Holiday Special Edition on December 10th!

This holiday season welcome back Brewing up Cocktails for a special winter warmer/holiday themed evening of Beer Cocktails at The Hop & Vine. Last winter's edition was perhaps the most popular installment of Brewing Up Cocktails ever, featuring acclaimed drinks like the Hot Scotchy, Wassail, and the Furburger, all three of which will make their return on December 10th. There will also be four brand new beer cocktails to set your head right and warm the cockles of your heart as the holidays near.

The new beer cocktails run the gamut of styles:  Three varieties will be served hot to fend off the winter cold, an effervescent and citrusy take on the French 75, a fruity and hoppy punch made with IPA, and a silky smooth beer flip. There will be something for everyone at this event, even an ugly Christmas sweater contest! Drink list...

Hot Drinks

Wassail

Returning from last year's hit Brewing up Cocktails is the hot mulled classic Wassail made with a base of Deschutes Jubelale slowly heated in a crockpot with brandy, sherry, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and orange. Served warm in a mug with a lemon slice.

Hot Scotchy

Beervana described  the Hot Scotchy as "The Greatest Beverage in the World." Perhaps the most popular beer cocktail to date, made with hot unfermented beer and Scotch. It may be the perfect winter brewers beverage.

Hot Choklat

A new creation served steaming hot, it is one boozy treat. Starting with a base of dark rum, a little Galliano Ristretto is added and then topped off with steamed 9% abv Choklat Imperial Stout and a float of whipped cream. Served with or without a dash of chili powder.

Cold Drinks

Trade Winds Punch: 

Rum, gin, vanilla Beans, grapefruit zest, ripe guavas, Chinese five spice powder, and a stalk of lemongrass are infused over night and then built into a tasty beer punch the next day with fresh lime juice, citrusy IPA, and sugar. This is our recreation of punch originated by Washington, DC bartender Jon Harris. You have never had anything like it, we promise you.

Euclidean 75

The lightest and most refreshing of the bunch, the Euclidean 75 is made with gin, lemon, and sugar,  then topped off with an effervescent and refreshingly tart Berliner-Weisse. A creation from Denver bartender and beer cocktail afficionado Ryan Conklin of Euclid Hall.

Furburger

The lovingly named Furburger returns from the very first Brewing up Cocktails. Black and thick as night with chocolate and roasty creaminess from Great Divide's Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout, balanced with herbal Chartreuse and bourbon.

Smoked Vanilla Bean Flip

This creamy dessert of a beer cocktail has an incredible melange of flavors, from the anise-tinged aquavit to cream sherry, rhubarb and chocolate bitters, one whole egg, and Stone Brewing's Smoked Porter.

About Brewing up Cocktails:

Founded in July 2010 in Portland, OR the Brewing up Cocktails series of events explores the interplay of craft beer and spirits to create a new breed of beer cocktails. Since its introduction beer cocktails have exploded onto the national drink scene and BuC has been at the forefront. Founders Ezra Johnson-Greenough, Jacob Grier, and Yetta Vorobik have presented more than seven different cocktail events spanning three states and two countries in just one year. They have also been asked to present on beer cocktails at the Spring Beer & Wine Festival, Cocktail Camp, Tom Douglas Restaurants, and Portland Cocktail Week.

Press:

"Take note: A hot scotchy is the best tasting drink you've never had—and it's just one of six adventurous, genre-defying beverages waiting to be crafted for you on Saturday evening." - Jeff Schmitt
Oregonian Live
“some of the country's tastiest beer-based cocktails. The verdict: they're delicious.”
- Serious Eats

"Straight-ahead beer fan that I am, I have to agree that beer cocktails open up a brave new world."
- Mix Magazine

Saturday December 10th 6-9pm
(Drinks individually priced)
The Hop & Vine
1914 N. Killingsworth
Portland, OR 97217
503.954.3322
http://thehopandvine.com/

One Year Anniversary Tiki Party on July 30th @ The Hop & Vine!

It has been just One Year since Ezra Johnson-Greenough, Jacob Grier and Yetta Vorobik founded Brewing up Cocktails with the intent of exploring the gray areas and overlap of the craft spirits and craft beer scenes both of which Portland, OR is known for. Since the first experimental event as part of last years Oregon Craft Beer Month at The Hop & Vine the beer cocktails movement has exploded into a full blown nationwide trend attracting the attention of everyone from NBC News to The New York Times and local publications like Imbibe Magazine and Portland Monthly. Spearheading the movement the Brewing up Cocktails crew has put on seven different events across the west coast including one internationally in Vancouver, BC in just the last 12 months and this July 30th along with sponsors Kona Brewing and Groupon present the eighth installment with a summer Tiki Party theme at the original location Yetta Vorobik's The Hop & Vine.

This July 30th join us for a full on Luau and Pig Roast complete with a thatched outdoor Tiki bar, tiki torch's and more at the infamous bamboo'd garden patio of one of North Portland's highest rated bars The Hop & Vine known for its combination of Beer, Food, Spirits, Wine and even it's own Bottleshop. Teaming up with Kailua Hawaii based Kona Brewing known for their refreshing tropical craft beers and the deals giant startup with a love of Portland's craft beer passionate culture Groupon. No cover charge for this event with drinks individually priced.

