Bitter and Loving It

Last week I attended an event for Averna; yesterday it was a poolside Aperol party. Campari is already an essential ingredient in the Negroni though I'm seeing more people enjoy it with soda lately, and San Francisco sells a ton of Fernet-Branca. These brands are all examples of Italian bitter liqueurs, also known as amaros.

I have a lot to learn about amaros and the difference between them and other herb-heavy spirits like pastis, pernod, and herbsaint.

But I can tell you the marketing push is on for this summer's hot new drink category to be light aperitif cocktails invoking thoughts of holidays on the shores of the Mediterranean. I don't mind that one bit. The thing I do mind is that San Francisco weather doesn't remind one of summer at all.

Whisky and Branch

I had heard that some bars were importing spring water from distilleries near where their bourbon was made to serve true bourbon and branch drinks. That would be a lot harder if you're trying to get your ice cubes for scotch flown in from Scotland. But wait! Now there is bottled Speyside Glenlivet water available in bubbly or non that you can freeze at home.

I kind of doubt it's available in the US, but then again, you don't really want to take it that far anyway.

Neighborhood Tequila Guide to San Francisco

Sometimes on the Seis de Mayo our memories are not as clear as they should be. If you've misplaced your cell phone or wallet (or pants) somewhere in the night, you can try to retrace your steps to find them, but this isn't easy if you can't remember where those steps were. If you can't recall where you were drinking in San Francisco but do remember what you were drinking, this guide should help get you to the right neighborhood.

If you were drinking a	Then you were drinking in
Body shot off a stripper	North Beach
Mexican coffee	The Tenderloin
Patron shot with salt and lime	The Marina
Tequila sunrise	The Richmond
Partida anejo, neat	Downtown
Margarita by the pitcher	The Mission
Frozen margarita with a straw	The Castro

Drinking with Tony

In today's Chronicle:

Mix it up with a video bartender

In the age of YouTube and other online video sites, you can find a lot of free drink mixing advice in live action form. Unfortunately, much of it is bad advice. (Google "How not to make a mint julep" for a spectacular example.) On the other hand, if you're willing to shell out twenty bucks for the new DVD "Modern Mixology," you may actually learn something useful. Tony Abou-Ganim, who spent time at Jack Slick's Balboa Cafe and helped open Harry Denton's Starlight Room before going on to host "Raising the Bar: America's Best Bar Chefs" on the Fine Living Network, leads this slick video production with a smooth jazz soundtrack. While most how-to-bartend demonstrations cite the recipe and pour the drink at a hyperspeed bartender pace, an eager Abou-Ganim takes his time and focuses on mixing styles, garnish techniques, and product education while reviewing 20-plus classic cocktails.

$19.95 at www.modernmixologydvd.com

-- C.E.

Beer Pong

As listed in today's Chronicle:

The Wrath of Pong

Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., Jillian's in San Francisco will host an "athletic drinking event" that will surely change the image of beer consumers as lazy frat boys standing around chugging brew out of big plastic cups. Instead, the brave warriors participating in the HeyLetsGo.com Beer Pong-A-Thon will stand around a table and throw pingpong balls into big plastic cups filled with beer, and then drink the beer. Four simultaneous games will be projected onto 50-foot flat-screen televisions, and winners get two tickets to Vegas to watch the World Series of Beer Pong -- which should add the necessary drama to the event. Given that the losing team drinks more than the winning one, the thrill of victory will be shared by all.

Jillian's, 101 Fourth St. (at Howard, inside the Metreon), San Francisco; (415) 369-6100. Spectators pay $15 at the door. To register, at $60 per team of two, go to www.heyletsgo.com/beerpong.

-- Camper English

Don't let this happen to you

I was just hankering for a glass of water, so I poured myself one. Or rather, I:

Recipe for a glass of sparkling water

• Grab a pint glass
• In the freezer, do the daily ice rotation (throwing out the older ice, moving the new cubes to a fresh bag, and filling the trays with Britta-filtered water).
• Cut an organic lemon in half and squeeze a small amount of juice into the glass
• Outdoors, pick a few leaves of fresh mint from planter. Wash and add to glass.
• Add ice to glass, pressing on it to gently release the mint flavor while not pulverizing it.
  
