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The Ice Cream Bar Gets Beer/Wine License, Hello Angostura Phosphate!

The Ice Cream Bar in San Francisco, a real soda bar with shakes and sodas made of things like candy cap mushrooms, sassafras root beer, and chicory coffee, has been granted a beer and wine license.

This Friday August 24th they'll debut the new menu with some boozy drinks. Below is the menu. The drinks will be in the $9-$14 dollar range.  

Menu consultant Russell Davis says with the big pour of bitters in the Angostura Phosphate, he's hoping they'll become the top Angostura account in the city. 

“REMEDIES”
For those 21 and over - these fountain sodas contain alcohol

ANGOSTURA PHOSPHATE
Angostura Bitters, lemon juice, fountain syrup, acid phosphate, gum foam, soda

THE REBOUND FLING
Speakeasy Payback Porter, blackberry ice cream, sour cherry syrup, lactart

PEACHES AND DREAMS
Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale, peach syrup, 5 spice tincture, cream, acid phosphate

CAN’T STOP
Drakes Bay Hefeweizen, butterscotch syrup, egg, cream, Carpano Antica float

BROWN LABEL BERRY FIZZ
Sutton Cellars Brown Label Vermouth, blackberries, turbinado syrup, honey syrup, rosemary extract, egg white

SUNDAY MORNING
Seasonal fresh fruit sorbet, Mumm Napa Brut sparkling wine


BEER

Anchor Steam
Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin’ Ale
Speakeasy Payback Porter
Drake's Bay Hefeweizen

WINE

Red- Dreaming Tree Crush Red Blend
White- Simi Sauvignon Blanc
Sparkling- Mumm Napa Brut

Please ask your soda jerk for our selection of sherry, port, and bitters

 

Cocktail Menu: Lorelei in Warsaw, Poland

I received and email from Karol of the bar Lorelei in Warsaw, who says s/he's been reading Alcademics and making clear ice at the bar. 

Karol shared the menu, which is below. Smoked syrup, Angostura-caramelized raisins, fig-infused rum: This looks far more sophisticated than anywhere I visited last year. A good reason to come back...

Click below for the full menu.

Cocktail Menu: The Hideout at Dalva in San Francisco

The Hideout at Dalva, a bar-inside-a-bar, has updated their cocktail menu. It is below.

“GQ” {gin & quinine} $10
Gin, fino & quina syrup

Fruit cup $10
Pimms, gin, lemon, ginger, cucumber,
soda & bitters

Gin & celery {G & C} $10
Old tom gin, lemon & house celery bitters

Sweet & bitter fruit $10
Gin, plum, lemon & tamarind

Night light $10
Gin, byrrh grand quiquina,
cardamaro & bitters

The Stranger $10
Gin, cocchi americano, lemon, honey
& herbal liqueur

Black mountain rose $10
gin, maraschino & 2 amaro’s

Killer’s lullaby $10
Navy strength gin, gentian aperitif,
honey, lemon & dry apple cider

Altered state $10
Mezcal, blanc vermouth & gentian aperitif

Hideout sour $10
Mezcal, honey, lemon, egg white & bitters

House whiskey cocktail $10
Rye, bonal, maraschino &
house bourbon bitters

Whiskey in church $12
Smokey scotch, oloroso, maple &
smoked apple

Joshie’s Calico road $10
Scotch, apple liquor, oloroso & bitters

 

The Academia da Cachaca in Rio de Janiero, Brazil

When I was in Rio last month covering the Diageo Reserve World Class Global Finals, I had all of half a day to go out and see Rio. I only did the two things I felt were the most essential: had a Caipirinha on the beach...

and went to the Academia da Cachaca. 

The Academia da Cachaca I'll call Rio's most famous cachaca bar, but that's partially because it's the only bar I can name there. It is located several blocks back from Leblon beach and quite a cab ride from Copacabana where we were staying. 

The place itself doesn't stand apart as anything special - it is a covered restaurant at the outside of a mall, with tables reaching out towards the sidewalk. It is split into two parts with a mall walkway in between. The ceiling is decorated with hanging streamers that form the Brazilian flag when seen from afar. 

Not surprisingly given the name, the place is famous for its selection of cachaca. The drink menu lists 11 pages of the stuff with flavor descriptions of each bottle.

I was with a group of seven people so we ordered 14 different cachacas to try. They ranged in flavor profile from olive oily to pisco-grapey to woody to herbaceous- it was a  great way to try a lot of Brazil's native spirit at once. 

The also offer a selection of bottles for sale, so souvenir shopping was easy. 

Cocktail Menu: The Thomas in Napa, California

Opened August 8 in Napa is The Thomas, AvroKO Hospitality Group’s first West Coast venue.

According to the press release:

The 5,500-square-foot, 126-seat restaurant comprises three floors.  The ground level, known as Fagiani’s Bar at The Thomas,  will revive the Fagiani’s Cocktail Bar & Liquor Store aesthetic and feature elements from its 1945 opening, including many of the original chairs and stools, intriguing articles found in the space during the renovation, and even the original bar rail.  Other key design features on the first floor include the beautiful, antique, natural oak bar, Pullman-style booths, salvaged wooden and glass cabinets used for liquor storage, a classic sliding library ladder, and ornate tin ceilings.

