As in 2009 and 2010, Dawn at Appetite Portland rounded up a several Portland food bloggers for the annual Obscure Holiday Cocktails tasting party. Each one of us was challenged to come up and serve our own contribution to the party with S. from Edible Obsessions providing cheese pairing for each of the courses. This year we sipped our way through the Christmas Bellringer, Greek Airmail (my entry), Lion’s Pride, Whispers of the Frost and Tom & Jerry.

My favorite of the evening was the Lion’s Pride, a mix of St. Germain, Gin, egg whites, lime juice, Peychaud’s and finished off with black pepper and lime zest.

For details and opinion on all the drinks and cheese pairing check out these reports from Appetite Portland, Edible Obsessions, and The Blueberry Files.

An article in Sunday’s Boston Globe reports on “Maine’s new drinking culture”. John Myers, Hugo’s, Blue Spoon and the Urban Farm Fermentory are all mentioned. (via Edible Obsessions)

John Myers, a traditional saloonist and cocktail historian, tends bar at The Grill Room, a steakhouse with a wood-burning grill in the center of the Old Port here. Myers, looking like a Wild West gunslinger with his wool vest and bushy beard, stands in the lamplight – a sommelier of cocktails ready to shake or stir.

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes advice on improving wine lists and wine service in Portland’s restaurants,

“The server who constantly points people to Chardonnay and Merlot,” Chase said, “might be a nice person. But being nice isn’t the only part of being a good server.” Amen, brother. I’d take a nice enough server who took genuine interest in her kitchen’s menu and wine list over a boatload of trying-too-hard “how’re we doings?” and “you guys” “you all set with thats?”

a report on the new healthy choices for snacks at Maine movie theaters,

You rarely find the words “movie theater” and “health food” in the same sentence, but this could change. As more Mainers seek out healthier fare and adopt alternative diets, cinemas around the state are responding with new menu offerings.

and an article about the current trend for bartenders to develop their own infusions.

Today’s Press Herald reports on efforts to bring the Monday Farmers Market back to life,

Farmers on the wait list said they won’t come on Mondays because no customers attend. They can’t afford to take time from planting and harvesting to travel downtown and not sell anything. Likewise, customers won’t come on Mondays because no farmers attend.

It’s a self-defeating cycle, but a group of immigrant farmers will soon try to revive the Monday market. Dawud Ummah, president of the Center for African-American Heritage, is coordinating the effort.

an article about tequila featuring staff from Zapoteca,

For a lot of people, sitting in front of a line of three shots of tequila might conjure some flashbacks involving a pinch of salt, a lemon wedge and a pounding headache. But the shots that come in a flight of tequila at Zapoteca, a new Mexican restaurant and tequileria in Portland, are meant to be sipped and savored like a fine single malt Scotch, not downed in one gulp by a drunken college student.

and an article about the macrobiotic diet and the macrobiotic cooking classes at Five Season Cooking School,

The school is run by Lisa Silverman, and it hosts frequent visits from well-known macrobiotic teachers.

Next week, Jessica Porter, a former Portland resident and author of “The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics,” will teach a class at the school. At the end of September, internationally acclaimed macrobiotic educator Warren Kramer will come to the school to offer a lecture and teach a class.

An article in the Food & Dining section of today’s Press Herald looks past the pancake at cocktail and other drink ideas that incorporate maple syrup,

We usually run stories on how the season is going and share ideas for what you can do with all that springtime sweetness besides pour it over pancakes and ice cream. This year, inspired by a maple latte from Arabica, I decided to take a look at maple drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

and the Natural Foodie column exams how Maine’s growing network of small farms creates a better food system for the state.

According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine is home to 8,100 farms, and more than 90 percent of them are classified as small operations. Maine is also ahead of the curve in the organic farming movement, with the number of certified farms doubling between 2006 and 2008, the latest years for which the USDA’s figures are available.

Appetite Portland, Edible Obsessions, The Blueberry Files and I recently got together for the 2010 obscure holiday tasting. My favorite was The Ultimate Holiday, a combination of bourbon, grenadine, orange and lime juice and ginger ale.

