Two-Drink Minimum: Two Cocktails Recommended by Shana

Scott Beattie has certainly raised the bar for cocktails, not just in Healdsburg, but all over the United States. His soon to be released book, Artisanal Cocktails: Drinks Inspired by the Seasons from the Bar at Cyrus (you can pre-order it on Amazon) is all about using local ingredients to create unique, fresh custom cocktails. Though I have still not visited Cyrus to try one of his signature cocktails, I have enjoyed my fair share of beverages at many other establishments in Healdsburg.

Months ago I discovered my favorite cocktail — A hand-made Blueberry Lemondrop by Anthony DeMaria in the Hotel Healdsburg lobby bar. Anthony hand muttles the blueberries ending up with a Hotel Healdsburg signature cocktail that is so good it can be dangerous.

Currently, they are making the same drink with blackberries, lime juice and tequila, so ask for a Blackberry Limedrop and they will make it for you.

Selecting a second favorite cocktail was a bit difficult because I am in love with a few different drinks from a few favorite bartenders. Chelsea and KC’s Mojitos at Ravenous are deliciously refreshing, while the Pineapple Lemondrop from Daniel at Willies Seafood & Raw Bar is tart and quenching. In the end, I had to go with an old favorite, that Erin Beecher from the B&B Lounge calls a “Hibiscus.”

It is a combination of Gloria Ferrer Sparkling Blanc de Noirs and cranberry juice with a splash of orange juice for an extra tangy kick. Ever since I tried the combination of sparkling wine and cranberry juice one Thanksgiving, I fell in love with this nameless drink. Erin randomly poured it for me one day and named it a Hibiscus. If you are looking for a zesty pick-me-up, visit Erin during the day on a Saturday and she will make this drink for you, or a spicy Bloody Mary that will cure any hangover better than any espresso.

Visit either one of these establishments and tell Anthony or Erin that Shana sent you…. Oh. and don’t forget…tip your bartenders.

Hotel Healdsburg Bar: 25 Matheson Street, Healdsburg, CA 95448
The B&B Lounge: 420 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg, CA 95448

Two-Drink Minimum: A Challenge

Two weeks ago, I met Shana for drinks at Ravenous before KC Mosso’s The Situation opened for Langhorne Slim. We were talking about this magazine and ideas that we had and she was introducing me to people she knew. It was all very exciting. I ordered a beer (a safe drink, I know). She ordered a mojito. We were just talking and laughing and meeting people while we waited for the music to start and we came up with this idea: Two-Drink Minimum.

Initially we were going to solicit the general population’s opinion for this new column: What are your favorite two drinks in Healdsburg? Who makes them? We wanted to get people out and about trying new things.

BUT tonight, after dinner with a friend and running a few other errands, I was driving home (twiddling my hair with one hand and driving with the other) and I had THE BEST idea for this column: Make it a challenge–a challenge to the bartenders of Healdsburg to showcase their signature drinks.

Isn’t that an exciting idea? So–that’s what it’s going to be–exactly that. Bartenders, here is my challenge to you:

What are your two signature drinks? How do you serve them? What is the story behind your the creation of the drink?

Think about it. Just think about it for awhile. Let it ruminate. And when you’re ready. WHEN YOU are ready.

Submit it. Submit a picture of the drink. Submit your picture. Submit your story. And we here at Healdsburg Magazine will try to get everybody to come in to try it.

You can submit up to two drinks at a time (hence the title of the column: Two-Drink Minimum). We will need to know your name, where you work, and when you work. I’m creating a completely new email just to take submissions for this column: twodrinks@HealdsburgMagazine.com

How about we just start with that?

PS: You can also take pictures of people enjoying your drink and send them in too. Maybe at the end of it all, we’ll have an event where people can vote on their favorite.

Pairing: Bear Republic and Dessert

[This article is courtesy of Mario at Brewed for Thought, a blog dedicated to home and craft brewing across the country. Originally published 12 April 2008.]

As a beer snob/junkie/aficionado, I like to help introduce my friends to an assortment of fine ales. Mostly this involves forcing my wife to sample whatever it is I’m drinking that night. When we’re out with friends, I extend this privilege to them. One of my favorite activities though, is to host a beer pairing, where I select a theme and pair it with food. Tonight, we featured local brewery Bear Republic and paired their selection of bottled beers with various desserts.

I got this idea a while back, shortly after my Anderson Valley cheese pairing. During that evening, I learned a few things. First, cap the tastings to 5 or 6 beers, because after that, it begins to blur together. Second, don’t take it so seriously. I kind of drug the party down by trying to turn the group into beer snobs like me, instead of just enjoying the beer and cheese.

