Category: Uncategorized

By me, in today’s SF Chronicle: Drink Menus Explore Virgin Territory with Alcohol-Free Cocktails Camper English, Special to the Chronicle Bay Area restaurants and bars are increasingly devoting space on their menus to alcohol-free drinks. These concoctions are more complicated than simple sodas and juices, involving the same glassware, seasonal ingredients and fresh garnishes as…

I contributed this round-up of new drinking venues to the San Francisco Bay Guardian. As I was taking notes on the venues that opened in the past year, I realized that there are way to many of them to list. The final article has 32 new venues listed, and it doesn’t include a third of…

By me, in today’s SF Chronicle: Raise a Glass to Yoga Class A sense of relaxation, the loss of calories and increased flexibility are some of the benefits that come with yoga practice, but the just-opened Cocoon Urban Day Spa and Local Kitchen and Wine Merchant have teamed up with some rewards that are a…

By me, in today’s SF Chronicle: Fritz Maytag and the team at Anchor Distilling are so far ahead of the curve they must get bored waiting for us to catch up. They’ve just released Genevieve, a genever-style gin they began developing in 1996, which has been sitting in a tank ever since. Genever is an…

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…