Alcademics.com

Drinks at Bong Su

I love it when a restaurant throws a party to launch a new cocktail
menu. Bong Su introduced five new cocktails to the press today, many
of which included Asian dessert ingredients like tea-infused tapioca
beads, pandan leaf, Laotian honey, and hibsicus buds. My favorites
were the Mekong Martini- I liked the pandan leaf element- and the
Saigon Sun, which is made with rhum agricole, mango purée, coconut
water, and lime.

This post is also an experiment in blogging from my camera phone. I'll
be traveling a lot next month and might try to post from abroad. How
mod.

Beretta robbed!

Given the number of times I've been going there, it's surprising that I wasn't present for the drama. Then again, if I were, I probably wouldn't remember it clearly anyway.

Armed man robs SF restaurant in the Mission

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

(04-30) 19:02 PDT San Francisco -- An Italian restaurant in the Mission District was robbed early this morning while about 10 patrons were eating their dinners, said police Sgt. Neville Gittens.

Police got a call at 1:21 a.m. Wednesday that a man had walked into Beretta on Valencia Street between 22nd and 23rd Streets, waved a gun and shouted, "This is a robbery! Everybody get down!" He didn't fire his gun, and no one was hurt. A restaurant worker handed the man the cash, and he fled on foot eastbound on 23rd Street.

The suspect was described as an African-American male between 25 and 35 years old, 5'8" and 150 pounds and wearing a brown hooded jacket, black baggy jeans and black shoes.

The manager of Beretta was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

There is no indication the hold-up is related to the recent spate of Oakland area restaurant robberies, Gittens said.

"At this point, there's no indication it's related to anything," he said.

Labels: news, SanFrancisco

Light drinks

New York magazine mentions wine bar Terroir and Marshall Altier's non-hard-alcohol cocktails. (I just met Marshall last week in SF. I think he likes it.)

His concoctions incorporate port, sherry, vermouth, whipped egg white, and bracingly smoky Lapsang Souchong tea. They even display a touch of molecular mixology in the La Terra Ferma’s Nebbiolo-porcini spuma—otherwise known as foam.

Out here, of course, the big opening this week was Uva Enoteca, where Camber Lay (Range, Frisson, Laiola, Epic) did the drink list with the same restrictions. Here are some of the cocktails:

MIELE FRIZZANTE Carpano antique, orange, peach bitters & heidrum sage blossom mead

EVVIVA Tahitian green tea infused vya dry vermouth, lemon bitters, pinot bianco & lemon

IN BOCCA AL LUPO Lillet blanc, chilies, basil, prosecco & coconut salt

ULTRAS Birra bionda, ginger beer, lime, lemongrass & terragon

Lookin' good.

Labels: cocktails, NewYork, SanFrancisco, wine

SF Represent!

I picked up a copy of Food & Wine Cocktails 2008 to see what the representation of bars and cocktails around the country was. West Coast drinks have been getting more attention in the past year and it's great to see this reflected in the book.

The cocktails from the Bay Area are:

Grapefruit Flamingo from Kieran Walsh at Solstice
Green with Envy from the Poleng Lounge
Amberjack from Le Colonial
Bergamont Shandy from NOPA
Zydeco Cocktail from Tres Agaves
Vanilla-Cucumber Limey from Jay Crabb at Martini Monkey in San Jose
Fog Cutter from Forbidden Island
Puerto de Cuba from Dominic Venegas (formerly of) Bourbon & Branch
Alsatian Daiquiri from Duggan McDonnell at Cantina
Thai Boxer from Scott Beattie at Cyrus in Healdsburg
Green Lantern from Range
Mi-So-Pretty from Elizabeth Falkner and Angie Heeney-Tunstall of Orson
Tommy Gun from Jacques Bezuidenhout of Bar Drake
Filibuster Cockatail from Erik Adkins of Flora in Oakland
Jose McGregor from Jimmy Patrick at Lion & Compass in Sunnyvale
Northern Spy from Josey Packard The Alembic
Off Kilter from Elixir
Babylon Sister from Jonny Raglin of Absinthe
Blackberry and Cabernet Caipirinha from Cantina
Strawberry and Ginger Cooler from Jeff Hollinger Absinthe
plus
Dark and Stormy Ribs from Presidio Social Club

That makes 17 SF and San Jose venues represented compared to 24 New York. Not bad for a city 5-10 times as small.

