Boxcar Coffee Roasters

Vajra, owner of Boxcar Coffee Roasters in Boulder, CO, shows us how he brews a cup of coffee. You’re not likely to brew coffee like this at home, so go get a taste at 1825 B Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302.

Portland Cocktail Week, day 2, night 3

Well, it happened again. I woke up to a number of business cards and flyers and evidence of a great night spent with new friends. A highlight was a fantastic dinner at Little Bird, which was one of the best recommendations Mr. Tommy Klus could have made. Everything up until and including dinner is perfectly clear. Then it starts to get fuzzy…

I woke up Friday and got my ass in gear to get over to 12 and Hawthorn for a cocktail by Matt Lanning.

Remember him from my cheese dinner? Matt was guest bartending at the cocktail cart in a food cart cluster called Cartopia. He made me a cocktail named Scotchtopia.

Matt’s shift ended and we ate a putine from a food cart nearby, and then Ryan Layman of Steuben’s in Denver, also guest bartending, made me a cocktail named Wheels Are Turning.

So, by 3:30 I had had 2 cocktails by two Colorado bartenders here in Portland. Pretty cool.

Next, Matt and I took a taxi to The Jupiter, where most people are staying. As soon as we arrived Matt was asked to pour cognac (he’d been working, it seemed, this whole time)… We went into a room where he could pour cognac, and I Met David Delaney Jr.,  drank some cognac and a cognac cocktail, and talked to a number of people about cocktails. Totally appropriate.

Next stop was Kask for some cocktails by my buddy Tommy Klus.

Had a few cocktails there and then another at the Saucebox (and some green chartreusese) before an amazingly good dinner at Little Bird with a fantastically Oregonian Pinot Noir, shared with my new friend Spencer Warren of Pittsburgh, PA. Next on to the Crystal Ballroom for a party. Then to Cassidy’s for a Pisco tasting, Teardrop Lounge, pizza, back to The Jupiter… Taxi ride home around 4:30 am.

I think my liver hurts and it would yell at me if it had a chance. I am promising it that I will be in serious detox mode next week, and Bikram yoga will be my routine again. It must. There is simply no other option. Until then, the festivities continue. I’m going to attend a distillers fest, Bourbon 101, and an Absolut Sensory Analysis workshop before a Robots vs. Humans cocktail competition this evening. Ahhh… The life I live…

Portland Cocktail Week, day 1, night 2

An address doesn’t guarantee you’re going to get where you’re trying to go. I learned that the hard way last night when I gave the taxi drivers… And I say drivers because I had to try multiple taxis… I gave the taxi drivers the address to Sam’s house and they apparently couldn’t get me there. First guy rejected the drive altogether. By 2 am, the second taxi driver drove me somewhere and kicked me out of the cab because he said he had no idea where he was going. Then, a woman on the street offered me her floor as a bed. By the time the third cab came, I was a bit hysterical. It took him more than an hour with GPS to find the house tucked up in the hills of Portland. Holy shit. That was an insane way to end the night.

But, what happened earlier in the day? So much.

It started with a great lunch at Kenny and Zuke’s Sandwichworks with Sam and his brother Robby. Robby and I had the ratatouille sandwich and it was great. It was way better than the ratatouille I make at home. I bet it had just a touch more olive oil…

Sam had a great looking sandwich, too. Food is always fantastic when I’m around this guy.

Then, Robby and I went to Coava Coffee Roasters. Vajra, from Boxcar Coffee Roasters in Boulder, gave me a list of coffee shops to check out while in town and Coava was one of them. This place is pretty cool and I met Matt, owner and roaster, and drank a chemex of a peaberry coffee. That was just the jump start I needed before starting to drink… Quite heavily.  Coava makes the stainless steel filters for Chemex and Aeropress coffee “makers.” They have a unique coffee shop in a space shared with a wood-working company, so, needless to say, the wood work is nothing short of amazing.

I love watching coffee junkies at the brew bar, and Robby had his first mini coffee brewing lesson: Let it bloom to release the CO2.  Blooming is a really important step to making a good cup of coffee. Pour a little of your hot water over the grinds and let them sit for 30-45 seconds.  If you watch it, you’ll see how it kind of looks like something blooming.  Then start adding more water according to your brew method. Robby told me a couple days later he had been letting his French press bloom.

I also love watching people roast beans, and they roast on site at Coava.  Roasting on site means your beans are fresh. Super fresh.

By 3:00 it was time to get a cocktail.

First drinking stop: Clyde Common. I had their Red Hook barrel aged rye cocktail. I learned that punt e mes was a sweet vermouth, and I realized that everyone at the bar was in town for Portland Cocktail Week.

Second stop: Kask, where illustrious architect of libations Tommy Klus tends the bar. Kask is a really cool bar, so I suggest making it a destination.  If you’re in Portland, you HAVE to check it out and meet Tommy.  If you’re not in Portland, I suggest booking the next flight out there.

Then to the Teardrop with my new friend Allie from The Hooch Life and Spencer Warren, owner of The Firehouse Lounge and Embury in Pittsburgh, PA. Todd Richman was guest bartending, and we ordered a fair share of his libations.

Then back to Clyde Common for food and more cocktails.  All that drinking makes you hungry, and Clyde Common is the perfect place to eat. Everything is good. Even the popcorn.

Next stop was Wilf’s for the opening night party and lots of cocktails.

