News for Thursday

Bourbon is booming. Beer and wine surpass vodka sales by volume in Russia now. Conversely, vodka now outsells scotch in the UK.

Items of Interest for Tuesday

For some reason my Google news alert doesn't pick up the New York Times or I would have noticed this awesome story a while back on blender drinks in the New York Times starring our own Martin Cate of Forbidden Island. Bic has drink-themed lighters. Bill Dowd has a photo essay on wood from trees to barrels. Sonya finds discovering the new menu at Death & Company like walking into class during a pop quiz. I largely suck at taking cocktail photos and bottle shots, but am trying to learn. Here's a video tutorial on shooting a bottle of whisky.

Items of Interest for Monday

- Anchor Distilling releases the annual barrel of Hotaling's Whiskey. - Beachbum Berry lists movies featuring tropical cocktails. - Jim Beam's new ad campaign focuses on individuals with "The Stuff Inside." I've been accused of being full of stuff on many occasions, so perhaps I should bring myself to their attention. - DC Drinks has an interview with the dude who makes Vya vermouth. - The Wild Drink blog has a Rum History Timeline. Great idea!

Items of Interest

- A vacuum tumbler to speed up the booze infusion process. - Spoon-straw (stroon?) from Little Branch. - You know how microbrews are all going EXTREME with bitter hops? Now Bruichladdich is aiming for the extreme peat with Octomore. - Angostura orange bitters are now available in the US! And is it sad that I'm excited about this? - Oregon's Lance Mayhew is smoking something crazy- cachaca. - How awesome are Double Cross vodka bottles that can fit on your bookshelves? -Esquire put up a lot of the content from their Best Bars in America issue, including people they'd like to drink with, six barchetypes, the safety drink, bad hotel bar names, and David Wondrich's list of top ten cocktails he's had in bars over the past year. -Cooking with Rock Stars blog. - A fake diary hip flask. -Cocktails in a tube. -Cornell is building a student winery. -Bunnyhugs nerds out on gin and jenever. - Forbes Traveler/MSNBC has a huge story on the microdistilling movement. - Bad press release title of the week: "Soft drinks industry embraces changing climate"

Internet booze news for Monday, May 5

Here are some stories from the around the web. - Art that you drink? That's my kind of exhibit. [via Dowd on Drinks] - Rick Lyke wrote a list of 125 places to have a beer before you die for All About Beer magazine. - Eric Asimov of the New York Times discusses mezcal. - Matt Rowley finds a video on making 60 proof alcohol using wine and a salad spinner.

The second best press release of the day

I'm having trouble figuring out if this event is a celebration or a protest.

SALT LAKE CITY (April 30, 2008) – Impending changes in Utah’s liquor laws in Senate Bill 211 (SB211) will allow restaurants and private clubs to begin serving 1.5 ounces of primary alcohol in martinis and other single-liquor drinks on May 5, 2008. Club Bambara is marking the date by pouring Utah’s first 1.5 ounce martini, appropriately named the “SB211.” SB211 eliminates sidecars, or separate shots of alcohol, in mixed drinks, but allows martinis and other single-liquor dinks to have a 1.5 ounce total alcohol content. Previous, if guests wanted more than an ounce in their martini, they had to order a sidecar and pour in the additional liquor themselves after their drink was concocted. “It makes such a huge difference in the integrity of a cocktail to be able to prepare it properly. All the ingredients should be created together for the best taste,” said Club Bambara’s master mixologist Austin Craig.

Wait...what!?! You used to be able to buy separate ingredients and mix your own drink in the glass, but now that's illegal and the compromise is that you can have a whole ounce and a half of one alcohol ingredient and no others? GEE THANKS, NOW IT SUCKS DIFFERENTLY. On the other hand, master mixologist Austin Craig's job just got even easier.

Beretta robbed!

Given the number of times I've been going there, it's surprising that I wasn't present for the drama. Then again, if I were, I probably wouldn't remember it clearly anyway.

Armed man robs SF restaurant in the Mission

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

(04-30) 19:02 PDT San Francisco -- An Italian restaurant in the Mission District was robbed early this morning while about 10 patrons were eating their dinners, said police Sgt. Neville Gittens.

Police got a call at 1:21 a.m. Wednesday that a man had walked into Beretta on Valencia Street between 22nd and 23rd Streets, waved a gun and shouted, "This is a robbery! Everybody get down!" He didn't fire his gun, and no one was hurt. A restaurant worker handed the man the cash, and he fled on foot eastbound on 23rd Street.

