Portland, Oregon & Sloe Gin Fizz

Today is Loretta Lynn’s birthday — April 14.

If we stocked Sloe Gin at the bar where I work, I would’ve had a Sloe Gin Fizz in her honor.

What’s the relationship between Sloe Gin Fizz and Portland, Oregon? I have no idea, other than the fact that the drink is named in the song “Portland, Oregon” by Loretta Lynn — on the album she recorded with Jack White.

  

About This Drink

I can’t rightly call the Sloe Gin Fizz a proper Highball because of the citrus, but it’s served in a Highball glass — or Collins glass. Though, now that I think about it, the drink is basically just a simple twist on the  traditional Tom Collins.

Liquor.com calls it “an old-timey recipe” and a “delicious fruity classic.” Here’s their recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
• 1 oz fresh lemon juice
• .75 oz simple syrup
• Club soda

Preparation:

Shake all ingredients except the soda over ice and strain into a Highball or Collins glass filled with fresh ice. Top with the club soda and garnish with a lemon wedge and a cherry.

You can find the Liquor.com recipe online here.

Sloe Gin:

Sloe gin is made from infusing liquor with sloe berries, which are a relative of plums. Because of the sugar added to extract the flavor from the berries, sloe gin is less an actual gin and more a gin liqueur. Additionally, I read online that some of the mass-marketed brands use neutral grain spirit as a base rather than proper gin — which is why Liquor.com specifies using Plymouth.

Thirsty for more?

— Read a more detailed write-up about sloe gin.

Van Lear Rose:

I had figured I would end this post by creating a Van Lear Rose cocktail, but it seems like there’s already a recipe out there, using Lillet Rose, Plymouth gin, rose water and more.

I remember really liking this song when it came out. I even own this album. Did this collaboration pre-date Jack White’s band The Raconteurs? I can’t remember. I’m getting old. This has to have been like a decade ago.

Watch the video for “Portland, Oregon” by clicking here. 

I guess it’s time to dig a bunch of those albums out and load ’em onto my iPod. But first a quick little lyrical snippet:

Well sloe gin fizz works might fast
When you drink it by the pitcher and not by the glass
Hey bartender before you close
Pour us one more drink and a pitcher to go

Portland’s Rum Club

My wife just recently returned from visiting her sister in Portland.

While she was there she sent me this picture:

Yep, during her trip she and her sister made a stop at Portland’s Rum Club — which was especially exciting for because that’s the one episode of Best Bars In America that she’s watched.

As a souvenir she brought me back this:

Souvenir menu from the Rum Club!

Now to try and recreate one or two for my own consumption here in Western New York!

Visit Rum Club online here!