Liquor and Spirits

Drink of the Week: Get a Grip on Grappa at Bar 888

Even as our collective drinking palate continues to develop to appreciate spirits once considered too challenging (like smoky peaty single malts whiskies, rustic and flavorful mescal, and bitter European liqueurs), we still may have a ways to go until people learn to love grappa. Grappa (also know ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Sipping Like Our Forefathers at the Hancock Room

The rabid nature of modern politics, with its zealous "with us or against us" rhetoric, and increasing complexity that requires studious investments simply to decipher any true agendas, has sadly made patriotism a divisive political sentiment. Perhaps this is the reason for the recent popularity of ... More >>

Lark Creek Steak: Where Cowboys Meet Rastafarians

Possibly Drunk Dude in PacMan Shirt Gives a Mayor Ed Lee a Lesson on Hard Liquor (Video)

The news of Mayor Ed Lee's request for bars to curb hard liquor sales on Super Bowl Sunday made it all the way to the freezing state of Minnesota, where at least one possibly drunk dude attempted to debunk the mayor's theory that hard liquor plus football will wreak havoc on San Francisco. For star ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Drink Like a Big Shot at Capo's

If there's one thing you can say about Tony Gemignani, pizza champ and owner of Capo's and nearby Tony's Pizza Napoletana, is that the guy knows how to entertain. From his dough whirling days on the pizza competition circuit, to his ability to articulate regional styles of pizza pies into ideal stud ... More >>

Bix: Evocative Prohibition-Era Cocktails

Cocktail Week Events for Tuesday, Sept. 18

Tonight's festivities include a fantastic sounding food truck event (bring warms clothes!), a vodka dinner, classic Cuban cocktails, and sexy secretaries making cocktails. No, it doesn't get better than this. Be aware: There's a Giants home game tonight at 7:15pm, Howard street is closed between 3r ... More >>

Whiskies of the World Is Sold Out, but Here's Events Where You Can Score a Taste

​The forecast may be full of dark, cold days and rain, but this weekend Whiskies of the World expo is the perfect shelter from the storm: three levels aboard the San Francisco Belle (Hornblower Cruises) with 30 distilleries and producers of grain spirits pouring a few hundred different bottles. Al ... More >>

Gitane Reveals New Bar Manager and Cocktail Menu

Aubrie PickThe Doblon Cocktail​With Alex Smith's departure to Honor Bar, Gitane has found a new bar manager, and one who is no stranger to the restaurant: Ramon Garcia, who worked behind the bar during both Carlo Splendorini and Alex Smith's tenures, has taken the position and already implemented ... More >>

San Francisco's Top Ten Cocktail Bars

Lou BustamanteBar Agricole's moonraker: Now that's a beaut.​In the last few years, finding a bad drink in San Francisco has become harder than finding a good one. In nearly every neighborhood you'll find a bar filled with fresh juices, high-quality spirits, and a talented bartender conducting ... More >>

Belden Taverna's Foraged Manhattan Busts a Cap in Your Glass

Lou BustamanteThe Foraged Manhattan​As the days continue to get colder and shorter, so do my drinks -- my preferences slowly shift from tall, juicy, and shaken, to stiff and stirred cocktails. I'm not alone. For lots of people, winter brings an increasing fondness for aged spirits occurs, with whi ... More >>

Free Corporate Booze Show with Thee Oh Sees This Thursday

How to make your brand of alcohol cool, in four easy steps: - Invent witty slogan for your brand of booze. ("Shredding bagpipes since 1745," etc.) - Find out what well-known but still sorta underground musical artist(s) the 21-35 crowd in your target market likes. - Book said artist(s) for a show ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Whiskey: Mandolin Expert Chris Thile on How to Make a Drink for Yo-Yo Ma

Chris Thile, mandolinist and mixologist​ Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile needs a drink. Since January, he has toured all over the country with his band, the Punch Brothers, recorded an album with guitarist Michael Daves (touring solo when Daves returned home for personal reasons), and collaborat ... More >>

