continued the family’s legacy of complex, whole-cluster pinots that capture the essence of the South-ern Willamette Valley, while experimenting with other varietals like grenache and syrah. Try: 2011 Claudia’s Choice Pinot Noir ($50)

Introducing: Cyril's at Clay Pigeon Winery

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:30:00 -0700

Image: Dylan Harkavy

One of the newest members of Portland’s exploding collection of “urban wineries” is Cyril’s at Clay Pigeon Winery, a culinary incubator and cheese heaven on the corner of SE Oak Street and Sandy Boulevard. With a short wine list, a room full of fermenting barrels in the back, a case of curated cheeses normally hard to find in Portland, and a simple lineup of flavorful comfort snacks, Cyril’s is casually stretching the form of a wine bar.

Take a seat at the white marble bar supported by repurposed wine-barrel staves, and rest easy in the smart and friendly hands of wine nerd Michael Claypool. Claypool offers 15 glasses, including local favorites like Jan-Marc and Fausse Piste, and a handful of even smaller producers, all for about $10 a glass. Advanced drinkers can fill ceramic growlers from Portland Growler Company with either draft beer or pinot noir. At the adjacent display case, cheese monger Sasha Davies rolls out a black slate of cheeses from a tiny selection of hard-to-find specimens ranging from Ardrahan (a buttery, honey-hued cow’s milk variety) to Ossau Vielle (a nutty sheep’s milk cheese aged in the Pyrenees). Davies takes it one step further with a “community-supported cheese club,” in which members can pitch in via Kickstarter for Cyril’s to import a wheel of rare cheese, and then retrieve their wedge at a monthly pick-party.

Cyril’s
815 SE Oak St
503-206-8117

Small plates are arranged in the open kitchen under Cyril’s chef de cuisine, Laura Birshan, with help from Davies. Between the two of them, a seasonal, vegetable-driven list of wine-friendly bites rounds out a battery of local charcuterie. Crispy brussels sprouts come bubbling in a ramekin of cream and funky Stilton cheese with a few slabs of bread for dipping, while something called “The Beast,” a heavy wedge of leek and squash bread pudding, is smothered in pungent gruyère.

Cyril’s is many things: a wine bar, a gourmet retail space, and a comfort-driven bistro. But above all, it’s a place to leave behind your wine insecurities and inspire a thirst for new flavors.

Slide Show: Oregon Hophead History

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:48:00 -0700