Imbibe Me

The new issue of Imbibe is out, and it's wonderful as always. There are stories on lemonade, a rare amaro, rose wines, a channel knife test, tea cocktails, seltzer water, vintage cocktail ingredients, Peru and pisco, wine-collecting obsessives, beer for BBQ, coffee roasting, how to throw a spirit tasting party (written by me!), sangria, and mead. Mead!

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My Cachaca Drink

My article on new brunch cocktails in the July issue of Out Magazine just came out. Pick it up! (And if you like it, feel free to write a letter to the editor as they kicked me to the curb.)

In the article I mention that the average Bloody Mary usually disappoints- not because it's a bad drink, but because it's hard to get right. Then I suggest a few alternatives. The Michelada is one, the Spanish Coffee, which is huge in Portland, Oregon, is another, and the third is a cocktail called the Mellow A.M..

They neglected to include that I invented the drink (at least I think I did- it's so hard to know if someone else invented the same drink independently), but that's okay because I get to share it with you all.

The Mellow AM
1 ounce Cachaca such as Boca Loca or Pirrasununga 51 (I tried other brands and these two were my favorites)
1 ounce Cranberry Juice
1 ounce Papaya Nectar
1 1/2 ounce Ginger Ale

Build in a tall glass over ice and serve with a straw.

The thing is, I've made the drink at home a zillion times and think it's fan-freeking-tastic, but I don't know of anyone else who has tried it. So if you happen to come across the ingredients, why don't you give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Nice package!

I get a lot of booze and booze-related swag in the mail, which is nice since I'm always writing about it. Generally speaking, the more expensive the product the fancier the packaging and press kit that it comes with. I have to say I enjoy a good press kit (as long as they're not unwieldy- 10 Cane you're pushing it) since I keep them around for future reference, but usually the box the booze comes in just takes up space and I need to throw it away.

The St. Germain elderflower liqueur that arrived in the mail today sells for under 40 bucks, but totally wins the prize for impressive packaging. Given that most everybody is raving about how good the stuff is they could have sent it in a brown paper bag with "Yer Booze" written on it, but they decided to go all-out. The case is a faux cloth-covered box like you might have around a collector's set of books, with a leather pull-tab at the end. Inside the bottle rests on a satiny pillow like... I don't know, a fancy tea set you get as a wedding gift? (I tend not to own breakable things so I don't have much experience here. Also note if I ever get married I don't want a fancy tea set.)

Anyway, the press kit is nice too, so I'm happy about that. The box, as lovely as it is, isn't really convenient to keep around. I searched the house for something large and tubular it might hold, but it's too small for the Dust Buster and too big for the cordless phone.

I have Stuff in Stuff

Run screaming to your local newsstand and pick up the June issue of Stuff Magazine. You'll know it because of the scantily clad woman on the cover. Rip out all the pages until 56, where you'll see the latest riveting piece of cocktail journalism by Camper English. Now, you won't see the name Camper English anywhere on the page because they're not about bylines (just tan lines), but that's me all right.

The "article" is Yoga Pose, Drink, or Sex Position? Play along at home, but you'll have to buy the magazine (or, you know, discuss in the comments) to find the answers.

Yoga Pose, Drink Name, or Sex Position?

1. Zombie
2. Corpse
3. Downward-Facing Dog
4. Suffering Bastard
5. Throat Swab
6. Mudslide
7. Thunderbolt
8. Reverse Cowgirl
9. Wheelbarrow
10. Sleeping Beauty
11. Warrior
12. Bulldog

What I like to do for fun, since I know all the answers (not that I do yoga- I looked it up) is try to imagine what the drink recipe would be if it had one of the sex or yoga names. (Maybe the Reverse Cowgirl would be a Coors Light followed by a shot of bourbon.)

But you probably shouldn't play the game in the other direction unless you want to imagine a sex position called the Mudslide...

Whiskey is Out

In the June issue of Out Magazine (I don't know why it hits newsstands 3 weeks early) I have a story on whiskey. It's sort of about how to use whiskey in drinks, pairing it with food, and tasting notes on wood-finished whiskies. Those include the Glenmorangie Burgundy, Bushmill's Single Malt 16 year, Compass Box Oak Cross, Balvenie Doublewood, and Macallan Fine Oak 17. (Note: all yummy.) It also has the recipe for Nihon's Apple Mack. Pick it up!

New reasons to Imbibe

Hooray! The latest issue of Imbibe Magazine arrived in the mail today. I love this month's issue even more than the last one, because I'm in it. I have two short articles- one on buy-your-own barrel whiskey programs, and another on antique cocktail book collections. Beyond that, this issue has stories on:

• The gin rickey
• Bloody Mary mixes
• Cachaca
• Beachbum Berry
  
• Fresh ingredient cocktails for summer
• The wines (and port) of Portugal
• Happening coffee scenes
• Urban winemaking
• American Lagers
• Public wine storage facilities
• Making your own bitters

Because this wonderful magazine must never, ever go out of existence, please go subscribe to it now.

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.

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.