• Add filtered water to 1-litre vessel, then carbonate using home soda making device
• Fill glass with sparkling water
  
• Add a straw and garnish with a lemon wedge

When making a glass of water takes ten minutes, you know you've crossed some kind of line.

Lillet by the Bay

On Friday I went to a Lillet event that was the end cap of a week of big drinking events. (I'm kind of glad it's over because I didn't get much paid work done in between.)

Lillet is a fortified wine that comes in a white (Lillet Blanc, though I sometimes see it written as Lillet Blonde) and red (Lillet Rouge) version. According to the brand owner, they produce several kinds of orange liqueurs from different oranges, then blend these together with the wine and barrel age it for a year to produce the final product.

The white version seems to be more popular and indeed was the focus on the tasting, as Jeff Hollinger from Absinthe shook up an array of cocktails using the product. I had first discovered Lillet when at Range they added a splash of it to a gin and tonic.

The product is often consumed shaken cold or served on ice with an orange slice as an aperitif, and I think I like it best that way. Much like other fortified wines (vermouth in particular), the aperitif becomes just another ingredient in a mixed drink, whereas it can stand out as a sweet, light refreshing wine on its own.

They're promoting it as an ingredient in summer cocktails and the favorite cocktail passed around was a rosemary ice cooler made with it. Like its addition to a gin and tonic, Lillet can add a touch of non-citrus sweetness to drinks to put an interesting spin on a cooler cocktail. In experimenting with recipes, that's how I'll start thinking of it.

Cocktailing with Cameron Bogue, Part One

Last week I went out drinking with Cameron Bogue, Smirnoff's cocktail consultant. As I understand it, Cameron's job is to travel the country, find out what people are drinking in different cities, talk to bartenders, and then create some new recipes based on what he learns. Yes, it does seem to be a very sweet job, especially the travelling and drinking part. But no, it doesn't appear to be an easy one.

Throughout the course of the night whenever we'd encounter a bartender doing something unusual, homemade, or hard-to-achieve, it would often turn out that Cameron had successfully tried it already. He's got a steam distillation device at home so he can make his own orange flower water. His experiments in molecular mixology for the company resulted in him creating a sushi platter of material made from booze, including the wasabi and ginger. (I'll post a picture later- it was amazing.)

And when he creates recipes, not only do the quantities of alcohol in each drink have to conform to strict company standards, he has to have the names and recipes approved by a legal team before they're released to the public. (He said they had problems working with Kumquat because it was hard to find names that didn't sound dirty.) You can find the last installment of his cocktail trend report here (big pdf file), and hopefully the next one will have pictures of the sushi.

In my next post, I'll talk about what we drank and what's going on in SF.

Cocktailing with Cameron Bogue, Part Two

So anyway, Cameron Bogue, Smirnoff Cocktail Consultant and I went out drinking in San Francisco. He had a map of all the places he wanted to visit but we didn't get all that far because we stayed too long at every place we did visit.

Slanted Door- We were lucky enough to visit SD on a night when bar manager Erik Adkins was working, as he loves to talk shop and mix up a lot of drinks. (Both times when I spent more than 20 minutes talking with Erik I had more than six drinks in front of me, which seems normal to me but customers started making comments...) We tried a rhum agricole punch topped with grated nutmeg that was just great. I had a Casino, which is an Aviation with added orange bitters. These bitters were the homemade ones that I wrote about in the Chronicle, finally put to good use. They were also experimenting with homemade ginger beer, as Erik went off the menu and whipped us up so many more drinks. Eventually we had to flee as we had dinner reservations.

Absinthe- Absinthe also has a Casino cocktail on their menu, so it turns out that I'm right about the Aviation being the new Negroni. We had a few other drinks with dinner there that were tasty, and I don't remember what they were but they were all terrific.