Other cities represented and their number of venues were:
Atlanta 4
Boston 7
Boulder 3
Chicago 8
Dallas 5
Houston 5
Las Vegas 5
Los Angeles 9
Louisville, KY 3
Madison, WI 4
Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale 5
New Jersey 4
New Orleans 5
Philadelphia 5
Phoenix/Tuscon 4
Portland, ME 3
Portland, OR 8
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC 5
San Diego 4
Seattle 4
St. Louis 3
Washington, DC area 4

Note: Go Portland, Oregon! That place has had a great selection of local beer, wine, sake, and micro-distillers for a while now. The new cocktail bars like Beaker and Flask and TearDrop Lounge are taking it to the next level. And with Imbibe Magazine based out of Portland, it may soon be the most important drinking city in the nation. Props.

Labels: books, NewYork, SanFrancisco, trends

National Eben Clemm day

Today New York's Eben Clemm got a lot of press. He was an expert on Eric Asimov's NYTimes article on citrus flavored vodkas, in which they hated almost everything but Belvedere's Cytrus and Hangar One's Buddha's Hand. And he was also quoted as an expert in Nick Passmore's Business Week story on premium tequilas.

Labels: tequila, vodka

Recession Reading

The New York Times reports that people are spending less on food and booze than usual.

Sales of inexpensive domestic beers, like Keystone Light, are up; sales of higher-price imports, like Corona Extra, are down, the firm said.

Some are skipping drinks altogether. The number of people ordering an alcoholic drink fell to 31 percent last month from 42 percent last summer, according to a survey of 2,500 people conducted by Technomic, a restaurant industry consulting firm.

Perhaps this is a good time to remind Alcademics readers that I authored one of the finest works of budget literature ever put into print: Party Like a Rock Star: Even When You're Poor As Dirt. Here's what people are saying:

Playboy.com

“Camper English [is] San Francisco's resident nightlife guru…. if anyone knows how to navigate the party scene with an almost empty wallet, it's English."

The San Francisco Weekly

“Smart and funny, the book makes for an easy and enlightening read.”

The San Francisco Chronicle’s SFGate.com

“English shares his hard-won financial advice for living the cash-poor high life… It's packed with ingenious and mostly legal tips on saving money (perhaps for rehab).”

Curve Magazine

"Well-written and freakin’ hysterical."

Customer review on Amazon.com

"I think "Party Like a Rock Star" should have been named "Party like an Egocentric Sociopath Who Thinks Laws Don't Exist for Him.""

Get your copy today!

Labels: books, funny

American absinthe part II: Sirene Absinthe Verte

North Shore Distillery in Chicago is launching an American absinthe verte (green) this week. I believe this will be the second American absinthe on the market. The initial distribution will be just Chicago, then spreading around Illinois in the near future. Hooray!

Labels: absinthe, Chicago, news

Gin 2.0

My friend Cior sent me a link to a talk at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco by Clay Shirky, because the talk referenced gin. (My friends know me well.) The talk was about how we dissipate the free time and mental energy ("cognitive surplus") we have after working. In the beginning of the industrial revolution when the masses streamed into London, Shirky says consumption of gin was the way of dealing with the new pressures of city living. Post WWII, television became the new post-work brain relaxer, and nowadays, collaborative web projects like Wikipedia are a productive way to spend those mental energy cycles.

So really, the talk isn't booze-related at all. But after reading it, I could use a nice relaxing martini.

Labels: funny, gin

New word needed

As may be apparent from the name of this website, I love making up new words. But I'm stumped.

Last night a group of friends and I hit Beretta (making this my sixth visit in three weeks, I have a problem) and sampled 13 of the drinks over two rounds. What made it fun is that nobody owned any one drink- we all shared everything, except for Jamie who hogged the Rangoon Gin Cobbler and Marshall of Tailor in NYC, who was the bottleneck in our cocktail-passing circle.

Then we realized we only had four drinks to go to try all 17 cocktails on the menu, so we ordered more. Project!

So now I need a word or phrase that describes having every drink on the menu in one night- the cocktail menu equivalent of a triple crown or marathon or Iron Man.

Suggestions?

Labels: bars, NewYork, SanFrancisco

Cachaca at Pampas

Dominic Venegas of FAMILY Spirits Counseling put together a list of mostly cachaca drinks (with a couple of other favorites you'll recognize from some of his SF projects) for the new Palo Alto restaurant Pampas, opening Tuesday. (The website isn't up yet, click here for the address.)

I got a sneak preview of the cocktail menu on Friday and I've been salivating all weekend. (I guess you didn't need that mental image- sorry.) Here are some of the drinks from Pampas' menu:

Beleza Hemingway- Beleza Pura cachaça, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, fresh-squeezed grapefruit

Green Fairy Mojito- Beleza Pura cachaça, Absinto Camargo, mint, fresh-squeezed lime

Rochina Sazerac-Rochina 5-year single-barrel cachaça, Absinto Camargo, Fee’s orange and Peychauds bitters

Sgt. Pepper’s Strawberry Field- Red and black peppercorn-infused Ypioca cachaça, muddled fresh strawberries, basil and lime

Alma- Sagatiba Pura cachaça, muddled fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, fresh-squeezed lime, agave nectar

Gaucho- Sagatiba cachaça, Canton ginger liqueur, mango, lime, spice

Rumor has it they'll carry 15-20 cachacas initially, with plans to build up the collection in the future.

