THE LOVE OF IVY

What a whirlwind. When I’m not penning CD reviews for Las Vegas CityLife, I’ve been partaking in a lot of wine tasting. Yup, now that Spring has sprung (complete with copious rain showers) it’s wine season in Oregon. I attended the grand reopening of downtown Portland’s wine-themed hotel, the Vintage Plaza, along with the regional [...]

I created two original cocktail recipes for my birthday, which I’ve posted on my Portland Drinks Examiner site. They are the Coconut Daiquiri Saketini and the Simple Fairy Tarragon Cocktail. I’ve also been spending some of my free time visiting local wineries throughout the Willamette Valley, and I’ve compiled some recommendations for Budget-friendly Oregon Pinot [...]

I visited SakeOne in Forest Grove, Ore. last weekend. The first thing I noticed is how many car washes there seem to be  for a small farming community. Then I sampled nine different sakes and almost forgot all about them. Check out my tasting notes, and I will also have some terrific saketini recipes available [...]

My goal with this Examiner.com project is to post one item each day about different spirits created in Oregon, but I’ve discovered some letters are much more difficult than others. So far I have covered absinthe, brandy and a coffee-hazelnut vodka named “Cofia.” In the future, I’ll clue you in to the Pacific Northwest’s small-batch [...]

On Sat., Feb. 14, 2009 Oregon’s breweries will launch the first annual Zwickelmania (named for the port on the outside of beer tanks that allows brewers to take samples). Participating Portland breweries include Cascade Brewing, Hopworks, Laurelwood, Old Lompoc and Roots Organic. Visitors will get a chance to meet the beer makers and go behind [...]

One of my few regrets is that I was unable to write a column on single malt Scotch Whiskies before I left CityLife. I just found out that McMenamins is celebrating the new year (and these cold, winter nights) with three opportunities to taste these five fine offerings: Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban Glenfiddich 15 Year Solera [...]