Bourbon & Branch- It turns out that Cameron knows Todd Smith, and had considered working at B&B when it was going to open. That would have been stupendous. Anyway, we had several drinks and all were tasty. They've been brining their own olives for a while now, but recently made a brine with smoked salt and I think scotch. The smoky olives were fantastic, though I think they could find a better vehicle for them than a gin martini. In other news, Todd says that they're bringing back the Rouge No. 10 when strawberries are in season. Hooray!

Rye- Normally Rye never dissapoints, but the execution of the cocktails we had there this time was off so we went back to B&B for a nightcap that I really didn't need but thought was a good idea at the time.

The next day I was horribly, miserably, shamefully hungover. But I had a text message from Cameron before I'd crawled out of bed as they were headed to LA around 8AM. Yep, the guy is a pro.

Booze Cruise News

Here's a story on the rules of bringing aboard wine and spirits onto cruise lines from ports of call. Most cruises prohibit bringing anything aboard (so you have to buy it from their bars), and though you can buy bottles in the onboard gift shops, most of them still won't let you drink it in your cabin, but hold it for you until the end of the cruise like an airport duty-free shop. The article lists the rules for various cruise lines.

Very Special Vodka

(In Today's SF Chronicle)

Vodka for special moments?

For something that tastes like nothing, spirits companies can find a lot of ways to market vodka. We've seen vodka flavored with garlic, vodka bottles shaped like a bong, vodka made out of cactus, and vodka with energy supplements. What more could they possibly do to sell the stuff? Add bubbles, of course!

At least two new products have started what could be the best worst trend in vodka. Vodka O2 (www.sparklingvodka.com) has infused bubbles that "create a lightly effervescent texture that gently tingles on the tongue." Better yet, Nuvo For Her (www.nuvoforher.com) is a pink "vodka liqueur" (vodka, wine and fruit nectar) with ad copy that reads like something you'd expect to buy at Good Vibrations rather than BevMo: "The world's first sparkling vodka liqueur that celebrates 'Joie de Vivre,' the Joy of Life, and the pleasure of women sharing beautiful moments. Nuvo's delicate fruity taste, distinctive pink colour, and enchanting bottle allow you to experience a whole new array of sensations like never before." We've just discovered a new spirits category: soft-core vodka.

-- Camper English

Last minute event: Meet the brewers

NEXT MEET THE BREWERS:

THURSDAY, 4/19 6-9 PM at
THE CITY BEER STORE
1168 Folsom Street It's always nice to put faces to names, especially those that craft the beer you drink. Come down to The City Beer Store on 4/19 for the latest installment of this casual monthly series from the Guild. Raise a pint or two with local artisan brewers and learn more about San Francisco craft beer.

http://www.sfbrewersguild.org

Tales of the Cocktail Recipes

In what will be a long, relentless buildup to the Tales of the Cocktail event in New Orleans this July (I'm probably going) they held a recipe contest to determine the official cocktail for the event. The winners were announced yesterday.

All the winners of the event were bartenders from New Orleans, with the exception of Forbidden Island Alameda's Martin Cate, who tied for third place with a nicely simple recipe called the Crescent City Blossom.

All the entrants were required to use Moet & Chandon White Star as an ingredient, so if you're looking for a new champagne cocktail, I recommend checking out the winners. Interesting to note that in Monday's Moet Rose cocktail competition in SF at least two of the entrants used the new St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur as does Martin's recipe, so I guess we can safely say it mixes well with champagne. A couple of the Tales of the Cocktail winners used Pama Pomegranate Liqueur, which also works well with bubbly.

Boo No. 10

*updated*

On Sunday I went to Bourbon & Branch with some friends. This was the first time I've been there since they shortened the cocktail menu- though it's still pretty darn long.

I had been talking up the Rouge No. 10- the drink of black pepper-infused gin with muddled strawberries- to my companions, only to find it's no longer on the menu. Bummer!

