In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to theHerradura distillery in the town of Amatitan. (Here they split the agave in two before baking.) (The magic of Herradura is that it ferments naturally- no yeast is added.) (Sleeping tequila.)... Read more →
In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Osborne. (The logo for Osborne is the silhouette of a bull. You see it all around.) (This is barrel with a clear end so you can see how flor (a layer of yeast)... Read more →
Blackbird is the little bar that could. Located near Church and Market Streets at the edge of the Castro district in San Francisco, the bar has a mixed straight and gay clientele. Though most gay bars have cocktail lists, they're pretty much all written by the distributors in the formula... Read more →
In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to the Jose Cuervo distillery in the town of Tequila. (First we visited an agave field.) (The jimador harvested the agave plant to get the pina, or pineapple, center.) (I planted my... Read more →
In September 2010 I visited several sherry bodegas. Here are pictures and a few notes from Bodegas Grupo Estevez. (Sherry sleeping peacefully in the bodega.) (One of the warehouses is named for flamenco dancer Lola Flores.) (Horse stables and ring behind the bodegas. Jerez is home to flamenco, dancing horses,... Read more →
Below are new menus for cocktail bars in San Francisco. Rickhouse (New menu goes live Friday, Dec 17.) Bar Manager Trevor Easter says of his new menu, " Living in California (specifically coastal towns) I'm not familiar with actual extreme season changes. So I felt it wasn't fair to the... Read more →
Last week in Louisville, Kentucky with Four Roses bourbon I stopped in to a few bars, most notably Proof on Main and 732 Social (twice). Proof on Main was our last stop on the first night so it was empty besides our group and local cocktail consultant Josh Durr, who... Read more →
In November I visited seven tequila distilleries in Mexico. Here are some pictures and notes from my visit to the Cazadores and Corzo distillery in the town of Arandas. (Autoclaves cook agave much faster than traditional brick/clay ovens.) (It's a huge operation here. The liquids travel in pipes through a... Read more →