Bay Area's best mixologists leaving bars for brands Camper English, Special to The Chronicle Friday, September 19, 2008 While you're still likely to run into many of San Francisco's best mixologists in the usual cocktail hot spots, increasingly they'll be standing on the other side of the bar. That's because... Read more →
As you read this, I am in Bardstown, Kentucky. Yeehaw, y'all. But I have a story in today's San Francisco Chronicle on bartenders who are no longer bartending. Controversy! Run screaming to your local newsstand to pick up the story (with exciting graphics, they assure me), or scroll down on... Read more →
If you're in San Francisco, pick up this week's SF Bay Guardian newspaper, as I have a story in it on new booze I like, including Plymouth Sloe Gin, Remy Marin 1989 Cognac, Square One Cucumber Vodka, Pisco 100, Dimmi Liqueur, Tequila Ocho, Pernod Absinthe, Old Forester Repeal Bourbon, and... Read more →
It's time for the monthly-or-so round-up of booze stories in glossy magazines. In Tasting Panel, an industry magazine to which I'm a regular contributor, I have three stories in the September issue: One on Tales of the Cocktail, a quick blurb on Appleton and Kobrand, and a story on savory... Read more →
In today's Washington Post, Jason Wilson discusses celebrity booze- brands by Willie Nelson, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Danny DeVito, Donald Trump, Sammy Hagar, Vince Neil, Marilyn Manson, and Lil John. He also talks about cocktails named after celebrities, like the not-so-delicious Paris Hilton, MC Hammer, and Flava Flav. As usual,... Read more →
I would like to organize my liquor cabinets (I'm up to six now) by spirit, but that's just not possible anymore. Not because I have so many of each, but because brands are all competing to have the tallest bottle on the shelf. I only have a couple of extra-high... Read more →
The announcement that the Wall Street Journal was starting a wine club got me thinking: There sure are a lot of publications with wine clubs these days. In the UK, there is the Sunday Times Wine Club, but as with many of these clubs, the connection to the publication in... Read more →
This story in the Modesto Bee discusses the three tier system that keeps alcohol producers, distributors, and retailers legally separated. The story is concerned with all the exceptions that have to be granted to the law each year, such as: When, for instance, the Bronfman liquor family (Seagram's) bought Universal... Read more →