As befits the pointy-headed elevation of all simple things, gourmet attention is now being paid to the humble gin and tonic. Specifically, to the tonic. Why would one bother? What’s broke? Well, since the 1970s, the default Schweppes and Canada Dry tonics in the United States have been made with high-fructose corn syrup, which renders | Read More

Norwegian Wood: This cocktail comes courtesy of Jeffrey Morgenthaler, acclaimed bartender at Clyde Common of Portland, Ore. It makes use of aquavit, a Scandinavian cousin to vodka infused with herbs and spices.

Barrel-ageing cocktails took off in the US after a well-known cocktail maker, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, experimented with the practice in Portland, Oregon. But the concept of cocktail ageing was in fact born in the UK. Mr Morgenthaler had himself been inspired by a visit two years ago to 69 Colebrooke Row, Islington, a London bar run | Read More

There are few fruits with such storied histories as the pomegranate. We’re talking about central roles in famous Greek myths and several Bible mentions. But sadly today, it’s often treated as merely an exotic delicacy. In fact, the pomegranate’s deliciously tart flavor is perfect for cocktails in the fall, which is coincidentally its peak season. | Read More

The barrel is a beautiful thing. It’s an object that’s etched into our boozy subconscious—an old-timey icon for fine drink that’s almost primal. It’s pre–frothy beer mug, pre–martini glass, pre–mustachioed bartender. Yet you rarely encounter one outside of a distillery tour. That is, until the craft-cocktail set started to re-purpose the barrels for aging their | Read More

Thanks to Jeffrey Morgenthaler of southeast Portland, Ore.’s Clyde Common restaurant, the barrel-aged cocktail phenomenon has taken off over the past year. If you’re new to the aging scene, here’s the gist: take an already brilliant drink — Morgenthaler finds his muse in a classic negroni — and age it in a barrel for weeks | Read More

Jeffrey Morgenthaler, head bartender at Clyde Common in Portland, Ore., also sampled some of Tony’s aged cocktails, and he decided to play with the idea, laying his cocktails down in oak barrels, and thus adding yet another layer to the drinks. What happens to cocktails when they age? For one thing, they oxidize a little | Read More

Clyde Common’s trend-setting bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler serves barrel-aged cocktails, including improved versions of the Negroni and El Presidente.

The results are in! You, our fair readers, have voted Clyde Common’s Jeffrey Morgenthaler your Bartender of the Year. Here, he riffs on Portland’s drinking scene and shakes up the perfect Valentine’s Day cocktail. What distinguishes the rose city’s drinking crowd? The fact that we have a really sophisticated and educated clientele. People take drinking seriously | Read More

With the precision mixologists take these days in building their more ornate creations, customers have grown used to waiting a few minutes for a drink. For the latest innovation in elite libations, however, they’ll have to wait six weeks or so. Barrel-aged cocktails are being poured at bars from San Francisco to Boston. They are | Read More

We’re not quite sure what happens at a vegan strip club, but there’s one in Portland, Oregon. You can also get married in a donut shop – the world-famous Voodoo Donuts – for $175 (it includes coffee and donuts for 10), and cycle naked during Pedalpalooza, the annual celebration of the city’s bike culture. … | Read More

Lunch can still be splashy. Jordan Kaye, co-author of How to Booze, and Jeffrey Morgenthaler, noted spirits blogger and mixologist at Clyde Common in Portland, Ore., advise on how to get tanked without tipping off your co-workers.

In today’s hyperactive cocktail climate, new ideas travel faster than a bottle of Fernet Branca in a room full of mixologists. Case in point: barrel-aged cocktails. The seed was planted when Portland, Oregon-based bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler tasted a Manhattan that had been aged five years in a glass vessel by noted London bartender Tony Conigliaro. | Read More

Jeffrey Morgenthaler, who runs the bar at Clyde Common in the Ace Hotel in Portland, Ore., and also writes an engaging cocktail blog, was in London for Rumfest last October and found himself sitting at 69 Colebrook Row, appreciatively sipping one of Conigliaro’s vintage manhattans. “Being American, I thought to myself, ‘How can we age this more, and faster, make | Read More

Food and Wine polled trusted correspondents around the globe to learn their most phenomenal discoveries – from mind-blowing restaurant dishes to unbelievable cocktails. Even the most in-the-know foodie will be surprised by the results. #83: Portland, Oregon Clyde Common: Instead of just buying aged spirits, Jeffrey Morgenthaler ages his own cocktails in oak barrels. Negronis | Read More