Party at the Hangar Distillery July 14th

I'm going.

St. George Spirits Summer Open House

Take a spirited retreat this summer to a sunny island –one that won’t break the bank or use up vacation time- to St. George Spirits/ Hangar One Distillery on Saturday July 14th from 1pm-6pm in Alameda.

The hangar doors will be open, spectacular spirits will be flowing, and the stills will be running, allowing a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with the distillation process. Music and hors d'oeuvres will be supplied throughout the day to keep everyone upright.

Have a summer fling with the Aqua Perfecta Basil eau-de-vie available for the first time on July 14th. A rare and distinctive unaged brandy made from several varieties of basil, including Sweet and Thai, perfect for summer cocktails.

Also showcased will be renowned local artisans June Taylor Jams and Recchiuti Confections who will be sampling their transcendent chocolate truffles and other goodies.

Shuttle service will be provided between the West Oakland BART station and the Alameda Main Street ferry to and from the distillery on the legendary Mexican Bus from 1pm to 6pm. Flash your admission ticket to get on the bus.

Tickets will be available in the distillery store and by phone starting Wednesday June 20th (with a $1.50 service charge per order) for $25. If event tickets are not sold out admission will be $30 at the door.

St. George Spirits, artisan distillers of Hangar One Vodka, Aqua Perfecta eaux-de-vie and liqueurs, and St. George Single Malt Whiskey.

Saturday, July 14th, 2007 from 1pm to 6pm
St. George Spirits/Hangar One Distillery
2601 Monarch St, Alameda CA 94501
Map/directions available at: http://www.stgeorgespirits.com/pdf/stgeorge-directions.pdf

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door.
$1.50 service charge added to all phone orders.
No phone orders taken after July 8th.
This is a 21 and over event. Please bring your picture ID!

For more information contact Lou Bustamante, Spirit Guide, 510.769.1601, tastingroom@stgeorgespirits.com

St. George Spirits: : http://www.stgeorgespirits.com
Michael Recchiuti Confections: http://www.recchiuticonfections.com
June Taylor: http://www.junetaylorjams.com/
Mexican Bus: http://www.mexicanbus.com/
Alameda Ferry: http://www.eastbayferry.com/

It's Pimm's Season

Wimbledon starts June 25th, and that means it time to start drinking Pimm's No. 1 Cups. I wrote about them for the Chronicle in the fall, but it's time to refresh your memory and start planning.

At San Francisco's Slanted Door restaurant, they make a Pimm's cup without Pimm's that's an approximation from the old Cocktails of the Ritz Paris book. According to Wikipedia, "A close approximation to Pimm's №1 can be prepared by mixing one measure of gin with one Orange Curacao and one red Vermouth."

I've had the Pimm's at Slanted Door and can testify to it's deliciousness. It would be especially nice on a day like today, when San Francisco is having a "heat wave" of temperatures in excess of 80 degrees! (You have to live here to appreciate the rarity of that.)

But this year someone upped the Pimm's Cup ante. At Alameda's Forbidden Island tiki bar, Martin Cate decided to make his Pimm's as an approximation as well. But he's adding extra-special garnish.

The traditional Pimm's as it was served in England was garnished with borage leaves. When they made a big push to promote the drink in America (I can't remember when- 1950's?) they sold the bottles with packets of borage seeds, since nobody here knows what the heck borage is. This picture from Wikipedia shows it's a big ugly weed.

Anyway, borage didn't exactly catch on here but it turns out that cucumber has a similar flavor to borage leaves. So that's why you get them in your Pimm's.

Diageo even changed the label on the bottle to reflect this and now recommend garnishing it with cucumber and even strawberries. Some people are not happy about this, and have started an internet petition to strip such blasphemy from the label. (Read the site for a ton of Pimm's info- good stuff.)

You can find borage leaves in dishes in some fancy restaurants, an internet search revealed. So Martin at Forbidden Island sent his minions in search of borage leaves. He tells me they ended up going to 11 different garden stores (note: not grocery stores) to find borage to serve in his Pimm's Cups. He also bought some borage seeds to plant outside the bar in the hopes they won't have to drive all over town in the future. That's some serious dedication to a drink.

