Mixing Cocktails with Foraged Botanicals - OREGON

Oregon is considered the birthplace of craft distilling, home to a growing legion of distillers who are changing the way we think about cocktails. Columbine Quillen, a cutting edge mixologist from The Blacksmith in Bend, often heads east to find botanicals on the Oregon trail, then concocts an Oregon Bounty cocktail with the fruits of her forage.

WATCH A MASTER MIXOLOGIST GATHER HER INGREDIENTS IN THE WILDS OF OREGON

The Conestoga Cocktail - featuring Vermouth and Bitters you make on your own

The Conestoga can be made entirely from ingredients that grow in Eastern Oregon (except for the whiskey, but you can use an Oregon-made whiskey like House Spirits. To make this drink, first you must make a “vermouth” and a bitters.

Ingredients

• Malheur Forest Vermouth:
• 2 ounces of whiskey (or any high-proof spirit)
• 1 - 5 strawberries (If you are using mountain strawberries, they are small and you will need three to five. If you are using store bought strawberries, one or two should do the trick.)
• 15 huckleberries
• 2 teaspoons of honey
• 2 ounces of white wine
• Painted Hills Bitters:
• 4 ounces of whiskey (or any high-proof spirit)
• 10 juniper berries
• 25 juniper pine needles
• About a thimble’s worth of sage
• The white innards from one purple sage
• The Conestoga:
• 2 ounces of whiskey
• ¼ ounce of Malheur Forest Vermouth
• 3 dashes of Painted Hills Bitters

Directions

Malheur Forest Vermouth:
Allow the strawberries and huckleberries to soak in the whiskey for three days in the refrigerator. After three days, strain the fruit pulp from the spirit. Add the honey and white wine.

Painted Hills Bitters:
Allow the ingredients to steep together for three weeks. You do not have to refrigerate. After three weeks, strain the liquid from the solids and you will have delightful bitters.

The Conestoga:
Stir and serve with your favorite garden flower as a garnish.