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Shaken, not stirred

We just had a very long duration earthquake here in San Francisco, and I instinctively ran to the liquor cabinet to protect anything from falling out.

Sad, but true.

Labels: funny

Not Finnished Yet

Yesterday I went to Finnishing School, an event put on by Finlandia vodka lead by Dale De Groff and Tony Abou Ganim. They do this program around the country every now and then, but this was my first time attending. For those of us aware that fresh ingredients are important in cocktails it wasn't a huge awakening, but I did pick up a few tidbits of information- to keep a bunch of mint fresh, store it upside down in a bucket of cold water, canned lychees are easier to work with and not much worse tasting than fresh ones, and a "gummy" feeling in the mouth is an indicator of glycerin in your vodka.

Speaking of picking up things and tasting glycerin, I picked up a prize for identifying the most vodkas in a blind taste test. I (and four other people) picked four out of six vodkas correctly. We knew what the brands were and had to match the tasting sample with the brand. I was really gunning to get them all, but didn't feel as bad when I learned that only six people in the entire history of the Finnishing School have ever identified them all. Next time...

For me the creaminess of Absolut and the charcoal of Kettle One were easy stand-outs for my palate, it was clear they were pushing Finlandia as the sample that tasted the most like nothing, and I got the Grey Goose solely by the process of elimination. (I am ashamed to admit that I mixed up Skyy and Stoli, two brands I've probably had more of than the rest!)

In any case, it was a fun event and every bit of confirmation that I'm not a complete phony helps drown out the voices of doubt. Also, so does the vodka.

Labels: events, SanFrancisco, tastingnotes, vodka

Halloween drinks in SF

By me, in Friday's SF Chronicle:

A few bars and restaurants around San Francisco are putting extra effort into making your Halloween more spirited with cocktail specials.

Luna Park is serving the Dr. Moreau's Island, a rum punch poured into a bowl with dry ice for the fog machine effect. 694 Valencia St. (near 18th Street), S.F; (415) 553-8584, lunaparksf.com.

Another rum bar, Forbidden Island in Alameda, is serving two drinks without rum for the night: the Hawaiian Hemoglobin, a blood-red hibiscus liqueur and sparkling wine drink, and the Hellfire with mango, tamarind, Hangar One chipotle vodka, and cayenne pepper. 1304 Lincoln Ave. (at Sherman), Alameda; (510) 749-0332, forbiddenislandalameda.com.

At Rye, bartenders are conjuring up three cocktails for All Hallow's Eve: the Bela Mumosi (similar to a mimosa), the Karloff's Cauldron with pumpkin puree and ginger flavors, and the Bloody Scary, which is a riff on the Bloody Mary. 688 Geary St. (at Leavenworth), San Francisco; (415) 474-4448.

Teatro ZinZanni is performing a special macabre ball event with the drinks made with Blavod black vodka. Pier 29, Embarcadero at Battery Street; (415) 438-2668, zinzanni.org.

And whatever costume you're wearing this year, don't forget to cut a hole in the mask for the straw.

Labels: camper_clips, events, SanFrancisco

I.O.U.

...several blog posts, including:

-A trip to Barbados with Mount Gay Rum, or, Quest for Falernum

-Molecular mixology seminar in San Francisco, or, Chemistry for Drunks

-Dinner with Joy Spence of Appleton rum, or, the Master Blender who has her own handler to keep her from giving away all the booze

-WhiskyFest San Francisco report, or, I don't know yet because I'm about to go there

Watch this space for exciting updates, or, this is a blog post about not posting

Labels: travel, writing_life

Smells like 'tini syrup

By me, in Friday's SF Chronicle:

For the past few years, cocktail consultant Jacques Bezuidenhout has been sneaking maple syrup into the drinks he invents for the Starlight Room and special events, and perhaps it's finally caught on, because now we see it on several menus about town.

At Bar Drake, downstairs from the Starlight Room, Bezuidenhout put maple syrup in the lobby bar's signature cocktail: the Bar Drake Manhattan. It contains Woodford Reserve bourbon, Port, Angostura bitters and maple syrup. 450 Powell St. (at Sutter), San Francisco; (415) 392-7755, Ext. 226, bardrake.com.

