Time to take the Lounge Lizards to the farthest-most northeastern locale of the long-standing Around America series- Portland, Maine. Along the sun-splashed early summer wharf, there are plenty of seaside offerings to be had, from Boston clam chowder at Becky’s Dinner to chocolate-covered Maine blueberries at Old Port. All the tasty treats require a bit of liquid refreshment, so why not partake in some of the in-house libations at Liquid Riot Bottling.
Liquid Riot does it all. They brew beer. They distill spirits. They serve lobster bao buns. We came for bottles of their booze. Their catalog includes five types of whiskey, vodka, a couple of beer spirits, rum and fernet; we purchase bottles of the latter two. Their standard rum, Dow’s Demise, is named after Neal Dow, the mayor of Portland in the mid-1850s. Dow, known as the Napoleon of Temperance, instituted the Maine Law, which prohibited alcohol in the city. When the city got wind that Dow had purchased $1300 of liquor at City Hall for ‘medicinal purposes,’ the people rioted and the militia Dow called out killed a man. The Portland Rum Riot of 1855 ended Neal Dow’s political career, but gave both Liquid Riot and their rum, Dow’s Demise, their names.
The Dow’s Demise itself is a blend of small batch rums aged in oak whiskey barrels. It’s funky and sweet; any cocktail you would use a deep Jamaican rum like Smith & Cross in, would be excellent with Dow’s Demise. The house fernet, named Fernet Michaud after Liquid Riot’s proprietors Eric and Ian Michaud, is a blend of 21 botanicals which is aged half a year in Maine blueberry wine barrels. The resulting amaro is mint-forward with grassy bitterness and a sea salt back.
For a cocktail, we’ll go with a house special in the Resto-bar, the Rum Punch. The recipe is modified from its roots in that Liquid Riot eschews the typical orange juice and adds Benedictine. In addition, the sweetness and color of grenadine is replaced by cherry liqueur.
Establishment: Liquid Riot Resto-bar
Location: Portland, Maine
First Connoisseur: Holly
2 ounces Dow’s Demise Rum
1 ounce Benedictine
1 ounce cherry liqueur (Liquid Riot uses Rothman and Winter)
3 ounces pineapple juice
½ ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
Dash of Angostura bitters
If you don’t have Rothman and Winter cherry liqueur, Herring will work. Place all ingredients in a shaker full of ice. Shake until chilled and foamy. Serve over fresh ice in a Collins glass.