Saturday July 30th 6-10pm
The Hop & Vine
1914 N. Killingsworth
Portland, OR
http://thehopandvine.com/

Brewing up Cocktails at Seattle Beer Week

Hot off our first international Brewing up Cocktails at the New Oxford in Vancouver, BC the BuC crew is about to on the road again to Seattle Beer Week for 2 nights in a row.

Tuesday May 24th 7-10pm

BuC mixologists Jacob Grier, Ezra Johnson-Greenough and Yetta Vorobik re-team with Ninkasi Brewing at the Shelter Lounge with Hop Union also sponsoring this event it is sure to be a good time. We will be revisiting some of our 5 different Ninkasi cocktails and tweaking them a bit offering hop oils and extracts from Hop Union to play with. This newer Seattle bar supposedly has one of the best patios in town with a killer fire pit.

Wednesday May 25th 6-9pm
The next day we hit the legendary Brouwer's Cafe with our friends Hopworks Urban Brewery for an all new beer cocktail list with this exciting Portland brewery. Come hang with us and the entire Hopworks crew at the sidebar of Brouwer's.

Special Edition of Brewing up Cocktails this Easter featuring all Flips

For the fourth edition of Brewing up Cocktails, events exploring the interplay of beer and spirits to create new drinks, writers and mixologists Ezra Johnson-Greenough and Jacob Grier have taken on yet another challenging theme. This time they’re focusing on the 'Flip' class of drinks using whole eggs and will be partnering with Eugene, OR based Oakshire Brewing who will be providing the beers as well as farm fresh eggs from the brewery’s own chickens. Join them on a beery Easter egg hunt on April 24 at Spints Alehouse.

Flips are a class of mixed drinks that use raw eggs to create a rich and creamy texture. What many do not know about flips is that their origins are as a beer cocktail. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, sailors first used the term as far back as 1695 to describe a mixture of beer, rum, and sugar heated with a hot iron poker. The first official record of the modern day interpretation of flips was in Jerry Thomas's 1862 How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon-Vivant's Companion. In this book Thomas states that:

"The essential in flips of all sorts is to produce the smoothness by repeated pouring back and forward between two vessels and beating up the eggs well in the first instance the sweetening and spices according to taste."

While modern day flips have fallen out of popularity and current definitions of what constitutes a flip vary to sometimes include cream, nog, egg whites, etc. for the purposes of defining the class of drinks and bringing it back to historical roots this chapter of Brewing up Cocktails shall use only whole eggs including the yolk along with beer and spirits to help bring along it's much overdue comeback.

This Easter Sunday April 24th from 5-8pm join Brewing up Cocktails mixologists as they ressurect forgotten styles in an exciting new fashion with beers from Oakshire Brewing, including Heart Shaped Box, Moose & Squirrel, Espresso Stout, Schwarz, and Imperial Stout, along with spirits ranging from apple brandy, Arbeg Scotch, dark rums, and Port wine.

Sunday April 24th 5-8pm
Spints Alehouse
401 NE 28th Ave. Portland, OR 97232
503-847-2534
http://spintspdx.com/

About Oakshire Brewing
The name Oakshire represents Strength, Independence, Community and Bioregion, values held by our owners and employees. Begun inOctober 2006 by brothers Jeff and Chris Althouse, Oakshire Brewing operates as a production brewery next to the train yards in Northwest Eugene. We make three year round beers, available in 22oz bottles and on draft found throughout Oregon. Oakshire makes a rotating seasonal beer available in 22oz bottles and on draft as well. And the brewers at Oakshire craft a range of single batch beers only available on draft. The brewery aims to make clean, consistent, high quality beer – humble brewers of delicious beer.

About Brewing up Cocktails
Founded by Ezra Johnson-Greenough, a brewer, writer, artist and event coordinator, Brewing Up Cocktails started as a one-time event for Oregon Craft Beer Month in July 2010 and has turned into something much larger. Johnson-Greenough asked hot local bartender/mixologist and writer Jacob Grier to collaborate with him in crafting some unique beer cocktails in the hope of proving that craft beers can be as good in mixed drinks as they are on their own. The venue they chose had to have great beer and an outstanding selection of fine spirits, and that is where partner Yetta Vorobik's property, North Portland hotspot The Hop & Vine, came in. In addition to a great location for events, Vorobik adds her creative spirit and an adventurous third palate to the mix.
The July 2010 event was met with great interest, but it was not until the partners decided to do a follow-up event in the fall that the critics and public started to catch on. Beervana described one of Brewing Up Cocktails' signature drinks, the Hot Scotchy, as:

"The Greatest Beverage in the World"

Mix Magazine opined:

"Straight-ahead beer fan that I am, I have to agree that beer cocktails open up a brave new world."

And Portland Monthly Magazine said:

"A merger of Portland’s craft beer and quality cocktail cultures could push the next evolution of our increasingly sophisticated drinking scene."