So the lineup tonight featured all 6 of the readily available Bear Republic family. This was a good choice because one of the people in our small group had mentioned a fondness for Racer 5. Since Bear Republic favors strong brews, and hoppy ones at that, I had a tough time deciding where in the sampling a few beers should go, but in the end, I figured the order would go as such: XP Pale Ale, Red Rocket, Racer 5, Hop Rod Rye, Pete Brown Tribute, and Big Bear Stout.

We started with the XP Pale Ale. My wife’s friend Kayla was delighted by the color of this beer. We paired this with a green apple pie from Marie Calenders. The flavors blended well with the tartness of the green apples shining through. This was an excellent way to start the pairings, very accessible flavors that were familiar to everyone.

Next was the Red Rocket paired with flan (Mexican custard, for the uninitiated) made from scratch by my wonderful wife. The Red Rocket and flan were both very rich, with the vanilla from the flan standing out. It was this richness of the two that made them match so well. All involved loved this pairing as well, except Johnny, who just doesn’t like flan. Too bad, his loss.

Third we went to my favorite beer and dessert pairing, IPA and carrot cake. We chose a carrot cake from the local Safeway (we picked the gourmet slice, because that’s how we roll). The intense sweetness of the carrot cake and the frosting was amplified by the bold malt and hop flavors of the Racer 5. When making this pairing, if using a different IPA, be sure to chose one with strong, floral hops flavors and a very sweet malt character. To me, Racer 5 reminds me of a biting a fresh hop dipped in honey, that’s the kind of IPA you want. Also, if you’ve ever bitten a fresh hop, with or without honey, you’d know this is not a pleasurable experience, and I would not recommend actually trying this. As for the pairing, this was the most popular of the evening.

Making the turn, we went on to the Hop Rod Rye paired with a dark chocolate torte from Whole Foods. This one was hit and miss. The group was split on the Hop Rod Rye. Johnny, Kayla and I really liked it, while my wife and Tommy were not fans. It’s a very aggressive beer, and asking newcomers to enjoy it is a bit much. Not only that, the torte was too dry, and while it looked fantastic (no picture, sorry), the taste didn’t back it up. What I can say is the two did compliment each other, with the beer really bringing out the flavors of the cake.

As we headed into the homestretch it was time for the “dark beers.” Pete Brown’s Tribute Ale was paired with Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream. For me, this was the highlight of the evening. Ironically, Kayla commented the beer looked like root beer as it poured. Paired with the ice cream, the sensation of eating a root beer float came to mind. I actually took a large spoonful of the ice cream and dropped it in the last half of my beer. The two mixed together extremely well. Not everyone was a fan though, with one dissenting vote, costing this amazing pairing the “Best in Show” ribbon.

The finale for our evening was the Big Bear Stout and chocolate mousse from a local Italian restaurant. Our group of friends knows this restaurant for their mousse, so when we saw this as an option to be paired, we knew exactly what we would be getting. The mouse was fantastic, and brought out the roasted malt flavors of stout. Not as inspiring as the Brown and ice cream, this was a nice way to finish the evening. Aside from Johnny and I, no one else cared for the beer though, and we had the duty of finishing the last of the stout on very full stomachs.

In the end, the evening went well. I relaxed and let everyone have fun, simply asking for impressions after each sampling, then letting the conversation flow where ever it went. When it comes to desserts, I will probably buy less next time, as we were all a bit stuffed by the time the evening ended.

A big thank you goes to Jayne Allegra of Bear Republic. She came up with the pairings we had. Initially she gave us this list of pairings that we chose from. Maybe you can use it in the future to plan your own pairing.

• Red Rocket - Strawberry Rhubarb Pie or Flan
• Special XP Pale Ale - Apple Pie or Cobbler (Green Apple)
• Racer 5 IPA - Carrot Cake
• Hop Rod Rye - Dark Chocolate Torte or Tiramisu
• Pete Brown’s Tribute Ale - Coffee Ice Cream
• Big Bear Stout Ale - Milk Chocolate Mousse or Champagne Cake

Update: The wife was picking through the leftovers this afternoon and noticed the box for the chocolate torte. Turns out this was a vegan chocolate torte, which would explain why it sucked.

Wine

With over 800 official Sonoma County wines to choose from, there are almost too many interesting stories to put here. A few years ago, a somebody I met told me this about wine: You need to know four things about wine:

• Is it red?
• Is it white?
• If you like it?
• If you don’t.

However, it is an art and a science. And the more you experience it, the more you find to like about it.

I won’t pretend to be someone I’m not. I don’t know much about wine. However. I do know if I like it and if I had a good experience with it. We’ll have to see what kind of stories show up in this category.