Tales of the Cocktail’s official drink this year was the Rickey. Washington, D.C.’s native cocktail, the Rickey typically mixes gin, lime juice and club soda. During the annual TOC event, held last month in New Orleans, a bartender competition for the best take on the classic was judged by Jeffrey Morganthaler of Clyde Common in Portland, OR, Derek Brown of The Passenger/Columbia Room and Mockingbird Hill in Washington, D.C. and Adam Bernbach from Proof and Estadio, also in Washington, D.C.
Jacob Grier from Metrovino in Portland, OR, won for his gin-, beer- and Chartreuse-based sip The Portland Rickey. “I wanted to come up with something that would taste great on a hot day in New Orleans,” he explains, “and as a big fan of beer cocktails, beer was an obvious choice for the carbonated element.” Grier received a $1,250 cash prize, and his recipe was featured throughout Tales of the Cocktail, in the Tales E-book and in Mutineer Magazine. Here’s the full recipe.
Portland Rickey
Recipe courtesy of Jacob Grier of Metrovino in Portland, OR.
1 ½ oz. Martin Miller gin
¾ oz. lemon juice
¼ oz. Green Chartreuse
4 oz. Le Merle Saison farmhouse ale
Squeezed half of lemon, plus lemon shell, for garnish
Combine the gin, Chartreuse, lemon juice and beer in an ice-filled highball glass. Drop the squeezed half-lemon into the drink, and stir gently.
Kelly Magyarics is a wine and spirits writer and wine educator in the Washington, D.C. area. She can be reached through her website, www.kellymagyarics.com, or on Twitter @kmagyarics.