And is anybody else really fricking thirsty right now?

Sweetness and Spice

A trend piece by me in today's SF Chroncile:

Sweetness and spice

Cocktails in the city these days will taunt you with hotness then leave you cool -- just like some Internet dates. But at least these chile-spiked drinks give you a good buzz for the bus ride home.

-- Farmer Brown serves up a creamy Mango Margarita Mango with Tequila, mango puree, lime juice, agave nectar and cayenne salt around the rim. Often the bar serves a spicy watermelon variation as well. 25 Mason St., San Francisco; (415) 409-3276, farmerbrownsf.com

-- The base ingredients of the Agua Caliente at Rye (invented by Jackie Patterson of Le Colonial) are also Tequila, mango puree and lime; but this drink has triple sec and a dash of Campari beneath the chile rim. 688 Geary St., San Francisco; (415) 474-4448

-- At Poleng Lounge, hot Thai chile peppers and dry green tea are muddled with cooling cucumber, mint and vodka in the signature Po'my Leng cocktail to make the hot and cold ingredients battle for dominance in your mouth. 1751 Fulton St., San Francisco; (415) 441-1710, polenglounge.com

-- The Gunpowder Cocktail at Presidio Social Club is merely a gin gimlet (gin, lime juice, simple syrup), with a sprinkle of cayenne powder on top, served in a martini glass. Drink it and your date will call you "hot lips." 563 Ruger St., San Francisco; (415) 885-1888, presidiosocialclub.com.

-- Last week, the winning cocktail in Harry Denton's Starlight Room's cocktail contest joined the menu. The Pink Cream Soda (invented by Todd Smith of Bourbon & Branch) tastes like its name, with rosé Champagne, guava, lemon and vanilla syrup, but it's the muddled jalapeno pepper at the bottom that really makes it interesting. Sir Francis Drake Hotel, 450 Powell St., San Francisco; (415) 395-8595, harrydenton.com.

Once in a Blue Moon...you get a cheap drink at Tres Agaves

If the alcoholic product you’re promoting doesn't have a built-in annual event associated with it like the Kentucky Derby or New Years Eve, you might consider pulling a Hallmark and inventing your own drinking holiday. And since we’re in San Francisco, why not make it a tie-in to the lunar cycle?

Tres Agaves is promoting a one-day special coinciding with the blue moon May 31, during which they’ll be offering their Luna Azul cocktail (“valued at $18”) for the bargain price of seven bucks. I think one-day-only promoted cocktails are awesome, though I'm not sure why I think that. Anyway, here is the press release.

Tres Agaves To Celebrate Blue Moon With Rare Cocktail
“Luna Azul” cocktail to be offered once in a blue moon

SAN FRANCISCO — May 22, 2007 — According to modern folklore, a Blue Moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. Usually months have only one full moon, but very rarely a second one sneaks in. In the spirit of this rare occasion comes a rare cocktail created by Tres Agaves Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Lounge, which sold more Tequila than any other single restaurant in the country in its first year of operation and will be offered only once in a blue moon – or Thursday, May 31st, 2007.

Tres Agaves, winner of Sante Magazine’s highest award (Grand Award) for the best spirits program in the country (2006), has created the “Luna Azul,” or the Blue Moon cocktail. The Luna Azul is made with Penca Azul Tequila, which is named for the blue leaves of the agave plant. Penca Azul is very unique; only one batch is made per year, and all bottles are labeled with the year of production, making it a vintage-dated distilled spirit. It comes in a hand-blown glass bottle with a blue glass agave plant in the bottom of each bottle.

The Luna Azul, valued at $18 will be sold at the house margarita price of only $7 for this special evening.

