Consumer Products and Services

New Law Could Let Distillers Charge For Booze Tastings

New Bill Would Allow Distillers to Charge For On-Site Tastings

St. George Spirits used to sell glassware -- and offer a complimentary taste of their spirits with a glass purchase. The reason? It's against the law for distillers to charge for tastings and sell bottles at their distilleries, like brewers and vintners can. Although the Alcohol and Control Board r ... More >>

Budweiser, Corona Sued in San Francisco

This suit's for youFriday is a good day for beer and, today, it's a great one for lawsuits regarding beer. Attorney Joe Alioto tells SF Weekly that, this afternoon, he'll make a federal case out of a proposed multi-billion dollar deal to merge two of the world's yellowest beers, Budweiser and Corona ... More >>

Drink 2013: Small Batch is the Second Coming of Local Wine

Monk's Kettle Turns Five and Throws a Party (Today!)

We remember when Monk's Kettle was knee-high to a grasshopper. Five years into their run as one of SF's first beer-centric restaurants, and they've never been more on top of their game. In half a decade, the menu at Monk's has taken on a refined yet rustic personality, and the vintage beer list cont ... More >>

Martuni's: The Last S.F. Piano Bar in a Karaoke World

If you've ever been inside Martuni's, that dark-walled bar on the corner of Valencia and Market, you know it's a special place: As SF Weekly staff writer Joe Eskenazi describes in this week's cover story, Martuni's is a piano bar thriving in a karaoke world. It's the last remaining example of what u ... More >>

Viacom's Insane Move to Yank Shows From The Web

Viacom's decision to yank its programming from the Web last week as a tactic in its dispute with DirecTV was absolutely insane. The last people to realize this fact were Viacom's executives. As of Tuesday, the company had restored The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Since it's the middle of summe ... More >>

Local Author Accuses Sony of Stealing His Book to Make Movie

It appears that Sony has gotten so comfortable making movies from stories derived from comic books that it now has allegedly moved onto bigger things: Adapting novels. And while Sony had the rights to put Spider-Man on the big screen, the media company had no right ripping off this Berkeley man's no ... More >>

The Tower Records Project Wants Your Help Remembering the Former Record Retail Giant

If you're one of those music fans who actually buys recordings -- instead of, you know, downloading your entire library out of ignorance, stupidity, and/or laziness -- chances are you remember Tower Records, the iconic, Sacramento-based chain whose abandoned locations still haunt certain San Francis ... More >>

The Summer Movie Rises: Twenty Films to Watch Out For

No More Cheap Gas at Safeway?

The price at the pump could get even pricier -- but only at your local Safeway store. An Alameda County judge has "hinted" that he will block Safeway stores from offering cheaper gasoline to their Club Card members and loyal shoppers across the Bay Area. And you can thank the surrounding fuel statio ... More >>

Copyright Owners Continue to Tilt at Windmills

​Given the intensity of the debates over digital piracy, you'd almost think that if one side or the other were to "win," the question would be decided: If critics of copyright holders were victorious, piracy would run rampant and the media industry would be brought to its knees; if the copyright o ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Shake Ridge Red

​In Champagne, most big-name "houses" buy their grapes from multiple growers and blend them to achieve consistency -- Veuve is Veuve whenever you drink it. But if you talk to Somms in the city, you'll most likely find that they favor grower-producers, those wine makers who grow their grapes. Latel ... More >>

Image Is Everything

Meet Linda Chorney, the Unknown Singer-Songwriter Who Got a Grammy Nomination

By J. POET The Grammy Awards usually generate an tidal wave of press releases aimed at congratulating the usual superstars for their achievements. This year, there was a refreshing bit of controversy when singer-songwriter Linda Chorney was nominated for Best Americana Album for her Emotional Jukeb ... More >>

Meet Our Masterminds: Eric Cohen and Eliane Lima

The economy sucks, but we don't care -- the Bay Area is home to artists so talented they deserve to take over the world. That's why the Masterminds grants are given to three local and emerging artists who need that little push to become even more awesome. SF Weekly has narrowed down the potential w ... More >>

Sorry, Twitter, if You're in the Media Business, You're a Media Company

​Given how Silicon Valley moguls flee from the term "media company," you'd almost think it was as bad as "child-porn merchant." But whether they like it or not, companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter are media companies. They don't have precisely the same business models as News Corp., Disne ... More >>