The suspect was described as an African-American male between 25 and 35 years old, 5'8" and 150 pounds and wearing a brown hooded jacket, black baggy jeans and black shoes.

The manager of Beretta was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

There is no indication the hold-up is related to the recent spate of Oakland area restaurant robberies, Gittens said.

"At this point, there's no indication it's related to anything," he said.

American absinthe part II: Sirene Absinthe Verte

North Shore Distillery in Chicago is launching an American absinthe verte (green) this week. I believe this will be the second American absinthe on the market. The initial distribution will be just Chicago, then spreading around Illinois in the near future. Hooray!

Reading material

- The LA Times story reporting on the closing of some of SF's old-time watering holes was reprinted in the Baltimore Sun. I'm so glad word on the street is we don't have any good old bars left. That's not entirely true, of course. Katy St. Clair, who was quoted in the LA Times story, writes about them in the SF Weekly all the time. - Eric Felten in the Wall Street Journal taste tests mass-market bourbons and finds Evan Williams his favorite. As usual, he has some great cultural anecdotes in the story as well. - The NYTimes has a story on a $10,000 home still that efficiently converts sugar into ethanol. Unfortunately, it's for car fuel. - Jeff Mortgenthaler (Morty) gives a simple recipe for ginger beer. Marleigh at Sloshed! reviews some commercial brands without high-fructose corn syrup. - Jamie Boudreau describes his individual component method for making any type of bitters. And I thought I was crafty for using my Chia herb garden to make tinctures. - Alder at Vinography has the complete list of wine blogs- in several languages! - Esquire's molecular Whiskyburger's recipe is now online.

More Booze News

I wrote this up last weekend (that's my secret to continual posting when I should be off writing paying stories) so I apologize if my news is not-so-fresh. -The Harbor Beach Marriott in Fort Lauderdale will send a "cocktail concierge" (aka "bartender") to your room to muddle your drinks by your bed. -Hillary Clinton throws back a shot of whisky. The brand? Crown Royal. -It's not on the market yet, but someone designed a wine bottle that includes fold-out cups on the label. That'll make your picnic basket lighter. [Complex] -A discount for newly-poor Americans at Harry's Bar in Venice. [The Liquid Muse] -Hansen's Natural Soda now has natural sugar (anyone else feel duped?) -Robert Simonson has a round-up of three new cocktail bars that have opened in Brooklyn. Four years later, I may finally visit friends who've moved there. - Too lazy to make a real mint julep? The people of Havana Mojito-flavored soda say Just Add Bourbon. I say Just No. -Cocktail shaker, or deadly weapon? [Liquor Snob]

Glossy Booze

From the stack of magazines in my apartment: Details (April) has a story by Rob Willey on the Mint Julep, with possibly the ugliest looking mint julep photo ever printed. Playboy (April) reports that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il spends $700,000 a year on Hennessey cognac. But he still probably doesn't make the best spokesmodel. Also, they have a story by Dan Dunn on Savanna Samson's wine picks, including wine to match your favorite porn. Esquire's David Wondrich (May) discusses the Whiskeyburger, a molecular mixology drink that tastes like a burger, complete with tomato syrup, ground chuck-infused whiskey, and mustard bitters. They say the recipe will be online, but it appears that's a lie, lie, lie. In 7X7 (a San Francisco magazine, April) Jordan MmmKay talks about Italian varietals by way of California, and homemade limoncello. Best Life (April) has a small article on boutique tonic water (by me!) Sunset Magazine (April) has a story on cult Cabernets. Men's Vogue writer Lawrence Osbourne discusses Pompeii's wine industry. Marcia of Tablehopper writes about barstool eating in San Francisco Magazine. (That is, eating at barstools, not eating barstools.) Also, a mention of Cantina's Caribbean Sangria. [Want your publication included in the glossy booze round-up? Email me.]

Organic Rain

Rain Vodka, which has been made from organic corn since it was launched, is now USDA certified organic. Finally.

Booze News Roundup

I'm still catching up on work after travel, but here are some items out of my inbox and into your eye socket:

• Domaine Carneros received their organic certification, making them California's first organic sparkling winery
• Pernod Ricard bought Absolut, and will likely get rid of Plymouth gin and Fris vodka it bought as part of the deal (clarification edit: sell to another spirits company, not dissolve the brands!)
• Gin is in! I guess it finally hit Los Angeles, anyway. There are some good tips on how to work with gin in cocktails in this article.
• Eric Ellestad's Savoy Project and Alembic's Savoy night get coverage in the Wall Street Journal (see also, my story from October)
• All you need to do to become a member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club is do a shot... with a severed toe in it.
• In April, Scala's Bistro offers a three-martini prix fixe lunch. Yes, it's a lunch that includes three martinis along with food.