4/18/07
Guess what I found! Marco posted the recipe for the Rouge No 10. on eGullet! Hooray!

Rouge no. 10
1 3/4 oz. black pepper gin
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup
2-3 small strawberries (or 1 giant one)
1/2 oz. Pastis
Muddle 2-3 strawberries with simple syrup. Add gin and lime juice and shake vigorously. Rinse chilled cocktail glass with Pastis. Double strain cocktail into prepared glass. Garnish with a strawberry and fresh ground pepper.

(Infuse a bottle of Plymouth with a handful of black peppercorns for no more than 24 hours.)

I stole this recipe from Todd Smith of Bourbon & Branch.
After I added the Pastis he stole it back.
--------------------
Marcovaldo Dionysos

This Just In: Water Enthusiasm

According to this press release, water is the new wine.

"The next generation of water enthusiasts and connoisseurs demand a higher level of sophistication, style, quality and taste beyond the conventional products that clutter the market. Elevating the profile of fine bottled water and educating the public is one way we help build brand awareness and set facts straight on bottled water" says Jason Boardé founder of AquaBar.

AquaBar is a luxury water service based in Beverly Hills that supplies fine establishments and discerning beverage drinkers with premium H2o.

Pink Delicious

Last night I was one of the judges at the Think Pink event at Harry Denton's Starlight Room. It was a cocktail competition to see which bartender could create the best drink using Moet & Chandon Rose champagne. Many of the usual suspects were mixing- bartenders from Range, Bourbon & Branch, Rye, and Tres Agaves, plus people from Circolo, Eastside West, and Le Colonial. They made champagne drinks using vodka, gin, fortified wines, tequila, and even scotch. They infused their own vodka, made their own simple syrups, and created wild rims and garnish. The bartenders showed great originality and range, and honestly all the drinks were excellent.

In the end, the drink we chose as the winner had the worst name (Pink Cream Soda) but a truly original flavor. It was a tall rocks drink that did taste creamy, but started out with the taste of a muddled jalapeno that somehow didn't dominate the flavor. So congratulations to Todd Smith of Bourbon & Branch for winning the competition, and to all the bartenders who entered. The winning drink will go on the Starlight Room menu, and I hope to see some other of these drinks on cocktail menus around town.

Tequilapalooza!

I would have mentioned it in the article I wrote about the Tommy's Mexican tequila club had I known... Master's degree and higher members of the club (with at least one exception for me) get invites to private Tequilapalooza parties a couple of times a year.

The one yesterday was a hoot because Tommy's seats only about 9 people at the bar, whereas a larger crowd can mingle together elsewhere. It's another bonus beyond bragging rights to "earning" your Master's at Tommy's.

(More pictures here.)

WOW Report

This year's Whiskies of the World didn't seem as big or as good as last year's, with a smaller space and smaller selection (despite advertisements to the opposite), but I had fun anyway. I actually liked the set-up of one giant square ballroom with nothing much in the middle of the room, so you'd have to crowd in to get your samples of whisky, then you could step back into the middle of the room to enjoy it and talk with other people. (At most events it's either a long, snaking path of booths or else the middle of the room is cluttered with tables and chairs.) The minus of the set-up was that it was a pain to get to the whisky, so you could duck in and get one dram, but it was really hard to work your way through the selection of a distiller systematically.

Thus I ended up having a lot less whisky than I'm used to at these events. There's no shame in that- I've sampled most everything in the room before and was only looking for the unique or new bottlings. I had the Balvenie 15-year single barrel, but they were out of the 21-year before I made it to their table. Damnit! I love me some Balvenie.

My fun was hanging out with Marcia from Tablehopper (who is all about the bourbon), fellow booze writer Jordan Mackay, and bartenders Jimmy P., Jonny from Absinthe, Mr. Mojito David Nepove, Julio from Tommy's, Dominic of Bourbon & Branch and now Cantina, Duggan of Cantina, Erik from Slanted Door, and probably a few others that I forget.