After the party, I wound up in a bus going to a strip club. Totally not my style. I left with a fellow Coloradan and think we went to Dig a Pony because I have one of their menus in my purse. Yes, it was that kind of night. I’m piecing it together based off evidence in my purse. Uh oh…(insert smile here)

But it was super fun til I couldn’t get home easily. That was insane and I’m mentally recovering from it. I might need a cocktail to help me feel better… And I woke up reeking of booze, so the only way to cover that up is with more booze, I think.

Stay tuned. The adventure continues today. I hear there’s a cocktail cart in town…

Portland Cocktail Week, Night 1

I’m in Portland, OR for Portland Cocktail Week. All I have is my iPad, so posting is possible, but not ideal, and I can’t link to things, so I will go back and edit later. I will be sure to write a recap when this work-vacation is over. But, my first night was a blast! Of course it was… I was with Sammy Dunn, my friend going on 10 years now. A man who knows about the Portland food scene and likes to have fun. What else could I ask for in life?

Sam picked me up at the airport and we went straight to Biwa for a fantastic dinner. Kimchi, pickled mackerel, a fried sardine, burdock and carrot salad, fermented soy beans that have a raw quail egg to make them gooey, fried rice balls, some other pickled stuff, and a couple ginger gimlets. Now, here’s what my receipt says we ate:

Yoyogi, Saba Nanbanzuke, Yakionigiri, Kimchi, Natto, Kinpira, Sardine, and Ginger Gimlet.

Yeah. I have a lot to learn about this fusion cuisine and if we had a place like Biwa in Boulder, I could study more.

From Biwa we walked to Cascade Brewing and tasted some sour ales- Barrel #1 Platinum Blond, Apricot, Sang Royal, and Kriek. Oh, for the love of sour style beers.

Then we finished the night the way old friends should- with a bottle of what appeared to be an 04 vintage of Pinot Noir from The Adea Wine Company of Willamette Valley. I say “appears” because the label is missing and there’s some hand written words on the bottle that indicate 04 Pinot Noir. Some secret stash? Quite possibly.

Off to explore food, coffee, and cocktails today. Definitely can’t complain.

Changing my Life through Cheese

Changing my life through cheese.  Is that what I’m doing?  Might be… things are definitely a lot more fun now that Cured has entered my life.  Who else entered my life?  A tender of a bar who has all kinds of spirits and beers and also likes cheese.  That means my last cheese dinner was an exceptionally fun tasting experience!

People who know my drinking style will tell you I’m a bourbon gal.  True, but once I discovered rye in New Orleans, it became my spirit of choice. So, my friend Matt and I started out the night with a special bottle of rye whiskey- High West Double Rye from Park City, Utah.  Just sippin’ it straight.  Such a nice surprise for me as he pulled the bottle out of his bag of goodies.

But, on to the cheese.  Coral Ferguson, co-owner of Cured, chose four cheeses for Matt and me, and Tyler, an esteemed foodie at Cured, helped me with the beverages.  I asked Coral for cheeses to eat in a progression for this particular evening.  She almost effortlessly handed me a Mt Tam, Fenacho, Red Leicester, and a Stilton.  Tyler suggested pairing it with a sparkling wine, so I picked up a bottle of Tiamo Prosecco.  Tyler and Coral suggested enjoying the Stilton with Port, so I asked Matt to bring some… I can’t always supply EVERYTHING.

But, libation-savvy Matt Lanning had an idea… some Haandbakk, a Norwegian ale aged in wine barrels from the Haand Bryggeriet Brewery in Norway.  Um… yeah, I had never heard of it either.  All I can say is wow, what a beer! The label describes it as an original Scandinavian brew made by farmers, aged in oak, and naturally sour.  I will describe it as fantastic, and say we were both a bit bummed when we finished the bottle, which happened before dinner because we followed the rye with some Stilton and Haandbakk.  Matt insisted on starting with the Stilton, number four in the four cheese progression.  But, we did save some for later.

We dove into the cheese in proper progression after the Stilton/Haandbakk pairing and started with Mt Tam from The Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco.  Liz Thorpe describes this triple-creme aged, soft-ripened style cheese in The Cheese Chronicles as a “perfectly balanced swath of salt, cream and butter.”  It is perfectly wonderful in every way and when it’s at room temperature, it’s kind of addictive.

From Mt. Tam we moved on to Fenacho, from Tumalo Farms in Bend, OR.  This cheese is really unique because it has Fenugreek seeds, which are commonly used in pickles and curries.  Fenacho is a semi-hard cheese with a slightly sweet, nutty flavor.  This was a really different cheese from what I’m used to, but I enjoyed it and would definitely buy it again.

Our third taste was some Red Leicester, which, as you can probably guess from the name, comes from England. Red Leicester is a beautiful, bright orange cheese, colored with annatto.  It is firm and dry and might replace cheddar in my fridge from now on. There’s a sweetness to this cheese that draws you back… bite after bite after bite…

Matt and I went full-circle this particular evening, ending where we had started- with Stilton. The trusty Murray’s Handbook refers to Stilton as the best known blue cheese in the world.  It is protected under EU legislation, which means it can only be produced in certain counties in England with a particular milk and formed in a cylindrical shape, etc.  The Murray’s Handbook describes Stilton as “an impeccable marriage of heavy, moist paste, sparkling minerality, balanced salt, and roasted nuttiness.”  It then goes on to say ” serve with tawny port and that’s that. There are no other options.”  Stilton and port are without a doubt a fine pairing, but, with all due respect to my trusted guide book for this exploration of cheese, I’ll have to say there is another option.  How about that Haandbakk?