Cooper's Creative Cocktails

03/01/2024

Help me get back up to at least 5th by tomorrow night so i can advance to the next round! Please, if you see this, vote! Thanks so much!

Vote for Christopher Cooper to win $10k and be featured on the cover of Bartender Magazine!

30/12/2023

Good morning, all! I made the top ten in my group. But I’ve slipped back to 7th again. For the next five days it’s voting for the top five in each group. After that it’s voting for the top one in each group and then a series of finals. This thing doesn’t conclude until February.

But, for now, please just help me make the top five! And, again, if you donate to the Kind Campaign, not only are you helping a great cause, but you’re giving me even more votes!

Vote for Christopher Cooper to win $10k and be featured on the cover of Bartender Magazine!

28/12/2023

Hello friends! I keep forgetting to post this and I’ve slipped back to 8th again! 😩

I’ve gotta stay in the top 10 to advance tonight.

Vote like the wind!

Vote for Christopher Cooper to win $10k and be featured on the cover of Bartender Magazine!

10/12/2022

Private event tonight. Drinks, in order of photo:

&J Grand Blue Brandy with Spiced Fig Shrub and soda water, garnished with the leftover figs and pickled orange peel

Butterfly Pea Flower-Infused Vodka with , lemon juice, and sugar, garnishes with dried butterfly pea flower

Wet Martini with olive juice and roasted red pepper juice “caviars”

with barrel-aged and chocolate bitters, garnished with dehydrated orange wheel

15/11/2022

Been a while since I’ve posted anything from this page.

I was wondering, as I’ll be having more free time soon, how many people might be interested in me bringing back my live online cocktail tutorials.

Let me know in the comments what types of liquor, cocktails, garnishes, etc you’d like to see tutorials on!

08/01/2021

Please help if you can. ♥️

Friends, family, community members, we seek your assistance. Let us introduce … Christopher Cooper needs your support for Help Us Open Catch 22 Fish & Chips

14/10/2020

Hey, everyone!

In case you weren’t aware, Chris at Cooper’s Creative C**ktails is also a licensed wedding officiant with a theater background who loves to ham it up a bit! If you have a themed** wedding coming up, give us a call! He can officiate, bartend, or BOTH!

This photo was shot on the banks of the Umpqua River at Ferraro Vineyards for a recent medieval-themed wedding. And, yes, he did the “Mawwiage” bit from Princess Bride. 😂

Give us a call today!

**can also do boring, normal weddings, too!

13/08/2020

Hey, everyone!

Just wanted to remind you all that Cooper’s Creative C**ktails is hireable for your weddings, birthdays, or any other private special events!

Also, if you need an officiant for your wedding, we can take care of that, too!

Call, email, or message us today for details!

05/08/2020

***ATTENTION***

Hello, my lovelies!

So, for those of you who didn’t catch the news, CRAFT 22 has temporarily shut down to sit down dining until current occupancy restrictions are lifted and people start, generally, feeling more comfortable going out to eat.

So, while we’re down, we’ll be doing catering and pop-up events like wine dinners and tasting brunches! And I’ll also hirable as a private event bartender as I always am.

I will also be concentrating more on this page and restarting my live cocktail tutorial series.

Which brings me to this poll. Please let me know, by voting, what you’d be most interested in! I’m going to try to restart this next week!

Facebook won’t allow an actual poll anymore (weird flex, but ok), so just vote by reaction emoji!

“Like” = Continue with what I was doing before, but step it up a notch and do more intermediate cocktails with more specialized ingredients.

“Love” = Continue with what I was doing before, but don’t change a thing. Just do another “Three Easy” series with different cocktails.

“Care” = Do more obscure classic cocktails that I find in old timey bartending books.

“Haha” = Do another whiskey (or gin or rum or whatever) tasting where we all go grab the same bottle and then have a live, interactive tasting over Zoom.

“Wow” = Do a series on modern “craft” cocktails where I just create new stuff and show you how to make it and also feature some of my originals from over the years as well as other cocktails from amazing modern bartenders.

“Sad” = Do a series on how to make homemade mixers, cool garnishes, smoked ice, and the perfect diamond-clear ice cubes at home.

