Don't quit your day job

The title I wanted for this story in July's San Francisco Magazine was "Take a Shift Where You Eat," but I can see why they didn't go with that :)

Don't quit your day job
Thanks to new amateur hours, dilettantes can give their dream careers a trial run.
By Camper English, Photograph by John Curley

Most fantasy careers (astronaut, movie star, Mrs. Clooney) are a bit out of reach for the average desk jockey. But at least there are some new ways to take dream jobs in the service industry for a test spin.

Read the rest of the story, with information about guest bartending at Elixir, the guest sommelier program at Fifth Floor, being the guest chef at Kuleto's, and guest stripping at New Century Theatre here.

10 Trendsetting Mixologists

In various editions of the Beverage Network's magazines, I have the cover story on 10 Trendsetting Mixologists from across the country. I interviewed my picks at the Navan/Grand Marnier Mixology Summit this spring.

This year’s batch of bartenders to watch have more in common than a penchant for inventing and shaking up tasty cocktails. They’re using fresh and often local ingredients, adding savory herbs to drinks, and making sure the execution of each cocktail is consistently stellar.

These standout mixologists, some with impressive training under their belt, some the winners of national and international cocktail challenges, are also quite influential, both introducing quality cocktails to the underserved areas of the country, as well as impressing jaded vacationers in Vegas and Aspen. They impact the community through bartenders’ guilds, banding together to influence the purchases of control state boards, and educating the public with classes and seminars. These men and women help elevate both the craft of mixology and the consumer palate simultaneously. Let’s raise a glass to the class of 2008.

The mixologists chosen were:

Charles Joly from Chicago
Patricia Richards from Las Vegas
Matt Martinez from Los Angeles
Jeremy Strungis from New Jersey
Ted Kilgore from St. Louis
Gina Chersevani from Washington, DC
Lance Mayhew from Portland, OR
Denis Cote from Aspen, CO
Eric Simpkins from Atlanta
Jon Santer from San Francisco

Read interviews with these ten terrific bartenders here.

Absinthe in Men's Book

Speaking of absinthe, I just noticed that the story I wrote on the subject (or as I call it, the subject that keeps on paying) for Men's Book San Francisco is online. Go here and forward to page 80.

Glossy Booze: Mostly June edition

Everywhere Magazine (Issue 3) has a story about the The Hedgehog Distillery located in Auvergne, France.

San Francisco Magazine has a story on the death of happy hour discounts in the city, written by the one and only Camper English.

Elite Traveler magazine (March/April) has a story by Nick Passmore on getting the most out of wine auctions.

Playboy lists some vodka picks for brands to drink on the rocks, in mixed drinks, in martinis, and a new product, with a few recipes.

Lawrence Osbourne has a story in Men's Vogue about the return of Riunite.

Gourmet has a short piece on a Berlin beer brand Berliner Weisse bottling 1809.

7X7 Magazine (May) has a story on sipping blanco tequilas. Another original topic by Jordan Mackay. In the June issue, he talks about ice and the infamous Kold-Draft machine.

Delta's Sky Magazine (May) lists a signature cocktail called Le Starcky from Le Meurice in Paris, some wine pics from Paul Pacult, and an interview with a beer sommelier in Santa Monica.

It's Esquire's annual Best Bars in America round-up, though I think this year it may have jumped the shark. New York Magazine agrees. Some of the choices seem more like writers' personal favorites more than David Wondrich's curated selection. Oh well, at least San Francisco's Cantina, Elixir, Rye, Toronado, and Tosca got mentions. There are also a few good sidebars on drinking alone, having a "safety drink," and bad hotel bar names.

Tequila Terroir

Run screaming to your local newsstand to pick up the June issue of Wine & Spirits magazine, with the Top 100 Value Wines on the cover. Also on the cover is a mention of a story inside on Tequila Terroir, written by me. Hooray! My pal Jenn Farrington took the photos.



