This morning, Douglas Derrick – Bar Manager of Nostrana Restaurant – was recognized in Tasting Table’s National Drinks Edition for his innovative tea cocktails.  He’s partnering up with local teamaker Steve Smith of Steven Smith Teamaker to make a black tea gomme syrup out of Smith’s signature Lord Bergamot blend.  The cocktails?  Doug is making a “Black Rose” with Laird’s Applejack, fresh lemon, black tea gomme, apple bitters and a “Steep Alexander” with Hennessy cognac, cream, creme de cacao, black tea gomme.

I’ve noticed a resurgence in gomme syrups on the cocktail scene lately, so I asked Doug how we can go about doing this at home.  He said that the trick to making a powerful black tea gomme (pronounced gum) syrup is steeping the tea overnight in cold water — at least 10 hours.  Hot soaking and then cooling leaves an extremely bitter liquor (brewed liquid) with little tea flavor in the cocktails.

If you happen to be in Portland, visit Nostrana for a tea cocktail.  If you’re curious to try your hand at a black tea gomme syrup with Steven Smith Teamaker tea, visit the website because they’ll ship it straight to your door.

Earlier this week, we invited a group of national, regional and local food writers to join us at our client Montinore Estate in Forest Grove, Oregon, to learn about the biodynamic agricultural methods that Montinore uses in the vineyards and the winery.

We spent six hours in education mode — touring the grounds, examining the vines, and yes, holding cow horns, with owner Rudy Marchesi and biodynamic soil consultant Philippe Armenier.  Armenier is the former owner of a winery in Chateauneuf du Pape and now works with wineries in Washington, Oregon and California.

We ate delicious food prepared by Kristin Marchesi of Montinore – drank wine, of course, including several from Montinore as well as biodynamic wines from some Old World wineries, in France, Italy, Germany and Austria.

The discussion bounced between Armenier’s deep-rooted philosophical beliefs in the biodynamic principles outlined decades ago by Rudolph Steiner and Marchesi’s practical “hey, I’m doing it and it works” explanations of the biodynamic methods used at the estate.

The day invited interest, curiosity, skepticism, wonder — and hopefully more interest in biodynamics as a whole.  At Watershed, we’re certainly intrigued and will be digging deeper into the subject.

Check back soon for more photos and a short primer on the basics of biodynamics.

I confess!  The 4th of July is one my favorite holidays.  No, I’m not going to sew myself a homemade American flag dress, or sing the Star Spangled Banner out my apartment window for all of Northeast to hear.  For me, this holiday is about slowing down and being grateful – over a huge slab of ribs and a lot of laughs.

The last few 4th of July parties I’ve been to have lacked one thing, a great cocktail!  So this year I asked Brandon Wise, bartender at Irving St. Kitchen, for a delicious and easy-to-execute cocktail recipe that I can mix up on site (and impress my friends with, of course).

His answer:  Pimm’s Punch.  It’s a classic English summer recipe that’s perfect for a festive BBQ, or cocktail party, and can be done in larger batches – perfect!  Bonus, it’s a gin cocktail and I love gin.

Hey Britain, we don’t want your King, but we’ll sure keep your cocktail!  Check out Brandon’s recipe.

Pimm’s Punch from Brandon Wise of Portland’s Irving St. Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 parts Pimm’s No. 1 (Pimm’s is a gin based spirit that should be available at your local liquor store)

2 parts London Dry Gin

2 parts fresh lemonade

1 part soda water or seltzer

Seasonal fruit salad (Brandon likes to use strawberries, cucumber, lemon and mint, but says you can also use what’s fresh in the garden)

Directions

Mix ingredients together in punch bowl with ice and add your summer fruit salad.

Cool ice cube twist…

Another fun way to use seasonal produce is to take an empty plastic container (or any mold you have around the house), fill it with water and fresh fruit or herbs, and freeze it into a large ice block for the punch bowl.  Keep your eyes open at resale or antique shops for great bargains on vintage punch glasses and punch bowls.

Cocktail, check.

Ribs, not so much. Last year, I was asked to ‘man’ the grill, but was quickly booted back to the veggie station.  This year, I’d like to avoid that… so I asked Irving Street Kitchen’s Chef Sarah Schafer for three simple tips to achieve success on the grill.

Sarah Schafer’s Three BBQ Tips:

1. Injection, injection, injection. With the right combination the flavor cuts right to the bone.  When I inject my ribs I like to use a combination of onion, garlic, Tabasco and butter.

2. Moisture! – when smoking.  When the smoker is full of meat more moisture gets trapped creating more humidity and more tender meat.  You can also use a water pan to add more moisture to the environment.  I like to put ketchup in the smoker to create smoked ketchup.

3. Thighs before breasts.  When cooking chicken remember if separate cook thighs first.  If it is a half chicken, use indirect heat with the thighs pointed toward your fire. This will produce a more evenly cooked bird and a better tasting breast.

Happy 4th everyone!  May your cocktails be balanced, and your grill smokey!

God bless America.

Goodbye  fresh hop beers, and hello holiday ales!

Wow, it’s great to experience the Pacific Northwest’s beer seasons, and the transition from fall to winter is one of our favorites. One reason is that holiday ales pair so well with the hearty cuisine of this season. A side note… if you’re interested in pairing beer with food, I highly recommend checking out this month’s Mix Magazine, which features a full fall beer pairing menu with recipes, created by beer writer Lucy Burningham and Cafe Nell executive chef Andrew Garrett.

