Advertisement
BreadcrumbsYou are here: Home / Blogs / BAR PILOT / Tag

BAR PILOT

Posts tagged with: Vodka

Main Content Skip to Sidebar and Blog Navigation
Product Placement

Uncork the Pork

Bakon Vodka beckons

Posted by: John Chandler on Mar 02, 2011 at 04:00PM Speech Bubble11 Comments

Email
Bakon2

Who’s got a recipe?

I love getting packages in the mail here at PM central, because most of the time it’s booze. Today’s box of joy comes from Bakon Vodka in Seattle, Washington. As you can see by the photo, it is indeed a “premium” bacon-flavored vodka that could theoretically add some much-needed porky goodness to my liquor cabinet.

The friendly folks at Bakon included some tomato juice and Bloody Mary seasoning, hoping that yours truly would take it for a test drive (not literally—I do not drink and drive. In fact, I don’t drive at all). They also sent along some recipes. What do you think?






The Bakon Mary

• 2 oz Bakon Vodka
• 1 dash celery salt, black pepper, lemon (or lime) juice and Tabasco
• 2-4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• one-eighth teaspoon of horseradish

Fill highball glass with tomato juice (or Clamato for a Caesar) and add seasoning. Garnish with pickled veggies and/or celery.

Chocolate Bakon Martini

• 1 part Bakon Vodka
• 1 part chocolate liqueur
• A splash of cream

Combine in a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain and pour into a martini glass.

Actually, they suggest a “sugar-rimmed” martini glass, but it’ll be a cold day in Muspelheim before I deign soil my palate with such frippery.

But surely there must be more uses for Bakon Vodka that we’re overlooking. Enlighten me, drinking buddies! Write down a bitchin’ bacon cocktail recipe in the comments section. I’ll send the best one back to Bakon Vodka and see if they’ll name it after me (us). Get cracking!

Add a Comment »

Tags: Vodka, Cocktail Recipes, bacon

Drinking Locally

Cool Places

Aiiieeee! I can’t stand it! What’s the best bar for chilling?

Posted by: John Chandler on Jul 30, 2009 at 03:00PM Speech Bubble10 Comments

Email
Dsc00514

The Penguin Pub in Sellwood is my choice for a proper place to chill when the weather gets infernal. (Middle) Penguin tchotchkes help to further cool the parched patron. (Bottom) Crystal Head vodka.

The heat can make a man do strange things. I figured this out while trying to stuff one of my pugs into a pirate costume for our living room production of Peter Pan. The stitches should be out in four to six weeks, thank you very much.

Yesterday I was beyond hot, well past uncomfortable, and on the verge of setting sail on the HMS Freakout when a phone call from my friend Lucy saved my bacon. We decided to visit the Penguin Pub in Sellwood (8117 SE 17th Ave). “But why there, oh mighty Bar Pilot?” you may ask yourself. By they way, thanks for the “mighty” designation.

First and foremost, as befits its arctic moniker, the Penguin is blissfully chilled. And the penguin memorabilia strewn all over the place tricks your subconscious into thinking it’s even colder. I don’t know about you, but my subconscious sweats like a sprinkler.

Second, they claim to have the coldest beer in town. Their kegs are stashed in the basement and the beer runs through cooled tubing of some kind. I don’t know if it’s officially the coldest, but it’s damn frosty, and lowering my body temperature back to double digits was imperative.

Dsc00518

Third, they have Bottle Cap–flavored Jell-O shots. Bottle Caps are an ancient brand of candy, kind of like a cross between Sweet Tarts and Alka-Seltzer. Mmmmm. Disgusting.

But last night was bonus. While bellying up to the bar, I spied a curious artifact nestled among the liquor bottles. It appeared to be a glass skull. Bum-bum-BUM!

Having spent years playing Dungeons & Dragons (laugh and I’ll smite thee with my +4 sword of sharpness), I knew better than to pick up this cursed relic myself, so I asked the bartender to fetch it. The skull sloshed as she brought it over. “It’s called Crystal Head vodka,” she said, placing it on the bar. “It’s Dan Aykroyd’s brand.”

Dsc00524

Qué? Apparently the surviving member of the Blues Brothers is into both spirits (he has his own Dan Aykroyd line of wines) and the spirit world, as he’s fascinated by the legend of the crystal skulls, allegedly ancient artifacts of great power that served as the basis for that lame Indiana Jones movie that came out last year.

A shot of this fabled elixir cost me a staggering $11 (quite a markup since a bottle retails for around $50), but it was a refined little vodka with a devilish afterburn that simmered nicely in the ol’ labonza. The sticker shock was mitigated somewhat after I found that purchasing a taste of Crystal Head at the Penguin Pub made me eligible for a drawing. Once the skull is drained of vodka, the grinning death’s head will be raffled off, and I know I’m going to win it. It’s going to look really cool on the mantel above my fireplace. And when it’s this hot outside, being cool is a thing beyond measure.

Questions for the day: What’s the best bar in town for chilling out when the heat is hellish? What’s your favorite hot-weather cocktail? Got any zany/brilliant DIY methods for keeping cool? Let’s hear ’em!

Add a Comment »

Tags: Places to Go, Vodka, Summer

Advertisement
Blog Sidebar and Navigation
Jchandlerbar

In his twenty-plus years as a roving journalist and his forty-plus years as a native Oregonian, Portland Monthly web editor John Chandler has developed an appreciation for a properly stirred cocktail, all manner of beer, smoky single malt scotch, and the odd moment of clarity. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy,” is his pet quote, and he’ll break it out whether the occasion calls for it or not. Rock ‘n’ roll snob, film geek, and cultural kibitzer, Chandler can usually be found perched on a local bar stool muttering to himself about “the good old days” when he was always on the @#$%&!* guest list. Approach with caution.

Follow him on Twitter. Email the editor »

Bar Pilot navigates from dingy dive bars to ritzy schmooze-and-booze affairs to brain-melting rock shows, and points of interest in between. Chandler will do his utmost to jot down keen observations, hopefully inspire a few barroom arguments, and guide his readers through another night on the rocks.

RSS

Advertisement

Recent Posts

Archives

Advertisement