Article by Virginia Miller; photos from brand websites except where noted [Taken from my ZAGAT article on 4 New Local Spirits to Try, I have also added two additional recommended spirits, another one from California, and one from Oregon]: In the scheme of quality spirits, each of these is fantastic. Even better, they’re all made locally from Sonoma to Mountain… Read more →
Article and Photos (unless otherwise noted) by Virginia Miller Three Seattle visits in the past seven months centered around craft distillery and cocktail bar research means a few spirits have stood out among the dozens I’ve tasted from Washington state, most launched in recent years. Here are my top seven from the glut of craft distillers hitting the Washington market:… Read more →
Visiting a Grappa Legend & a Hidden Absinthe Bar Article and photos by Virginia Miller This October I spent a magical day in the birthplace of grappa, enchanting Bassano del Grappa, a Northern Italian town (in the Veneto region) on the river Brenta at the base of the Italian Alps. Grappa, a grape-based brandy, is integral to Italian culture and… Read more →
ALCHEMY BOTTLE SHOP, Oakland (3256 Grand Avenue, temporary number: 415-553-0803) Oakland will soon have a spirits shop to delight spirits and cocktail lovers. Alchemy Bottle Shop, from Tova Herman, formerly in the wine industry, and Peter Mustacich, who quit his Financial District day job (where he frequently spent breaks at Cask) to open their Grand Avenue spirits shop, is going… Read more →
Génépi (in Italian) or Genepy (in French)… have you met? This herbal liqueur is set to hit your favorite craft cocktail bar soon, if it hasn’t already. Besides the liqueur, the word also refers to alpine Artemisia plants (in the wormwood family), common to mountainous regions of France, Switzerland and Italy, rumored to have been used in fellow herbal liqueurs,… Read more →
At Tales of the Cocktail (2013 highlights covered here), one can easily taste hundreds of spirits in a week (not that one should). Most of what I find in tasting rooms and at events I’ve already had before, but there’s the occasional new release or product that might not have been released nationally. Here are two standout newcomers – and… Read more →
There’s only a few places in the country where one can find fried Neapolitan pizza, a twist on Italy’s perfect pies. There’s Forcella and La Montanara in NYC, and now A16 Rockridge. Even in Naples, there are few restaurants making this style of pizza. The owners of A16, included Wine Director/Sommelier Shelley Lindgren, fell in love with fried pizza in… Read more →
RANGE, Mission (842 Valencia St. between 19th & 20th, 415-282-8283) Range has been one of the Mission’s great restaurants with strong wine list and stellar cocktails since opening in 2005. Maintaining its quality across the board, they have retained staff for years – many since opening – a rarity in the restaurant/bar business. On July 10th, they launch a new concept.… Read more →
Here are a couple noteworthy products that crossed my desk in recent weeks… MOUNT GAY BLACK BARREL RUM, $29.99 Barbados favorite, Mount Gay Rum, recently released Black Barrel Rum, a rum finished in charred bourbon oak casks. For American whiskey lovers like myself, it makes for a fine marriage of bourbon and rum, balancing caramel-vanilla-sweet notes from sugar cane molasses… Read more →
Whether hunting for the latest and unusual spirits as a gift or pour during holiday festivities, these brand new products, a number of them local, are standouts in my incessant sampling. TEMPUS FUGIT CREME de MENTHE & CREME de CACAO Praise be for the arrival (finally) of these game-changing liqueurs! I had the privilege of tasting early prototypes of local… Read more →