Cocktail Week Events for Tuesday, Sept. 20

Lou BustamanteKicking off Cocktail Week inside Anchor Brewery and Distillery​After a kickoff night Monday with perfect weather, and more people wanting to attend than there were tickets to be had, San Francisco Cocktail Week continues today with a much broader schedule. Tonight's festivities ... More >>

Scotch Pops: Dessert That Hits You Like Sean Connery

Ben Narasin​When I make sorbet at home I add a single ounce of alcohol to brighten the flavor, a trick I learned years ago that works exceptionally well. If you'd rather have alcohol as the focus instead of the enhancer, you might be attracted to the St. George Spirits Single Malt Whiskey gel ... More >>

The Wilson: Speakeasy-in-a-Speakeasy Packs a Punch

Triumvirate Rum: Rumbustion Society Class Project Goes on Sale at Cask

​When Martin Cate opened Smuggler's Cove in December 2009, he initiated the Rumbustion Society, a master class in rum. Rumbustion is to rum what Julio Bermejo's Blue Agave Club at Tommy's Mexican is to tequila. Finishing the third level (200 different rums, quite a feat!) brings not only glory, bu ... More >>

Big Hats and Bourbon: Where to Celebrate the Kentucky Derby

Virginia MillerOur favorite Kentucky Derby thoroughbred: whiskey.​You may still be fighting the lingering haze of your Cinco de Mayo, but the Kentucky Derby on Saturday will provide yet another excuse to drink a lot and wear a big hat ― just like Mother's Day. Though we couldn't tell you when t ... More >>

The Sipping Seder: Two S.F. Guys Redesign the Passover Plate in Cocktail Form

HoMan Lee/The Sipping SederRob Corwin, left, and Danny Jacobs have come up with a collection of Passover cocktails corresponding to elements on the seder plate.​Reinventing a cultural and religious feast like the Passover seder takes some guts ― and a Boston shaker. If you thought your only opti ... More >>

Liqueur de Violettes: Flower-Based Liqueur Revives a French Classic

​Petaluma-based Tempus Fugit, maker of Gran Classico bitters and absinthes, has just released a 19th-century-style spirit, Liqueur de Violettes. The color's a natural blue-pink (from the violets it's made from, hand-harvested in the sunny Côte d'Azur). It was traditionally used with Champagne ... More >>

Taste of Brooklyn

Aaron WojackNew Yorker Damon Boelte.​Damon Boelte at Beretta and Delarosa When: Beretta on Tue., Feb. 22, 5:30 p.m.-1 a.m.; Delarosa on Wed., Feb. 23, :30 p.m.-1 a.m. Where: Beretta, 1199 Valencia (at 23rd St.), 695-1199 ; Delarosa, 2175 Chestnut (at Pierce), 673-7100 Cost: All special coc ... More >>

Big Nose Goes to Mexico, a Maya Flamer

Tamara Palmer​We needed a little heat in our life this week, so we went for Maya's splendiforously named Big Nose Goes to Mexico, a cocktail blending two tequilas (Cabrito Blanco and Jimador Reposado) with dark rum, guava, and orgeat, served with a flaming, wildly inverted lemon half. Fiery dr ... More >>

Jack Daniel's Files Suit -- Aims to Jack Up Competition

Time for a Lynchburg lawsuit...​The makers of America's most ubiquitous bourbon, Jack Daniel's, have poured out a legal shot at a competitor. Their argument in San Francisco District Court: When it comes to marketing liquor, you don't know Jack. While even teetotalers know Jack Daniel's distillery ... More >>

Go Share a Bowl ― It's National Punch Day

LA & OC Foodventures/FlickrPimm's Berry Punch at Rickhouse.​For many the idea of punch is that unnaturally red "Hawaiian" liquid from a plastic gallon jug. Even the spiked variety that occasionally shows up at adult gatherings is usually nothing more than the kid stuff fortified with cheap liq ... More >>