Here's the teaser:

This February, a new Tequila called Ocho launched in Europe with a small but significant difference from other brands: each bottling is labeled with the harvest year and name of the agave field from which it came. Tequila is a spirit unusually ripe for the study of terroir as its raw ingredient does not vary, it is grown in a specified region with diverse soils, and it does not need to be aged like whisky or Cognac so it can be appreciated without the influence of wood. Yet until now brands have provided consumers with only broad clues as to the origin of the agave in each bottle.

On the page after my story, you'll be treated to a tasting story on tequila written by David Wondrich, in which he explains terroir in spirits better in three paragraphs than I did in 1200 words.

Glossy Booze May edition

Here are some booze stories in this month's magazines.

- Sunset Magazine (May) has a story on starting a wine cellar, plus a recipe for the Michelada. Unfortunately, it the version I don't like with tomato juice.

- Conde Nast Taveler lists 28 new bars and clubs around the world, plus a good recipe for the Pisco Sour from Copenhagen, a terrible one with Absolut Mandarin and Citron from Buenos Aires, an apricot and nutmeg sour from Bangkok, and a Dirty Martini recipe with Reyka from Alibi in Boston (yuck). From San Francisco they mention the Presidio Social Club and 1300 on Filmore. Interesting.

- Details (May) discusses the Shandy, and has a much better picture than last month.

- Gourmet's Alan Sytsma talks about Will Goldfarb's Experiential Cuisine program, and includes a recipe for the molecular cocktail the Coco Cola. Plus, online they have a nice story on Sam Adams sharing their hops with small breweries.

- Saveur.com has an interview with Beachbum Berry.

- Speaking of hops stories, Imbibe (May/June) has a large feature on the shortage and explains the crisis quite clearly. Also, there are stories on summer cocktails, making great iced coffee, 10 summer wines, travel to Croatia, Saison ales, aerators, rosewater cocktails, bourbon historian Mike Veach, and homemade ginger ale.

- Malt Advocate (second quarter issue) has a cover story on the scotch whisky boom, plus stories on blending beer, Buffalo Trace, the Boilermaker, beer prices, Brown-Forman, and St. George's Dragon distillery in England.

-San Francisco Magazine has a story by me(!) on the death of happy hour drink specials, and a few places that still have them.

-7x7 Magazine's Jordan Mackay writes about blanco tequilas that are good for sipping.

- Best Life (May) has a story on fine, finer, and finest tequilas, written by the talented Camper English. Oh looky, it's online.

Grappa in the SF Chronicle

By me, in today's SF Chronicle

Italy's Fiery Grappa the Latest Spirit to Go Upscale
by Camper English

Several spirits have overhauled their previously negative reputations in recent years. Tequila lovers now pay up to several hundred dollars per bottle, and consumers who wouldn't touch gin three years ago now shake it with egg whites into frothy cocktails at home.

But upon hearing the word "grappa," many drinkers still wince. A beverage program built around the fiery spirit is thus a risky proposition, but that's what you'll find at Bar 888, the lobby bar that also serves the Italian restaurant Luce on the ground floor of the new Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco's SoMa area.

"In San Francisco, we think people are interested in learning something new," says Rene Van Camp, corporate food and beverage director for the Intercontinental Hotels Group. "People are educated here about food and beverage, so we needed to find something that they don't know about already."

keep reading.

Glossy Booze

From the stack of magazines in my apartment:

Details (April) has a story by Rob Willey on the Mint Julep, with possibly the ugliest looking mint julep photo ever printed.

Playboy (April) reports that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il spends $700,000 a year on Hennessey cognac. But he still probably doesn't make the best spokesmodel.

Also, they have a story by Dan Dunn on Savanna Samson's wine picks, including wine to match your favorite porn.

Esquire's David Wondrich (May) discusses the Whiskeyburger, a molecular mixology drink that tastes like a burger, complete with tomato syrup, ground chuck-infused whiskey, and mustard bitters. They say the recipe will be online, but it appears that's a lie, lie, lie.

