Beer Cocktail Presentation & Lecture @ Portland Cocktail Camp

Cocktail Camp is an informal, interactive conference for people who enjoy making, drinking, and discussing cocktails. Brewing up Cocktails founders Ezra Johnson-Greenough and Jacob Grier will be presenting on Beer Cocktails.

The second annual Cocktail Camp Portland is taking place on April 10, 2011, at Gerding Theater at the Armory in NW Portland. Our goal is to make sure our attendees have a good time, learn a few things, and meet some interesting people.

This day-long event will consist of presentations by various people in the cocktail world, including some of Portland’s best bartenders, local craft distillers, and creative hobbyists, a discussion panel, and plenty of opportunities to meet and talk with people who share your interests.

Beer Cocktail 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.