Many thanks to Blair who passes along tidbits.

CHOW booze round-up

CHOW.com is just cranking out the booze stories lately. Currently on the front page there are:

• A take-down of Vodka 360's greenwashing
• A terrific Japanese whisky primer by Aaron Gilbreath that even has taste comparison notes to scotch brands
• An analysis of why nose grease tames beer foam
• And why Champagne's AOC is expanding

Rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated

There's been a rumor that San Francisco's 209 Gin shut down its operations, but it's not true, says 209's distiller Arne Hillesland. He said he's not sure where the rumor originated, but thought it might be a misunderstanding about an employee who left. In fact, he says they're distilling this week and shipping 300 cases of the product to London. Since I last checked, they expanded their distribution from just west coast states to many in the midwest and on the east coast, including New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Phew. In this case, no news is good news.

Good news about menu labeling in SF

Skip to the bold statement.

San Francisco's labeling law heads for enactment Source: NRN SAN FRANCISCO (Mar. 19, 2008)

As expected, the city's Board of Supervisors gave its final approval Tuesday to a requirement that some chain restaurants post nutritional information on their menus and menu boards. The measure now moves to the desk of Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is expected to sign it into law.

The measure will require local units of chains with at least 20 units in California to display the calorie, fat, carbohydrate and sodium content of every item on their menus. Places that use a menu board instead of a conventional menu must post the calorie count of each item, but they can make the other information available through other media, including brochures or posters.

Nutritional profiles of alcoholic beverages would not have to be disclosed.

The measure, patterned after a law scheduled to take effect in New York City at the end of the month, was unanimously approved by the 11-member board in a final vote. News reports have indicated that the mandate would take effect in about six months.

Hooray!

Buy a newspaper, save a bar

MarketWatch has a video on bars that serve newspaper reporters hurting or closing as newspapers lay off reporters. This effects me in two ways, writing about bars for the newspapers. So get off the internet and go buy a paper! Here, SFist analyzes the health of newspaper bars of San Francisco.

Planet Boozywood

Bill Dowd reports that a New York bar is serving a "Spitzer Spritzer" and another drink in the wake of the Eliot Spitzer scandal. A while back I emailed Natalie suggesting that she should open a theme bar in Los Angeles where the daily drink menu would rotate depending on the Hollywood scandal of the previous evening. (Lindsay's drinks would go from alcoholic to non-alcoholic depending on the day of the week.) In Washington, there could be an outpost where all the drinks are based on political scandals and news items. Event-driven cocktail theme bars? Yes, I know I'm a genius. Now I just need an investor.

Beyond the Branch

Big news in SF barland: Todd Smith has turned in his resignation at Bourbon & Branch. He's been with them since long before they opened but said, "It's time for me to move on and do another project." He told me he plans to take some time off and work on some consulting gigs he's firming up now, as well as potentially opening his own space with some other bartenders down the road. And though the details are still being hammered out, he plans to remain with the Beverage Academy teaching classes there. Speaking of the Beverage Academy, they added their first scotch whisky class on March 25th with Dominic Venegas as the instructor. The rum class will likely start in April with Thad Vogler at the helm. Best of luck both the Bourbon & Branch and Todd Smith!

Liquid Diet

William Dowd reports that NYC's new food calories program will also apply to beverages. Restaurants with more than 15 outlets will be required to list the calories of food and beverages on the menu. The bad news is: I don't actually want to know how many calories are in my drinks. The good news is: I don't spend a lot of time drinking in chain restaurants. I'm curious to know whether hotel lobby bars and restaurants, which are often different with different menus in each venue, are subject to this rule. It would be a bummer to see menus at nice lobby bars sullied with caloric intake information.

Liquid Gold

The Bank of Ireland is to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the iconic Bushmills whiskey brand by printing an image of the company's distillery on its new bank notes.

Wow- that wouldn't happen in the States. I'm still surprised they were able to get the distillery at Mount Vernon reopened.

It was just a matter of time...

Diet liquor will soon be hitting store shelves.