In 7X7 (a San Francisco magazine, April) Jordan MmmKay talks about Italian varietals by way of California, and homemade limoncello.

Best Life (April) has a small article on boutique tonic water (by me!)

Sunset Magazine (April) has a story on cult Cabernets.

Men's Vogue writer Lawrence Osbourne discusses Pompeii's wine industry.

Marcia of Tablehopper writes about barstool eating in San Francisco Magazine. (That is, eating at barstools, not eating barstools.) Also, a mention of Cantina's Caribbean Sangria.


[Want your publication included in the glossy booze round-up? Email me.]

Belgian text

The text of my Belgian beer bars story from San Francisco Magazine is now online here. And if you're interested, my Aspen travel piece is here.

Dueling Belgians

In the March issue of San Francisco Magazine, I have a story on the three Belgian beer bars that opened in December 2007. (Also, a travel story on Aspen.) At 7x7, the other glossy city magazine, Jordan MmmKay? has a piece on the same topic (bars, not ski towns), with four recommended beers to try.

The Trappist in Oakland is a simple place, with only two cheese plates available as food. When I visited there was one server working the whole seating area so it was faster to walk to the bar and pick up pints yourself. They did a nice job with the glassware cooler water jet that lowers the temperature of your glass by a couple of degrees.

In North Beach, La Trappe is something between a restaurant, a lounge, and a bar. They have a full bistro menu (but could use more appetizers for those not in search of a meal) with some Belgian specialty foods, as well as a huge beer menu. I recommend getting there early to score a space on the plush seating in the lounge. Also, rumor has it mixologist Victoria Damato-Moran will be working there- which is odd because the place doesn't have a full liquor license.

In the Mission, Monk's Kettle is a small, bright space with upscale pub food and two dozen beers on tap. They have a combination of Belgian and other non-common beers, and the place seems always to be busy. Plan to get dinner if you want a table, or just pop in at lunchtime for a few pints (says the writer without a day job).

Some stories

Here are two recent stories I have up on gay.com:

- A survey of American gins

- Vodka myths and mysteries

What do these have to do with gayness, you ask? Nothing! Sometimes you just want to write a story and need a place to stick it.

Brunch drinks

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Daytime Cocktails for New Years Brunch
Camper English, Special to the Chronicle

New Year's Day often arrives with one pondering the previous night's indulgences and the resulting aftereffects. On the upside, this can also be done with a cocktail in hand.

Whether consuming them to nurse the previous night's hangover or just to pass the lazy New Year's holiday, adults have a free pass to enjoy cocktails before noon on Tuesday.

Typical brunch cocktails include the bloody Mary, mimosa, screwdriver and Irish coffee, with fresh derivations of these standards now on morning menus throughout the Bay Area. Additionally, frothy Southern breakfast drinks like the Ramos gin fizz are coming back into vogue, though drinkers' aversions to raw eggs and the negative associations with imbibing in the morning may be obstacles to their popularity.

In "The Joy of Drinking," author Barbara Holland addresses the National Institutes of Health's "pompous treatise" against readministration of alcohol (more widely known as "the hair of the dog that bit you") to cure the hangover, for fear that it encourages alcoholism.

She writes, "I don't know what social circles the NIH travels in, but I myself have never seen any sufferer, after shakily sipping his bloody Mary, let out a whoop, grab the vodka bottle and chug it down."

Read the rest of the story here.

Lalique- So Chic!

By me, in today's SF Chromicle:

Splurge on a $12,000 bottle of scotch
Though the product isn't available until January, the whiskey lover in your life probably won't mind the IOU for this $12,000 Macallan 55-year-old single-malt Scotch packaged in a custom Lalique crystal bottle. The spirit inside is unusual for Macallan as it has more of an earthy, peaty profile than their younger whiskies, and the funky bottle on the outside is unusual in that there are only 420 of them on the market. (To get one, inquire at Macallan55@remyusa.com.)

