I’m a huge fan of all forms of Brandy.  One of my all time favorites is the Brandy Crusta.  It’s another one of the great New Orleans creations, and the Sidecar’s father.  It’s extremely easy to make, tastes delicious, and looks beautiful. 1.5 oz Brandy .75 oz Combier .75 oz lemon juice .25 oz Maraschino Liqueur (not the sweet red stuff!) Dash or two of Peychaud’s Bitters Moisten the outside of an egg coupe, crusta glass or any other receptacle that you wish, and rim with superfine sugar, making sure not to get any inside the glass. Add the ingredients and cracked ice to your shaker. Shake and double strain into your sugar rimmed glass. Garnish with the peel of a lemon lining the inner rim of your glass. Admire and enjoy!  

Most wines are made with different varieties of grapes, but a pair of twin brothers from the Central Valley decided to try something new. Twin Pomegranates owners and founders, Nick and Brian Davis, grew up in Madera, CA surrounded by agriculture. The two are the fourth generation in a family that grows almonds, wine grapes, and pomegranates. Their grandfather, Elvin Davis, grows “Wonderful” variety pomegranates. Wonderfuls are known for sweet taste and health benefits, so Twin Pomegranates Wine has the best of both worlds. The wine produced by Twin Poms has not been pasteurized and does not have artificial ingredients added to change the flavor or color (as some grape wines do). It is said to help fight heart disease, high blood pressure, and free radicals. It also may help with premature aging as well as prevent Alzheimer’s disease. “Our 100 percent pure pomegranate wine is not a sweet wine,” [...]

Shit Bartenders Mixologists Say. Presented without comment.    

Seeming how Pisco has been getting so much attention lately, I figured we might as well post a little something for you to sip on.  The Pisco Sour is an extremely easy cocktail to make and is just as delicious to drink.  Yes it’s got an egg white in it, yes you’ll need to dry shake it……but trust me, it’s going to be worth it. 1.5 oz Pisco (I like using Torontel or Acholado) .75 oz Simple Syrup .5 oz lime juice .5 oz lemon juice 1/2 of an egg white Angostura bitters as a garnish Combine all of the ingredients except bitters in your shaker.  Dry shake (without ice) for about 8-10 seconds to work up the egg white.  Add ice and shake for another 8-10 seconds. Double strain your efforts into a glass of your choosing and garnish with a few small drops of Angostura and enjoy!  

One of my most vivid alcohol-related memories is going to Kyoto in the summer of 2003 and trying my first shochu drink. I was visiting Japan’s former capital with my dad’s new wife, Sachiyo. Sachiyo is but a memory, but the impact she left on me the moment she casually ordered an oolong-hi (shochu iced tea) for me would last forever. Sitting on the tatami mats in an izakaya (Japanese-style pub) overlooking the Kamo River in Kyoto, our feet were finally free from the confines of our shoes and our throats were parched from a long day of sightseeing in the scorching humidity. Seeing that tall glass of shochu with oolong tea, glistening in the glare of the setting sun, touching down on our wooden table was seductive. The first sip shuttled me back to childhood, when I would come home from school and my mom would pour mugi-cha (cold, [...]

Classic tea with honey is given a festive twist by Josh Pearson, head bartender at Chicago’s Sepia restaurant. Here, he spikes rooibos, an herbal “red tea,” with whiskey and spiced honey. 1ounce Irish Whiskey (Pearson suggests Bushmills Black Bush) ½ ounce Grand Marnier ¾ ounce Spiced Honey** 4oz Freshly Brewed Rooibos Tea Stir together all ingredients in snifter. Garnish with orange wheel and cinnamon stick. **To make spiced honey combine: 1 cup clover honey ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground ginger ¼ teaspoon ancho chile powder ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg seeds of one small vanilla pod Stores covered in fridge for up to 1 month. Recipe courtesy of Kara Newman, author of Spice and Ice: 60 Tongue-Tingling Cocktails

The human body is almost 62% water, and we can all agree that people are pretty important. The Earth’s surface is 75% water, and clearly, the planet is very important. Beer is roughly 93% water, so clearly it must be the most important thing in the world. Given my inscrutable reasoning, it pains me to say that there is one thing more important than beer, and that is water itself — which, given the amount of various compounds it contains, is roughly 99.985% H2O.  Because of this remaining 0.015% , not all water is the same, and I don’t mean to sound bigoted, but some waters are better than others. Various brewing styles around the world weren’t initially dictated by marketing campaigns but rather by a region’s respective natural water supply. The differences in the beers are often black and white, or in brewing terms, black and light. For example, [...]

What could be better on a Sunday afternoon, after NFL playoffs are over, than watching sixteen of SF’s best females duke it out to see who has the fastest hands in town? Absolutely nothing. Together with Ananas Consulting, LUPEC SF, and Rye On The Road, Speed Rack is rolling into the Brick and Mortar Music Hall on Sunday, January 8th at 3pm.  A national tour, Speed Rack is traveling through ten US cities to find the fastest female bartender in the land and to raise $75,000 for breast cancer research and awareness. Here’s how it works: sixteen top female bartenders (we’re talking ladies from Rye, Hotsy Totsy Room, and Bourbon and Branch) compete head to head in timed trials. If you watch the video on Speed Rack’s website, you’ll see there’s a whole lot of show-womanship and bragging going on. A panel of judges will then score each competitor on [...]