It will be interesting to see how this year's first Malt Advocate Whiskyfest in San Francisco stacks up to this event. Though I could easily attend several of these events each year, I'm not sure San Francisco is big enough for the both of them.

Placement

I was just thinking that if cachaca brands really want to reach a wider audience they need to get hip-hoppers to start drinking it and rapping about it in songs and calling out brands. I'm sure there are lots of words that rhyme with Pirassununga.

I'd like to volunteer my services as an ad director for the campaigns that follow. Here's a slogan I already wrote:

Cachaca- It's the Cachizzle!

Cachacathon

Perhaps the reason last night's dream was about caipirinhas was because last night's cocktail experimentation was with cachaca.

Drink nerds will no doubt have noted the barrage of new brands of cachaca being launched in the US market over the past year and a half. I have four different kinds at home that had been collecting a little bit of dust. The reason is because cachaca brands only really promote the caipirinha; a drink that's just cachaca, lime juice, and simple sugar.

It's just not a drink I enjoy in its standard form. I don't mind a "caipirini," which is basically a caipirinha served up instead of on the rocks, which is actually a daiquiri.

But recently I was trying to invent some new drinks and found a better use for cachaca. The spirit (rum made from sugar cane juice instead of molasses, usually unaged) is usually quite thin and astringent, sort of like vodka but with more flavor. It's got a bit of burn to it, and I think when you put that with lime juice (also thin and acidic) it's too much of the same texture.

On the other hand, when you add cachaca to a thick fruit juice like grapefruit or papaya or even cranberry, it helps lighten the syrup texture of the juice. Eureka!

I was working with a recipe for Out magazine, trying my juice combo cocktail with different quantities of spirit and mixer, and trying out my four brands of cachaca to see which one worked best. I was surprised to find that Leblon was my least favorite in the drink, but this is probably because that product is aged in wood and is the smoothest, classiest cachaca of the bunch. It works better with the thinner lime drinks.

Boca Loca, Agua Luca, and Pirassununga all tasted different in the drink, but I liked them all. (I was surprised at how pronounced the differences between the brands were, as there was only one ounce of cachaca and 3 ounces of juice and other mixers.) In my cocktail Pirassununga was the winner.

Anyway, with the new drink I invented (I'll print it here after it's published elsewhere) being so darn tasty, I have no doubt that the remainders of these bottles of cachaca won't be around too much longer. Then I'll have to sample some of the other new brands that have hit the market.

Caipirinha, The Musical

As I think about drinks all day then have a drink to relax at night, it's no wonder that cocktails sometimes invade my sleep too. Most often that's in the form of stressful dreams, but last night was a fun one. I dreamt I was watching a movie called Caipirinha! in which muddling a caipirinha would release some sort of happy magic and everyone in the room would shout "Caipirinha!"

It should go without saying that this was a feel-good movie.

Whisky Survivor

Another write-up by me in today's SF Chronicle:

7 whiskey survival tips

At the Whiskies of the World Expo tomorrow you can sample around 250 whiskies over 4 1/2 hours, which makes 56 drams per hour. This should leave plenty of time in between to:

1. Drink water.

2. Ask at the Compass Box table if they think their fancy wood barrels makes them better than you.

3. Try to get a plate of food from the buffet to a table without spilling.

4. Buy a kilt for your dog (yes, there is really a booth for that).

5. Show the Scottish fiddler troupe the techniques you picked up watching "Riverdance."

6. Go binge shopping at the K&L booth and have it shipped to you later, at which point you may recall how much you actually spent.

7. Keep asking, "Does this whiskey go better with Coke or Pepsi?"

For tickets, go to www.celticmalts.com or call (888) 748-2400.