Boozeless Cocktails

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Drink Menus Explore Virgin Territory with Alcohol-Free Cocktails
Camper English, Special to the Chronicle

Bay Area restaurants and bars are increasingly devoting space on their menus to alcohol-free drinks. These concoctions are more complicated than simple sodas and juices, involving the same glassware, seasonal ingredients and fresh garnishes as drinks with the hard stuff.

This trend of enticing consumers with nonalcoholic cocktails, rather than leaving it to them to request a virgin version of another drink, owes much to the current emphasis in better cocktail bars on creating drinks with seasonal ingredients. These fresh drinks can be translated fairly easily into alcohol-free versions, whereas in other bars, a nonalcoholic Jack and Coke is just a Coke.

Josh Harris, bar manager of Palmetto on Union Street in Cow Hollow, says that in the first month or so of being open, the menu listed only drinks with alcohol, but patrons would see the fresh cocktails being made and request alcohol-free versions.

"Some of them translated (to nonalcoholic drinks) very well, and some of them not well at all," he says.

Read the rest of the story here.

New bars in the Bay Guardian

I contributed this round-up of new drinking venues to the San Francisco Bay Guardian. As I was taking notes on the venues that opened in the past year, I realized that there are way to many of them to list. The final article has 32 new venues listed, and it doesn't include a third of the wine bars that opened, nor several of the venues that renovated their whole schtick, such as bacar and Jardinière, nor many of the new restaurants with good cocktail programs even though I included a bunch.

No wonder I've been so busy.

ChocoCaberYoga

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Raise a Glass to Yoga Class

A sense of relaxation, the loss of calories and increased flexibility are some of the benefits that come with yoga practice, but the just-opened Cocoon Urban Day Spa and Local Kitchen and Wine Merchant have teamed up with some rewards that are a bit more tangible. On Dec. 20, from 7 to 9 p.m., they'll be running their "Yoga, Wine, Chocolate and Cheese" workshop. (So much for that loss of calories.) It begins with a 90-minute yoga flow class lead by the spa's yoga coordinator Danielle Marie Giovanello and attended by Local's sommelier Mark Bright, followed by a session of decadent gluttony, or as they put it, "delve deep into your visual, auditory, kinesthetic, gustatory and olfactory senses." Either way, it's a tasting of two kinds of wine plus organic cheese and chocolate pairings after class. $95. 330 First St. (at Folsom), San Francisco; (415) 777-0100.

Genevieve

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Fritz Maytag and the team at Anchor Distilling are so far ahead of the curve they must get bored waiting for us to catch up. They've just released Genevieve, a genever-style gin they began developing in 1996, which has been sitting in a tank ever since. Genever is an old type of gin (before the modern London dry style came into being) that was used in some of the earliest published cocktail recipes currently in vogue.

New gins (including Anchor's Junipero) are column-distilled into a neutral spirit then infused with botanicals including juniper berries and redistilled. Genevieve, on the other hand, is first distilled from malted grains in a pot still, similar to whiskey, before being flavored and redistilled in another custom-built pot still. The result is a gin with the added flavor and texture of an unaged whiskey.

The first release was only 700 bottles sold mostly to cocktailian bars and a few liquor stores in order to avoid confusion with Anchor's other gin. They're currently producing more of the product for when the rest of us figure it out.

Reading this now I'm uncomfortable with the phrase, "pot still, similar to whiskey." I actually wrote "whisky," meaning scotch, and it was copy-edited to "whiskey," but this could also be incorrect as blended scotch whisky has column distilled whisky mixed in. Bourbon whiskey is mostly column distilled. On the other hand, the phrase "malted grains" does make it similar to (some) whisk(e)y, and it's certainly what people think of when you say "malted grains".

So I'm just going to declare that phrase as ambiguously incorrect. I'm also going to declare that writing about whisk(e)y is a big pain in the ass.

