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.

Favorite Drinks from the Seattle area Cocktail Scene

ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Seems apt to talk about what's being shaken or stirred behind the bar these days. The Seattle-area cocktail scene is vibrant; the drinks more sophisticated and inventive than ever.

Look at all the fuss around drinks. Some cocktail dens require reservations. Patrons scurry to grab bar stools as if they were front-row seats to a sporting event. Folks know bartenders' names like they do our big-name chefs.

And like chefs, bartenders talk about seasonal ingredients and hit farmers markets during spring and summer. Liberty, the cocktail bar on Capitol Hill, is even putting an herb garden on its rooftop.
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Cocktail bars boast $10,000 ice machines, vintage glassware and oak barrels to age cocktails. This is all a way of saying our cocktail culture has evolved in the past five years, and I've experienced a lot of it covering the Happy Hour scene for The Times.

This list of my favorite cocktails focuses on original drinks, though some are updated or riffs on the classics.

I like balanced, spirit-forward drinks. I like them bitter and smoky. With big finishes, not subtle or wimpy. But I also varied the list with drinks that are fruity, sour, spicy and even savory. Cheers.

Charlie Don't Surf, at Liberty on Capitol Hill. For those who like fruity cocktails: Mango and ginger are the dominant flavors, with hints of lemon and apple from the Pommeau de Normandie in this gin drink. It's garnished with a Kaffir lime leaf. Goes down easy. 517 15th Ave. E., Seattle (206-323-9898 or libertybars.com).