Luna Azul - $7
=======
1 1/2 oz. Penca Azul reposado
2 oz. blueberry nectar
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1/4 oz. agave nectar

Located at 130 Townsend Street (at 2nd St.) San Francisco, CA 94107 (one block from AT&T Ball Park), Tres Agaves serves lunch, dinner and Tequila daily. Brunch service is offered on the weekends. Ample street parking is available on non-game days, as well as a convenient garage right around the next store. All major credit cards accepted, and walk-ins are always appreciated. For reservations, call 415.227.0500 or http://www.tresagaves.com

Week-end

Last night was the closing celebration for SF Cocktail Week. The party was held at Absinthe with booze and snacks for all. It was a delightful clusterfuck of San Francisco's finest bartenders and a lot of cocktail writers too. Around 8:30PM, people started asking, "Where are you going after this?" It hadn't occurred to me to go out afterwards, but Monday is industry night so the rest of the crowd was raring. Some people went for dinner, but more or less everyone ended up back at Elixir for the after-party.

I stopped by my house to drop off my coat, and noticed that all the other bars were empty on this Monday night. But Elixir was banging. Inside it was all shots and drinks and loudness and celebration and then it was 2AM and last call and lost jackets and cell phones. What? I was on my way out the door several times but then got called back into the fray.

Now it's Tuesday and I'm a little bit slow but not so hungover, and even though I didn't hit nearly as many bars for Cocktail Week as I had intended, last night's finale was a great end to a brand new tradition in San Francisco. So, what are we doing next year?

SF Cocktail Week Kickoff

Last night a group of bartenders escorted a group of journalists to several drinking venues in the city for a kick-off of San Francisco Cocktail Week. As each bar is doing one classic and one modern cocktail for the week, we had two drinks at each bar. Plus two bottles of tequila on the bus. Plus more drinks at the 209 Gin Distillery. That would have been about 12 drinks each if everyone had made it to the final bar.

We started at Elixir, where the Corpse Reviver #2, a hangover helper, made for a nice start. We then had their Eldersour, which had a terrific dry finish that I really enjoy in a sour drink.

Next up, we boarded the bus and headed to the 209 Distillery, where we had a tour of the place (and drinks). The distillery isn't open to the public so many of the writers saw it for the first time.

The next stop was The Alembic, where we started with a mint julep (served out of real julep cups!) and then had the Vow of Silence, a wonderful drink with bourbon and benedictine. This is where we lost our first writer- Marcia of Tablehopper had to head home to finish her story that came out today.

Next up was Cantina, where they've put up artwork since the last time I was there and the place looks even better. We had a Pisco Punch and were supposed to have a Marmalade Cooler but I don't think that's what was served (it was small and not a rocks drink). Whatever it was, it was my favorite drink of the night.

We stayed there for quite a while (methinks the organizers were as drunk as the writers) and a bunch of people disappeared. I think we lost two people from the Chronicle, the SF Weekly peeps, the Examiner/CHOW.com writer, the 7x7 writer, and even the publicists for the event. Actually, if memory serves me right (and there's no reason to think it should), there were only three writers left for the last two bars. Luckily though, we kept picking up more bartenders along the way so we still had quite the crowd.

At Rye, we had the Rye Manhattan that I always love at the venue, followed by The Dogpatch. The Dogpatch is a drink co-owner Greg Lindgren told me was built around Old Potrero Rye, but then Old Potrero ran out so they had to switch to another brand. Oops!

At this point, people were plenty tipsy so we stumbled down to Bourbon & Branch for our last cocktails. We were supposed to arrive there at 10PM, but it turns out we were nearly three hours late. Oops! The drinks they were serving were the 1896 Martini and Todd's Smoked Olive Martini. I don't think I wound up having either drink (I had the smoked martini before, and that olive is tasty), which was smart for me because I was ever-so-slightly intoxicated. Only myself, the Zagat's editor, and a Guardian writer were left out of all the writers. Still, I have a feeling that the people who left two bars earlier will have a better overall memory of what happened that evening than those of us to stayed. Some of the bartenders were getting rowdy and starting to talk after-hours, but in a rare moment of good decision making I chose to take my drunk ass home.

I encourage people to get out and try some of the 22 venues doing SF Cocktail Week. I guess I have 17 bars left to visit but after Monday night, I'm going to take Tuesday off.