Breaking News

So Lance Winters of St. George Spirits let the cat out of the bag that his absinthe was approved at the end of last week. Well, local booze news doesn't get any bigger than that so I told my editors at the Chronicle it shouldn't wait until Friday's Wine Section and they agreed. Stacy Finz wrote the story with my contributions mushed in here are there (it was my scoop though- just saying). We were in a race to at least tie with the NYTimes story that also came out today.

But in any case, by all accounts the St. George Absinthe Verte rocks. But cool your jets for a minute. The stuff written about in the stories is not even in bottles yet, people. The labels will be made the end of next week (Lance said he bribed the label people with booze to do a rush order.)

I don't know if either story mentioned it, but it should be on sale beginning Friday Dec 21rst at the distillery in Alameda. The distillery will be open at least regular hours 12-7 Friday and Saturday and 12-6 Sunday. I think initially you'll only be able to buy it at the source until its distributed.

Field trip, anyone?

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.

Black (Out) Friday

The SF Chronicle's Wine Section comes out with the now-annual gift guide today. To read the intro and all of the items, start here, then follow the links in the box on the right.

I listed some suggestions for gift books (Felten, Wondrich, In the Land of Cocktails), Gary Regan tells us must-have bottles of each kind of booze for your liquor cabinet, Jay Brooks tells us his ideal beer imports, I give a list of essential glassware for the home bar, and in this list of miscellany I pick some whiskies and a calendar.

Hidden bars in Time

Hey look, I wrote a little thing in Time magazine's Style and Design issue on hidden cocktail bars as a national trend. Here it is online, and here is the scan.

Classic Hotel Bars

Looks who's quoted on ForbesTraveler.com on classic cocktails in classic hotel bars: your old pal Camper English.

Give thanks for beer and turkey

By me, in Friday's SF Chronicle:

A new Web site by the Brewers Association wants you to pass on the wine this Turkey Day and pop open a craft beer instead. BeerAndTurkey.org offers suggestions for beer pairings with a range of holiday meals, including roasted, smoked and Cajun-style turkey, ham, goose, salmon and lamb. They also pair beer with side dishes and seasonings, like amber ale with sage dishes and all-malt pilsner, dark lager or red ale to go with buttery mashed potatoes and creamed corn. The site also lists a few serving suggestions (large bottles for easy sharing, multiple glasses for multiple beers), but not all segments of the population will be served by the Web site: There are no pairing notes for Tofurky.

Felten and Wondrich book reviews

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

New books dedicated to old drinks
Camper English

Many drink books published today are the "Behind the Music" of cocktails, telling the stories of the book authors and recipe histories rather than inventing a slew of new libations.

In the past few years we've seen titles including "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozulum Cocktail to the Zombie," "Straight Up or On the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail," "Sippin' Safari: In Search of the Great "Lost" Tropical Drink Recipes... And the People Behind Them," and "And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails." This fall, two more titles make that list.

"Imbibe!" by Esquire writer David Wondrich (Perigee Trade, $24) is an investigation into the first known cocktail recipe book, Jerry Thomas' "How to Mix Drinks" from 1862.

The majority of the text is a deconstruction of about 100 recipes from or inspired by "How to Mix Drinks." Wondrich translates the recipes into current measurement sizes, suggests substitutions and deletions of specific ingredients, and recommends specific brands to give the drinks authentic (or better tasting) flavor. But this is not just an updated recipe book: While each recipe may consist of only a few lines, Wondrich's historical analysis of the drink's origin, comparison with recipes from other texts, and suggested alterations and spin-offs can go on for several pages each. (And in a few places he refers to how much material he left out to save space.) Wondrich uncovered many new bits of information and has answered several lingering cocktail origin questions in the book. Cocktail connoisseurs and history buffs will find this book an essential addition to their reference libraries.