“Angry” = Just stop doing everything because y’all are super bored with me.

Thanks again for all your support! Love you guys! Cheers! 🥃

19/07/2020

Our small but ever-expanding liquor collection, featuring local Oregon favorites and essential items from around the world! Come on down and talk with Christopher G. Cooper, our Bar Manager and Spirit Guide and let him entice you with with a craft cocktail or, perhaps, a generous pour of whisk(e)y!

19/07/2020

10/07/2020

A few of my creations for .

with a pint of .

featuring Crater Lake Spirits Gin and my own .

clarified in the style of a

smokey, sweet, sour, and spicy!

glass smoked with mesquite chips and Buffalo Trace Bourbon as the base, with a little and bitters, orange peel, and a

with Suntory ROKU GIN, , , and a little raw sugar syrup, garnished with

04/06/2020

Cat’s out of the bag! CRAFT 22 and Cooper's Creative C**ktails are joining forces!

Did we mention when we open next week for regular dine in we will ALSO be offering custom Craft22 cocktails by Christopher Cooper a local famous spirits guide we would follow to any bar and back. We can’t wait to see you all Friday!

30/05/2020

Hey, quarantiners!

Today we’re making Shrub! A fruity sweet and sour mixer that is infinitely customizable and can be mixed with any spirit, or even, simply, water or soda water for a delicious beverage!

Have fun, play along, and if at any point you feel inclined to “tip your bartender”, use the links below. Thanks for tuning in!

PayPal: PayPal.me/christophergcooper

Venmo: -Cooper-134

27/05/2020

Hey, quarantiners! Well, maybe some of you have gone back to work as I have. I’ll have to come up with a new greeting.

Anyway, this Friday is on! Apologies for the late post.

This week we are going to do something a little different. Instead of making cocktails, we’re going to make a mixer!

In recent years I’ve become enamored by a drink/mixer called “shrub”, AKA “drinking vinegar”. In its very basic form, shrub consists of equal parts fruit, water, sugar, and vinegar. Any and all of those parts (well, besides the water) can be changed up to your specific tastes! And you can also add other things to the mix, like herbs, spices, spicy (or sweet) peppers, etc. The list is only limited to your imagination!

Shrub is an awesome mixer and will go with pretty much any spirit. You can also drink it with just a little soda water for a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage!

Shopping List:

•Choose your fruit! Pick something fresh and in season, or head to the frozen section and get a bag of something not necessarily in season. Either one will work fine. Apples, pears, peaches, mangos, berries, cherries, citrus fruits, whatever!

•Choose your vinegar! Apple cider vin, champagne vin, plain white vin, red wine vin, etc. Just try and choose one that you think would fit the flavor profile you’re going for with the fruit you choose. You can even use multiple vinegars to achieve your desired taste.

•Choose your sugar! White, brown, Demerara, turninado, etc. You can certainly use agave or honey as well.

•Choose your water! Just kidding. Use whatever water you have as long as it’s not dirty.

•Choose your add-ons! Other flavors will give your shrub more depth and character. You can toss in things like thinly sliced fresh ginger, sweet or hot peppers, fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil, mint, etc), whole spices (think black peppercorns, cumin seed, whole cloves, star anise, etc), sweet veggies like carrots or beets, etc!

•You will need something to cut and smash the fruit with. A good knife and a potato masher will work great. If you choose to use things like carrots or ginger in your shrub, just slice them real thin.

•You will also need something to strain the mixture with. Although, you won’t need that on Friday as you will need to let the mixture sit for a couple days before straining and bottling. But cheesecloth will be your best bet as it’s not metal.

Gather your ingredients and a large non-reactive, sealable container (basically, anything that isn’t metal) and join me this Friday at 6pm. You can also use a few smaller containers like mason jars if you don’t have a big one.

Also, remember the 1:1:1:1 ratio. You can make a small batch or a huge batch, that’s your call. Also, make sure you have more containers to store the shrub in when you’re finished, like flip top bottles, beer growlers, more mason jars, etc.

I’ll post the event here in a moment with the Zoom link if you choose to use that format.

