Signature cocktails are as ubiquitous as photo booths and edible favors at today’s wedding receptions, having transcended their trendy beginnings to become modern classics. To take your cocktails beyond the tired [your name here] ’tini, Kate Bolton of Mint & Mirth, an award-winning cocktail caterer in the Portland metro area, recommends using Oregon-made ingredients to make cocktails inspired by your celebration’s setting. She created these four locally sourced signature drinks for cool-weather sipping exclusively for Oregon Bride.
MITTENS IN A HAYSTACK
1 1/2 ounces mezcal
1/2 ounce Eastside Distilling Holiday Spiced Liqueur
1/2 ounce grapefruit juice
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce chipotle pepper syrup*
Cinnamon and grapefruit peel for garnish
Combine and shake all ingredients. Pour over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a grapefruit twist and grated cinnamon.
*Chipotle Pepper Syrup
Simmer 4 chipotle peppers in 1 quart of simple syrup for 10 minutes. Cool and strain.
THE FIRESIDE
2 ounces Crater Lake rye whiskey
3/4 ounce roasted chestnut winter syrup*
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 egg white
Nutmeg for garnish
Shake the lemon juice and egg white to froth. Add the remaining ingredients and shake with ice. Strain and garnish with grated nutmeg.
*Roasted Chestnut Winter Syrup
Toast 1 teaspoon each whole clove and allspice with 2 cinnamon sticks. In a pan, simmer 2 cups sugar, 2 cups water and 5 ounces roasted chestnuts for 10 minutes. Cool and strain.
SLEIGH BELLS
4 ounces Champagne or sparkling wine
1 ounce Wild Roots Spirits apple and cinnamon vodka
1 sugar cube
Peychaud’s bitters
Orange peel for garnish
Soak a sugar cube in bitters at the bottom of a Champagne flute. Fill glass with vodka and Champagne and garnish with an orange twist.
CHAMOMILE SNOW DAY
2 ounces Bull Run Distillery bourbon
3/4 ounce vanilla-infused honey syrup*
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/4 ounce orange juice
2 dashes Portland Bitters Project Super Spice bitters
5 ounces hot chamomile tea
Pour hot tea over all other ingredients in a glass mug. Garnish with an orange wheel.
*Vanilla-infused Honey Syrup
Split and halve 1 vanilla bean and steep in one part honey, one part hot water for an hour. U