Eric Felten's "How's Your Drink? Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well" (Agate Surrey, $20; release date Nov. 28) is written in the breezy tone that defines his James Beard Award-winning column of the same name in the Wall Street Journal. The book consists of short essays on classic and modern cocktails with recipes at the end of each, grouped into chapters on ice drinks, holiday drinks, war drinks and the like. Though Felten also traces cocktail origins, he references fewer cocktail books and more literary sources like Broadway plays, novels and newspaper stories. It is a cultural study rather than a technical one, packed with great trivia and hilarious observations like calling gargantuan martinis "hazing, not hospitality." The best description of the book, and the study of cocktail history in general, comes from the conclusion. "If there is anything to be serious about in the way of drinks it is this only: that one's drink be delicious. If it can add to our pleasure by having a good story to tell, then all the better."

Vintage Cocktail Books

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Bartenders shake and stir their way through cocktail history
Camper English, Special to the Chronicle

Because of their proximity to sticky liquids, well-used cocktail books often don't hold up over time, which may be why vintage cocktail books from the 1860s through the 1940s are rare and highly collectible.

These books hold more value than the recipes inside or their resale value, however. Modern cocktail enthusiasts use them to rediscover how and what people were drinking when the books were written, what bar life was like in the beginning of the last century, and the history of bartending as a profession.

Josey Packard, a bartender at Alembic in the Upper Haight who also studies recipe history, earned her master's degree in editorial studies at Boston University, during which she became interested in books about classic cocktails. She initially made drinks that she read about in newspapers, including the mojito and cosmopolitan, which lead her to try more gin-based and other complex drinks like the Corpse Reviver, Mary Pickford and Gansevoort fizz not widely made in bars at the time. "There was a point at which I realized I was more disappointed than delighted when going out for cocktails," she says. And thus began her career as a bartender.

Keep reading here.

Pumpkin pie, just like Mom used to drink

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Modern Spirits Vodka, the small brand that creates infusions like celery peppercorn and chocolate orange, has released its first seasonal flavor: pumpkin pie. (They'll be launching a rose infusion for Valentine's Day next.) The vodka was infused with pumpkin puree and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and retains a slight orange-yellow color, but isn't so bold as to taste like a pie put into a blender. It's fine served cold as a sipping vodka (a nice digestif after a big turkey meal), or in one of several recipes found on the Web site ModernSpiritsVodka.com. The Everything Nice cocktail could be served in place of dessert: 2 ounces pumpkin pie vodka, 1 ounce heavy cream, 2 tablespoons maple syrup and a splash of orange liqueur served in a graham cracker-rimmed martini glass.

Tiki bar crawl in San Francisco

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Next Thursday though Sunday is the seventh annual San Francisco Bay Area Tiki Crawl. That the event is spread out over four days and three geographic regions is an indicator that we have a heck of a lot of tiki bars in this part of the world. (Take that, Hawaii!) On South Bay Thursday, the hordes descend upon Smoke Tiki, the Palo Alto Trader Vic's and Martini Monkey in the San Jose airport (pending approval). Friday night, city tiki-hoppers stop by Trad'r Sam, the Tonga Room, Bamboo Hut and the San Francisco Trader Vic's. On Saturday, it's time to hit Trader Vic's in Emeryville, Forbidden Island in Alameda, and the Conga Lounge and Kona Club in Oakland. The tour ends on Sunday with a leisurely revisit of Forbidden Island. There is no bus between venues unlike past years, so drivers are encouraged to find safe carpool situations rather than anger the great gods of common sense. Specific times and addresses, as well as an e-mail information list can be found on TikiCrawl.com.

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.

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.

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.)

The Zagat guide to Diageo-approved restaurants

By me, in today's SF Chronicle: (yes, I wrote most of the Wine Section today)

Zagat Survey launched the iDrinkWell.com Web site this week as a "guide to finding restaurants that not only serve great food but are also dedicated to serving you the highest quality drinks." Though not currently advertised on the site (iDrinkWell forwards to a Zagat microsite), iDrinkWell is a collaboration between Zagat Survey and international liquor company Diageo. The venues chosen for the site (61 in the entire Bay Area) must be Zagat-rated and must have participated in a Diageo-sponsored training program.

