About Columbine Quillen

I am the bar manager at the Blacksmith in downtown Bend, OR which keeps me busy. I create all the cocktails where we offer over 50 unique drinks at any moment. I also handcraft all of my syrups, tinctures, bitters, infusions, and cordials and change the list seasonally. On Friday and Saturday nights, the Blacksmith makes an impressive transformation from fine dining to upscale nightclub. I have also created a drink list for this genre of hipsters, which in many ways is a beastly challenge as the drinks need to be affordable, fast to mix, easy to drink, but still invigorating and interesting.  But my tactics have worked and since my takeover the bar is much more profitable and I have increased liquor sales by over 40%.

I am also Bend’s most popular bartender winning either best bartender or runner up the last four years in The Source.  This year Nightclub and Bar Magazine named me one of the four top bartenders in the country.  I also do a monthly cocktail class in conjunction with Crater Lake Vodka and I do a lot of public speaking about cocktail history.  I also one of a select few in the nation who can call oneself a Certified Spirits Specialist which involves an intense knowledge of all things liquor related.

I am also a freelance writer who writes about nightlife, bartending, cocktail history, and mixology.  My regular gig being a witty bi-weekly column for the independent rag. (You can read it on this blog under the category Cheers! A Witty Cocktail Column for the Source Weekly.)

I also am working on the Jerry Thomas Project.  The Jerry Thomas Project is based on the blog Julie and Julia.  Julie Powel decided to make every dish in Julia Child’s cookbook within one year in a tiny kitchen and blog about it.  I thought it would be interesting to remake every cocktail in Jerry Thomas’ Bar-Tenders Guide Receipts for Mixing, which is the first cocktail book published in the U.S.  I thought it would be easy, as I work in a very stocked bar and have the liberty to order whatever I might need.  However, thanks to over 100 years passing and prohibition, many of the ingredients are impossible to find and I’ve had to recreate bitters and tinctures not seen in over a century.  For those of you who don’t know much about Jerry Thomas, he was a dedicated mixologist who traveled the world before there were planes or cars.  He was a flashy dresser and traveled with a full set of sterling silver bar tools.  His real claim to fame was the Blue Blazer – a flaming cocktail that he would make using two metal cups – allowing the flame to create a fire rainbow between them.

Welcome!

Columbine Quillen C.S.S.