The SF Chronicle has announced the 2011 Bar Stars, bartenders who deserve special recognition. The introduction by Wine Editor Jon Bonne is here.
The Bar Stars are:
Click the links for the write-ups on each bartender.
(Photo by Russell Yip/SF Chronicle.)
(Photo courtesy of That's My Jamm)
David Ruiz of Mr. Smith's makes jams and preserves just for cocktails. I wrote about it with a quick note about jam in cocktails historically, and in which bar you can find a mezcal drink with strawberry-raspberry-jabanero jam. Yumz.
Read about That's My Jamm on Tasting Table. The story is here.
My San Francisco winter drinking guide in 7×7 Magazine is coming online in bits and pieces.
Here are some:
Oh hello, giant sexy four-page spread in the December issue of 7×7 Magazine written by Camper English!
Run screaming to your local newsstand to pick up the latest issue with a guide to winter drinking. In it you'll learn:
This coming week is the pre-opening of Bar Agricole, the big big big restaurant/bar project from Thad Vogler about which I am very excited. Bar Agricole opens on August 16th (15th according to the SF Chronicle).
I asked Vogler about his bar staff- and got a surprise. All the bartenders will work full-time at Bar Agricole. I know three of the crew pretty well already, and have a feeling I'll get to know the two others soon enough.
The Bar Agricole Bar Staff:
I have a great-looking four-page story in the August Eat + Drink issue of 7×7 Magazine.
The story splits up old bars and new bars inspired by old bars into five types/eras: Barbary Coast, Speakeasy, Martini Bar, Tiki Bar, and Fern Bar. In each category I list some identifying factors and a few era-appropriate drinks.
There are also tons of great pictures by photographer Erin Kunkel, including these yanked from the 7×7 website.
Read the story online here or pick up the magazine on the newsstand for even more pictures than on the website.
Erick Castro, bartender and general manager of Rickhouse in San Francisco (up for three awards at Tales of the Cocktail this year) has revealed that he'll be leaving the bar at the end of July. He'll now be the West Coast Brand Ambassador for Plymouth and Beefeater gins.
This is another bittersweet announcement in the San Francisco cocktail community, right on the heels of Neyah White leaving NOPA to become a brand ambassador for Yamazaki whiskies at the end of June and Jackie Patterson leaving Heaven's Dog (soon) to become a brand ambassador for Solerno and Lillet.
So congratulations to Castro on the sweet new job but we'll miss seeing you behind the bar.
I suppose the good news is that, like the rash of bartenders who were leaving bars for brands I wrote about in 2008, this makes way for a new crop of folks to step forward as mixological masters behind the bar.
Here's my new story in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, June 30.
Coffee liqueurs make a splash in cocktails
by Camper English
The craze for organic, shade-grown, micro-roasted slow-drip coffee has percolated into the cocktail world. Bartenders are improving classic coffee drinks, finding ways to harness the beans' bitter, aromatic qualities rather than just the caffeine kick.
Most cold coffee cocktails served in the past 20 or so years have been variations of the vodka espresso (better known as the espresso martini) credited to British bartender Dick Bradsell and made with vodka, espresso and Kahlua and Tia Maria coffee liqueurs. Nopa bar manager Neyah White updated this drink about three years ago, creating the Blue Bottle martini with Blue Bottle espresso, vodka and Araku coffee liqueur. It was, and is, "a ridiculously big seller," White says.
Coffee liqueur got a good bit more serious with the April release of Firelit Spirits Coffee Liqueur, made with coffee from Oakland's Blue Bottle coffee roasters and brandy from distiller Dave Smith of St. George Spirits in Alameda.
Continue reading the story here.
Mike Kepka / The Chronicle
Reza Esmaili at Smuggler's Cove makes a Rear Admiral's Swizzle with Firelit coffee liqueur.
My first story written for 7×7 Magazine is now online.
Castro's Last Stand
Long a bastion of bad drinks and a good time, the city’s biggest party neighborhood is slowly but surely learning how to wield a muddler.
by Camper English
While the Tenderloin, Mission and Haight are reveling in white whiskeys and raw sugars, in the Castro, bartenders are still called bartenders, and the drink of choice is more likely to be an appletini than something made with absinthe. From Martuni’s to Moby Dick, drinks in the gay sector are still mixed with vanilla vodka, Long Island Iced Teas make up the happy-hour specials, and mojitos come in more than one flavor. Popular venues, like Toad Hall and Badlands, skip the cocktail menu altogether.
As of late, however, there have been a few glimmers of change.