Smirnoff Ice Light - Smirnoff Ice Light is the latest addition to the Smirnoff Ice line of flavored malt beverages, bringing together the top selling PAB brand with the fast-growing luxury light segment. One bottle contains only 110 calories and offers consumers a crisp tasting alternative to light beer. Available in six-packs and variety packs at the suggested retail price of $7.49; twelve-packs will also be available.

Time story on small-batch spirits

If you haven't been paying attention, micro-distilleries are hot. Here's the Time story.

Molecular Mixology

Via Cocktails.About.com: Photomicrographic images of cocktails. The one on the left is a Sloe Gin Fizz. They have a whole page of them here, and you can order them in poster size. They'll make a lovely addition to your dorm room wall.

News of the Eww

Hospital patients 'drinking' alcohol-based hand gels

THE introduction of alcohol-based hand gels to tackle hospital superbugs has had an unwanted side-effect - patients consuming them.

Researchers writing in the British Medical Journal have revealed that inquiries about the consumption of alcohol gels to a London poisons unit increased sharply after they were widely introduced in hospitals across the UK in 2005. They found that people were either consuming them by mistake or because they were in a confused state.

But often they were being used by alcoholics to ease their cravings.

And speaking of good news

Jackie Patterson, who has been working as a server at Le Colonial but tearing up the cocktail competition circuit, will be the bar manager at the upcoming Orson, a restaurant from the owners of Citizen Cake that will have a 40-seat circular bar. This means I'm officially excited about a restaurant opening. Who am I?

On the importance of drink menus

This study of beverage trends from the On the House blog of people who consume alcohol at chain restaurants states loudly and clearly what I try to tell owners of new restaurants. Drink menus are essential, influential, and should not be ignored.

The large majority of consumers (75%) said that they take the time to read drink menus and 25% of people identified drink menus as what most influences their purchasing decisions. Over 70% of consumers said that the drink descriptions are most influential, 47% were swayed by pictures of the drinks, while 41% were influenced by drinks listing brand names. These findings suggest that bar menus are a must, and that spirit branding, colorful pictures and well-written drink descriptions positive sales drivers.

I often call up new restaurants to ask them who did their drink menu (as I'm not really interested in food). Too often they say, "Oh, it was a collaboration." Right- between you and Mr. Boston.

Industry wide beverage sales average around 25% of revenue, while at the same time account for over 50% of average gross profits.

Luckily, many people do understand this (at least in San Francisco), which is why bartenders from Range and Bourbon & Branch are launching the cocktail programs all over the city. I am always happy to hear a name I recognize from another bar as the person who developed the cocktail menu for a new one. Right now one of the biggest trends in all of bars, clubs, restaurants, and even retail space is to make use of their down-time. The club Temple serves dinner on the dancefloor before the club opens at night. Roe has launched and aggressive dinner programs. Art galleries like 111 Minna serve beer and wine and host club nights. Bars like Harlot are serving food or giving out free snacks to keep people from leaving to go to dinner. Restaurants are hiring DJs and staying open later to catch more customers. And a sure fire way to get them in before dinner time and after meal time is to create a kick-ass cocktail menu served at happy hour. Anyway, I just want every food and booze venue to have a great cocktail menu. It's better for everybody.

Ambitious Cocktails

Greg Lindgren from Rye was cited in the Wall Street Journal this weekend, but unfortunately his cocktail recipe didn't get printed along with the others.

Perhaps the most ambitious entry came from Greg Lindgren, an owner of the San Francisco bar Rye. He proposed poaching quince in honey, water and mulling spices, and then using the warm fruity broth to flavor a glass of brandy. Very nice indeed -- if you succeed in finding fresh quince.

I asked Greg if he actually made the drink or just 'proposed' it. He said he did make it, in fact, and even sent Eric Felten a picture. I guess for Greg getting quince was not the problem- but I think ambitious is an appropriate term. Greg told me that it took almost three hours to poach the quince.

Master Blaster

Since two people sent me a link to the New York Times story about how technically you can't use your hands to insert lime into a Corona due to health codes, I thought I'd do the New York Times a favor and let them know that there already exists a device for this exact purpose and their whole story was moot. Here's the times story, and here's the solution to the problem. Yours in journalism, -Camper

One less single-barrel program

Via the Scotch Blog via Malt Advocate, we learn that Highland Park will be discontinuing their single-barrel whisky program that I just wrote about as of April 2008. Get one while you still can!

The value of overcharging

Here's a fun article on why Balvenie can charge $30,000 for a bottle of 50-year-old scotch. The best part:

Few consumer product purveyors dare to trumpet the exorbitance of their prices as an actual virtue. But this is the spirits world, where flavour nuances are as subtle as they are subjective, and where bragging rights can be more of a draw than the fleeting liquid in the bottle.

