Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Wash Down Your Sins at this Portland Speakeasy

By

Bible Club
Image used with permission by copyright holder
If you call Bible Club PDX, a restored 1920s rotary phone will ring.

One with a cord. And by “ring,” we’re talking a metal-on-metal action. Lead barkeep Jessica Braasch might answer mid-conversation with a patron while grinding cloves by hand with a mortar and pestle.

Recommended Videos

In creating Bible Club, owner Ryk Maverick left no detail to chance, from crocheted doily coasters that would make any grandma proud to absinthe atomizers lit by the glow of a neon cross lightbulb on the host’s stand. Even the ice is local, which they shave on a cutting board for a perfect fit in the glass. And drinks calling for crushed ice? Time to break out the hammer.

Related

Once you take a seat at the dimly-lit bar on the first floor of a 1922 craftsman house, you’ll know you’re not in Portland anymore.

Place setting with fork, napkin, and rosemary cocktail
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Head barkeep Nathan Elliott says Bible Club and fam initially expected to be a neighborhood joint, but their clientele quickly grew to include denizens from all over the world looking for a transportive, prohibition-era experience. Like the speakeasies the past that truly had to keep hush-hush, Bible Club’s cat is out of the bag now that Portlanders and travelers alike are realizing what a charming time capsule it is. 

The barback is bedecked with vintage signs championing the repeal of the 18th Amendment and, along with the general decor and underground atmosphere, you would be forgiven if you started to believe you had fallen into a time warp and landed squarely in the days of Al Capone and rum runners. The name “Bible Club” is in keeping with the tradition of tongue in cheek names contrasting the suspicious activity going down in such establishments.

Your Must-Try drink: the Log Road Legger

bible club pdx cocktail
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ingredients

It’s an autumn-inspired old fashioned so popular it’s stuck on the ever-changing cocktail menu for good. It tastes like a meandering walk in a pine forest on a foggy morning, the smell of last night’s campfire left behind on your clothes.

The drink’s top note is provided by a sprig of rosemary lit with a match just long enough for a spark or two to fly, smudging the small space with a nice woodsy aroma. The only drawback to that is that it might keep the perennial ghost stories away.

Bartender torching rosemary at PDX Bible Club
Image used with permission by copyright holder

So if you’re looking for the perfect nightcap spot to punctuate a snowy evening on the town, or you’re in the mood to channel F. Scott Fitzgerald while sipping something truly extraordinary — this is the place to do it, old sport.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Megan Freshley
Megan Freshley
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Megan Freshley is a freelance copywriter and poet living in Portland, OR. She's studied at Antioch College and the Esalen…
No drinks ready for tomorrow? This last minute punch is here to save your party
Gin, sparkling wine, fruit juice, and fresh fruits - it's delicious and super quick
Aviation Gin Champagne Punch cocktail

If you're hosting friends or family for a celebration tomorrow but you haven't sorted out any drinks yet, then no judgment. We've all been there, when life gets in the way and you don't have time to get everything prepared as much as you'd like.

These situations are where I like to lean on my go-to punch recipe. Punch is a great choice for a casual party drink as everyone can serve themselves and you don't have to be running back and forth to the kitchen all day to fetch drinks. And this version is fruity but sharp, so it's ideal to sip for summer.

Read more
You’re overlooking the most important ingredient in your cocktail
Steel Hibiscus cocktail.

When you list off the most important parts of making a good cocktail your mind likely goes immediately to good ingredients: quality spirits, freshly squeezed citrus juices, and well-matched mixers. You might also consider the importance of using the right tools, like getting a proper mixing glass so your stirred drinks can be properly incorporated, or a good strainer so that there aren't little shards of ice in your cocktails. And then there are the fun additions like elaborate garnishes, bitters, or home-made syrups which can add a personal touch to your drinks.
All of those things are important, absolutely. However I think there's one ingredient that can make or break a good cocktail, and it's something many drinkers don't ever stop to consider. It's the humble but vital ingredient of ice.

