Here's something. I read a lot of books, most of them about liquor, but not all. I am in several book clubs but one of them is my "normal" club in which we discuss non-boozy books. (With exceptions! Once I chose a book on ice; more recently another member chose... Read more →
This story originally appeared on AlcoholProfessor.com. Bar Iris: A Different Vision of a Japanese Cocktail Bar Bar Iris is a small cocktail lounge in San Francisco’s wealthy Russian Hill neighborhood. Though it is attached to the restaurant Nisei next door, Iris is its own venue rather than a waiting room... Read more →
Over at AlcoholProfessor.com, I reviewed the new book Brand Mysticism: Cultivate Creativity and Intoxicate Your Audience by Steven Grasse and Aaron Goldfarb. [buy on Amazon] [buy on Bookshop] Read the review here. Read more →
Below are bottle shots of mostly new- and a few just new to me- spirits products that have come onto the market in the last month. There were a lot this month as many brands release stuff just before the holidays. These are from my Instagram account and you can... Read more →
This review first appeared on AlcoholProfessor.com. With hundreds of color photos and a nearly 40-page illustration-driven introduction section, it appears on the first flip-through that Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake by Nancy Matsumoto and Michael Tremblay will be a quick, light read. It is not – the book... Read more →
Doctors and Distillers was mentioned in (at least) two three four gift guides this past week. Robert Haynes-Peterson recommended it as a gift on AlcoholProfessor.com. Frank Whitman recommended it on CT Insider. And A Lush Life Manual says it's one of the Best Cocktail Books of 2022. Who am I... Read more →
I made a (hopefully) fun little quiz based on the information in Doctors and Distillers. Fill it out below, or if the formatting is funky the direct link is here. Loading… Read more →
In 2021 I hosted a group of bartenders to taste a big batch of nonalcoholic spirits. Read that write-up here. Since then, many new brands have come onto the market or been newly imported into the USA. I lined up 17 expressions and tasted them. Fifteen are pictured below, plus... Read more →
For AlcoholProfessor.com I wrote up the (okay, mostly my) Most Anticipated Beer/Wine/Cider books out of the many, many, many new releases. In short, the books are (links are to Amazon): The Anchor Brewing Story: America's First Craft Brewery & San Francisco's Original Anchor Steam Beer The World of Natural Wine:... Read more →
For the SFStandard, I wrote up a brief announcement and a few fun facts about The Anchor Brewing Story: America's First Craft Brewery & San Francisco's Original Anchor Steam Beer that is out today. [Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop] The story is here. Read more →