The second level will serve as the restaurant’s main dining room, complete with a classic glass and steel wine wall holding more than 1,300 bottles, an open kitchen, a wood-fire oven. The third floor, an open-sky terrace, offers an outdoor fireplace, rooftop bar and sweeping views of downtown Napa, the Napa River and Veteran’s Park.

But what about the cocktails? Here's what:

Overseen by globally renowned mixologists Naren Young and Linden Pride, the beverage program in Fagiani’s Bar at The Thomas will focus on a selection of seasonally-inspired cocktails, carefully selected small-batch spirits, house-made bitters and tinctures, and an array of handcrafted, often exclusive beers.  Combining innovation, heritage, and historical cues, the cocktail list will pay homage to the light, aromatic and aperitivo-style drinks reminiscent of the early American cocktail bars with modern adaptations and a strong emphasis on seasonality and freshness.  All juices will be fresh squeezed as drinks are ordered.  Signature cocktails include The Sherry Cobbler made with two sherries, orange curacao, smashed fruit, and Peychaud’s Bitters, and The Radler concocted of pineapple grappa, ginger, lemon, peach bitters, and Hefeweizen.

Fagiani’s Bar at The Thomas will also offer a unique selection of cocktails on tap including Negronis and White Manhattans; a selection of carefully chosen bottled and draught beers; and a wine list of nearly 110 entries as well as a diverse selection of by-the-glass offerings, showcasing a mix of California, European, and New World producers.

Here's the cocktail menu. 

Gin & tonic $11
gin, house tonic water, cucumber ice ‘spear’

Negroni (On Tap) $12
Gin, Campari, sweet vermouth

Garibaldi $11
Campari, orange or grapefruit juice

Boozy lavender lemonade $12
Pick your poison

Improved radler cocktail $13
Pineapple grappa, hefeweizen, ginger, peach bitters, lemon juice

Frozen pisco sour $12
Strawberry

Sherry cobbler $13
Fino and oloroso sherry, orange curacao, maraschino, smashed citrus

White Manhattan (On Tap) $15
Death’s door white whiskey, white vermouth, kirschwasser, jasmine bitters

Jasmine $14
Beefeater, Combier triple sec, Campari, lemon juice

The Thomas
813 Main Street
Napa, CA  
www.thethomas-napa.com

The Bars of Havana, Cuba: A Pictorial Tour

While Cuba's two most famous bars are La Bodeguita del Medio and El Floridita, there are many more to see, including a former Trader Vic's that hasn't changed its decor since.

The Hotel Nacional

The Hotel Nacional stands out as a dramatic and luxurious hotel, though one set apart from the old section of Havana. The hotel has several bars, including one with a gallery of famous bar guests.

Monsignor

This is a French-themed bar and restaurant, which was built as a copy of a bar in France.

Emperador

A similarly-ornate bar/restaurant, this one with more of a Roman emperor theme.

Polinesio

This bar was a Trader Vic's only for a little bit before the Cuban revolution, and they kept the decor intact. Mai Tais here are even served in vintage Trader Vics mugs, though there are only a handful of them left.

La Bodeguita del Medio

Meaning "the little store in the middle (of the block)", this bar became famous when Ernest Hemingway announced where he drinks what: "My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita." The venue has grafitti-covered walls, a band in the corner, and as it is right in the heart of the tourist center of Old Havana, usually a crowd.

El Floridita

Visitors might be surprised to find this vintage bar putting Daiquiris through the blender, but it was actually at this bar where the frappe' style of Daiquiri was popularized, and in 1938 the bar was one of the first in the world to use blenders as part of drink preparation. Though a band plays throughout the day in the bar, El Floridita is a quieter bar than La Bodeguita, with more customers seated at chairs in one of two rooms. Patrons at the bar, however, get a view of the famous barmen (cantineros) balancing a touch of flair, a polite demeanor, and speed behind the stick.

Bar Visit & Cocktail Menu: Papa Doble in Montpellier France

The other week I had the opportunity to visit Papa Doble in Montpellier, France. Owner Julien Escot had just won the Havana Club International Cocktail Grand Prix so it was a pleasure to visit his Cuban-themed bar in southeast France.

You enter the bar and take a small flight of stairs down to the bar. Seating is opposite the bar, in another downstairs nook, or out on the street in an open-air plaza facing a cathedral. 

The menu has plenty of spins on Cuban classic and inspired cocktails like the El Habano, which is meant to evoke a Cuban cigar with smoke and spice flavor.

El Habana cocktail by Julien Lopez courtesy of Papa Doble

Some pictures that I took are below. Hopefully they'll work in a slideshow format. 

 

 

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The cocktail menu (in French) is below. 

Best Business Bars in Entrepreneur Magazine

I contributed a few write-ups to Entrepreneur Magazine's annual Best Business Bars story. It is the July issue, hitting newsstands now.

I wrote about Azucar Lounge in San Francisco, Drago Centro in Los Angeles, and ROOF at TheWit in Chicago. 

Pick it up at the newsstand or read it online here.