No cocktail bars make the list yet, though Zagat publishes a separate nightlife guide. So the venues on the site (ranging from Absinthe to Yosemite's Ahwahnee Dining Room) are all restaurants listed alongside ratings by a company associated with objectivity.

A Zagat representative said, "There are completely different criteria for this program versus the traditional Zagat recognition program." No kidding.

For more information on this ludicrous collaboration that should make you swear to never use a Zagat guide again, read this industry story on Diageo's future plans for the program.

Good things come in small batches

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

Oct. 13 is the first Independent Spirits Fest, a big tasting event focused on small producers. Unlike most single-topic spirits bonanzas, this one has a bit of everything: cachaca, single-malt Scotch, liqueurs, flavored vodka, eau de vie, bourbon and more. Most of the Bay Area-based distillers (Charbay, Anchor, St. George, Osocalis) will present so you can support the home teams or try something from farther afield. Spirits are available for ordering on site, allowing you to get a jump on your holiday shopping. For added entertainment, "Cocktails on the Fly" Internet cocktail show host Alberta Straub will be conducting live interviews with distillers onstage while also mixing drinks with their products. Tasting, food and music are included for $75, or for $88 you can get in and start tasting an hour early.

The W Hotel San Francisco, 6:30-10 p.m. Oct. 13th. Tickets available at CelticMalts.com.

Cachaca in the Chron

Here's today's story in the SF Chronicle on the state of cachaca:

A wave of artisan cachaca hits local bars
Camper English, Special to The Chronicle
Friday, October 5, 2007

Nipping at the mojito's heels, the caipirinha is poised to become the next Latin cocktail of the moment.

With just three ingredients - a muddled half of lime, sugar and cachaca (kah-SHAH-sah), a Brazilian spirit - a caipirinha is easy enough to make. If a bar or restaurant has a muddler, there is a fair chance the bartender can make a caipirinha.

With so few ingredients in the drink, the choice of cachaca will have a large impact on its flavor, but until recently bartenders had to work with the very few mass-produced, rough-tasting brands that were available in the United States.

In Brazil, however, there are an estimated 30,000 small-scale cachaca producers and 5,000 brands on the market. Cachaca is the third-most distilled liquor in the world, and because of the caipirinha's popularity, more of it is hitting stateside shelves

Cachaca is commonly called Brazilian rum, but it is distilled from fermented sugarcane juice instead of the molasses used in most rums from other countries. The majority of cachaca is unaged (whereas most rums are aged), giving it a lighter and often more vegetal flavor with a strong sugarcane taste.

Like other liquors, cachaca can be either column distilled, an industrial technique that usually results in a cleaner, though less flavorful end product, or pot distilled, a smaller-batch method that retains more character of the raw ingredient, but also impurities. Most of the commonly available Brazilian brands like Cachaca 51 (also called Pirassununga) and Pitú are column distilled and bottled without aging.

Other brands of cachaca are aged in oak or native Brazilian wood barrels, and are generally considered "sipping cachacas," enjoyed without mixer. The brand Ypióca, also fairly available in the Bay Area, produces several cachacas aged one to two years in balsam or freijó barrels. Wood aging softens the mouthfeel of spirits and adds vanilla, caramel and other flavors. When the wood is not the usual oak used in wine and the majority of spirits, refreshingly new flavor notes can be found in the final products.

In recent months, three smaller brands of aged imported cachacas have become available: Armazem Vieira, GRM and Rochinha. These products range from 2 to 16 years of aging in woods with names like arririba, umburana, and jequitiba rosa. Some of these brands are available at the liquor store John Walker & Sons, and at the bar Cantina in San Francisco and the restaurant A Cote in Oakland. These boutique products come with a matching price, though. The GRM (my favorite of the bunch) sells for more than $60 per 750 ml bottle.

