It’s October and in case you haven’t noticed, fall is in the air! And one thing that comes with fall are fall cocktails! By now, you have to know that some of my favorite cocktails are at Sagamore Hill Lounge so when I heard they had a new fall menu, I had to go check it out.
There are 9 cocktails on the menu, but here’s just a little taste of a few of the ones I’ve tried so far. Spoiler alert: they are all delicious, so there is something there for everyone!
Dr. Fauci
When you’re gearing up to drink cocktails for most of the evening, you need to start smart. You can’t start too sweet or too spicy. So the Dr. Fauci was the perfect fall cocktail to begin with!
This cocktail is like a reddish orange color and let me tell you, it photographs beautifully! The aperol in this drink keeps it light and adds a little citrus flavor as well. Also, please note how gorgeous this drink is!
And yes, the name elevates it in my opinion as well. Truly genius and I bet Dr. Fauci would be honored to hear there’s a cocktail on the fall cocktails menu at Sagamore Hill Lounge named after him!
One Country
The next cocktail I tried was the One Country. This cocktail has a little bit more bite to it than the Dr. Fauci. Lots of citrus flavors here with the orange bitters and lime but it felt like a classic dessert cocktail, which if we’re being honest, dessert cocktails have been and always will be my favorite!
Brisket sandwich with broccoli cheddar soup
COVID-19 has been anything but ideal for businesses but if there is one good thing to come out of it, Sagamore Hill Lounge now has food. It’s damn good too! Look at that brisket sandwich.
It’s loaded with meat along with a ridiculously good Gorgonzola cheese that just melted perfectly. Yes, this is a messy sandwich to eat.
I probably went through at least four napkins while trying to eat it and then half the meat fell on my plate. Didn’t matter to me because it tasted amazing!
It also came with a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup that was creamy and well, kind of dreamy. I’m obsessed with broccoli cheddar soup, and this one was incredible.
I wouldn’t mind just having it on hand to eat on cold, rainy days by the bowlful. You haven’t lived til you’ve had the sandwich and the broccoli cheddar soup.
Now, the sandwich and soup appear to change weekly, but something tells me that any other sandwiches and soups will be just as tasty!
Putin’s Puppet
Raspberry lovers, this next one is for you! Seriously, fall cocktails be damned, this one could easily be on a summer menu and fit right in with no issues.
It’s a beautiful dark red color, almost that of a raspberry. It tasted like taking a bite out of a raspberry but in cocktail form. With bourbon and mint simple syrup, it was rich, elegant, and so very delicious.
Also, the name Putin’s Puppet might be another one of the best names ever for a drink. All I can picture is Vladimir Putin as a puppet on a string when I hear it.
But these names hopefully serve another purpose and remind people of the importance of voting in our upcoming election. This is probably one of the most important elections to ever happen, so not voting is pure stupidity.
Parliamentarian with a Fall For All cupcake
Out of all the fall cocktails available right now at Sagamore Hill Lounge that I’ve tried, the Parliamentarian is probably the most fall one. You’ve got plenty of fall flavors like apple, cinnamon, spiced cider plus Bacardi rum, and Winter Spice bitters and Sagamore Hill Lounge now has some delectable, tasty cupcakes that you can pair your cocktails with!
At the recommendation of my bartender, I paired the Parliamentarian with a Fall For All cupcake which was an apple pear spice cupcake with a maple bourbon buttercream. Talk about yum!
As you can imagine, the Parliamentarian and the Fall For All cupcake really do go perfectly together. If you get the opportunity to pair any of these cupcakes with a cocktail, do it. You won’t regret it! The baker of these cocktails is pretty new (Quick Brown Fox) but trust me, they are worth trying!
Fillibuster
The next cocktail was one that surprised me a bit as it wasn’t as sweet as I’m normally into. The Fillibuster cocktail has Whistlepig whiskey in it.
If you’re not familiar with it, Whistlepig is from Vermont and Sagamore Hill Lounge is one of the only places in Maine that has it. It’s an incredibly smooth and full-bodied whiskey, so you can imagine how perfectly balanced this cocktail was.
Not sweet, but unlike some whiskey cocktails, no burn. It was about as balanced as a cocktail can be and it went down a little too quickly. It was slightly sweet thanks to grenadine, pear nectar, and lemon.
You wouldn’t know it from the taste, but it also has vermouth in it. Look, this is why I’m not a mixologist or even a bartender. I couldn’t come up with a cocktail recipe if you paid me to. It’s just not my wheelhouse! But I love drinking other establishments amazing creations.
But Her Emails
Okay, if you already enjoy the cocktails at Sagamore Hill Lounge, you’ll know that this cocktail isn’t one of the fall cocktails. It’s an old favorite that they brought back because of its immense popularity.
I mean, what’s not to love about it? It’s a coffee brandy cocktail with vodka, espresso, agave simple syrup, chocolate bitters, and vanilla espresso foam on top.
It’s sweet but so rich as well. The chocolate and the espresso play off each other so well and don’t forget that there are chocolate shavings on top as well. Sweet, a little bitter, creamy, chocolatey…you can see why this is literally my favorite cocktail in Portland.
Yes, all of Portland. No surprise that a cocktail that’s this exquisite in taste is also stunning to look at. I’m normally not an espresso cocktail kind of person, but the cocktails at Sagamore Hill Lounge are so good I usually go with whatever the bartender or owner recommends.
I’ve yet to have a drink I don’t like here. I think that says a lot about the quality of the cocktails they serve and their dedication to providing their customers with an incredible experience, even in the midst of a pandemic.
Bonus: Sangria Pitcher
I stumbled onto this little gem when I saw it on Sagamore Hill’s Instagram back in August. I finally got to try it in September and oh boy, this is probably the best sangria in all of Portland.
Not kidding! If you saw my post about it on my own Instagram a few weeks back and wondered how you could get your hands on it, you’re in luck because it’s part of the fall menu as well. You won’t find it under cocktails but if you look under the wine, you’ll find the sangria by both the glass and the pitcher.
As you can see, I ordered the pitcher, but I love that it’s also available by the glass since sometimes you don’t always need a whole pitcher of sangria. Regardless of how you order it, you’re going to love it.
Whether you stop in on a weeknight after work or on the weekend to unwind, these fall cocktails are a must! As I’ve only tried half the menu, go try the rest of them and let me know how they are. Something tells me they are pretty incredible!