I like how this list isn't totally dedicated to one brand, as many cachaca lists are. You've got the funky aged Rochina, older brand Ypioca (don't know if it's an aged or young expression), and new-school-styled Sagatiba and Beleza Pura.

Additionally, this is the first place I've seen using the Absinto Camargo, the Brazilian absinthe that is imported by the same folks as Beleza Pura.

Oh yeah, Pampas is a Brazilian Churrascaria restaurant, which may be of interest to those of you who eat.

Labels: absinthe, cachaca, restaurants

Reading material

- The LA Times story reporting on the closing of some of SF's old-time watering holes was reprinted in the Baltimore Sun. I'm so glad word on the street is we don't have any good old bars left. That's not entirely true, of course. Katy St. Clair, who was quoted in the LA Times story, writes about them in the SF Weekly all the time. - Eric Felten in the Wall Street Journal taste tests mass-market bourbons and finds Evan Williams his favorite. As usual, he has some great cultural anecdotes in the story as well.

- The NYTimes has a story on a $10,000 home still that efficiently converts sugar into ethanol. Unfortunately, it's for car fuel.

- Jeff Mortgenthaler (Morty) gives a simple recipe for ginger beer. Marleigh at Sloshed! reviews some commercial brands without high-fructose corn syrup.

- Jamie Boudreau describes his individual component method for making any type of bitters. And I thought I was crafty for using my Chia herb garden to make tinctures.

- Alder at Vinography has the complete list of wine blogs- in several languages!

- Esquire's molecular Whiskyburger's recipe is now online.

Labels: bourbon, mixer, molecular_mixology, news, SanFrancisco, wine

Now that's what I call recycling

Via Blair:

LONG TRAIL BREWING CO. in Vermont has cut a deal with a local utility to purchase power, for just a few cents more, derived from the methane gas given off by the manure on dairy farms. The brewery, in turn, will contribute mash to feed the cows.

Labels: beer, eco-booze

Boozy goodness from the internet

- Ibar lists 1,000 drink recipes on your ipod. So now you can be that annoying guy who asks the bartenders for drinks they don't know, like the Frascati's Jubilee Flip. [via LiquorSnob]

- Dos Equis launched a hilarious campaign to find an assistant to the "most interesting man in the world." The previous assistant, Steve, was killed in an archery accident. His memory will be honored on April 23, by Dos Equis and the Association of Celebrity Personal Assistants.

- Drink Dogma has a ton of info about rhubarb cocktails.

- The Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails in Boston have put out a cocktail book.

- Nightclub and lifestyle brand Ministry of Sound put out their own vodka. I bet we'll see tons of branded vodkas coming out soon, just like the branded bottled water they have at the Gap. [via Martini Groove]

- Neyah White lists a recipe for homemade Rose Vermouth.

- More vodkas are coming out that list what's in them. This one is made from Malbec grapes. They also have a Chardonnay and Cabernet variety not available in the US. [via Martini Groove]

- 10 Cane rum is sponsoring a 10k race in Portland this June. There's nothing like a little rum to cure leg cramps.

- All about arrack.

- Scorpion-infused vodka "imparts a pleasant soft, woody taste" and "makes a dramatic scorpion martini." I bet it does. [via Complex]

- Here's a new one: absinthe-flavored vodka. I'll have mine without the scorpion, thanks. [via Martini Groove]

Labels: cocktails, funny, vermouth, vodka

Seriously

Did the Kentucky Derby really need an official tequila? Let's stay on-message here, people.

Labels: events, funny

Amaros in Italy and SF

Somehow I missed this giant story on amaros that ran in the SF Chronicle a couple of weeks ago, by Wolfgang Weber of Wine & Spirits. Good stuff.

Labels: amaros

Conduit cocktails and convoluting the story

I finally made it into Conduit for some drinks the other night. The menu by Reza Esmali has a lot of surprises. He combines Rhum Clement's Creole Shrub with Chartreuse and lime in the Monk's Voyage, absinthe and tequila in The Hub, and apple brandy, lemon, and mint in the Gravenstein Smash. The dessert cocktails are unique too, bringing bourbon and almond grappa together in the Americana, and Creole Shurb and Nocino walnut liqueur in the Clement. (There is also a classic cocktail section for the less adventurous.)