And finally the Associated Press caught on, with a story carried internationally, including on ABC News.

Brewing up Cocktails at Cocktail Camp

Brewing up Cocktails founders Ezra Johnson-Greenough (aka Samurai Artist) and Jacob Grier are excited to be presenting a panel on Beer Cocktails at this years Portland Cocktail Camp on Sunday April 10th at the Gerding Theater at The Armory in Portland, OR.

Cocktail Camp is an informal, interactive conference for people who enjoy making, drinking, and discussing cocktails.

Ezra and Jacob will be presenting two different beer cocktails, explaining how to make them and serving samples to the audience.

Presentation:
Purists might scoff at mixing spirits and beer, yet they have been a classic combination since the Middle Ages. European cultures celebrated with wassail, a combination of ale, mead,  and spices. During colonial times sailors would make a mixture of rum, ale, sugar, spice, and eggs to create the Flip. And in modern times brewers enjoy a Hot Scotchy, a drink made with the hot sticky sweet and bready cereal-like unfermented liquid called the “wort.” This hot liquid is mixed with whiskey or another grain based spirit to create a hot potable cocktail that is incredibly simple but nearly impossible for the non-brewer to make. Ezra Johnson-Greenough will be presenting on hot classic beer cocktails and a method he has developed for the non-brewer to make Hot Scotchies easily at home or behind a bar.

Beer is also an underrated ingredient in refreshing cold cocktails. Its wide range of flavors make it perfect for mixing. Beers can be bitter, hoppy, roasty, sweet, and even sour, and their carbonation can lift and extend a drink. Whether as the star ingredient simply laced with spirits or as a supporting component in a more spirit-forward drink, beer earns its place on a cocktail menu. Jacob Grier will discuss several ways to use beer behind the bar.

Get your tickets before April 1st and they are cheaper at: http://www.cocktailcamp.net/

Ninkasi presents Brewing up Cocktails in San Francisco on 3/26

We are happy to announce the continued evolution of Brewing up Cocktails and the expansion outside of Portland to San Francisco, CA for an event hosted by our friends Ninkasi Brewing during the annual Craft Brewers Conference. This is an exciting and challenging opportunity to showcase brand new drinks created for each of Ninkasi's year round beers including Wired Magazine's Most Wired Beer Believer Double Red, Total Domination IPA, Tricerahops Double IPA, Oatis oatmeal stout and seasonal release Spring Reign.

Look for us in San Francisco at the beautiful 111 Minna Street Gallery on Saturday March 26th from 5-9pm with Ninkasi owner/brewer Jamie Floyd.

More events in Portland coming very soon!

Saturday November 13th 6-10pm at The Hop & Vine

"Ezra Johnson-Greenough of the New School beer blog and mixologist Jacob Grier may have found the Next Big Thing in the craft beer world, cocktails made with good beer and quality spirits and liqueurs."
- The Oregonian

Mixologists and writers Jacob Grier of Liquidity Preference and Ezra Johnson-Greenough of The New School have re-teamed with co-conspirator Yetta Vorobik owner of the great cocktail, wine and beer bar The Hop & Vine for the second installment of Brewing up Cocktails (http://www.brewingupcocktails.com) a spirited event exploring craft beers as interesting and relatively unexplored ingredient for combining with spirits to create something truly unique.

Last July's successful Brewing up Cocktails 1 as part of Oregon Craft Beer Month introduced craft beer lovers to the world of cocktails and spirits and Brewing up Cocktails 2 aims to go even further with a more Fall themed drink list offerings like the Hot Scotchy, one of the original beer cocktails nearly forgotten because of the extremely short and selective window that one can prepare it with its use of fresh hot first runnings of un-fermented beer wort, or the revival of a German classic with a NW twist the Wassail also served heated is a stewed concoction featuring Deschutes Brewery's favorite winter warmer Jubelale stewed with roasted apples, rye whiskey, sherry and spices. For those in the mood for something colder or lighter there are 4 more cocktails with a wide variety of flavors. 

Brewing up Cocktails is Saturday Nov. 13th at The Hop & Vine 6-10pm and open to the public, drinks individually priced.

Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, barista, mixologist, and magician in Portland, OR. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Reason Online, The Oregonian, and other publications. Contact: JacobGrier@Jacobgrier.com

Ezra Johnson-Greenough is a brewer, writer, artist and general conceptual creative designer of all things artistic from music, to events and drinks. Contact: SamuraiArtist1@gmail.com

Yetta Vorobik is the proprietor of The Hop & Vine with a longtime passion for wine and spirits and a recently discovered love of craft beer that has made The H & V a must visit for beer geeks. Contact: TheHopandVine@gmail.com

"The Hop & Vine balances a love of beer, wine, cocktails and food, plus a well-chosen bottle selection for there or to go. Few other beer bars offer the options of The Hop & Vine, which makes it stand out, as far as I am concerned. Couple that with their art gallery and beautiful backyard garden patio, and owner Yetta Vorobik has built one of the best and most up-and-coming hangout spots in Portland."

~The New School

Photos by Ritch Marvin of Behind The Pint