Winter weather works wonders on cocktail creations: chefs and beverage directors turn out hot bar menus as temperatures drop

Nation's Restaurant News,  Dec 3, 2007  by Jack Robertiello

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The locally-produced Douglas fir eau de vie was Eisenhart's inspiration, and the Timberline Toddy has become a popular caffeine-free late-night drink option. This year it has returned, and Eisenhart is contemplating a new iteration combining the flavors of pear with the distinctive pine.

At Fenouil, a French restaurant in Portland's Pearl district, mixologist Daniel Stern offers a few traditional winter warmers, like hot buttered rum, spiced cider and glug. This year he's also added a chamomile tea-based drink, La Nuit, made with triple sec, cognac, creme de cassis, chamomile, cinnamon stick and lemon twist, served in a snifter. It sells for $8. Another option is L'Epice, $9, a mix of high-proof Austrian rum, chocolate liqueur, simple syrup, coffee, whipped cream and orange peel. For the presentation, the glass is rimmed with cardamom tincture and sugar. The tincture is made by soaking toasted, cracked cardamom seeds in vodka for a week.

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Even some of the most cutting-edge mixologists turn to tried-and-true methods as the temperature drops. At the Mint in Portland, owner Lucy Brennan is known for drinks like the Avocado Daiquiri, but when it comes to the winter menu, she focuses on classic coffee drinks, like the Spanish Coffee, made by flaming high-proof rum with sugar in a glass until the rim caramelizes, and adding triple sec, coffee liqueur, French press coffee, vanilla-flavored whipped cream and nutmeg.

"People here really are serious about their coffee, and I like coffee drinks, too, so we stick to them for the winter," she says.

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