Author: Camper English

  • Maker’s Mark Distillery Visit

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    Camper English
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    As part of a visit to the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, I visited the Jim Beam and Maker's Mark distilleries in September. Today I'll talk about visiting Maker's Mark. The distillery has been around since 1805, but was purchased by Mr. Samuels, founder of Maker's Mark, in the early 1950's. This distillery will receive 70,000 visitors…

  • Oh, Sherry!

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    I haven't seen the print edition yet, but the digital edition of my story in Men's Book (by San Francisco Magazine) is viewable online here. The story is about sherry in cocktails. The story mentions drinks on the menu at 15 Romolo, NOPA, and the forthcoming Gitane, but since I wrote it, sherry drinks have…

  • A visit to the Jim Beam distillery

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    In September I visited the Jim Beam and Maker's Mark distilleries as part of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. For all the distilleries I've been to in 10 different countries, I'd never seen a bourbon distillery. The Claremont Jim Beam distillery is a huge facility, and one of two where the product is distilled. They receive…

  • Here’s that story I wrote about bartenders

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    Bay Area's best mixologists leaving bars for brands Camper English, Special to The Chronicle Friday, September 19, 2008 While you're still likely to run into many of San Francisco's best mixologists in the usual cocktail hot spots, increasingly they'll be standing on the other side of the bar. That's because many local bartenders have accepted…

  • On ice

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    When Alembic bartender Josey Packard talked about moving from San Francisco back to Boston, she was worried about getting the right job. "There's a place opening in the fall that will have a Kold Draft  machine, and I think I need to work there," she said. "Otherwise I'll have to make ice at home and…

  • Who’s rocking at the clock?

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    Not only is Bacar’s Joe Parrilli now working at the Clock Bar (note: hat-less!), Bourbon & Branch’s Kevin Diedrich will be pulling shifts there too starting today. He told me he’ll still be spending some time at Bourbon & Branch- after all, he’s the one creating a lot of the homemade syrups, tonic water, and…

  • The second annual Tales of the Cocktail swag awards!

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    Times change, swag changes. This year at Tales of the Cocktail, my swag haul was quite different than last year, but perhaps the presenters’ bag o’ swag was different than for the media. (Can’t I be both?) This year I brought home 3 t-shirts, 4 drinking vessels, 3 types of garnish, 2 absinthe spoons, 8…

  • The curious case of the Clock Bar

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    Clock Bar, the hyped Michael Mina cocktail lounge opening July 15 in San Francisco, is becoming a lesson in OOPS I FORGOT ABOUT THE COCKTAILS. Early on the project was announced- historic space, famous chef, tasty bar snacks, high-end drinks, yadda, yadda, yadda- and nobody listed as being in charge of the cocktail program. Curious.…

  • Plymouth

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    Hello chums. The Plymouth gin distillery, it turns out, is just as beautiful as they say, but much smaller than I imagined. Just one big copper pot still makes all their gin, and they don't even need to run it full-time. Beyond the distillery tour, the building holds a restaurant and a cocktail bar, so…

  • Chartreuse on the loose

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    This week I helped judge a Chartreuse cocktail competition- tough job! Bartenders love making cocktails with the stuff, and I love drinking said cocktails. With my fellow judges Johnny Raglin of Absinthe and Carlos Yturria of Bacar/Grand Pu Bah I think we were in complete agreement with our top choices. Joel Baker of Bourbon &…