The new Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina in the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco’s Union Square is a huge deal. Attached to it is a smaller bourbon lounge, created in partnership with Warriors’ basketball superstar Stephen Curry.
For my first story for SFGate.com (a website that was formerly the website of the SF Chronicle but is now a separate newsroom), I wrote up a review of it.
Keep in mind that writers don’t get to choose the headlines – the legal status is a small part of the story, not the whole thing.
While huge fests like Whiskies of the World, Fog City Social, and WhiskyFest have long been annual traditions, and single-brand tastings are regularly held in bars and liquor stores, an interesting new format has entered the chat. And at least two more of them are scheduled over the next few weeks.
Elixir is hosting its second whiskey tasting festival on October 25th – a malt whisky festival they’re calling it. Only 50, $50 tickets are being sold, because 50 people inside Elixir would be a lot on a regular day. Their first one was a bourbon fest with “10+ whiskey vendors” on Sept 13.
Likewise, Kona’s sponsored a Spirit Showcase: Bourbon Edition at the end of September, with plans for more that will branch out into other spirits categories. This one had 6 producers (each with 3-8 products) and a full food spread including caviar for $75.
And on October 18th the Dawn Club and Lark Bar plus Cask (all owned by Future Bars) is holding a Whiskey and Blues Fair with 20 distilleries with an outdoor block party down Annie Street for $45.
I think it’s an interesting new phenomenon happening; a social event, a reason to come out to the bars; a good bargain; and probably good money for the bars as they can partner with the brands on the tastings.
I wrote a story for Offrange about whiskey stillage. It is about how a couple of large distilleries – Jim Beam and Jack Daniels – are letting little critters eat their stillage and burp out methane, which is then cleaned up and used as renewable natural gas.
The process of writing this one was a doozy – I spent so long researching it that I made less than California minimum wage on it. I started looking at the Buffalo Trace/Meridian announcement, but when I tried to get more information, both companies refused to tell me anything.
I then started looking at corn fuel ethanol plants and how they process their stillage. They mostly make DDGS it seems, but are increasingly harvesting some other higher-value products like high-protein animal feed and corn oil.
I learned that, due in part to regionality (where the distilleries are located) and part due to the value of corn ethanol vs bourbon, the fuel distilleries see stillage as a coproduct while the distilleries see it is a byproduct – and many distillers give it away for free to farmers to use for animal feed or to apply it as fertilizer.
Then I further learned that in Scotland, having a renewable natural gas plant next to distilleries is pretty common, so we’re just lagging behind.
I wrote a story for the SFStandard about elderflower liqueur making a huge comeback. It was so popular when the brand St. Germain first launched in 2007 that it was given the nickname “bartender’s ketchup.”
It’s so back, but now bartenders are using a wide range of products. Read the story here.
I was browsing in the dollar store for stuff to freeze into ice cubes, as I do, and found a bag of party favor rings. They’re made for kids and so can only fit about halfway up my pinky finger, but it’s proof of concept.
To freeze the rings into ice, I used my IceOlogy clear cube tray, which has an open top. I simply put a piece of bamboo skewer across the top of the opening, hanging the ring in the top part of the water.
They came out great. One of the rings was a little deeper into the ice than the other (making it really hard to wear), but that can easily be controlled.
Here are some pics.
For more information about clear ice and my book The Ice Book, check out this page.
The building was completed in 1972- the time capsule is from 1974. Before that, from 1853-1959, it was the Montgomery Block that hosted the Bank Exchange Saloon. The Bank Exchange was the home of the Pisco Punch, the most famous cocktail in SF from roughly 1870-1920. Duncan Nicol, mentioned in the pictures, was the proprietor of the Bank Exchange in its later decades, and the person who popularized the Pisco Punch. He took his secret recipe to his grave.
I’ve left these images purposefully crappy to encourage you to go see it yourself!