49ers Season Tickets Will Require $30K Fee

​The NFL is a hell of a business. Niners fans, paying an exorbitant amount for season tickets, will now be required to plink down tens of thousands of dollars in order to have the privilege of paying even more for tickets in the 49ers yet-to-be-constructed stadium.Fans sitting in the "club level" ... More >>

Hacker Group Anonymous Takes Up Arms in SOPA Battle

​The "hacktivist" network known as Anonymous has stepped into the fray in the battle among legacy media companies, Internet firms, and politicians over the federal Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).The controversial proposed legislation would make it more difficult for websites to display pirated cont ... More >>

MySpace Says It's Bringing TV to the Web -- But It Isn't

​Specific Media, now the owners of MySpace, took Justin Timberlake on stage with them Monday night at the Consumer Electronic Show, and with a lot of fanfare, they announced ... essentially nothing. The purported big news is that MySpace is revolutionizing television by bringing it to the Web an ... More >>

The RIAA Responds Lamely to Claims of Piracy Advocates

​TorrentFreak, a news site that basically supports illicit downloading, last week used a half-assed ISP-lookup service to conclude that employees of both the Recording Industry Association of America and the Department of Homeland Security had downloaded illicit copies of various copyrighted works ... More >>

The Recording Industry Makes Itself Look Stupid Yet Again While Battling Piracy

​Over at Dan Mitchell's Digital Tremors column on our news blog, the Snitch, there's an interesting debate brewing over the recording industry's response to some piracy advocates' claims that its employees downloaded music and other files illegally. Mitchell's take is that while disputing thes ... More >>

Carl's Jr.'s New Pitchman: 482-Pound Man

Michael Moore pictured with President Obama, who, incidentally also likes meat ​Contrary to what Supervisor Eric Mar might tell you, fast food needn't be awful for you. Bay Area man Michael Moore swears by his Carl's Jr.-only diet, which he says is largely responsible for helping him to shed almos ... More >>

482 Pound Man Endorses the Carl's Jr. Weight-Loss Plan

Michael Moore and the president, for some reason.​ A 482 pound Antioch resident credits Carl's Jr. with helping him slim down. A man named Michael Moore claims that eating Carl's Jr. every day last year helped him to lose weight -- around 100 pounds. As Erin Sherbert writes on our sister blog ... More >>

America's Cup: Booze and Boating Unite!

Wine and yachts -- an American traditionWine and yachts go together like PBR and fixies. So you knew this was coming. The organizers of the forthcoming America's Cup and Napa Valley Vintners today announced that Napa will be the "Official Wine Region of the 34th America's Cup." Those toting in forei ... More >>

The Lighter Side of India's Deities

Joanna Karlinsky and Popups Take Over Food at the Winemakers' Speakeasy

Joanna Karlinsky/FacebookJoanna Karlinsky, in her Meetinghouse days.​Joanna Karlinsky, former chef-owner of Pacific Heights' much-loved Meetinghouse, has been looking for a permanent venue since closing up Sweet Jo's, her cafe in the Presidio JCC, last year. For the past two months, she's been ser ... More >>

Tolosa Shows What Chardonnay Smells Like Without Oak

​Earlier this year I attended a fascinating seminar, led by a perfumer, at Tolosa Winery in San Luis Obispo County. Over the course of several mentally exhausting hours, we learned by blind-whiffing essential oils exactly what many of the descriptors we use all the time smell like. For examp ... More >>

Sugar Sues Corn Syrup for False Advertising. No Joke.

Sugar: going on the offensive. Yesterday the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles began hearing arguments over an odd lawsuit filed by a group of sugar producers against a group of producers and marketers of high-fructose corn syrup. The charge? False advertising. Big Sugar is mad that Big HFCS -- u ... More >>

Family Winemakers Show Offers More Wine Than You Can Handle

Foodgal.com​Family Winemakers of California Tasting Where: Fort Mason Center When: Sunday, Aug. 21, 3-6 p.m. Cost: $65 advance, $75 at the door We can drink a lot of wine, but we find the Family Winemakers of California annual tasting overwhelming, in a good way. There's always about 50 times ... More >>

