Island Life

On Friday I visited the exotic island of Alameda, CA. I met up with my pal Vanessa and Cameron Bogue, who was in town on his way to who-knows-where, and three of Cameron's friends. We first hit up the Hangar One/St. George Spirits distillery where we did the tasting and hung out with Distiller Dave and the tasting room crew. It was a hoot. I bought a shirt with the original St. George Absinthe Verte monkey on it- the one playing human skull instead of the one playing the cowbell that now dons the bottle label.

Then we all squeezed into a car and drove to Forbidden Island, the tiki bar. Co-owner Martin Cate and his wife met us there and entertained us as we got a little silly rather fast. I had a Nui Nui, followed by a category four Painkiller, and we washed everything down with a giant flaming bowl drink that Martin brought out. Was there another drink in the middle somewhere? Who can say?

I can say this: Forbidden Island is close to a couple AC Transit bus lines that connect to the BART station, so you people coming from anywhere along the BART lines can get safely home afterwards. If my experience is any indication, you may find that the whole trip back to civilization is a pleasant blur.

Labels: distillery_tour, tropical