An actually good liquor website

In today's SF Chronicle, I have this short write-up:

Bay Area bartenders invade the Interweb

Most spirits Web sites are a mess of Flash animation and overly loud house music that you can't turn off, but the relaunched Roth Vodka Web site is actually kind of cool. It stars many of the Bay Area bartenders we know and love, including Greg Lindgren from Rye (pictured at right), Jonny Raglin (Absinthe), Martin Cate (Forbidden Island), and Nicole Burke (Garibaldi's), in hundreds of short videos wherein they demonstrate recipes and drink preparation techniques. Because there is a lot of overlap in topics, it's great fun to watch bartenders with contrasting opinions, such as the nine bartenders who justify their muddler of choice or Zack Morlock (Frisson) dismissing "Ice is ice" while Dominic Venegas (Range) says, "It's the backbone to a drink." Stalk your favorite bartender at www.rothvodka.com.

Check out the site- you can spend hours on there. It's great that they don't hit you over the head with product placement. And for those of us struggling to make proper drinks at home, hearing bartenders disagree with each other on techniques and recipes makes you feel a lot less stupid.

Camper's Big Week

Today was the Wines of Portugal event, where there was the opportunity to taste up to 400 wines. As I know very little about all wine I just tried to sample some from each of the grape growing regions.

Saturday is Whiskies of the World, where I'll be sampling up to 250 whiskies. Probably a few less than that.

Sunday is an invite-only tequila event sponsored by Julio Bermejo of Tommy's Mexican, where the invite warns us to "bring a helmet." Luckily it's within walking distance of my house.

Monday I'm helping to judge the Think Pink champagne cocktail competition at Harry Denton's Starlight Room, along with Marcia from Tablehopper, Jordan Mackay from 7X7 Magazine, and others.

On Tuesday I'm going out drinking on a tour of San Francisco bars with a vodka company.

Wednesday so far I have a night off.

Thursday I'm hitting the opening for the new bar Etiquette.

Friday I'm going to a lunch sponsored by Lillet.

And in between, I'll try to get some work done. It's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Let's make this official

The Aviation is the new Negroni.

There, I said it. I am an expert so now it's official.

Negroni
1 ounce gin
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Campari

Aviation
gin
lemon juice
maraschino liqueur
(Proportions different everywhere you get it.)

Whiskies of Wonder

*update* I spoke with the event coordinator and she says that you can call the info line (888-748-2400) to try to get tickets at the last minute and that she'll have some available in SF. However, they'll be cash-only and jacked up in price. There are still a handful of tickets available over the phone currently.
---

I'll be attending Whiskies of the World, the giant whisky tasting and education event on April 14th in San Francisco from 5:30 - 10PM at the Palace Hotel. Tickets are $115, but the question is, can you get them?

On the Whiskies of the World website they say that there will be no tickets available at the event, but listening to the WhiskyCast podcast I heard the event organizer say that she was trying to have some available in San Francisco until the event starts (but not at the door). I've got an email in to the event organizer, and I'll let you know what I hear back. But since it's about a week from now and most people will have to get them in the mail, you had better order now if you're going.

So by the way, is anyone else going?

Oh P.S. If you haven't seen him before Woodiot Savant (I just made that up) John Glaser of Compass Box Whiskies will be speaking at Whiskies of the World, but you can also catch him (for free) at Elixir on April 12th. I don't know if he's speaking there or just hanging out (and pulling the raffle ticket for the free tix to Whiskies of the World), but this is a chance to see him. He's kind of a cult hero in the whisky world- as Steve Jobs is to the music industry, Glaser is to the whisky industry, rocking the establishment and making shiny new high-quality things.

Beerbershop

The Chron has a story on a combo bar and barbershop that opened recently in SF. Though there are similar things in Portland, Oregon ("beer and a buzz special" that probably costs less than 20 bucks), this one is an upscale business that also sells men's accessories and charges a monthly membership of $65 that gets you one haircut and one trim per month. There is also free wi-fi and hi-def televisions. If you are interested in what kind of crowd it caters to, this quote has all you need to know.

"We didn't go to Stanford to own a barbershop," agreed Heywood. "We went to Stanford to learn about creating a brand."

Winners!

