Like most everybody, I spend a fair amount of time thinking about the new role of social media and the decline of traditional media. But unlike a lot of people my livelihood depends on one or the other. I'm a freelance writer who blogs, hoping that if money stops flowing... Read more →
You may have noticed something funky in this month's glossy San Francisco city magazines. Jordan Mackay, long the wine and spirits writer for 7x7 Magazine, has a piece in San Francisco Magazine. And if you picked up 7x7 Magazine you may have noticed a story by me in it, and... Read more →
This past fall I took the B.A.R., Beverage Alcohol Resource, five-day course in New York. The course has two levels- "Ready" and "Certified", with the only difference in the number of drinks one has to make within a certain time on the practical bartending exam. The course ran for about... Read more →
I get a lot of press kits in the mail. Lately the USB drives they put the images and information on have been getting really colorful. You know how some people have really awesome collections of vintage barware and cocktail books from the 1800's? Maybe in 50 years I'll have... Read more →
Thursday night at the opening party for SF Chefs.Food.Wine, I was introduced to someone as a "cocktail journalist" but he misheard and said, "Cocktail Internalist?" That's a pretty accurate job title too. Read more →
...Dr. Bamboo draws your picture. Read his report of the Drink.Write 2009 bloggers' conference (and see more drawings). I'll have some thoughts to share on the conference as well sometime in the future. Camper English, Jay Hepburn, SeanMike Whipkey and Paul Clarke drop some science. Illustration by Dr. Bamboo. Read more →
Beverage journalists are used to receiving bottles in the mail, but until now those bottles have always been full. In a fun PR trick this June, Jim Beam brands sent writers a box with a neatly packed bottle of Knob Creek bourbon- empty- to show that this year's supply that... Read more →
SeanMike over at Scofflaw's Den is making cocktails for mixologists, bloggers, and other folks, and naming them for those people. And now he's made one named The Camper, made with blanco tequila, grenadine, lemon juice, pineapple grapefruit soda, and Peychaud's bitters. Sounds tasty- I can't wait to try me. Read more →