Gran Classico: An Ancient Liqueur Comes Back

Campari's hand-crafted cuz.​Maybe it's just us looking at the world through drunk-colored glasses, but it's never been a better time to have a drink. As the national interest in cocktails and the standard of quality in bars increase, it's created a market that allows for the revival of and ac ... More >>

Comstock Saloon: Barbary Coast Redux, with Luxe Food and Liquor

eatersf/FlickrThe centerpiece is a beautifully restored 1907 mahogany bar. ​After a few delays, Comstock Saloon, the highly anticipated authentic Barbary Coast era project from Absinthe bar duo Jonny Raglin and Jeff Hollinger, is finally open. The centerpiece is a beautifully restored mahogan ... More >>

Doggy Bag: Punch Drunk at Omnivore

thesecondlunch.com The making of Mission Gutter Juice.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Guttersnipe: Blogger Sam Tackeff of the thesecondlunch.com has a photo-rich report on Saturday's punch contest at Omnivore Books, where Tackeff works. We'll let her refresh your memory: The rules were s ... More >>

S.F. WhiskyWeek Seminars Kick Off Sunday with a Scotch Tasting at Elixir

Kenn Wilson/FlickrElixir is one of about a dozen S.F. bars hosting whiskey-spiked events next week.​There's no better place to celebrate the upcoming sloshfest that is WhiskyWeek 2009 than bellied up to the bar of one of San Francisco's oldest and most passionate advocates of the hard stuff. M ... More >>

Home-Made Lithuanian Milk Liqueur: Think of It as Bathtub Bailey's

Unique Snowflake/FlickrYeah, that's right -- milk.​Apartment-dwelling San Franciscans with a hankering for home-bottled moonshine might be discouraged by the city's dearth of mountain men and their tucked-away open-air stills, but illicit hooch doesn't have to be cooked up in some backwoods ho ... More >>

Bulleit Bourbon: A 90-Proof Rite of Passage

Markyboy81/FlickrHonestly, if you don't respect yourself, who will?​The late great American cultural historian Bernard DeVoto once wrote an entire book dedicated to the proposition that the only cocktails a self-respecting adult should consider imbibing are the dry martini and a slug of whiske ... More >>

Champagne Punch: Chunky, Fruit-Filled Kool-Aid for Grownups

Kevin Littlefield/FlickrLight yet potent.​Before summertime comes to an end and the fruits of the season shrivel into luscious memory, satisfy your stone fruit desires one last time with a light yet potent champagne punch. Raid your local farmers' market for the juiciest plums, apricots, nec ... More >>

The Joy of Juleps

A carefully crafted julep is not only a work of art and a delectable evocation of those lazy summer days just over the horizon, it's one of the two or three greatest American cocktails. The hardest part of the preparation is the crushing of the ice, and since you'll probably become addicted to julep ... More >>

Road Trip Pit Stop: Weimax

Among other things, probably the widest selection of raki, arrak, and ouzo in the area.

Drink of the Week: Spiked Mango Lemonade at Emmy's Spaghetti Shack

Crooked Fingers

Dignity and Shame

Right Now

Older, wiser, and a little less drunk, Sammy Hagar and Van Halen trudge on

Best Continuing Education

Tommy's Blue Agave Club

Shops and Gifts

Drive-By Truckers

Decoration Day

Best Bastardization of the Martini

Mango Martini at Gaylord India

Steaking a Claim

Mel Hollen's Bar & Fine Dining

Shaken, Not Stirred

g bar

Big Nate's Barbeque

All American

Best Irish Coffee

The Albatross

Burning Dimly

Glow

House Of Tudor

O Brother, Where Art Thou?; "Biff! Bang! Pow!" ; Me First & the Gimme Gimmes; Hogmanay

Best Underutilized Urban Park

McLaren Park

The Doctor Is In

Tommy's Mexican Restaurant

Night Crawler

Dish