Winter Cocktails that Celebrate the Season

As the weather turns chilly and gray, there is no better way to brighten your spirits than with, well, spirits in craftily concocted cocktails. And it just so happens several McMinnville restaurants and bars are offering winter drinks that showcase the flavors and feel of the season. Gather your favorite people and raise a glass to the festive and hopefully peaceful winter we all deserve.

Pinch

Bartender Serafina Garnett embraced the festive spirit for Pinch’s cocktail menu, creating drinks like How Pinch Stole Christmas, made with Altos Tequila, Cointreau, St Germain, orange bitters, blood orange, and prosecco served with an orange slice and a rosemary sprig; Miracle on Evans Street, a riff on an espresso martini with chai tea, Kahlua, Titos vodka, and sea salt; or the Mule-tide Greeting, a refreshing drink using Wild Roots Cranberry Vodka, fresh lime, and ginger beer.

Garnett is currently working on a no-proof winter menu but is “always willing to make anything non-alcoholic and will make something pretty for everyone.”

Humble Spirit

To sip on true Oregon winter flavors, beverage supervisor Brenna O’Malley suggests the Quince Sour and the Spicy Sagittarius.

“The Quince Sour is iconic Oregon flavors featuring local Ransom Whipper Snapper whiskey, quince syrup, lemon, and Stone Barn Brandyworks Nocino (also local to Portland). The quince fruit was sourced from my backyard in Carlton,” said O’Malley. “The Spicy Sagittarius starts with Wild Roots dry gin and lemon juice. We make a rosemary-infused honey and a ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon syrup with ginger grown at Tabula Rasa Farms.” Finished with a few drops of rose water, the drink is then shaken and garnished with a few extra sprigs of rosemary. 

Conservatory Bar

Owner Kelley Mabbitt is excited to share the bar’s seasonally inspired menu, sharing that “the holiday season is one of my favorite times for drink making! The festive notes of baking spices just bring warmth to the cold nights and smiles to all. This is our fourth year making our Boozy Nog and every year we find ourselves having to make more than the last!” Mabbitt continued, “A new favorite we’ve been shaking up is the Forgotton Fruit, a bourbon cocktail that features quince—which my 3 young kiddos picked from our mini orchard-to-be here at home. Shaken with a little Italian Biscotti cordial, cranberry, and nutmeg make for a smooth sipper.”

Mabbitt’s favorite, however, is “the Butter Together, a Filipino hot buttered rum. We use small-batched Kasama rum (kasama means Together in Tagalog), which is a woman-owned distillery. We mix that with house-made ube buttered rum mix and top it with freshly grated nutmeg. Ube is a purple yam whose earthiness plays well with holiday spices- it’s also the flavor of all my childhood food memories!”

The bar menu includes a few other winter specials, as well as an array of mocktails.

Hayward

Hayward is known for inventive and exciting flavors, and the bar’s winter menu lives up to this reputation. Seasonal offerings include cocktails that travel from the tropics to a cozy fireside.

Bar Manager Matthea Brown shared that the Miso Gold Rush is “one of our current most popular drinks, [made with] Buffalo Trace bourbon, miso honey syrup, and fresh lemon juice all served over a big ice cube.”

The Nada Colada Milk Punch, Brown continued, “uses a cool technique of clarifying the cocktail through milk, this is our take on a tropical drink: coconut oil washed white rum and bourbon, falernum, pineapple juice, coconut water, and lime juice.”

The Winter Spritz is a lower AVB option, which is made with Amaro Pasubio, lemon juice, and soda water and garnished with fresh rosemary. For Manhattan lovers, the Drifter is its cooler cousin, made with Japanese whiskey, Amaro Nonino, blanc vermouth, and peychaud bitters, served up with a grapefruit peel as garnish.

For those who prefer a less spirited drink, the bar offers several zero-proof cocktails, including the Quince-idence, which is made with quince puree, rosemary syrup, tonic water, and soda water served over ice with a rosemary sprig garnish.

Thistle

Owner and barman Patrick Bruce and bartender Charlotte Cacayorin make spirits bright and delicious by mixing them with exciting flavors. The Christmas Mourning, created in collaboration with Soter Vineyards, is made with a persimmon, pear, cinnamon, clove, rosemary, thyme, and Riesling reduction that is topped with Planet Oregon bubbles. The warming spices and sweetness of the fruit paired with the crispness of the sparkling wine capture the season perfectly. For a cocktail with a kick of caffeine, try the Espresso Martini—that puts all other by that name to shame—made with Madagascar vanilla vodka, nitro cold brew, and topped with whipped cream and flaky maple salt.

La Rambla

The holiday spirit is in full swing at La Rambla’s bar. Lead bartender Nikia is mixing festive drinks like the Peppermint Patty, a classic cocktail akin to a “spiked hot cocoa,” made with peppermint schnapps, house-made ganache, and Madagascar vanilla whipped cream. The Butterscotch Old Fashioned is also a seasonal favorite, and Nikia thinks it “tastes like a whiskey cookie.” It is made with Michter’s Rye, butterscotch liqueur, clove bitters, and topped with an aged maraschino cherry.

Kate H. Knapp (she/her) works as a writer, recipe tester, and editor in McMinnville. She loves nothing more than sharing the beauty of food with her little one and has been cooking since she herself was stove-high and whisk-strong.

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