Author: Camper English

  • The Trouble with Tequila

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    There's a new study released by Sarah Bowen of North Carolina State University in Raleigh and Ana Valenzuela Zapata of Mexico that says the tequila industry is ruining small farms. I've seen several stories in the media reporting on this and I think many of them are missing a large piece of the puzzle. Basically,…

  • Bay Area Distillers Messing with Agave

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    Hey, it's double-bonus tequila Friday here at Alcademics! I just learned that my Chronicle story on Bay Area distillers and business owners making tequila here or in Mexico went live today. The print story should be out this Sunday, in the newly-merged Food & Wine sections. Read the story here. Highlights Julio Bermejo of Tommy's…

  • Drinking by Degree

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    Check out my story in the February issue of San Francisco Magazine. It's about tasting clubs around the city where you earn prizes or a degree by working your way through the menu. I focus on the Tequila Passport program at Tres Agaves, but also mention programs at Tommy's Mexican Restaurant, Forbidden Island, and Barclay's…

  • Ice Balls Made Easy

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    While everyone in their right mind would love one of those fancy giant ice ball makers that go for $1300 and up, they're not the most practical solution for the home mixologist. [Note: since this post went up we've come up with lots of great solutions for clear ice balls and other ice technology. Check…

  • Bar-Bary Coast

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    Wolfgang Weber from the Spume blog and Wine & Spirits Magazine has started a Google map of "classic" (in one way or another) eateries and drinkeries along the Barbary Coast Trail in San Francisco. I've never walked the trail myself but now that he's turned it into a bar crawl I'm much more likely to…

  • Heaven’s Dog Preview

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    On Monday I had the chance to check out Heaven's Dog, the new Charles Phan (Slanted Door) restaurant and bar opening on in San Francisco on Friday. On closer inspection, bar and restaurant would be a more adequate description of the place. There's a small noodle bar/kitchen on one side- almost an adjacent business connected…

  • A Vintage Pisco Punch Story

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    I was stumbling through the internet the other day and came acrross this vintage story on Pisco Punch, written by Lucius Beebe and published in Gourmet Magazine in 1957. Some choice quotes: Once in the hands of Duncan Nicol it was translated, as by consecration in the name of a divinity more benevolent than all…

  • Sharing the Sherry Shrub

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    In Gary Regan's weekly cocktail newsletter, he shares with us Neyah White's recipe that won the Vinos de Jerez cocktail competition. The recipe is below. It sounds easy because it's only two ingredients, but naturally one of those two ingredients involves seven other ingredients and takes two weeks to make. To see the recipes for…

  • The History of the Ice Trade

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    I recently finished reading The Frozen Water Trade: A True Story by Gavin Weightman. The book is the story of Frederic Tudor, whose wacky idea of cutting ice in winter from ponds in Massachusetts and selling it to people in warmer climates in the summer turned into a 100 year industry until refrigerated ice became…

  • Party Tips from Esquire

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    I think it's a little odd to put your New Year's party tips in the January issue of a magazine instead of December, then to give away all the content online before it's even January, but that's why I'm not a rich and famous magazine editor. Nor am I a David Wondrich, who wrote all…