Four I'm Under My Host

And so the long journey comes once again to an end. What I speak of, of course, is the journey from the inspiration for a new cocktail, through the many twists, turns, and iterations of experimentation, up the steep hill of choosing a name, and finally to that welcome destination where the recipe crystallizes [...]

Last week my colleagues from Sakai were in town and, of course, I had to make them a few cocktails. In particular, I wanted to make something that would be easy to serve up at the BBQ that Oliver Heyer hosted on Saturday afternoon. Being a cocktail fan himself, I knew Oliver would have the [...]

Like many cocktailians, I’ve been inspired by the availability of genuine imported and domestic absinthe since the U.S. ban was lifted in 2007. Michael and I actually co-invested in a lovely absinthe fountain that we’ve utilized at a couple of parties to provide traditional absinthe service with the serrated spoons, sugar cubes, etc. While a [...]

It was warm last weekend (by Berkeley standards) and will be again this weekend, so the “Creole Watermelon” from Scott Beattie’s Artisanal Cocktails seems timely. As you can see from the picture to the left, there are some interesting ingredients in this one.
I adore spicy cocktails. Not on an everyday basis, but I do like [...]

If you read this earlier post I’ve started experimenting with recipes from Scott Beattie’s excellent Artisanal Cocktails. This past weekend it was the Pelo Del Perro, which means “Hair of the Dog” in Spanish. I picked this one because the weather was warm and a grapefruit juice cocktail sounded refreshing. And because it is garnished [...]

This isn’t a cocktail post. This is a post about two cocktail sites I thought were worth mentioning. Of course there are many more worth reading but these were two I happened to read today.
The first is Mixology Monday. The conceit is that once a month, on a Monday, a “host” choosed a theme for [...]

My mother-in-law just gave me a new cocktail recipe book called Artisanal Cocktails by Scott Beattie, former bartender (or cocktail chef) at Cyrus, a fantastic restaurant in Healdsburg where I have had the pleasure of dining in the past. Needless to say I was eager to try it out.
The perfect opportunity presented itself almost immediately. [...]

So we returned from our year in Paris a few weeks ago and it was only a matter of time before the mixology started. A Corpse Reviver #2 here, an Albert Hofmann there and even a great party at Rob’s house featuring his very own Triolet (not to mention his brother’s smoking-hot band Afrobeat Down). [...]

We just spent a few days in Valencia, Spain, with Shannon’s mother. Valencia is a fantastic city for a family vacation, with the new City of Science and Industry, the fantastic Gulliver play structure, a beautiful beach with very fine sand, great food, good art and good prices all around.  More details on our other [...]

Just before Thanksgiving I came across the recipe for an intriguing cocktail called The Violet Hour in a Gary Regan article for the SF Chronicle Spirits section.  The piece describes how an SF bartendress invented the drink inspired by a beautiful quote from historian Bernard DeVoto and won a trip to France in a cocktail competition [...]