Author: Camper English

So Lance Winters of St. George Spirits let the cat out of the bag that his absinthe was approved at the end of last week. Well, local booze news doesn’t get any bigger than that so I told my editors at the Chronicle it shouldn’t wait until Friday’s Wine Section and they agreed. Stacy Finz…

Great NYTimes article on bourbon, with ratings of their top pics. I tend to agree with the reviews (though I haven’t tried all the brands), though I might switch the Knob Creek and Woodford Reserve (two of the most available at bars) ratings. Woodford Reserve has become my airline liquor of choice- usually available, great…

The SF Chronicle’s Wine Section comes out with the now-annual gift guide today. To read the intro and all of the items, start here, then follow the links in the box on the right. I listed some suggestions for gift books (Felten, Wondrich, In the Land of Cocktails), Gary Regan tells us must-have bottles of…

Hey look, I wrote a little thing in Time magazine’s Style and Design issue on hidden cocktail bars as a national trend. Here it is online, and here is the scan. Labels: bars, camper_clips

By me, in Friday’s SF Chronicle: A new Web site by the Brewers Association wants you to pass on the wine this Turkey Day and pop open a craft beer instead. BeerAndTurkey.org offers suggestions for beer pairings with a range of holiday meals, including roasted, smoked and Cajun-style turkey, ham, goose, salmon and lamb. They…

By me, in today’s SF Chronicle: New books dedicated to old drinks Camper English Many drink books published today are the “Behind the Music” of cocktails, telling the stories of the book authors and recipe histories rather than inventing a slew of new libations. In the past few years we’ve seen titles including “Vintage Spirits…

By me, in today’s SF Chronicle: Bartenders shake and stir their way through cocktail history Camper English, Special to the Chronicle Because of their proximity to sticky liquids, well-used cocktail books often don’t hold up over time, which may be why vintage cocktail books from the 1860s through the 1940s are rare and highly collectible.…

By me, in today’s SF Chronicle: Modern Spirits Vodka, the small brand that creates infusions like celery peppercorn and chocolate orange, has released its first seasonal flavor: pumpkin pie. (They’ll be launching a rose infusion for Valentine’s Day next.) The vodka was infused with pumpkin puree and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and retains a…

By me, in today’s SF Chronicle: Next Thursday though Sunday is the seventh annual San Francisco Bay Area Tiki Crawl. That the event is spread out over four days and three geographic regions is an indicator that we have a heck of a lot of tiki bars in this part of the world. (Take that,…

Last night I went to Absinthe for a dinner with Mike Miyamoto of Yamazaki Whisky. They brought along David Wondrich, whose new book I reviewed for the Chronicle (review coming out November 9th). We tasted the 12 and 18 year whiskies, as well as a 25-year-old not available in the US. What’s unique about these…