Trendy ingredients

In the March issue of Out Magazine, I have a story on cucumbers in cocktails. I wrote a sidebar to that story that didn't make it into the print edition but is online here.

Five More Trendy Cocktail Ingredients
Vegetables in your cocktails? Flowers? Check out these cutting-edge cocktail components

Our April issue is cool as a cucumber with recipes for the veggie’s use in cocktails. Here we gather five other surprising cocktail components.

1. Elderflower. This trend is largely driven by commercially available elderflower simple syrup that adds a light floral note to vodka and gin drinks. Use elderflower syrup in place of unflavored simple syrup in your next gimlet.

2. Yuzu juice. Yuzu is a sour Asian citrus fruit that makes a heck of a tasty cocktail. Use it in place of lemon juice in a lemon drop.

3. Cayenne and other peppers. Bartenders are combining the hot peppers with cool fruits (like cukes) for an icy hot drink experience. Infuse black peppercorns in vodka for one day and make a spicy cooler using the vodka with lots of lemon or lime juice and soda water.

4. Pomegranate. With a pomegranate liqueur, vodka, tequila, and schnapps on the market it’s easy to add the rich syrupy flavor into your drinks. To equal parts vodka and PAMA pomegranate liqueur, add a splash of Grand Marnier and a lemon garnish for a wonderful pom-tini.

5. Ginger. Whether in juice, simple syrup, infused into booze, or muddled with other ingredients, ginger is turning up in a wide range of drinks. Simmer sliced ginger into simple syrup for half an hour and use it in your next mojito or caipirinha.

Anyone speak German?

A German bartender posted a story about my story on the 209 Distillery bitters making event. Read it here, if you can. The story says things such as, "Die kleine Destillerie 209 lud seiner Zeit zu einem Bitters Making Event ein. Neben Barkeepern aus San Francisco war auch Cramper eingeladen und berichtete über diese Veranstaltung," which I believe translates as, "Die stupid Distillery 209 and your Bitters Making Event. Various bartenders in San Francisco also hate Cramper because he's very goodlooking."

Now Imbibing

I just submitted my first two (very small) pieces to the best drinking magazine ever- Imbibe.

I'm very happy to be writing for this publication, as I've been a fan since it started. They take a unique approach to discussing wine, beer, liquor, coffee, tea, and other beverages. It's part DIY, part tour guide, and a lot of education.

The March/April issue just came out with stories on tequila, wine tasting, organic beer, drinking in Tokyo, and homemade tonic water.

Tasting Tequila at Tommy's Mexican

Mastering Tequila, One Glass at a Time

Camper English, Special to The Chronicle

Friday, February 23, 2007

Tommy's Mexican Restaurant, with a mere 275 bottles squeezed onto its shelves, no longer has the largest selection of 100 percent blue agave Tequila outside of Mexico, but likely has the most Tequila-savvy clientele. The restaurant's Blue Agave tasting club is the nation's largest, with more than 6,000 members -- not too shabby considering the restaurant is located out in San Francisco's avenues and the bar has only nine stools.

The club began around 1989, according to beverage manager Julio Bermejo, who runs the family restaurant with his father Tommy, mother and two sisters. Bermejo got the idea for the tasting club while at UC Berkeley, when he frequented Raleigh's, a bar with a beer-drinking club.

He started the Blue Agave Club a bit later, but says that, at first, "it wasn't taken seriously at all."

The rest of the story is here.

My story in today's Chronicle talks about Tommy's famous tequila tasting club. Going into it I knew that there was no discount for being in the club, and in fact you have to pay to join, so I couldn't figure out why anyone would actually do it.

As the story hopefully shows, Julio Bermejo has created a warm environment conducive to learning about tequila from people who are also in the program above you. It's a mentoring community of tequila drinkers on Monday and Wednesday nights, where you pay for drinks but get the information for free. Now that I've been there I get it- and have my own tequila club card to prove it- but I sure wish it weren't so darn far away.

Update: The first line in the story said that Tommy's no longer carries the largest selection of 100% blue agave Tequila in the country, but I didn't have space to say why that is. This is from the Tommy's website by Julio Bermejo:

The article also mentioned that Tommy's no longer has the largest selection of 100% agave Tequila in the U.S. This is true. What I say is that we carry the best selection of legally imported 100% agave tequila in the U.S. How can this be? Well, first we refuse to play the game of carrying every single 100% agave Tequila available. We have seen many people try this approach and sooner than later they revert to carrying only the best products they can get. As most of you know, there are many distilleries that put out a plethora of Tequila labels. I refuse to carry seventy products from 1 producer whom I believe to only make mediocre products. Our list continues to have at least 30 selections that are no longer made that none of our competitors can get. Tommy's continues to be the premier Tequila bar on Earth. We are grateful the Tequila industry holds us in such high esteem and we are flattered that all of our competitors come to Tommy's to learn about Tequila!

Bitters are in Out

My latest piece for Out Magazine should be hitting newsstands about now. I wrote about the revival of bitters, what they can do for your drinks, and reviewed the major brands. It's a solid cocktail article that could go in any magazine, so it's cool Out doesn't require a gay angle to get printed.

