Alcademics.com

News of the Eww

Hospital patients 'drinking' alcohol-based hand gels

THE introduction of alcohol-based hand gels to tackle hospital superbugs has had an unwanted side-effect - patients consuming them.

Researchers writing in the British Medical Journal have revealed that inquiries about the consumption of alcohol gels to a London poisons unit increased sharply after they were widely introduced in hospitals across the UK in 2005.

They found that people were either consuming them by mistake or because they were in a confused state.

But often they were being used by alcoholics to ease their cravings.

Labels: funny, news

Get bubbly

Today's Chronicle Wine Section is the all-bubbly issue. They have a section on cocktails with bubbly and Gary Regan complains that David Wondrich won't pay his bar tab, which somehow is the lead-up to the Prince of Wales' Cocktail. I just wrote about an inside-out champagne flute.

Labels: camper_clips, champagne

Repeal Day Party in SF

CELEBRATE THE REPEAL OF PROHIBITION WITH BLUECOAT GIN AND ELIXIR

DECEMBER 5th

San Francisco , 1933 - On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S Constitution is ratified, repealing Prohibition. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1881-1945) ran for the presidency in 1932, partly on a platform of the repeal of Prohibition. The 21st Amendment was ratified by the State of California on July 25 ^th, 1933. On December 5, 1933, Utah was the 36th state to ratify the amendment. President Roosevelt immediately issued a repeal proclamation.

In those days, California was considered the farthest reaches of the United States and, as it was so far from the Federal Government, Prohibition was not as closely followed as in some other states. However, Elixir, then under the ownership of the man who built rebuilt the saloon after the 1906 fire, ran it under the business description of a "soft drink parlor". How "soft" the drinks are, we'll probably never know. But one thing is for sure: 74 years ago, on December 5^th, there was a damn big party at ELIXIR. And we're gonna do it again!

Please join us for

Bluecoat Gin Cocktails at Prohibition Era prices!

$5 Cocktails all night

9pm to close

Labels: events, SanFrancisco

Bourbon, Bourbon, Bourbon

Great NYTimes article on bourbon, with ratings of their top pics. I tend to agree with the reviews (though I haven't tried all the brands), though I might switch the Knob Creek and Woodford Reserve (two of the most available at bars) ratings. Woodford Reserve has become my airline liquor of choice- usually available, great on the rocks (it tastes like straw to me), and the little mini bottle is so damn cute.

Labels: bourbon

And speaking of good news

Jackie Patterson, who has been working as a server at Le Colonial but tearing up the cocktail competition circuit, will be the bar manager at the upcoming Orson, a restaurant from the owners of Citizen Cake that will have a 40-seat circular bar. This means I'm officially excited about a restaurant opening. Who am I?

Labels: news, restaurants, SanFrancisco

On the importance of drink menus

This study of beverage trends from the On the House blog of people who consume alcohol at chain restaurants states loudly and clearly what I try to tell owners of new restaurants. Drink menus are essential, influential, and should not be ignored.

The large majority of consumers (75%) said that they take the time to read drink menus and 25% of people identified drink menus as what most influences their purchasing decisions. Over 70% of consumers said that the drink descriptions are most influential, 47% were swayed by pictures of the drinks, while 41% were influenced by drinks listing brand names. These findings suggest that bar menus are a must, and that spirit branding, colorful pictures and well-written drink descriptions positive sales drivers.

I often call up new restaurants to ask them who did their drink menu (as I'm not really interested in food). Too often they say, "Oh, it was a collaboration." Right- between you and Mr. Boston.

Industry wide beverage sales average around 25% of revenue, while at the same time account for over 50% of average gross profits.

Luckily, many people do understand this (at least in San Francisco), which is why bartenders from Range and Bourbon & Branch are launching the cocktail programs all over the city. I am always happy to hear a name I recognize from another bar as the person who developed the cocktail menu for a new one.

Right now one of the biggest trends in all of bars, clubs, restaurants, and even retail space is to make use of their down-time. The club Temple serves dinner on the dancefloor before the club opens at night. Roe has launched and aggressive dinner programs. Art galleries like 111 Minna serve beer and wine and host club nights. Bars like Harlot are serving food or giving out free snacks to keep people from leaving to go to dinner. Restaurants are hiring DJs and staying open later to catch more customers. And a sure fire way to get them in before dinner time and after meal time is to create a kick-ass cocktail menu served at happy hour.

Anyway, I just want every food and booze venue to have a great cocktail menu. It's better for everybody.

Labels: bars, food, news

Another organic vodka hits the market

Anheuser-Busch has announced the launch of an organic vodka (Purus) made from organic Italian wheat and water from the Italian Alps. We already have organic corn vodka (Rain) from Buffalo Trace distillery and organic rye vodka (Square One) produced at Distilled Resources in Idaho. To my knowledge there isn't a certified organic potato vodka (the people at Distilled Resources who make Blue Ice say it would be prohibitively expensive, the people at Chopin vodka say theirs is 'basically organic' which is hard to quantify), but I like the idea of doing a taste test of vodkas from different base ingredients. Project!

Labels: vodka

Pisco book event

On Monday, December 3 at 7PM at Cantina there is a book release party the English language version of Wings of Cherubs, a novelization of the author's search for the recipe for the original Pisco Punch.

Book signing and release of Wings of Cherubs—A book that unravels the secrets of Pisco Punch, the magic and mysterious concoction of San Francisco, California, of the early 1900s. In an entertaining way, the narrative describes the saga of a protagonist obsessed with discovering the recipe of the secret beverage, long lost since the death of its creator en 1926. With the gift of being able to transport himself in time, he reveals little known historical anecdotes of San Francisco. The book climaxes presenting the recipe of the famous Pisco Punch for the benefit of all those who love history and Pisco brandy. (254 pgs., 147 photographs and illustrations; a 30 pgs. essay is included).

The author, Guillermo Toro-Lira will be reading from, selling, and signing copies of his book. (It's also available on Amazon.com here or directly from the author here.) I have a copy of the book but haven't read it yet. However, San Franciscans should take time to learn about this drink, as it was one of the most popular cocktails in the US in the gold rush era and invented here in SF. I plan to write a large feature on pisco and 'frisco in the new year, and hope this book will be a good resource.

Oh, and if you haven't tried the pisco punch at Cantina you really must. It's an updated version but it's delicious.

Labels: events, pisco, SanFrancisco