Each New Year, as everyone makes pledges to change their behaviors in some way to improve their lives, I make the same resolution: This year Iâll drink less beer, and more gin. Iâm not sure if Iâve ever succeeded in the first part, but I have a good track record on the second. Just in case you have a more robust resolution portfolio, here are a few good ways to stay on track this winter.
(Another typical New Yearâs resolution is to try new things. In the spirit of that easiest of promises, Iâll focus on bars that opened in the latter half of 2017, but havenât yet made it into this column.)
So you resolved to drink more gin: the Katie Collins at Capitol
Capitol isnât even the newest bar from the Lightning Collective anymoreâunless theyâve opened another in the last week or so, that fleeting honor goes to Thunderbird on Fosterâbut itâs still so bright and shiny, it feels like new. That golden gleam is transmogrified into a cocktail in the Katie Collins, a gin-and-Cynar soda cooler made with lemon juice and more importantly, a lemon syrup that, combined with the cough medicine-like bittersweet of Cynar, gives the drink the feeling of a sophisticated, grown-up hard candy in a glass. Bonus resolutions: âeat less meatâ (vegan menu), âbe braveâ and/or âsing moreâ (karaoke in the back), âenjoy more beautiful wallpaper.â
So you resolved to drink more cheaply: the Oaks Park at Haymaker
Admittedly, even reading the phrase âfried chicken and waffles on a stickâ might void like, three different resolutions, but chances are if you havenât been to Haymaker, the new bar in the old Eddieâs spot on North Killingsworth, youâll definitely be trying something new when you order it. Haymaker fries up a strip of chicken, coats it in waffle batter, performs magic on it with some arcane device, and presents to you what looks like a corn dog with a grid of waffle ridges. Itâs served with honey butter or maple syrup, plus a tallboy of Montucky Cold Snacks lager and a shot of Old Taylor, all for $9. Bonus resolutions: âbe lit only by Edison bulbs,â âeat more food on a stick.â
So you resolved to drink more scotch: the Endless Winter Fizz at Blank Slate
Blank Slate opened fairly quietly on Glisan in Montavilla, an understated cocktail bar with a deceptively simple appearance. Only featuring a small handful of house cocktails on the menu at a time, Blank Slate bartenders will whip up a classic at a momentâs notice, and are happy to guide you through one of the flights on the menu. Donât sleep on those originals just because the list is short, though. The Endless Winter Fizz, for instance, is the warming, bitter, spritely cocktail you might need as we round the one-year anniversary of you-know-whoâs inauguration. Itâs somehow the perfect drink for now: Bossy scotch actually takes a backseat here to bitter Angostura and lime, but everything is softened by egg white and cream and suspended with uplifting bubbles from a dash of soda. Thereâs something about the Endless Winter Fizzâand probably about Blank Slateâs tall ceilings and lush wallpaperâthat makes the drink feel like an escape into an endless winter, not from one. Bonus resolutions: âbe more bitter,â âenjoy more beautiful wallpaper.â
So you resolved to drink like the King: Girls! Girls! Girls! at the Elvis Room
Every night can be New Yearâs Eve if you drink champagne cocktails. Luckily, Portlandâs Elvis-themed bar offers a handful of choices. A surprising favorite is the Girls! Girls! Girls! Iâm typically dubious of elderflower liqueur in cocktails, especially champagne cocktails, but this one is somehow not cloyingly sweet. Rounded out with cucumber, ginger, and grapefruit, it doesnât necessarily sound like something Elvis would drink (the Flaming Star, champagne with vodka, lemon, simple syrup, and gold flake might be more up the Kingâs alley), but goddamn if it doesnât make you feel like 2018âs going to be your year. Bonus resolutions: âgo out to more barsâ (they have two: bright and airy upstairs, dark jungle room downstairs), âeat horriblyâ (itâs delicious, but the foodâloaded fries, cola-braised burgers, etc. is very latter-days Elvis, and we all remember where he died).