In today's Chronicle I have a small mention of the winners of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

We'd love to list the results of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition that took place a few weeks ago, but there just isn't enough space. They awarded about 640 medals to the roughly 750 entrants. Everyone's a winner! Double Gold winners included the $2,600 Johnnie Walker Anniversary Pack blended scotch and the $10 Feeney's Irish Cream Liqueur, so chances are you can find something good from the list in your price range. (And if your price range is $2,600, call me; I'm single.)

The full list of winners is here.

I was surprised at the number of winners but my editor tells me that it's similar for wine competitions. Having attended this competition, sat in on several rounds of judging, and read the winners it seems totally fair but also quite generous. It was also very cool to sit in with all those experts and people whose work I read and read about. And as a consumer, I know it's best to pay attention to just the top medals.

Not that I'd drink it, but

CHOW.com has an article about how nonalcoholic beer and wine are made. Read it here.

How are nonalcoholic beer and wine made?

Put simply, you make alcoholic beer or wine, and then remove the alcohol. You do this by distilling the beverage, as if you were going to make liquor. But rather than save the booze and throw out the rest, you throw out the booze.

A Tale of Two Venues

I went to the bar Slide when it first opened, and was turned off by the "seating only with bottle service" policy (everyone else has to stand) and their lack of a cocktail menu. It turns out that there is a cocktail menu after all, but I only learned about it today. I guess they just didn't have it at their opening. It is full of bold-flavored drinks with Chambord, root beer and butterscotch schnapps, and champagne floats in many of the drinks. Most seem overly sweet, but then again I haven't actually had any of them so I can't say.

Tonight I stopped in to Vessel, a similar ultra-slick ultra-lounge in Union Square. Like Slide, they really spent some money to produce beautiful venue. I was there during happy hour, which was nearly empty. Later on they, like Slide, charge for seating, but I heard it was a different system than bottle service. Apparently you can just rent a seat without the bottle.

I would tell you for sure, but they didn't return phone calls. (Note to Vessel: This is not terribly smart.) Another strange thing is that they don't have a cocktail menu- just a short wine list and a short list of snacks. I guess if most of your customers are bottle service you don't even need a bartender, but it still seems odd for a new upscale venue to open without a cocktail menu that defines it.

Drinks at Farmer Brown

Tonight I had dinner at Farmer Brown. On Mondays, drinks are happy hour price all night. Here's a quick run-down on the cocktails:

• The peach gin mint drink: definitely yes
• The grapefruit vodka gimlet: it was all right, but would have been so much better with gin, not that anybody makes grapefruit gin.
  
• The homemade ginger beer version of the Dark N' Stormy: undrinkable. really that bad.
  
• Mango margarita with cayenne salt: yes!
  

Drinks at Jardiniere

The end of last week I had a few drinks at Jardiniere. The cocktail program there is newly under the direction of Thad Vogler, formerly the bar manager of Slanted Door until a year or so ago. Now he's revving up the cocktail program at the symphony-adjacent restaurant with the beautiful central bar. When we were there, the place filled to standing-room only around the bar at late happy hour, then suddenly I looked around and everyone was gone- the show must have started. But this goes to show how important the cocktail program needs to be there.

Thad says he's going to rotate the menu every week or two to introduce a range of cocktails, allowing some to become standards on the menu while others change.

The menu is heavy on old classics, such as the first three drinks listed on the menu: The Aviation, the Bronx, and the Pegu. (I love it that none of these gin drinks were on menus until less than a year ago, and now they're everywhere.) The rest of the menu has 3 rum cocktails, 2 whiskies, a margarita, a sidecar, and a lone vodka drink. (And that vodka is Hangar One.)

I started with an H. G. Wells, which is bourbon, sweet vermouth, and pastis. I call it The Ghost of Licorice. Then I had an Aviation, which is always a lovely though it seems to taste different everywhere you get one. Then Thad gave us something else to match our cheese platter, and I have no idea what it was but it was tasty. I would call everything I tried stately, just like the bar I was in and the crowd in it at the time.