Cantina Bebidas

Cantina, the long-awaited bar by Duggan McDonnell, is hosting a slew of pre-opening events. I've been invited to three parties in the next week and it doesn't open to the public until May 24. But I'm writing not to brag about being there early but to point out that the menu is now online.

You may begin salivating. They have pitchers of caipirinhas (that fill about 4 glasses, according to our experiments last night), two kinds of sangria, two margaritas, pisco punch, and a bunch of other culinary cocktails that I can't wait to try. The preview drinks were lively and tasty and the rest of the menu looks farmer's market fresh.

The space is the old Lucid Gallery on Sutter at Mason, made pretty with a rusty color scheme and comfy with seating and whiskey barrels to set your drinks on. And now with Rye, Bourbon & Branch, and Cantina in close proximity, it'll be hard to leave downtown sober or unhappy.

SF Cocktail Week

Finally the website for San Francisco Cocktail Week is up and running. The week (May 14-21) is a way to encourage all of us to visit some of the best bars in the city (I didn't need encouragement, but maybe you did) and try their cocktails. Each participating venue will be serving up one classic cocktail and one new cocktail for the week. This is who is participating. Check the website to see what they're serving.

Absinthe Brasserie & Bar
Alembic
Bourbon & Branch
Butterfly, San Francisco
Cantina
Citizen Cake
Coco 500
Cortez
Elixir
Forbidden Island
Garibaldis
Jardinere
Le Colonial
Monaghan's
Nopa
Pesce
Presidio Social Club
Range
Rye
Slanted Door
Solstice
Tres Agaves

That's a lot of venues and a lot of geographic diversity to cover in just a week. Luckily, I've got a head start and have even had some of the new cocktails already. But there are a few venues I've never been to so I'm looking forward to checking them out. All in the line of duty, of course.

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.

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.

New drink alert

I was informed of a couple new drinks being offered at Bong Su now, though they don't appear to be on the website yet.

Mekong Martini made from Muddled Cilantro, Jalapeno, Vodka, Soda Water, Simple Syrup and Lime Juice.

Evan's Rose Martini with Muddled Cucumber, Black Peppercorn Infused Vodka, Fresh lemon juice and Almond Syrup and Garnished with a candied rose petal.

The first drink sounds interesting (except for the cilantro; I'm a hater) and in line with the spicy/cool cocktails on menus all around town these days. I've not had a spicy cocktail tempered with soda water yet so that's interesting- most people just temper them with lime or other juices.

The second drink sounds crazy in a good way. The almond and rose are unexpected, and I'll go for anything with cucumber or black pepper in it. I'm psyched to try this one.

Beer and Bites

Beer & Bites

March 24th

1 Fort Mason

The San Francisco Brewers Guild, in association with Slow Food San Francisco, invites your to Beer & Bites, an exploration of beer brewed in San Francisco and paired with local, artisanal food.

This event will focus on tasting and pairing a wide array of San Francisco-brewed beers with some of Northern California's best artisan food, including Fatted Calf Charcuterie, Hog Island Oysters, Acme Bread, and more.

The event will benefit Slow Food San Francisco and help to support the School Garden Project at Sanchez Elementary School and other programs.

Tickets are $50 for unlimited tasting and are available here.

Save the Date: SF International Beer Festival

April 28, 2007 is the 24th Annual San Francisco International Beer Festival at Fort Mason. $55 in advance gets you free beer and food. Brewers include:

Anchor Brewing Company
Anderson Valley
Beach Chalet
Bison Brewing Company
Boston Beer/Samuel Adams
Brasserie de Tahiti Brewery
Brewery Ommegang
Butte Creek Brewing Company
Chimay
Deschutes Brewery
Devil's Canyon
Duvel
Eel River
E.J. Phair Brewing
El Toro Brewery
Farmhouse Brewing
Gordon Biersch
Green Flash Brewing
Half Moon Bay Brewing
He'brew
Hoffbrau Munchen
Kona Brewing
Lagunitas Brewing
Magnolia Brewery
Marin Brewing
Moonlight Brewing
Orgasmica Pizza
Rafter's Grille and Brewery
Redhook Brewing
Rodenbach
Rogue Brewing
San Francisco Brewing Company
Shipyard Brewing Company
Sierra Nevada Brewery
Spanish Peaks Brewing
Spaten
Speakeasy Ales and Lagers
Thirsty Bear
Trumer Braueri
Twenty-First Amendment
Warsteiner
Widmer Brothers Brewing
Wyder's Cider

That's the (Irish) spirit!