Across town at the Presidio Social Club, you'll find the breakfast ingredient in the Pays d'Auge Cocktail, along with Calvados and citrus. 563 Ruger St.(near the Presidio's Lombard Gate), San Francisco; (415) 885-1888, presidiosocialclub.com.

Maple syrup is an unexpected ingredient in any drink, let alone drinks at a tiki bar, but Forbidden Island in Alameda has added it to the fall drink menu. The Dead Reckoning also pairs maple syrup with Port, along with 12-year-old Cockspur rum, Navan vanilla liqueur and fresh citrus. 1304 Lincoln Ave. (at Sherman), Alameda; (510) 749-0332, forbiddenislandalameda.com.

And at the new Bar Johnny in Russian Hill, they make no secret of the syrup in the Bourbon and Maple. It includes those two ingredients, along with the nutty liqueur Nocino Della Cristina and Angostura bitters. Does anyone else want pie? 2209 Polk St. (at Vallejo), San Francisco; (415) 268-0140.

Labels: bars, cocktails, SanFrancisco, trends

WhiskyFest listing

Okay, last post about WhiskyFest until I go there: Here is the mention of the event in Friday's SF Chronicle:

Lessons in whisky Malt Advocate magazine's WhiskyFest, which has been running annually for years in New York and Chicago, makes its debut in San Francisco on Tuesday. It's a one-stop whisk(e)y workshop, with lectures, tastings of more than 250 Scotch, Irish, Canadian, Japanese, and American whiskeys, and food to keep you from getting overwhelmed by it all. Some of the special guests and/or speakers this year are Jimmy Bedford, master distiller at Jack Daniel's, Fred Noe, Jim Beam's great grandson, and John Campbell, distillery manager at Laphroaig. New whiskeys available for tasting include Benromach Organic Scotch, additional Glenmorangie finishes, and the Buffalo Trace 2007 Antique Collection. The event runs from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency, 5 Embarcadero Center, in San Francisco. Tickets cost $105; to register in advance and for information, call (800) 610-6258 or visit maltadvocate.com.

Labels: camper_clips, events, SanFrancisco, whisky

Lost ingredients

Here's my big fat lost ingredients cover story in today's SF Chronicle Wine Section.

Resurrecting spirits Camper English, Special to The Chronicle Friday, October 19, 2007

Last year, Erik Ellestad, a cocktail aficionado and systems administrator at UCSF, decided to drink his way through a classic recipe book.

Though he initially considered "The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book," he found a cocktail every couple pages that required an obscure or unavailable ingredient, so he chose the easier-seeming "Savoy Cocktail Book" from 1930. On his path to making the book's 750 drinks, he hit his first snag at the second recipe: The namesake spirit in the absinthe cocktail had been banned in the United States since 1912.

"I tried a couple of substitutes (including pastis) that were not very satisfying. Then I received a bonus from work ... so I decided to order some absinthe from London."

Ellestad has plenty of company: Historically accurate cocktails are a growing trend extending from the classic cocktail craze, with an emphasis on finding and tasting the first-known version of a drink. Such cocktails can be a challenge to re-create. Drink recipes from 100 or more years ago require some translation, as they were smaller in size, used measurements such as drachms and gills, and involved processes like clarifying loaf sugar syrup.

But, as Ellestad found, the bigger challenge is that many of the spirits and other ingredients called for in classic recipes are no longer imported, have changed flavor profiles radically, were outlawed or are simply no longer produced.

Hunting down obscure spirits involves time, travel, collaboration and sometimes, reinvention. Nevertheless, dedicated drink historians (and thirsty mixologists) are working together to bring many of these lost cocktail ingredients back onto the market.

(Go read the rest. There's lots of it and I name-checked about half the booze nerds on the planet.)

Labels: absinthe, camper_clips, liqueurs, rum

Pisco at Elixir

I just heard through the grapevine (read: just got the weekly email blast) that Diego Loret de Mola will be leading a Pisco tasting at Elixir in San Francisco on Thursday during their weekly Cocktail Club. I went to Diego's pisco presentation at Tales of the Cocktail this summer, and it was great. He had us all make our own pisco sours, though I doubt there is room for all that shaking at Elixir.

Labels: events, pisco, SanFrancisco