Alcademics

It's been way too long since I did a new booze round-up. These images are all from my Instagram page, and how I'm largely covering new products hitting the market. Read more →

Empress By Boon is the fine dining restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown at the site of the former Empress of China. I stopped by for happy hour the other day and was treated to these sixth-floor views: Bar Manager Emily Parian says that it's not very busy at happy hour... Read more →

Pabu in San Francisco recently updated the cocktail menu with several new drinks. I met Mike Lay, Mina Group Director of Bars, who filled me in on what was new. I asked the bartender working that shift what he thought the most popular ones were so far, and in his... Read more →

Bar Iris, the Japanese-influenced cocktail bar in Russian Hill, currently lists 7 cocktails on the menu. The drinks, including Okinawa (rum, okinawa yam, calamansi, oat milk, plum) that I wrote about for Eater, are the result of tons of prep work for the ingredients before service. A lot of the... Read more →

The brand Gin Mare and the Madrid bar Salmon Guru have collaborated on a project aging cocktails in amphorae under the Mediterranean Sea, and then recreating that in a tank. The rest of this post is pasted from the press release. The aim of this project, which is still in... Read more →

I just realized that this is my tenth year at making The Big Drink list for 7x7 Magazine. It's a list of iconic cocktails in San Francisco. Check out the 2012 version here. As usual it's a list of super classics like the Irish Coffee at The Buena Vista and... Read more →

I had the opportunity to check out the new bar-focussed restaurant The Madrigal last week. The cocktails come from Mike McCardle, formerly of Shakewell in Oakland. The bar is located on Van Ness right near the opera/symphony to take advantage of pre-show crowds. It's a nice space and you can... Read more →

I checked out Bluestem Brasserie, now slightly rebranded as Bluestem Restaurant & Market with grab and go items as well as dine-in. The new cocktail program is a tribute to California flavors with things like bay leaf and rosemary atop figs, clementines, and even avocado in one. There’s a Cioppino... Read more →