In today's Chronicle I list some bars with good Irish whiskey selections:

Green parties

Ireland is the birthplace of more beverages than Guinness. Whiskey was likely invented there, and they still make it a little bit differently than the Scots. Most brands triple-distill the spirit and almost none use peated malt, so the end products are often smoother and less smoky than the average scotch. Though there are only a handful of Irish whiskeys on the market, the following bars have good-size selections from which to start your investigation into the Emerald Isle firewater.

Beckett's Irish Pub & Restaurant. This playwright-named Berkeley fave features 12 Irish whiskies (including classy Midleton at $20 a shot) along with food from the Emerald Isle. 2271 Shattuck Ave. (between Bancroft and Kittridge), Berkeley, (510) 647-1790 or www.beckettsirishpub.com.

The Gold Dust Lounge. For a non-Irish bar, the historic Gold Dust Lounge sure has a good selection (10-plus) of Irish whiskies. Also, a lot of really good scotch. 247 Powell St. (between O'Farrell and Geary), San Francisco; (415) 397-1695.

O'Neill's Irish Pub. The ballpark-adjacent bar opens at 6 a.m. on Friday, allowing you ample time to sample the 12 Irish whiskies offered. (You may want to start with one of the three Irish coffee drinks.) 747 Third St., (near King), San Francisco; (415) 777-1177 or tisoneills.com.

O'Reilly's. These bar/restaurants serve up 21 Irish whiskies at the Polk Street location and just a few less over in North Beach (including bartender-recommended Knappogue Castle), plus hearty food to help you sober up between samples. 622 Green St. (at Columbus), San Francisco; (415) 989-6222 or oreillysirish.com. Also at 1233 Polk St. (near Bush), San Francisco; (415) 928-1233 or oreillysholygrail.com.

-- Camper English

Now that's a spicy tequila!

Tommy's Mexican has a program where if you drink four shots of Julio's habanero-infused tequila and hold it for 15 minutes (without puking and only drinking beer or water) you get your name etched onto the bottle and a free membership into the tequila tasting club. Only 17 people have achieved this so far.

Here's a YouTube video of someone attempting that feat.

Irish Bars in San Francisco

I was doing some research on Irish bars in San Francisco for a short bit in the SF Chronicle, and contacted Steve Gardner from the Irish band Culann's Hounds. They're playing at several venues this St. Patrick's Day. Though I was focusing my piece on where to sample Irish whiskey, Steve gave me a rundown on his view of the Irish bar scene in the city.

Ive been a musician playing Irish music in SF for 7 years. Here is my breakdown of the Irish Pub Scene.

1. The Plough and Stars - the best venue for Irish music on the west coast.
Totally authentic. The best Guinness I can think of. Rock solid.

2. O'Neills - Get used to the name, you'll be seeing it all over SF soon, and there is a reason. Great food, great drinks, great management, and live music.

3. The Dogs Bollix - Gaelic speaking football fans having a pint o' the brown before the game starts on the tele. No plastic Paddys here. Great music.

4. O'Reilly's - a legendary North Beach drinking hall. Some music, good food, real Irishmen, excellent decor.

4. Irelands 32 - as old school an SF Irish bar as you can ask for. Decent music. Excellent place.

5. The Blackthorn Tavern - like an old pair of slippers. This place just feels good. And there is awesome public transportation in case you drink too much. (you will)

6. The Irish Bank - no music to speak of, but what an awesome space, and you can get drunk in a confessional. Pure drop.

Johnny Foley's Irish House, The Chieftain, the Goal Post, The Four Deuces, The Dubliner all get honorable mention.