The past few years have seen a parade of "rare," bottles proudly promoted at stratospheric prices. In 2005, a bottle of The Macallan 1926 single malt was ceremoniously sold for $75,000 (U.S.) at a liquor store in Seoul, while a bottle of The Dalmore 62 Years recently changed hands for $51,000. And various spirit companies routinely stage similar publicity events with precious bottles from supposedly long-lost casks that are miraculously uncovered in a corner of the distillery by accident.

Curiously, most Scotches, if left in cask for 50 years, wouldn't be worth blending into a Rusty Nail. By that age, the wood tends to impart too much of a lumber flavour, turning the spirit into a syrupy goop with an aroma of stale church pew.

Best product placement ever

Eve Celebrates SCRAM Removal with Vodka?

Rapper Eve reportedly celebrated completing a court-ordered 45 days sober with a case of vodka.

The hip-hop star had an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet removed on Saturday, leaving her free to enjoy the drink on offer at the VMA party suites at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

A spy tells Page Six, "When a cocktail waitress walked over to her with a bottle of Svedka, her eyes lit up.

"She got kind of nervous when they wanted her to take a photo, and wouldn't pose with the bottle -- but then her assistant asked a promoter to send a case to her house."

Eve was ordered to wear the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring bracelet last month after striking a plea agreement following her DUI arrest in April.

That was awesome! Their "spy" (read: shameless Svedka vodka PR person) just placed the "I'm going to Disneyland!" equivalent of finishing the terms of your DUI conviction. Bravo.

No-No-Jito

Mojito cocktail garnish is recalled

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- The Food and Drug Administration announced the recall of approximately 5,000 cases of Rimmer Mojito Cocktail Garnish due to possible contamination.

Stirrings LLC of Fall River, Mass., initiated the voluntary nationwide recall of the 3.5-ounce packages because they might be contaminated with salmonella bacteria.

When I read the headline, I thought, WHY DON'T THEY JUST CALL IT 'MINT'? (I always talk to myself in capslock.) But it turns out that Stirrings' version of mojito garnish is lime flavored sugar. Is it wrong that I thought IF YOU GARNISH YOUR MOJITO WITH LIME SUGAR YOU DESERVE TO BE POISONED?

1.7 Million for a liquor license in NJ

$1.7 mil for a liquor license

By Michael Klein Inquirer Columnist

The partners of Swanky Bubbles paid $1.6 million for their liquor license as they took over the former Olive on Evesham Road in Cherry Hill. This may be an all-time U.S. record, if lawyers who watch such issues are correct.

Also significant is that Swanky Bubbles is not some deep-pocketed chain. Besides the Cherry Hill operation, the partnership has a Swanky Bubbles in Old City and Macs in Somers Point, N.J.

The license held by Brio Tuscan Grille, an Ohio-based Italian chain that opened this week at the old Garden State Park site, cost $1.5 million.

Licenses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are sold on the open market, subject to supply and demand.

Top prices in Philadelphia are about $70,000, while the most anyone can recall paying for one in the Pennsylvania counties is $350,000.

Damn! Remind me not to open a bar in New Jersey.

By the bottle

The Morning News has a fun article on favorite beverages that come in bottles- beer, soda, wine, water- some of which you may not have heard of before.

RIPMJ

Booze hero Michael Jackson died Thursday. This obituary by the AP only recognizes him as a beer critic, which is odd considering he is at least as well known as a whisky expert. He wrote both the Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch and the World Guide to Beer. He went public only recently with the information that he'd been suffering from Parkinson's Disease for 20 years, though he died of a heart attack this week. Whatever you're drinking this weekend, raise a glass of it to Michael Jackson in recognition of the passing of a legend.

Booze, light up my life

Gizmodo reports on a new LED-enhanced cork for lighting up your bottle collection. It makes me feel sorry for Ty Ku sake liqueur, who spent all that money for a customized light-up bottle.

Naked hula dancing not distracting enough

Creative beer shoplifting attempt: One masked, but otherwise naked, man hula danced in a convenience store to create a distraction so that his buddy could steal a case of beer during the confusion. Unfortunately it didn't work. Perhaps they should have thought smaller. If I were a convenience store worker and someone offered to do a masked naked hula dance in exchange for a beer, I would have said yes. It would probably be the only thing interesting that happened all day.