Alcademics

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