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/

Expired Link

Here's something small I wrote for Friday's SF Chronicle, so most of it has already happened.

Tips for tipplers on surviving Pride weekend

1. He who stays out too late on Pink Saturday won't wake up in time to do her makeup on Pride Sunday.

2. The Civic Center celebration is a perfect venue for food and drink pairing if you remember this simple advice: Beer in a plastic cup always goes with food on a stick.

3. Like parades but don't feel like marching? Grab an outdoor seat at Ti Couz or another restaurant on 16th Street and enjoy a cocktail as the Dyke March goes by sometime after 7 p.m. Saturday.

4. Appletini, way out. Pomegranate, in. Try a splash of pomegranate juice or liqueur in Champagne at your pre-Pride party brunch.

5. The Trans March is on Friday. Celebrate with beer before liquor or liquor before beer. It's all good.

6. Money spent on beer at Pride booths goes back into the community. So drink responsibly but tip wildly.

7. Especially if they're hot.

-- Camper English

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?

It's official: TOTC

I was granted my media credentials today and I'll be heading to Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans July 18-22. Hooray!

Anyone else going? I'll be the dude too old to be wearing high-tops, running back to the hotel to eat Ramen Noodles in between sessions.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Goodbye, Boozy Tuesday

Today the Japanese Brewer's Association was in town. True Sake sponsored a tasting event, which was first open to reporters from 2-4PM, so that's when I went. I had some very good and some very mediocre sakes there. The event seemed geared towards restaurant buyers and trying to get them to carry some sakes.

I was on my way out when I ran into W. Blake Gray, staff writer for the Chronicle. He also writes for the wine section, but I'd never met him in person. He seemed like a mature, put-together grown-up, which isn't that rare for wine people but is for newspaper writers.

On my way out, I decided to procrastinate going home and finishing my story (on sake) by going into Marlena's. I wrote about the bar this winter having 700 Santas as decoration. Owner Garry McLain walked in carrying bags and bags of stuffed rabbits from Thrift Town, which are to be the next holiday decorations for the bar. I had two beers and by this time the sake had really hit me. Long story short: messy Camper.

On my way home it was 5:30PM and I was hungry so I stopped into Little Star Pizza near my house. I ordered a beer that I did not need and ate a pizza that was delicious as always. Then I came home and slept for a couple of hours, not finishing my story, and surely making me stay up too late tonight when I need to get up early in the morning and finish my sake story and start my whisky wood story. It's gonna be rough.

Beer, Beer, Beer!

There are more Bay Area beer events in February than any other month it seems. Get out there and get your gut on.

Strong Beer Month:

In February, Magnolia Pub and Brewery (1398 Haight St.; 415-864-7468) and 21st Amendment Brewery (563 Second St., 415-369-0900) in San Francisco team up to celebrate Strong Beer Month. Each venue will feature six house-brewed strong beers (ranging from about 8 to 10 percent alcohol by volume) on tap, including barley wines, double IPAs and imperial stouts. As an incentive to experiment, drinkers who sample all 12 brews and get a special punch card stamped by the end of the month will be rewarded with a commemorative glass. Additionally the venues will sell vintage strong brews from their cellars and offer beer and food pairings like barley wine with Colston Bassett Stilton cheese. To kick off the month, beer makers from both breweries will be bringing a couple of their kegs to the Toronado bar, 547 Haight St., on Wednesday. For more info, go to strongbeermonth.com.

The Toronado's Barleywine Festival Feb 17 - 24.


Celebrator Beer Review's Beerapalooza 2007 includes the following:

February 10–18 - Beerapalooza, San Francisco Bay Area
For information, see our Beerapalooza 2007 page here

February 10 - Hayward, California
Double IPA festival at the Bistro. 510-886-8525

February 14 - San Francisco, California
Beer and Cheese Tasting at Rogue Ales Public House. Phone 415-362-7880

February 16 - San Francisco, California
Beer and Chocolate Dinner, Cathedral Hill Hotel. 415-776-8200, ext. 7785

February 18 - Berkeley, California
CBN's 19th Anniv Party Brewer's Mardi-Gras at Trumer Brewery. More info here

Yo Ho Ho

I just got back from vacation (where I drank nothing of quality worth mentioning, though a lot in quantity), so I've got some catching up to do. Here's an event that looks awesome- anyone want to carpool (in your car) to Alameda on Feb 7th?

Forbidden Island is pleased to welcome you to… 

RUMFEST 2007!

Throughout February, Forbidden Island is celebrating the glory of rum
with a series of events, tastings, new products, and more.

To kick off the celebration, Forbidden Island is adding SEVENTEEN new
premium rums to our already world-class collection.  Explore the diverse
world of rum, and take advantage of the opportunity to sample rare &
exclusive spirits available nowhere else.  Sip them neat, on the rocks,
or prepared simply with fresh squeezed lime juice and our housemade pure
cane syrup.  Or take a trip around the world with a tasting flight.

Mark your calendar for these upcoming exciting rum-fueled events:

February 7th at 6:00pm: RUM 101 with Edward Hamilton.
Forbidden Island is pleased to welcome Edward Hamilton, internationally
known rum expert and the author of four books on rum.  Edward will be
giving an overview of the history, manufacture, and tasting of rum. 
Learn the difference between rums of different countries, how aging
affects the flavor and appearance of rum, and much more.  Admission to the
event is free, but we encourage you to buy tasting tickets in order to
have the great opportunity of sampling the rums Edward will be speaking
about.   Tasting tickets are available in advance or at the door for
$25, but supplies are limited, so hurry in.  Don’t miss this very
special event!

February 22nd, starting at 5:00pm: Don the Beachcomber 100th Birthday 
Party
Donn Beach: Man.  Myth.  Legend.  The inventor of the tiki bar.  Early
proponent of premium rum.  Creator of the Zombie.  And so much more. 
He would have been 100 years old on this day.  Come celebrate his legacy
with rare, classic Don the Beachcomber recipes and general merriment. 
Forbidden Island simply wouldn’t be here today without him.

February 25th at 2:00pm: Rum & Cigars
Spend a (hopefully) sunny afternoon on our patio with the two great
tastes that go great together: Rum and Cigars.  We’ll enjoy cigars
paired with premium sipping rums from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and
more.  Meet other rum and cigar lovers; see if you can taste the
similarities in cane and tobacco grown on the same soil.  Tickets ($35) will
be very limited for this event and will be available in advance only at
Forbidden Island.