I don't know where he came up with these ideas, but I like where they're going. I wasn't in complete agreement with the balance of some of them- more nuts, please- but they deserve another try seeing as I'd just come from having about four drinks at another bar. Luckily this place is near my house and open late.

It's great how bars in San Francisco are veering in different directions. Innovation here and there, spirits business morality there, organic drinks there and there, fresh fruit in many bars, and classic-derivative cocktails all over the place.

While variety is definitely a good thing, it will make the panel I'll be giving this year at Tales of the Cocktail on regional American cocktail trends a little more difficult to sum up. It used to be fresh fruit = SF, stuff from bottles = NY. Now there's a lot more overlap.

Labels: restaurants, SanFrancisco

The coming anti-garnish movement

The Wall Street Journal's Eric Felten is all up in the Bay Area's business lately. Last week he wrote about Eric Ellestad's Savoy Project. This week he tackles the heavy issue of garnish and quotes Greg Lindgren from Rye on some of the sillier garnishes he's seen in their monthly cocktail competitions.

Personally, I fall into the pro-garnish camp, with some reservations. I am fine with purely ornamental garnish as long as it:

1. Doesn't get in the way. I hate it when garnish pokes you in the mouth or prevents the flow of booze into my gullet. Edible flowers and many orange/lemon/lime slices are too big to stick in a martini glass.
2. Doesn't take up space. I like olives more than the average person, but not three of them displacing the liquor that would be there otherwise and making making my gin all salty.
   

(Another pro-garnish person is Martin Cate of Forbidden Island, who is giving a talk on the subject at Tales of the Cocktail.)

Despite my decorative preferences, I fully support the goals of the anti-garnish movement, and hope to see anti-garnish websites and protests outside of tiki bars in the near future. Because conflict is the garnish of reality.

Labels: garnish

Nice bottle

Stare at booze bottles all day (and night) and you start to appreciate ones that stick out. These bottles hold Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne, and are ribbed for your pleasure.

Labels: champagne, design

Drinks at Fish and Farm

There's another organic cocktail program in town at Fish and Farm. Mixologist Brian Livesay uses spirits like Square One vodka and 4 Copas tequila in his drinks, along with some brands not certified organic but that use organic ingredients. Some of the fresh herbs in the drinks are grown on the chef's rooftop garden.

The drink list includes some interesting elements like rosemary and citrus-infused gin, but seems largely dependent on fresh juices and mint. The real creativity, however, comes from the modifying ingredients.

Since there are no commercial organic vermouths or triple secs, Livesay makes his own using an organic neutral base spirit and organic ingredients. He makes sweet and dry vermouths, triple sec, a delicious apple liquor, cherry-vanilla and orange bitters, and is working on a few more cordials like cocoa-blueberry. Hand-labeled bottles sit atop the back bar and line some of the shelves, so you know he's got a bunch of other experiments in the works as well.

All in all, a very cool project.

Labels: bars, eco-booze, SanFrancisco

SWA = OPEC?

The scotch whisky world is all a flutter with changing international markets. There's a growing demand for scotch in India and China, without enough scotch available to meet expected demand. Many distilleries are ramping up production and beginning to release single malts without age statements (allowing them to combine younger and older whisky together to make it taste mid-range) .

A lot of the industry's stress comes from one guy: Vijay Mallya, the Indian billionaire who bought Whyte & Mackay last year. From what I've read, whisky isn't very regulated in India, with some local producers even making "whisky" out of sugar. Mallya wants the Scotch Whisky Association, the powerful industry group that helps regulate and standardize whisky production from Scotland, to accept changes such as allowing additives and flavorings that will appeal to the growing affluent youth market in India.

The idea of the SWA allowing flavored whisky is just laughable. This is not a progressive organization. It's all heritage, heritage, heritage. But some of the comments Mallya made the SWA may like after all. From a story in The Scotsman:

Mallya now controls about 60% of the Indian whisky market following his £595m acquisition of Whyte & Mackay last May. Since that acquisition the price of bulk whisky has risen considerably as the widespread practice of selling whisky for cheap own label blends has stopped.

Mallya said he liked the idea of prices staying high and called on the SWA to restrict production, much like the Opec countries do with oil.

He said: "Over the last few years we have seen the price of whisky rise. Well, why don't we keep it that way? The SWA could become a value custodian.

"In the past we have seen overproduction ruin the profitability of the industry, one way we could prevent this is by restricting production. Opec does it."

I'm heading off to Scotland in May for a big press trip. I can't wait to hear some of the responses the distillers have to this.

For further reading, check out the latest issue of Malt Advocate magazine. They address the scotch whisky boom and its consequences.

Labels: scotch, whisky