Posts Tagged: kings ridge

Creating the Perfect Springtime Cocktail

May 24, 2019

There is a particular Portland phenomenon we have been noticing for years. Every Spring there is one weekend when, with no conscious cues or communication, everyone in town decides it’s time to cut their lawn. It’s that first perfect weekend, when the rain has let up, the grass is a little too tall and healthy, and so the ol’ lawnmower gets dusted off, gassed up—or charged up (it is Portland after all)—and put to the task.

During that weekend, all of Portland is filled with that unmistakably sweet, musky scent of freshly cut grass. The kids are playing in the yard, the parks are full and Spring has officially Sprung.

Enter Lucas Plant, bartender and cook extraordinaire, Navy man, father, and all-around charming guy. Lucas has worked at many of the best spots in Portland from Clyde Common to Central to Oven & Shaker. Currently, Lucas is a “Luxury Spirits Broker” for Coastal Pacific, but he is also part owner of Bull In China. We asked Lucas to create a cocktail that captured the happiness of the first weekend of Spring and all the nostalgic flavors it evokes.

Lucas set to the task and concocted an intriguing cocktail, (whose name, coincidentally, originated from the memoir, ‘I Couldn’t Smoke the Grass on my Fathers Lawn” by Charlie Chaplin’s son, Michael.)

Grass Clippings

3 1/2 oz Kings Ridge Riesling
1/2 oz Bee Local Honey Water
1/2 teaspoon Bee Local Bee Pollen
1/2 teaspoon Steven Smith Powdered Matcha Tea No. 7

STEP ONE: Combine all ingredients in a shaker with lots of ice.

Lucas uses a professional bar spoon, but a 1/2 teaspoon measure works just as well.

STEP TWO: Shake like your life depends on it!

STEP 3: Strain (to remover solids) into another shaker with no ice.

STEP FOUR: Shake again as if your life depends on it. This step is very important as it aerates the liquid and releases all the pollen and matcha flavors.

STEP FIVE: Pour into a chilled coupe glass and enjoy.

Many thanks to Lucas for lending his time and talents to this post. And, if you dig the custom apron he is sporting, check out Portlands own OROX Leathers.

Also, head over to Bull In China for all your professional (and unprofessional) bar accoutrements.

Photography and Text by David L. Reamer. (@dlreamer)

What’s Old is New Again

March 7, 2017

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If you haven’t noticed, old school classic cocktails have had a resurgence in the restaurant and bar community. Barkeeps near and far are taking original recipes and putting their own interesting spin on them. Jeffrey Morganthaler, at Clyde Commons, puts his Negroni’s in a whiskey barrel to age. Mike Shea, at Rum Club, makes an Old Fashioned out of house-made ingredients and rum rather than bourbon (shocking.) And Evan Zimmerman, formerly at Laurelhurst Market, took the traditional combination of Whiskey on the Rocks and made it locally iconic by smoking the ice in-house and adding sherry and house-made pecan syrup.

We think just because we’re a winery doesn’t mean we can’t partake in this cocktail revolution. The long (very long) Portland winter has us wanting to hunker down with a robust drink to forget that we haven’t seen the sun since October. Originally, a Boulevardier consisted of bourbon, Campari and sweet vermouth; we found that our warm and spicy Kings Ridge Red Haute Pinot played well with the richness of the whiskey in place of a sweet vermouth, and that Aperol, rather than Campari, helped balance the bold libation.

Simple yet complex, that’s how we like to make ‘em.

Haute Pinot Boulevardier

1 oz Kings Ridge Red Haute Pinot

1 oz Bull Run bourbon whiskey

1 oz Aperol

cinnamon sticks for garnish