Who would have guessed that today is national rum day!?  Here’s a simple, creative and delicious recipe to inspire you and get you drinking more rum! Picanté Muchacho 1.5 oz Flor de Caña 7 Year Rum 0.5 oz Lime juice 0.5 oz Simple syrup Muddled poblano peppers Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Strain into a short rocks glass over ice and garnish with a poblano and jalapeño pepper.  

Infused with four kinds of basil (lemon, Thai, sweet, and genovese) this totally organic vodka was made for summertime cocktails. Smooth and flavorful, yet still refreshing. Would go beautifully with cucumber, citrus, or fruit. The basil character is flawlessly preserved without making it too herbal or medicinal tasting. Would make a mean lemonade.

Accurate sweet tea flavor, without the loss of character or overwhelming heat of sweet tea vodkas, but maybe a tad too floral on entry, and a bit sweet on the finish. Mixed with gin or vodka, lemon juice and sugar this could be a very dangerous addition to the liquor cabinet. Has enough character to hold it’s own when mixed with other spirits, or sipped over ice with a lemon twist for those not able or willing to get a buzz.

We love spirits competitions… they give us insight into the new spirits on the market and get to highlight some of the lesser known brands. The SIP awards that recently took place enlists consumers to choose their favorites.  As opposed to some other contests that boast celebrity industry judges, SIP calls for people with no affiliation to the alcohol industry.  It’s a relatively new competition – it’s exciting to se what consumers are into nowadays… You can see the full list of winners at SipAwards.com  Here’s the shortlist of winners:

1.5oz Dry Gin .5oz Domaine de Canton Ginger liqueur .75oz egg white .25oz lemon Bar spoon of fine sugar Regans orange bitters Add all ingredients to mixing tin without ice and shake vigorously, then add ice and shake again. Strain into coupe or martini glass and garnish with ground cinnamon sprinkles. The Ginger Lady is a genteel cocktail by appearance, but anyone who has intimate knowledge of a redhead knows that there is an undeniable fire burning below the surface. This drink is no different. It has just the right amount of naughty and nice and always goes down smoothly. If you want to kick the spiciness up a notch use muddled fresh Ginger instead of Domaine de Canton, but remember to add a little extra sugar if you do to offset the heat and maintain proper balance.

For the ninth year in a row the worlds best mixologists, highest quality distillers, and most successful spirit marketers converged on the French Quarter of New Orleans for Tales of the cocktail. The 2011 Tales was my personal first, but the literal tales that have come from previous years prepared me for the madness that ensued, if not in body at least in mind. There were more seminars than humanly possible to take advantage of unless you brought a team of assistants, since they were double and often triple stacked, not to mention the constantly ongoing tasting rooms, special events, spirited dinners, and street corner networking going on. The amount of information crammed into such a small amount of time is challenging, but if you prioritize and plan your itinerary in advance you can certainly gain a wealth of new knowledge. Hopefully in the future the organizers will record all [...]

Come join us as we follow the white rabbit down in and out of bars along Polk St. in San Francisco.  Everywhere the Rabbit goes, he’ll be brining a hoppy hour menu with discounted drinks.  We’ve heard he’s starting off at R Bar (with $3 Sauza Blue Margaritas and more) at 6pm sharp and will be in the neighborhood until 10.  Don’t be late for your very important date. For live updates of the Rabbit’s whereabouts, check out our twitter feed.

By Dai Deh from Bay Area Spirits With warm weather becoming more of a reality than a rumor in San Francisco, my mind and my thirst naturally gravitate away from soul-warming Scotches and bourbons and towards drinks that quench my thirst and open my appetite.  I love a tiki cocktail or a refreshing cerveza as much as the next person, but lately, my summer drink of choice has been aperitif wines. Aperitif wines are wines that have been fortified(neutral spirits added to bump up the alcohol percentage into the 15-24% ABV range) and/oraromatized (by herbs and botanicals) and generally display a bitter-sweet character.  This category of spirits includes vermouth, quinquina, americano and European vino amari. The herbs and botanicals in aperitif wines are great for getting your gastric juices flowing and opening up your appetite before a meal.  My modus operandi this summer has been to grab an aperitif wine out [...]