Alfredo Climaco, owner of the new Latin American cocktail Tropicale, has died of coronavirus-related complications. Climaco just opened Tropicale, its first brick-and-mortar bar, last year. He was 32.
Climaco was born and bred in Puebla, Mexico, where he developed a love of bar and service. In an August conversation, he recalls memories of drinking piña coladas from hollowed-out pineapples as a teenager, which became one of his hallmarks as a bar owner and bartender. He started working at a nightclub at 17, where he learned the basics of bar work. “I fell in love with certain aspects of the service industry,” he said in August. “I like how rewarding it is to make people feel happy.”
He moved to the United States in 2010 in the hope of one day owning his own business. He went through business classes at Portland Community College and eventually started making non-alcoholic piña coladas, served in pineapples, at outdoor events such as the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. The success of his pop-ups gave him the motivation to open Tropicale in the summer of 2020 with restaurateur Matt Lynch.
The bar in the Ocean Building on NE Glisan quickly became a hotspot. People were drawn to Climaco’s warmth and its lively drinks, from margaritas inspired by Pueblan dishes to frozen drinks tossed from the mixers. Tables strewn across the outdoor patio are filled on weekend evenings, and sometimes people dance on the rocks of the patio outside the bar. Climaco began work on a takeaway cocktail menu in December, and is looking forward to the opportunity to hire back some of its employees. “I’m not trying to make a profit now, I’m just trying to break even,” he said in December. “In the freezing point, it hurt my heart to just say to people, ‘Okay, you can not work.’ ‘
For those who knew him, Climaco was considered deceptive, incredibly hardworking and kind-hearted. His family and colleagues arranged a GoFundMe to cover his funeral and medical expenses; too much funds go to the Portland Mercado, which Climaco supported when he started his business. Tropicale will be closed today, and probably the rest of the week if family and colleagues are sad.
• In memory of Alfredo Climaco [GFM]
• There’s a new place to drink Piña Coladas from hollowed out pineapples [EPDX]
• For some Portland pub owners, To-Go Cocktail legislation feels too little, too late [EPDX]