20/05/2020

***EDIT: Sorry for the confusion, but I think there was a misunderstanding with my work. I will be having to work on Sunday the 31st, so we WIILL continue with Fridays (I hope?). Haha. Next tutorial will be on Friday, 5/29. See you then!***

Hey, y’all! Well, I’m back to work full time and will have have to change the day/time of my cocktail tutorials. I’m actually going to take this week off, but I think we shall reconvene, live, again on Sunday, May 31st, at 6pm. And we will continue with Sundays for a while and see what happens. Skipping this week will also allow me time to get my second series in order and maybe not play it so off the cuff from week to week.

Big thanks to everyone who’s been watching, playing along, and being super generous. You kept me from going completely insane during quarantine!

See you all soon! Cheers! 🥃 🍸 🍹 🥂

16/05/2020

Hey, whiskey fans! Today we’re sampling Early Times Bottled In Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey!

Have fun, play along and if at any point you feel like “tipping your host” feel free to use the following:

PayPal: paypal.me/christophergcooper
Venmo: -Cooper-134

Thank you! Cheers! 🥃

13/05/2020

Howdy, Quarantiners!

We’re doing something a little different this week! Since we finished my first cocktail series last week and I haven’t quite decided on my next series, I’m going to host a whiskey tasting!

I don’t know how this is going to work for Facebook Live, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Zoom will be more appropriate because I want this to be very interactive. Not just a me talking at you for 30-40 mins, but all of us tasting the same bottle and talking about it with each other!

I’ll post a tasting sheet to the event when I create it later this evening that you can all download and print out. It’s not mandatory, but it’s just a fun way to make notes and remember what you tasted later.

So, without further adieu, here is the bottle we’re going to taste!

*Early Times Bottled In Bond* (pic below)

If you’re in Oregon, this link will tell you every liquor store in the state you can purchase a bottle! If you’re in Roseburg, there are a couple at Garden Valley Liquor, and more at Umpqua Valley Liquor Outlet. If you’re in other states, good luck. I have no way of searching that. Maybe you know how? Oregon has this neat website you can look up, in almost real time, any booze and where you can find it anywhere in the state!

http://www.oregonliquorsearch.com/product_details.jsp?productRowNum=3&rowCount=71&column=City&pageCurrent=1&pageCount=8&itemDisplay=4428A

Now, fear not! If you’ve had the regular Early Times, you know it’s garbage. This Bottled In Bond version is a whole different animal. Just be sure to get this one! It’s one of my very favorite inexpensive “diamonds in the rough”. It’s cheap and astonishingly tasty for the price.

If you don’t have a Glencairn glass (or other proper tasting/nosing glass), a small brandy snifter, small wine tasting glass, or even a champagne flute will work. You just really need a small glass that tapers toward the top so as to direct the vapors directly into your nose.

Stay tuned for the event posting! We will all meet at the same time, Friday at 6pm! See you then!

09/05/2020

Thanks everyone for joining in! Today we’re making “Four (or rather, five) Easy Champagne C**ktails”!

The Champagne C**ktail
The Death In The Afternoon
The Black Velvet
The Bellini
And the French 75

Join in, have fun, and if at any point, you feel inclined to tip your bartender, your generosity will be greatly appreciated. ♥️🥃🍸 Cheers

PayPal: paypal.me/christophergcooper
Venmo: -Cooper-134

Follow Cooper’s Creative C**ktails on Facebook and Instagram:
**ktails

08/05/2020

**ktail by . Or is that a ? I don’t even care. I’m right now.

05/05/2020

Bonjour/Ciao/Hola/Hello, Quarantiners!

Okay, I was going to do Scotch cocktails this week, but because so many of them are just riffs on other bourbon, rye, etc, cocktails, and the ones that really shine consist of additional liquors, I'm going to save them for my next round of "Intermediate C**ktails" when I get to that point.

This week I'm going to do "Four Easy Champagne C**ktails". Yes, I'm just saying "four" now because I've been doing "bonus" cocktails like three weeks in a row and I'm just going to admit the fact that I, personally, prefer more cocktails than less cocktails and I'm sure you do, too. Right? Right!

