Alcademics

Johnny Codd, formerly of Wo Hing and The Coachman, has taken over the cocktail program at Gaspar Brasserie in San Francisco. Downstairs is just a small service bar in the restaurant but the upstairs Cognac Room has a larger bar where they serve oysters and other snacks on the menu.

Codd's new cocktail list consists of 50 brandy cocktails, all of them classics and slight variations, from books like The Savoy Cocktail Book and Charles H. Baker's The Gentleman's Companion. The menu is broken down into sections for cocktails made with cognac (8), armagnac (6), calvados (6), American brandy (8), pisco (6), and eau de vie and grappa (6). 

There are familiar classics like the Pink Squirrel, French 75, Pimm's Cup No. 3, and Jack Rose, and others I've never tried like the Depth Bomb, Sahara Glowing Heart, and El Morocco. 

The new menu launches on June 1 and also includes unique tasting flights in categories like unaged brandies from around the world, decades of armagnac, and cognac terroir. 

And speaking of terroir, that's how the spirits list is arranged - armagnac separated into producers from Bas Armagnac and Tenareze, and calvados divided into Pays D'Auge and Domfrontais. 

A few pages of the menu are below. (The menu might change slightly before opening.)

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