These three brands are imported by Olie Berlic, a former sommelier from New York who discovered them in Brazil while preparing to launch his own brand of cachaca, Beleza Pura. Berlic says, "I was looking for a high-end, unaged cachaca. The caipirinha calls for unaged, un-wooded cachaca, so that you don't have the wood flavors competing with the fresh lime citrus flavors." Beleza Pura is meant for the caipirinha, whereas his imports can be sipped neat.

The Fazenda Mae de Ouro brand is pot distilled from sugarcane not burned before harvesting (the brand manager said this can impart smoky flavor into the final product), and aged for one year in oak. Though aged, the product makes a fine caipirinha.

Many new high-end brands were developed specifically for the American market and palate. These companies advertise their cachacas as possible substitutions for vodka, rum or tequila in cocktails consumers already know. To make them adaptable to multiple drinks, they distill the products multiple times and/or highly filter the products to remove flavor.

Agua Luca is distilled from fermented sugarcane juice "within 24 hours of harvesting," then the final spirit is filtered 12 times for a flavor profile that's closer to vodka in flavor and structure than most cachacas.

Leblon is the most visible and available premium cachaca in the city. It is unique in that it is aged for a few months in used Cognac barrels both in Brazil and in France. Because of this, other brands' representatives question Leblon's authenticity as a true cachaca but newcomers may prefer its softer texture to the rough industrial brands.

Despite all the new brands on the market, even most Brazilian establishments here don't carry more than a few bottles of cachaca. San Francisco restaurants Canto do Brasil and Espetus stock three, and Destino carries four brands.

There are a few go-to venues for cachaca variety though. The restaurant Bossa Nova in San Francisco offers nine brands of cachaca, and Oakland's A Cote carries "9 or 10" cachacas. The Union Square Latin bar, Cantina, likely has the largest selection in San Francisco with nearly 20 brands, almost all of them high-end, and more than half meant for sipping rather than mixing.

As it's rare to find this many brands even on liquor store shelves, these venues may be the best places in the Bay Area to learn about cachaca, with bartenders who can lead tastings of their preferred products. Barring that, you can always fly to Brazil and research the other 4,990 brands.

Where to drink cachaca

A Cote, 5478 College Ave. (near Taft), Oakland; (510) 655-6469, acoterestaurant.com

Bossa Nova, 139 Eighth St. (near Minna), San Francisco; (415) 558-8004, bossanovasf.com

Cantina, 580 Sutter St. (near Mason), San Francisco; (415) 398-0195, cantinasf.com

Canto do Brasil, 41 Franklin St. (near Oak), San Francisco; (415) 626-8727

Destino, 1815 Market St. (near Guerrero), San Francisco; (415) 552-4451, destinosf.com

Espetus, 1686 Market St. (at Gough), San Francisco; (415) 552-8792, espetus.com

Camper English is a freelance cocktails and spirits writer and publisher of Alcademics.com.

National Vodka Day is October 4

By me, in today's SF Chronicle:

7 reasons to celebrate National Vodka Day

Because vodka is by definition tasteless and minute differences in flavor don't make up for massive differences in shelf prices charged for it, spirits snobs tend to dismiss the whole category. But let's take a minute to reflect on the good things about vodka as we celebrate National Vodka Day on Thursday, Oct. 4:

-- It mixes with anything, so it's easy to use. Even amateur mixologists can make farmers' market cocktails with vodka, soda and the muddled fruit of the day.

-- No Jagermeister breath.

-- Cosmopolitans, Moscow mules, lemon drops, white Russians, madras, bay breezes, Bloody Marys: Yum.

-- The marketing of vodka provides no end to amusement. Carbonated, caffeinated, sold in a bong? Yep, we've seen those.

-- You don't have to think too hard about pairing it to bring out the subtle aromas of coriander and fennel. Just add juice. It works.

-- Some of the flavored vodkas are actually pretty terrific.

-- Not only does vodka not stain when you spill it on the rug, it can be used as a stain remover. Take that, wine!