The Champagne C**ktail
The Death In The Afternoon
The Champagne Velvet
And the Bellini

Shopping list for this week:

* Bottle of Champagne, Prosecco, or Cava (Ok, first and foremost, don't get crazy. We're not mixing any Dom here. Just get a decent mixing bubbly for around $10-$15. We have other ingredients to buy!)

* Bottle of Absinthe (Ok, don't be scared. I mean, I you can if you want to be. I know the taste licorice/anise doesn't jive well with some people. If you're one of those people, feel free to sit this one particular cocktail out. Alternately, if you DO like that flavor and DO want to do this cocktail, don't worry, i'm going to do a whole episode on cocktails with absinthe at a later date so you'll have a reason to use it later. Now, for absinthe, I like St George Spirits from California. It was the first legal absinthe made in the US once the ban was lifted in 2007 and is absolutely authentic stuff. If, for some reason, you're in a place with a liquor store that doesn't carry any absinthe, you CAN substitute Pernod. But it won't be the same.)

* Bottle of gin (for authenticity of the cocktail, I recommend a London Dry. If you have some gin left over from a few weeks ago, great. If you need more, great! Get what you like. I may go against my own recommendation and support something local. Like maybe Swallowtail Spirits!)

* Bottle of stout beer (I would stay away from flavored stouts on this one, but again, do what you want. Personally, I'm probably just going to go with something local to Roseburg. Lots to choose from here!)

* Lump sugar (You can do just plain white sugar cubes, but I prefer the raw lump sugar. Just try not to use loose sugar.)

* Bottle of Angostura Bitters (If you've been following these tutorials, I'm sure you already have one.)

* Peach puree (If you can find a brand called Perfect Puree, they're fantastic. But, they're generally difficult to find in stores. If you can find bags of frozen fruit in your market, hopefully they'll have peaches. I know they do at my home market. Blend those suckers up! And, if all else fails, you can get by with peach nectar from brands like Kern's or Jumex.)

As for food pairings:

* Charcuterie plate.
* Cheese plate.
* Mussels sautéed in butter, white wine, chili peppers, and maybe a little Spanish chorizo.
* Oysters on the half shell (raw, of course, with tangy mignonette and some lemon.)
* Dungeness crab with butter.
* Pasta with a nice garlic butter cream sauce (and maybe some clams or shrimp!)
* Just a stick of butter.......(j/k).
* Fried or roasted chicken.
* Steak with shaved white truffle.
* Fruits. Pretty much any of them. Even dipped in chocolate. ESPECIALLY dipped in chocolate.
* Shortbread cookies.
* Salty potato chips or fries. (Seriously!)
* Dark chocolate.

Definitely pick up your stuff from Sherm's Markets and Garden Valley Liquor if you’re in the Roseburg area.

As always I'll be live on both Facebook live and Zoom. Zoomers will find the link in the event once I post that.

I will see you on Friday! Cheers!

02/05/2020

Thanks everyone for joining in! Today we’re making “Three Easy Vodka C**ktails”!

The Kamikaze
The Cosmopolitan
And Moscow Mule

I’m also throwing in a bonus fourth cocktail, the White Russian.

Join in, have fun, and if at any point, you feel inclined to tip your bartender, your generosity will be greatly appreciated. ♥️🥃🍸 Cheers

PayPal: paypal.me/christophergcooper
Venmo: -Cooper-134

Follow Cooper’s Creative C**ktails on Facebook and Instagram:
**ktails

28/04/2020

ПРИВЕТ, Quarantiners!

Okay, after much deliberation and convincing from my very lovely producer/wife, I've decided NOT to skip over vodka for my tutorials.

I have not changed my opinion on vodka (I still think it's for Poles, Russians, and college girls....😉), but, for posterity, we will make "Three Easy Vodka C**ktails" this week.

The Cosmopolitan
The Kamikaze
and The Moscow Mule

And, for S&G's, why not throw in another bonus cocktail? Let's make The Dude proud and do The White Russian.