Why ice is so important
In mixed drinks like a gin and tonic or a screwdriver, ice is added to the drink primarily to chill it down to a pleasing temperature. That's a topic we'll come back to. But in cocktails which are shaken or stirred, ice is far more important than that. Cocktails are typically composed of between around 20 to 30 percent water, and this water comes from the ice used in the preparation process.
When you stir ingredients in a mixing glass or shake them in a shaker with ice, you are chipping away small pieces of the ice so that it dissolves and blends with your other ingredients. You might imagine that water doesn't make much of a difference to taste, being tasteless itself. But it's vital in opening up the flavors of other ingredients. That's why many whiskey drinkers like to add a dash of water to their whiskey when they drink it neat.
If you're ever in doubt of how important water is to cocktails, it's worth trying to make a drink with no ice. Even if you mix up the ideal ratios for a drink that you love and put it into the freezer so that it gets to the chilled temperature that you usually enjoy it at, if you sip it you'll find that your drink tastes harsh, unbalanced, and incomplete. Even for special room temperature cocktails like those designed to be drunk from a flask, you'll generally find water being added at a rate of around 30%.
When you make your cocktails you should be sure to stir for a long time – around 30 seconds is a good start – or to shake for a good while too – I typically do around 12 to 15 seconds – in order to melt enough ice to get plenty of water into your cocktail. Despite what you might imagine, this won't make the cocktail taste watery but will rather make the flavors stand out more as well as often improving the mouthfeel of the drink. A good rule of thumb is to mix or shake until the vessel is cold to the touch. That means your ingredients are sufficiently incorporated with the ice.

Read more
Takibi Portland Will Combine Camping and Japanese Cuisine
takibi portland restaurant camping cuisine 1

While restaurants brace for a long and painful quarantine period, it’s nice to distract ourselves with some good news, even if it’s a few months out.
One of the more interesting restaurant openings in the country was set to take place this spring in Portland. Named Takibi, it’s an unexpected union between a Japanese outdoors brand (Snow Peak) and a restaurant. While delayed as a result of the current uncertain circumstances, the restaurant still hopes to open sometime in July.
Takibi is notable even within the culinary-rich Pacific Northwest landscape: The eatery combines a Michelin-recognized chef in Alex Kim with cocktail guru Jim Meehan. Kim has logged hours in some of the finest restaurants on the planet, from Kajitsu and Rintaro in the U.S. to Kappo Sakamoto and Kikunoi Honten in Japan. Meehan is largely considered to be the most influential cocktail writer of his generation, with books, bars, and mixology products to his name.

If glamping had its own cuisine, this might be it. At the core of the culinary style is “takibi” itself, which translates to bonfire in Japanese. The idea is that the food will be shared and as for the flame, inspired by a nifty Snow Peak gadget of the same name. Per Japanese culture, it’s clean, cool, and aesthetically pleasing. While American cookouts tend to be draped in sauces and wet naps, this version feels neater, tidier, and more artistic.
Chef Kim says that what inspires him most about Japanese cuisine is its depth. “There are almost endless facets,” he says. “So it’s always exciting to me because there will always be something to learn. I was always inspired by its simplicity and timeless quality, and the fact that it is a cuisine that celebrates the color, shape, and taste of each ingredient as it is.”
That kind of singular attention may play out very interestingly in the Willamette Valley, where there are endless seasonal ingredients. It’s a major reason so many chefs and culinary minds land in the Portland area. “We are driven by the products that are unique to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest and create dishes that are unbounded by but see through the lens of Japanese cuisine,” says Kim of the Takibi approach. 
Kim benefits from ample time spent in Japan and the mindset that comes with it. “I learned how important it is to consider the guest in every single way beyond the food,” he says. “I also learned how to think and see things from a different perspective, and again that does not apply strictly to the food.” If Takibi can harness both the holistic hospitality mindset he absorbed from Kyoto and Oregon’s bountiful farms, fisheries, orchards, and more, it will be well worth the wait.

Read more