Whether planning a pairing dinner or just looking to quench your thirst, the crew at Watershed has done the dirty work of tasting through an abundance of Pacific Northwest seasonal ales for you. This two part tasting process included an in-house tasting of Oregon beers, provided by the Oregon Brewer’s Guild, and a broader Northwest tasting at Seattle’s holiday ale festival. From these two tastings, we’ve put together a palette of earthy, spicey and delicious beers to recommend. Here are our tasting notes!

OREGON ALES:

McMenamins Nutbrown Seasonal

Deschutes Jubelale

Slight peppermint,  sweet, roasty & toasty

Widmer Bros Black IPA (preview – director’s cut)

Big hops on the nose, smooth palate, IPA in black clothing

Deschutes Jubelale

Malty, dark caramel, citrus, floral, layered

Full Sail Wreck The Halls

Tobacco and cigar box, bitter, orange peel

Widmer Brrr...

Full Sail Wassail

Mild, vegetal, stout without the chocolate

Widmer Brrr… (Staff Pick)

Hoppy, malty, balanced, full, like a meal, complete, the all-around favorite!

SEATTLE ALES: (These were the two favorites at the festival)

Beacon Hill Brewing Saison du Bekon

Spearmint, refreshing, big nose, full flavor, light yellow in color, a true stand-out at the festival

Silver City Fat Woody Scotch Ale

Coconut, chocolate and nuts (an Almond Joy!), smooth, addictively delicious

Beacon Hill Brewer Colin Lenfesty & Crew

They don’t call Oregon Beervana for nothing!  Last week thirteen Oregon breweries claimed a total of 24 medals at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, Colorado.   Stephanie and Lisa were on site with the flip camera in hand, ready to capture the excitement from some of our hometown winners.

Here’s the first of five videos from GABF.  This one features the fellas from Cascade Brewing Co., who took home the gold medal for the Bourbonic Plague and silver for the Vlad the Imp Aler.  Only beer could get away with these names, right?

Check out Stephanie’s interview with Cascade here:

For more information on Oregon beer, visit the Oregon Brewers Guild website here.

40 wineries in one day, how to pick and choose which to taste? Twitter, of course!

Unable to make it to the festival this weekend, but curious which wines will get big buzz? Twitter’s, the answer!

This weekend, the Portland Indie Wine Festival will be a tweeter’s dream. Join the conversation or just follow along to discover Oregon’s best small production, hard to find, wines. It’s gonna be a tweet fest like no other!

Follow the fun at #PIWF09 .

Less than a week until the 2009 Portland Indie Wine Festival!
This Saturday, May 2nd, 40 of Oregon’s top artisanal wineries and some of Portland’s most celebrated chefs and restaurants will invade the Portland Wine Project for the 5th annual Portland Indie Wine Festival. Get your tickets today at https://www.indiewinefestival.com/tickets/

For more info on the festival and the 2009 participating wineries and restaurants click here.

PIWF/LAD team member Katie Burnett at the Oregon Wine Symposium Indie Wine Festival booth

Tea maker Steve Smith started Portland’s first natural food store in 1971.  He is the ultimate thirsty serial entrepreneur.  A man who is fueled by creating rather than sitting on his laurels.  His next venture was Stash tea, and then he started that little tea brand, Tazo (with the help of an elite group of branding folks including Steve Sandstrom).  Now, it’s on to the next tea venture and we’re honored to chosen as the PR partner.

Our work building the business and creating positive images for other Oregon pioneers — Dick Erath, Cory Schreiber, Nancy Hamren from Nancy’s Yogurt, Gary Fish from Deschutes, Cathy Whims, always stands out to us as particularly exciting.  The invitation to partner with an innovator who’s got such deep roots here but whose vision goes so far beyond the local market allows us to tell a national story and continue to shine a light on the value system and creativity that is bubbling in Oregon.

Stay posted for more information and the official launch.  We’ll preview the tea line at the Fancy Food Show in NYC in June and start peppering media with information and story ideas as the project and brand become further defined.

Start boiling the water, it’s tea time.

… and I like it!

This Saturday, breweries around the state will be opening their doors as part of the Oregon Brewers Guild’s first annual Zwickelmania.   Zwickelmania offers visitors a chance to tour Oregon breweries, meet the brewers and sample their favorite beers, all during Oregon’s Sesquicentennial weekend.

It all takes place at breweries and brewpubs across the state on February 14th, from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00p.m.  The best part – all Zwickelmania events are FREE!

You can find more details and plan your own Zwickelmania itinerary at the Oregon Brewers Guild website.

Click here to see Deschutes Brewery’s Cam O’Connor on KPTV’s “Good Day Oregon” where he gets in the spirit and shows off his zwickel.

It’s that time of year again, yes, it’s Indie time!  For those of you who don’t know, Lisa founded the Portland Indie Wine Festival back in 2005, and it’s been LAD’s signature event and passion project ever since.  

We’ve altered the format a bit this year, but trust us, it’s for the better.  One day with all 40 wineries, new location and hours, VIP tickets, gourmet bites from Portland’s best chefs and restaurants, a wallet-friendly wine warehouse sale and a Friday night fundraising dinner for the Indie Wine Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to preserving and sustaining the art of craft winemaking. 

For more info go to: www.indiewinefestival.com or click here to read our Indie blog where we’ll keep you up to date with what’s going on in the PIWF world.  You can also follow us on twitter and Facebook.

Buy your tickets online here. 

Hope to see you there! Oh yes, and if you’re interested in volunteering this year, email info{at}indiewinefestival.com.