This week's shopping list:

* Bottle of vodka (Stay away from "mainstream" brands like Stoli, Absolut, Grey Goose, etc. Garbage! My recommendations would be Reyka (from Iceland), Haku (from Japan), St. George (from California), or Medoyeff (from Portland). And for the love of all things holy, don't worry about gluten in your vodka. It's not a thing. Gluten proteins DO NOT make it though the distillation process!! **See reference below** )
* Bottle of orange liqueur (if you have some left over from last week, super! If not, get some Cointreau, Gran Gala, or Harlequin. Just stay away from cheap the Triple Secs.)
* Bottle Kahlua (if you wanna do all four cocktails. You can get a 375ml bottle if you don't want the 750ml.)
* 3-4 limes (at least 3 for juicing and one for garnishes.)
* Cranberry juice (Generally, for cocktails, your typical "cranberry juice cocktail", which is a blend of cranberry and other sweeter juices, is what's used. We won't need much, so get a small bottle unless you really like cranberry juice.)
* Ginger Beer (This is the fancier, spicier version of ginger ale. Lots of choices out there. C**k n' Bull is the original for the Mule, but I personally prefer Fever Tree.)
* Half & Half (Or a non-dairy alternative. As with the Kahlua, only if you want to do all four cocktails.)

As for food pairings.....yeah.....I mean....if we were sipping straight vodka I'd say go for some nice borscht or pierogis, but each of these cocktails end up with their own very different flavor profiles. So, eat what you want! You can almost never go wrong with a nice charcuterie, pickled veggies, and cheese plate!

As always, if you're in Roseburg, get your ingredients at Sherm's Markets and Garden Valley Liquor!

Join in here on Facebook live or on Zoom (link will be provided in the facebook event).

See you all on Friday!

**https://nationalceliac.org/celiac-disease-questions/is-alcohol-made-from-grain-safe-for-celiacs/

26/04/2020

Damn, son! Best pasta we’ve had in a while! Smoked Duck Breast Carbonara with some Zuppa Toscana and a Spring Linguini with a super fresh salad! Nathan Radford and Co are killing it at CRAFT 22. This is some take out heaven! Thanks for dinner, guys! ♥️🍝🍽
Fresh pasta noodles made by Local Fixe.

25/04/2020

Thanks, everyone, for another super fun live tutorial last night! See you all again next Friday! If you know anyone who’d like to join in on future happy hours and/or watch the previous tutorials, send them over and have them give us a like!

24/04/2020

Thanks everyone for joining in! Today we’re making “Three Easy Tequila C**ktails”!

The Margarita
The Paloma
And the Mexican Firing Squad

I’m also throwing in a bonus fourth cocktail, the Tequila Daisy

Join in, have fun, and if at any point, you feel inclined to tip your bartender, your generosity will be greatly appreciated. ♥️🥃🍸 Cheers

PayPal: paypal.me/christophergcooper
Venmo: -Cooper-134

Follow Cooper’s Creative C**ktails on Facebook and Instagram:
**ktails

21/04/2020

Hola, quarantiners!

Apologies for being a day late, but here is the topic and ingredient list for this Friday!

This week we are going south of the border and mixing up "Three Easy Tequila C**ktails"!

Now, because tequila didn't really start to surface in the US until WWII due to a decline in availability of other spirits from Europe, it doesn't have a long list of classic cocktails that include it. Tequila cocktails didn't start gaining in popularity until the 1970's, save for the Margarita which did come out just prior WWII.

The three cocktails we will be making this week are:

The Margarita
The Paloma
The Mexican Firing Squad

And, for fun, I'm going to add in a fourth cocktail, because it ties in really nice with the history.....

The Tequila Daisy

As, always, I will be delving into the history of tequila (as well as mezcal) and these cocktails.