Pick up a copy, and don't be shy about telling the editors how much you love it!

Where to Drink in London

The New York Times runs a nice long piece on where to drink in London. (Print and save it before they make you pay!) There's not a whole lot of new information there as to why it's better than New York (or SF)- bartenders tend to be career bartenders rather than people passing through the profession so there is more consistency in the quality of drinks. The drinks themselves are what you might find in better bars everywhere, with fresh ingredients and bartenders trying to outdo each other by incorporating obscure liqueurs into their cocktails.

There is, however, a nice list of bars in which to drink, that includes more than the ones I've always heard about: Trailer Happiness, Milk and Honey, Lonsdale.

I wonder, though, if the drinks are better overall, or just more consistently good. How good can a cocktail get? Have I tasted perfection already, or is there further to go? I guess I'll have to wait for someone to fly me to London to investigate in person.

The next pomegranate?

Recent Scientific Testing Shows Noni Juice May Help Fight Cancer and Lower Cholesterol

Recent medical studies have shown that noni juice may possess anti-cancer properties, as well as the ability to lower cholesterol and triglycerides in smokers. Natures Products Ltd. recently re-launched their pure, organic noni juice, and other noni products, in the US market after success in European markets. The noni juice is available through www.noninz.com.

This is pretty much what happened with pomegranate. A company that owned lots of plants paid for research to prove that they were beneficial, then started selling it as a health tonic, then everyone in Hollywood started drinking it, then it made its way into alcoholic cocktails, then it was the latest hip thing to infuse into vodka, tequila, schnapps, and liqueur. Though it's a total hype-based marketing trick, it worked amazingly well and resulted in a new flavor for bartenders to work with.

So what the heck does noni taste like?

The Bitters Truth

Reinventing bitters
House-made concoctions give cocktails a signature spin

Camper English, Special to the Chronicle

Friday, January 19, 2007

Bitters, the cocktail flavoring agent once considered a crucial ingredient in drinks, fell out of favor after Prohibition. Though a few brands like Angostura and Peychaud's have been continually produced since their inception, most bitters makers closed up shop long ago.

With the recent classic cocktail revival, bartenders and home mixologists have renewed interest in the ingredient. Bartender Jennifer Colliau of San Francisco's Slanted Door says, "It may be that we've run out of ways to infuse vodka. Now there are more people who are interested in booze that tastes like booze. (Bitters) alter the flavor of the liquor but in an aromatic way, rather than adding sugar or acidity -- lemon or lime juice -- or adding a mixer like soda."

The classic Sazerac calls for Peychaud's bitters, the Manhattan and old-fashioned cocktails require Angostura, and an early version of the martini (now making a big comeback) requires orange bitters. With a variety of bitters to use, bartenders can put subtle spins on well-worn cocktails by swapping in one flavor of bitters for another. They can also use bitters in new cocktails to form a bridge between ingredients that don't align perfectly on their own.

Only a few brands of bitters have come on the market in recent years, including new fruit flavors from Fee Brothers and Chronicle Cocktailian columnist Gary Regan's Orange Bitters No. 6. But these and other sought-after bitters like the European brand Bitter Truth can be hard to find in the Bay Area, forcing consumers to call around or order the products online.

read the rest of the story here.


When I was writing this story it was the holiday season and all the bitters were sold out around town. I was able to find several flavors of Fee Brothers' bitters at Plumpjack wines in Noe Valley, and I spoke with Domenic Venegas who works at John Walker & Sons downtown (as well as bartends at Bourbon & Branch and at Range). He says that they carry Regan's, the Fee Brothers' line, Angostura, Peychaud, and will be getting in the Bitter Truth bitters as well as some other European ones shortly. That might be your best bet for buying them in San Francisco.

You can also buy bitters directly from the manufacturers. (Regan's are on the Buffalo Trace website.)

Booze for Gays

My first story on booze for Out Magazine is in the February issue, hitting newsstands soon. I just finished a second assignment for them and have a third due on Monday.

In the February issue I talk about sake, the misunderstood beverage. The story relays the basic facts and fallacies about sake and tells you what to look for when you order it in restaurants.

They put my picture on the contributors page but cut out my quote about how I want to make the Sour Apple Martini illegal. The gays would probably take offence to that, but that's why I'm writing this column- they need to learn that sweet and fruity are so last century. Now it's all about sour and bitter.

Finally, drinks to match my attitude.

Movin' on Up

My first write-up for Wine&Spirits Magazine is in the February issue that I got in the mail today. It's just a tiny write-up of The Alembic, but it's a good start. I already got two more (equally short) write-ups assigned. Hooray!

What's new?

Pick up a copy of the San Francisco Bay Guardian this week. They have a nice glossy Bars and Clubs supplement, in which I have a story. It's a listing and brief description of the drinking venues that opened in 2006, including bars, clubs, wine bars, and a few restaurants. Little did I know when I agreed to write it that 15 bars alone opened last year. I tried to be thorough, but I'm sure I must have missed a couple spots.

I'll link to the story if it goes online, but if you know of anywhere I missed tell me in the comments.