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• Hotel News – McMenamins to Open New Hotel in Downtown Portland
• Food & Wine – Portland Distillery Crazy for Absinthe

McMenamins Hotels, Pubs & Breweries — a Portland-based company with a penchant for rescuing, renovating and repurposing historic buildings — is working to transform a 1911 structure in downtown Portland into a full-service hotel. The new McMenamins’ property (as of yet unnamed) is scheduled to open in early 2009. Its triangular footprint will encompass 50 guest rooms, a restaurant offering breakfast, lunch, dinner and outdoor seating; a heated saltwater soaking pool; spa-like massage rooms; and the subterranean Cellar Bar, which will connect to McMenamins’ existing Ringlers Annex Pub next door. Through original artwork and historic photographs, McMenamins will commemorate the property’s evolution from pioneer residence to a tire shop along the city’s original Auto Row to a live jazz club to — most recently and significantly — part of Portland’s “gay triangle.”

In addition to adjoining Ringlers Annex, the new hotel is just one block from McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, a historic venue that has presented live national music acts since the 1920s, ranging from Rudolph Valentino to the Grateful Dead to Modest Mouse. With its location in Portland’s Burnside Triangle/West End district, the whimsically designed hotel will be adjacent to the Pearl District and a five-minute walk from Portland’s downtown city center. For updates on the hotel’s progress, visit www.mcmenamins.com.

Media Contact
Renee Rank, McMenamins Hotels, Pubs & Breweries
503.492.5457, reneer@ed.mcmenamin.com

Integrity Spirits, a Portland microdistillery, has become the first in Oregon — second in the United States — to bottle and sell absinthe, a long-illegal liqueur rumored to drive drinkers to madness. Nicknamed the “green fairy” because of its emerald green color (caused by wormwood, a key ingredient), absinthe was outlawed in the United States in 1912, arising from unfounded fears that it caused hallucinations, insanity and depravity. When the ban on absinthe production was lifted last year, Integrity Spirits’ owners, Kieran Sienkiewicz and Rich Phillips, began perfecting a recipe for the licorice-flavored concoction. Their 120-proof Trillium Absinthe Superieure, named for the Northwest’s elusive spring wildflower, is now available in Oregon liquor stores and at select bars and restaurants.

Integrity Spirits also produces vodka and gin; its Lovejoy Hazelnut Vodka is flavored with roasted Oregon hazelnuts. Integrity shares space with the environmentally friendly Green Dragon Bistro & Brewpub on southeast Portland’s “Distillery Row” (home to four microdistilleries and a number of brewpubs). The sharing of resources lessens both companies’ ecological impact. Integrity gives tours by appointment; its new tasting room will open this fall.

Integrity Spirits, 909 S.E. Yamhill St., Portland, Ore.; 503.517.2030; www.integrityspirits.com

Media Contact
Rich Phillips, Integrity Spirits
503.729.9794, media@integrityspirits.com