C**ktail Ingredient List:

* Bottle of Tequila (Blanco or Reposado. If you wanna keep it affordable, I really like Espolon or Olmeca Altos for an under $30 bottle. You can go as expensive as you like, just stay away from Patron. That crap is WAY overrated).
* Bottle of orange liqueur (Trip Sec, Cointreau, Gran Marnier, etc. I like a brand called Harlequin. It's like a cheap Gran Marnier).
* 3-4 limes (we'll need about 3 oz of fresh squeezed lime juice, plus and extra lime for garnishing).
* 1 grapefruit.
* 1-2 lemons (need one for juice and one for garnish).
* Simple syrup (1:1 sugar and water).
* Grenadine (you can buy Rose's but it's just HFCS and food coloring. GROSS! Or, you can make your own (**recipe below)).
* Angostura bitters.
* Soda water.
* Kosher salt on a plate or in a bowl (for ri***ng glasses)

And, as far as food parings, well......rather than make a long list for you, just make whatever Mexican or Tex-Mex dish you like the most! I'm probably gonna go with fish tacos!

Te veo el viernes!

As usual, you can join in here on Facebook Live or on Zoom!
For Zoom, join URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/76630483076

**Recipe for homemade grenadine!

1 cup POM (or other UNSWEETENED pomegranate juice)
1 cup granulated sugar (I use raw sugar)
1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice

Heat the pomegranate juice on medium heat until it just starts to steam and bubbles start to appear. DO NOT BOIL. Remove from heat and stir in sugar until it has completed dissolved. Stir in lemon juice and let cool to room temperature before transferring to container with a tight-fitting lid. Will keep in refrigerator for about a month.

17/04/2020

Thanks everyone for joining in! Today we’re making “Three Easy Rum C**ktails”!

The refreshing Mojito
The classic Daiquiri
And tropical Pina Colada

Join in, have fun, and if at any point, you feel inclined to tip your bartender, your generosity will be greatly appreciated. ♥️🥃🍸 Cheers

PayPal: paypal.me/christophergcooper
Venmo: -Cooper-134

Follow Cooper’s Creative C**ktails on Facebook and Instagram:
**ktails

13/04/2020

Happy, Monday, fellow drinkers!

Once again, thank you all SO MUCH for all the support you've shown these tutorials I'm doing. And, apologies, again, for the technical difficulties. My wonderful wife, Kristin, is taking the reins as my producer and will handle all the technical stuff. We will post the Zoom link to this post and the event later this week.

For this Friday, 4/17/20, we will be continuing the "Three Easy...." series with:

"Three Easy Rum C**ktails"

The classic Daiquiri
The refreshing Mojito
and the tropical Piña Colada

Now, besides vodka, rum is easily my least favorite of the usual suspect liquors. For me, it's gotta be situational. For instance, when my wife and I honeymooned in Belize, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting some locally made rum. And we drank A LOT of it. And it was great. But, it's generally not what I typically reach for for a daily drinking spirit.

That said, it can be used to make a myriad of fantastic cocktails. I sometimes even like to make an "Old Fashioned" by substituting a nice barrel-aged rum.

I highly recommend throwing on a Hawaiian shirt and joining me this Friday at 6pm!

Here is the ingredient list for the cocktails:

*Bottle of white/silver rum (Flor de Caña is the lowest I'd go and is a great mixer. Mt. Gay is better. Bacardi will work if you have to, but I think it's over rated. If you want to try local, Below Deck by Eastside Distilling is great, as is Stillwagon from the Oregon Coast.)
*Fresh squeezed lime juice (and a whole lime for garnishing.)
*Simple syrup
*Soda water
*Pineapple juice
*Pineapple (for garnish, either fresh cut or canned)
*Coconut cream (you can get something like Coco Real or Coco Lopez, but I actually just prefer canned simple coconut milk with the cream on top.)
*Fresh mint (mint should be raging in people's gardens right now, so use what you have or can get from a friend. Otherwise, you can get it from the grocery store.)
*C**ktail cherries (for garnishing. Totally optional, but if you have some left from a couple weeks ago, great!)

If you want to pair some snacks or dinner with your cocktails, here is a list of awesome dishes to prepare that will go great with rum:

Shrimp/Prawns
Fish tacos
Fajitas
Ceviche
Fried chicken
Jerk chicken
Chicken Satay
BBQ Brisket or pulled pork
Kahlua Pork
Cuban sandwich
Grilled pineapple
Sweet fried plantains
Chocolate
Banana or coconut cream pie

See you Friday! Stay buzzed, y'all!

For those who choose to Zoom, we got it figured out!
Join URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/76630483076