Citrusy and smoky with a bitter bite, The Ultimate Holiday was a massive improvement over The Grinch. An alcoholic twin to grapefruit juice, the cloudy, pinkish concoction was flat-out marvelous. While concurring with me on it’s obvious merits, Adam questioned the “Christmasyness” of the bourbon-based tipple – asserting that it was more appropriate for a Jamaican beach. He had a point. Perhaps the word “holiday” in the title was intended as the broader British definition, meaning “vacation.” Ah, well. . .

Bartenders Shahin Khojastehzad from Novare Res and Tatum Thistle of The Salt Exchange were on Fox’s morning show yesterday to talk about their craft and their recent appearance in Portland magazine’s City Slingers article.

Portland bartender and cocktail historian John Myers was interviewed for the new issue of Bon Appetit about a 19th century concoction called Slippery Punch. The recipe combines aged rum, sugar, lime juice, bitters and nutmeg and paprika into what the magazine dubs The Perfect Summer Punch. The article and detailed recipe are on page 20 of the August issue of Bon Appetit but aren’t available online.

Portland’s “new generation of bartenders” from Vignola, 51 Wharf, Styxx, Bull Feeney’s, DiMillo’s, Novare Res, Local 188, The Salt Exchange, and Ri Ra are featured in the new issue of Portland magazine.

Today’s Portland Daily Sun takes a look at vodka infusions. Columnist Natalie Ladd met with bartender John Meyers to understand the background and logic behind flavored vodkas.

My Take … When done with style and thoughtfulness, vodka infusions are a win-win for all. Flavored vodkas are now found in the well, and while trendy infusions (lima bean and ham hock) have seen better days, they have made their lasting mark on cocktail menus and drink order decision making. Take it from a Cosmopolitan drinker who’s switched from The Classic to Absolute Citron. The subtle lemon-orange infused flavor makes all the difference in the world.

Today’s Press Herald has a report about scientific research on predicting the severity of red tide in the Gulf of Maine this summer.

Sea-floor sampling for the seed-like cysts of Alexandrium fundyense, the organism that causes red tide, shows a 60 percent increase compared with the substantial bloom of 2005, researchers with the Gulf of Maine toxicity project reported Wednesday.

Thursday’s paper also has an article about next week’s Bartender’s Bash, a cocktail competition that’s part of Maine Restaurant Week.

The rules are simple. Each participating mixologist was given two instructions: Use Cold River Vodka and adhere to the theme of ”Celebrating the Spirit of Maine.” Beyond that, the bartenders’ imagination is the only limit.

The February edition of The Bollard includes an installment of the Land of the Forgotten Cocktails series on alcohol infused winter warm-ups,

The Hot Toddy is a study in pure efficacy — it does something, and does it exceedingly well, at that — but we love this cocktail for its flexibility. Simply put, a Hot Toddy is a heated single serving of an old 18th century–style punch, and should be treated with as free and inventive a hand as the mixer can muster.

and a survey of the offerings at three ethnic markets serving immigrants from Latin America and others in the city: La Bodega Latina, Los Amigos International Market and Victory’s Grocery.

“We’re a small store, but we got stuff that Hannaford doesn’t have,” said Juan [Gonzalez]’s daughter, Jasmine. La Bodega Latina carries banana leaves, empanada skins, Jamaica flower drink concentrate, several varieties of chorizo, tamarind soda, and 21 varieties of beans (many of which you won’t find on the shelves at Hannaford or Shaw’s).

The January issue of The Bollard includes reminiscences of Portland Coffee Roasters by Elizabeth Peavey, a new installment in The Land of Forgotten Cocktails series and a breakfast review of Siano’s Pizzeria.

The Press Herald’s Meredith Goad has pulled together some hangover cures suggested by local restaurants.

Arlin Smith, the general manager at Hugo’s, discovered that if he added a perfectly poached egg, the Duckfat poutine makes an excellent hangover cure. The cure caught on, and now the whole staff swears by it.

“It fills your belly,” Smith said. “It’s got the grease that coats the lining of your stomach. It’s got the starches going. It’s perfect.”

The November issue of The Bollard is now out. It includes a breakfast review of Bibo’s Madd Apple Cafe, an essay by Elizabeth Peavey on the passing of restaurateur James Ledue, and another installment of bartender John Myers Land of the Forgotten Cocktail series.