As I cover cocktails and bars around the US at Liquor.com, I recently did a feature on 7 of the most notable new bars around the US this fall. Covering the top 11 cocktails of the month around the US each month, you’ll find my bar and drink recommends this month at: Roka Akor, San Francisco Wallflower, NYC Liberty, Seattle… Read more →
I continue to be busy covering cocktails and bars around the US at Liquor.com. I recently did a feature on 7 of the most notable new or about-to-open bars around the US this fall. Covering the top 11 cocktails of the month around the US each month, you’ll find my bar and drink recommends this month at these bars: –… Read more →
It’s my 8th year attending Whiskyfest San Francisco (also held in Chicago and NYC annually) and like any other year, the event held many return sips of favorite whiskies (here are last year’s standouts), from Scotland, Japan, Ireland, Canada, India and the US, in the massive underground ballrooms of the SF Marriott Marquis. Of new releases this year, here were… Read more →
I continue to be busy covering cocktails and bars around the US at Liquor.com. I recently interviewed bar manager great, Kevin Diedrich at Pacific Cocktail Haven (P.C.H.) on what he’s learned about opening your own bar. Covering the top 11 cocktails of the month around the US here, you’ll find my bar and drink recommends in San Francisco, Sonoma County,… Read more →
This article was first published here at Table8 where I am national editor. Whether a wine shop serving food with areas to hang out and linger or a wine bar with food menus, these 4 spots, most of them brand new, have informed staff, serve quality wines and sometimes even good food. Wine Down, SoMa Gracious founders/co-owners Sarah Garand & Jaime… Read more →
As ever, San Francisco remains a cocktail paradise, the pioneering city that has reached excellence across the board: at restaurants, hole-in-the-walls and cocktail dens, there are too many great drinks to count. But I am counting and here are 12 cocktails, in bars/restaurants from SF to Oakland, worth drinking now. 1. A Boozy, Citrus-Free Mai Tai at P.C.H. Wherever Kevin… Read more →
I’m transported straight back to Italy. But it’s not the housemade pasta, classic Negronis or the hanging prosciutto. This is all transporting, certainly, but I can find this in numerous Italian havens in San Francisco. With Japan a close second, Italy is my favorite country, a place I’ve traveled to multiple times in numerous regions. I crave and long for… Read more →
San Francisco was a pioneering city on the current sherry scene. Though sherry is still a spirits’ geek and bartender favorite more than it is a mainstream imbibement, there are now SherryFests and sherry-centric cocktail menus around the US, in keeping with the growth in popularity of spirits and fortified wines everywhere. A decade ago as I dug deeper into… Read more →
After my recent travels in Cognac, France, my longheld love for brandy deepened even further. I am crazy about all manner of brandy (grape-based spirits), from Armagnac to pisco. I am passionate about Calvados (French apple brandy) and other apple brandies — note here my most unforgettable Calvados experience and tasting in the world, in Kyoto, Japan, of all places.… Read more →
Here are the 10 standout cocktails and new bars of the month I’ve been tasting around the Bay Area. 1. Saison’s Strawberry & Arms Dinner at 3 Michelin-starred Saison is always memorable — so is an hour spent at the bar with Anthony Keels’ exquisite cocktails, up there with the most inventive drinks I’ve had in London, Berlin or Tokyo.… Read more →