In a couple of weeks, we're gonna fall back our calendars once again. But you don't have to let the darkest time of the year bring you all the way down. In fact, there are plenty of reasons to brave the rain and long nights this autumn and winter. Here are ten to get you started.
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10 Must-Drink Fall Cocktails in Portland

Andina
Sure, maybe boozy shakes aren’t the first thing you think of come fall and winter. But one look at Andina’s Batido de Lucuma and your eyes should start persuading your belly that it’s wrong. What’s in this eyeful of a cocktail? El Fundador brandy, Valdespino Jerez-Quina brown sherry, tres leches whipped cream, roasted peanuts, and the caramel-and-butterscoth notes of the tropical lucuma.[Andina]
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Aviary
Nobody can resist it when you fill a coupe glass with St. George Terroir gin, white grape shrub, caraway rye-infused Lillet, and Dolin Blanc. Aviary bar manager Kaysie Condron's An Inquisition is an unassuming but pleasingly perplexing cocktail. And when you have a drink named An Inquisition, nobody can resist making Monte Python jokes all night.[Carly Diaz]
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Basta's Trattoria & Bar
Let’s face it: Most of us are as sick of hearing about pumpkin-spiced anythings as we are of eating and drinking them. If that describes you, take a deep breath: bartender Aspen Pizzorno's Harvest Moon (Tito’s vodka, Calvados apple brandy, Aztec bitters, and a small dollop of pumpkin butter) may give you pause. Consider that 1.) not all pumpkin-spiced things are bad and 2.) yes, you probably will want another round once this one’s finished.
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Boke Bowl West
Two words: Fried Chicken. Yes, initially, Boke Bowl’s dim sum Bloody Mary is something of a stumper (those flummoxing flavors come from fennel dashi and baijiu, the Chinese rice liquor). But any Bloody salad that skewers a slice of fried chicken between some house-pickled vegetables makes that Bloody a keeper. [Kari Young]
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Gold Dust Meridian
The Gold Dust’s family bowl ain’t weak—it’s served with eight ounces of booze in what’s essentially a fishbowl atop a sturdy wine stem—and at $24 a pop, it ain’t cheap. But fleshed out with a variety of Odwalla juices and decorated to resemble an island complete with plastic monkeys, it sure is a charmer. Belly up and share one with your sweetheart, because ordering this 60-ounce sipper all for yourself is absolutely verboten.[Gold Dust Meridian (Facebook)]
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La Moule
When he first began putting together his cocktail menu for La Moule, the sexy new mussels and Belgian ales bar he shares with St. Jack’s Aaron Barnett, bartender Tommy Klus turned to his friend and La Moule bar manager Mark MacMinn to collaborate. The result is Lilah, a mysteriously seductive cocktail made with Fernando de Castilla Oloroso sherry and green chartreuse—two flavor profiles that Klus says get “bridged” thanks to a jiggerful of Heaven Hill Mellow Corn whiskey.[Tommy Klus]
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Pépé le Moko
As a cocktail, you don’t star for two years on a cocktail menu unless you’re drop-dead sexy. And sexy is exactly what Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s Grasshopper is. It’s made with vanilla ice cream, sea salt, crème de cacao and crème de menthe—the alcoholic beverage that played a starring role in Dalí’s “Aphrodisiac Dinner Jacket." It’s cool, silky, and plush, and Morgenthaler gets your blood flowing by adding a splash of Fernet Branca.[Dylan + Jeni]
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The Bent Brick
If you don’t like blue cheese, you can probably stop reading. To everyone else: Who doesn’t like blue cheese? Bartender Michelle Ruocco does. That’s why she’s infused her Krogstad aquavit with it—Maytag blue cheese, in fact. Then she takes that aquavit and stirs it together with Clear Creek pear brandy, honey, lemon, and a dash of toasted almond bitters. What results is essentially a drinkable version of a rustic farmhouse cheese board. Pair yours with something meaty for full-on meat-and-cheese-plate experience.
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Urban Farmer
The gang at Urban Farmer is a quick-draw when it comes to swapping out summer’s cocktail flavors for fall’s. To wit: Their Manzanita, a reposado and mezcal-dominated sipper. Lime juice, apple shrub, and a splash of cinnamon simple syrup tame the powerful spirits, but only just enough.[Drew Tyson]
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Victoria
Lisa Victoria Hare’s bar has only been open for a couple of months, and her inaugural cocktail menu lists 10 signature drinks, all named in reference to The Princess Bride movie. At the forefront is the smokey and mysterious Murdered by Pirates, in which two types of scotch (Bank Note and Laphroig) square off with dark rum and bitters.[Lisa Victoria Hare]
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