Drink Oakland Wine at the Urban Wine Xperience

Michelle Locke/Palate PressUrban Legend Cellars is one of more than 20 wineries that make wine in Oakland​East Bay Vintners' Alliance 6th Annual Urban Wine Xperience Where: Jack London Pavilion, 1 Broadway, Oakland When: Saturday, Aug. 6, 2-5 p.m. Cost: $40 A lot of wine is consumed in San Fr ... More >>

Napa Winemaker Came from Sports Illustrated for Kids

This is another little extra for this week's review of Bar Tartine in the print edition: an interview with the man who made one of the most impressive wines on the restaurant's very interesting wine list. Liza GershmanDan Petroski​When I called Dan Petroski to ask him how he managed to make M ... More >>

Pandora Goes Public for $3 Billion. Happy Face?

Ninety million users, zero profits.​First, a word of congratulations to Pandora, the Oakland-based Internet radio service whose initial public stock offering today resulted in a nearly $235 million windfall to its investors. The company is now valued at $3 billion. You can buy its stock on the New ... More >>

A Field Guide to Sustainable and Delicious Dry Farmed Wines

Whole lotta irrigation goin' on in Napa.​Irrigation is plainly a function of the modern world. Though the ancient Romans built spectacular gravity-driven aqueducts, drip irrigation for agriculture was not invented until the late 1960s in Israel, and only in the 1970s did water-bearing pipes a ... More >>

June's Literary Events

Record Store Day Is Christmas for Music Retailers

Drink 2011: In Craft Brewing, the Meek Inherit the Earth

The New Cheese Lady

Old Oak Becomes Almanac Beer Co., Plans February Release

Almanac Beer Co.​When Brian Yaeger introduced SFoodie readers to Old Oak Beer Co. a couple months back, the much-anticipated "farm-to-barrel" ale was waiting patiently in oak wine barrels, mingling with fresh Sonoma County blackberries. While nothing has changed about the beer company's vision ... More >>

Fenton's Creamery is Hosting an UP Party

Pixar​One of the most endearing aspects of Pixar's incredibly charming digital 3D flick UP is how Oakland ice cream institution Fenton's Creamery (4226 Piedmont at Entrada, Oakland) is one of the chief draws back to land for the balloon-flying main characters, a place of great sentimental importan ... More >>

What a Predicament: City Attorney Defends Crappy S.F. Law Against Ultimate Corporate Force of Evil

I am the law!​ Like a duel to the death with the prize to the victor being death, it seems there are no winners in this morning's legal showdown between San Francisco and Philip Morris at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Well, the winner may be "your lungs," but, at best, the loser would be "your ... More >>

Do You Think Big Tobacco Is a Bunch of Rotten, Death-Dealing Bastards? Well, Survey Says You're Probably Not a Smoker.

G.B. TrudeauDislike tobacco industry shills? That's a good sign for your lungs.A U.C. San Francisco study has revealed that young adults who deeply believe that the tobacco industry is composed of low-down, degenerate, gutless, slimy, watermelon-fucking sons of bitches are far less likely to smoke t ... More >>

Earth's Richest Man World's Greatest Newspaper? Damning San Francisco Archive Suggests it's a Match Made in Hell

As Sunday news reports described Mexican monopolist Carlos Slim Helu's bid to become the largest shareholder of The New York Times, readers and staffers were no doubt wondering precisely what kind of scoundrel he is.Everyone knows Slim controls Telmex, the politically connected monopoly that has dri ... More >>

The Smoking Gun

A treasure trove of damning evidence against Big Tobacco has been unearthed at UCSF

Profiles in Gumption

Thanks to SFMOMA, Mattel wasn't able to squash a Utah artist who puts Barbie dolls in blenders

Blowing Smoke

WARNING: Gov. Davis' plan to use tobacco lawsuit money to fill a budget gap is dangerous to our financial health

Smoking Gun

Tobacco industry documents expose an R.J. Reynolds marketing plan targeting S.F. gays and homeless people. Its name: Project SCUM.

Babes in Toyland

Two hackers piss off Mattel and spawn an Internet legal imbroglio

Outing the Marlboro Man

Document reveals new details on how tobacco companies target gays

Opening Pandora's Box

Once-secret documents reveal the tobacco industry's battle to gut anti-smoking education in California. Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and former Gov. Pete Wilson helped.