Saturday Spirits: Andina’s Cocktails

This past June I celebrated my ten year anniversary with my husband. We celebrated at Andina Restaurant in Portland, Oregon. In order to find the perfect party drinks we tested many of Andina’s cocktails to find the best ones!

When I landed on Andina as an option for hosting the event I instantly knew from previous experiences that it would give the fun vibe we wanted. In order to be completely sure it was the place to go we had to visit again with friends to taste as much of the food and drinks as we could! Between our visits and the party I finally have a list of my favorite cocktails from Portland’s Andina Restaurant.

Photos are by the amazing Mary Boyden Photography unless otherwise noted. Disclaimer note: This is not a sponsored post. I am a consumer of Andina and am sharing because I feel that it is awesome. I always share when I have a sponsored post and only share what I love. See my policies on sponsored posts for more information. 

Andina is a Peruvian restaurant that as founded in Portland, Oregon in 2003. My first visit was sometime in 2013. It was one of the nicest dates I had ever been on. We ate an amazing meal complete with cocktails and glasses of wine… but, I would be hard pressed to remember what we had that evening beyond the words delicious and engaging. The whole meal was an experience! It absolutely made a special place in my heart for Peruvian food which I believe lives up to the Andina mission.

“As a cultural ambassador, Andina’s mission is to prepare both a table and a feast around which all guests can gather and find the warmth and richness of the Peruvian spirit in its truest forms. The dishes and flavors carry stories of their own; as do the music and art. Above all, the staff at large convey what is most essential about Peru: its profound hospitality, a delight in sharing its stories, and pride in presenting food born out of love.” — from www.AndinaRestaurant.com 

 

The restaurant has beautiful spaces that can be rented for parties and events. Their Tupai room was perfect for our anniversary party! A catering menu was provided with ample choices and great selections… but, it had been so long since we had visited that we had no clue what we wanted to order!

We did a double date with a couple of our most adventurous friends with the plan to try as much on the menu— that also appeared on the catering menu— as we could. That night we tried multiple cocktails (in total, not each) to nail down a couple of signature drinks we wanted to offer at our party.

Andina’s head bartender, Eddie Johnson, actually tended bar at our party. During the party he was mixing up another cocktail that he was testing and I got to have one of the first ones. It was FANTASTIC— like, gin and watermelon fantastic. While I don’t know if that drink ever ended up on their menu I do know from trying that and trying a different Bartender’s Choice that you won’t go wronger ordering that option if you are dining in the restaurant.

What cocktails to order at Andina:

We had several favorite cocktails that we tried. However, the ones we decided to offer along with beers and wines ended up being:

• Pisco Sour — This drink was basically our “HIS” drink at the party. We loved that it was sweet and sour and not too much for the pallette. The egg whites made it frothy and wonderful.
  Andina’s Pisco Sour is made with Macchu Pisco pisco puro mixed with lime juice, sugar and egg whites. It is then served up, topped with a dash of bitters and a squeeze of key lime. This drink is perfect if you don’t want really strong flavors. It is delicious, but pretty mellow.
• Sacsayhamán— I fell in love with this drink the moment I tried it… but it was SPICY. I love me some spice so I easily sipped on this sweet and hot cocktail. When planning drinks for the party I kept coming back to this drink, but was unsure if it would be a crowd pleaser. I was told over and over again that this was actually their most popular drink. I just could see many of my party taking a sip and putting it down and ordering another drink due to the spice factor (which becomes expensive). However, I ended up choosing this drink when I heard the pronunciation— “Sexy Wooman.” Of course this had to be the “HERS” option! I am so glad I chose it. The guests loved it. I loved it. This drink is made by shaking habanero pepper vodka with pureed passionfruit and cane sugar. It is then served up with a sugar rim and cilantro leaf garnish.

We had chosen to do a his and hers option really just to streamline the bar process at the party. However, in finding the right drinks we tried several others. Here are some more favorites that were HIGH contenders:

• Horchata de Café— This almond-hazelnut horchata layered with shots of golden cinnamon rum and rich café de olla, served tall, dusted with powdered cinnamon was the perfect pair for our dessert.
• Ron-yki-on— This was a refreshing cocktail that had such a nice flavor profile… the cardamom-sugar rim paired perfectly with the grapefruit juice, ginger rum, and lime juice.

If you are taking a trip out to Andina I hope this list helps you find a new favorite cocktail! Still can’t decide? Bartender’s Choice is a great place to start! Looking for dinner while in Portland? Please let me suggest this fun experience with great drinks.

Have you been to Andina? If so, what drink was your favorite?