Philthy,

Will try, thx.

Amoeba,

Vieux Carre is in my top three faves. I believe lemon peel is considered the "correct" garnish

I was in the Bay Area for a few days and tried to get my hands (or throat) into as much alcohol as possible. TR with cliffs at the bottom.

Friday night my host and I walked to Haight Street and tried to get into the Alembic around 11pm to no avail. The place was packed and the hostess told us that we could wait and see if someone would leave so they can serve us. No way we were waiting outside in 50-degree weather so we walked down the street and stumbled into the Hobson's choice, which we didn't know was a rum bar until we saw their selection. My friend being a Central American self-proclaimed rum snob was very happy to be in this place. They had three different kinds of punches which were a little sweet for my taste, but then we ordered some 23-year old Zacapa rum and drank it neat. Good stuff, which made me think that I need to buy some good rum for my home bar.

We then tried our luck again at the Alembic and this time there were a couple of spots at the bar. I ordered a Gilded Lily (video ) and a Mint Julep. My friend ordered a Southern Exposure. All the cocktails were nicely made, and the bartender took her time in the preparation, the place definitely lived up to my expectations.

Next day I went to a Giants game where I had chorizo and eggs with a margarita for breakfast and then drank copious amounts of Prohibition Ale. After the game we were walking towards La Mar when my friend's wife noted that there's this allegedly delicious beer called Pliny the Elder which is only sold on tap in a few San Francisco pubs, and we happened to be walking by one. The beer was very smooth for a double IPA, and the server was talking about Pliny the Younger, which supposedly only comes out once a year and that people line up outside the bar just to get a tasting. The beer was great but I don't know if it was worth lining up outside the bar just for the tasting.

Anyway, after a pitcher of Pliny we finally walked to La Mar for dinner, which was fantastic as usual. However, their pisco sour was mediocre at best. After the disappointment of that I decided to order a drink called "vamo pa chicha" which is made with pisco, chicha morada (purple corn water), passion fruit and orange. That drink was fantastic. I didn't take any pictures but I found this one on the web.



After spending the weekend in San Francisco I drove to Capitola for the family part of my trip. The highlight of that, food- and drinks-wise, was dinner at Shadowbrooks restaurant. I ordered the lamb which was delicious and to drink I had a Blood Orange French 75 (good), a blackberry pisco sour (meh), and a Negroni (excellent!). They used Carpano Antica for the negroni, which I've never had. I'm probably buying a bottle after I'm finished with my bottle of Vyo sweet vermouth.

Cliffs: Go to San Francisco and drink cocktails, the city does not disappoint.

If I remember correctly, Alembic is the place next to the old Red Vic Theatre. I've always wanted to check it out but am usually in a hurry to get to Amoeba records to buy some vinyl.
Hobson's Choice is a great little bar. I used to stop in there during lunch breaks and after work when I worked on Haight St many years ago.
I'll def try Alembic after your TR, thanks

Yes, small bar right next to the theater. Forgot to mention that they had a great American and Scotch whisky selection too.

Good choice, that's one of my favorite beers right now. I can't think of any bars off the top of my head, but there's been a fair number of places that I've been to that have it on tap. It's certainly not something I'm surprised to see. Will try to think of specific examples. I actually think the bar I was at last night, in the San Jose Marketplace, had it.
I misread this the first time and thought that you completely lucksacked into having the Younger without even knowing about it. Would have been both impressed and depressed. I did manage to score it this past year, was a two hour wait. Really good IPA, definitely one of the best I've had, but yeah I didn't think it was so much better that it's worth the wait. Glad I got to try it once, though.

Ha! on reread it does sound like I scored the Younger. I think the guy told us it only comes out in the spring and that they only get one keg of it. This was at a bar in 4th Street close to Market. Google tells me the bar is cleverly named 4th street bar

Phil: lots of places have racer 5 on tap. Off the top of my head, toronado, lone palm, and Annabelle's come to mind as recent places I've has racer draft. City beer store has had racer X on tap (their delicious limited release double).

Duke: the key w younger is finding places that don't hype up the fact that they get some. Pi bar is one place that often has it for longer than other places.

The only places I know of are Toronado and Zeitgeist. Someone told me of another place in The Mission(on 24th I think she said) but I can't remember

Lone Palm! That's the place! Thanks El D

phil,

Thinking some more - Rosamunde, Super Duper Burger, Public House, Sycamore, Uptown, and Hemlock are a few other places I've had Racer 5 on tap.

El D, impressive that you can remember all those places. I've seen it around lots but can't rattle off 10 places like you just did.
I've been meaning to check out Pi Bar for some time now - I'm a bit of a pi nerd so I'm predisposed to like it before I even go. This just gives me another reason even if the Younger is a once a year thing.

FWIW, I had it at Harry's Hofbrau in San Jose.

Haven't been to the Hemlock in a while and I live a few blocks from the joint. I'll have to start venturing out of my neighborhood a bit more now that my favorite bar has closed.
I'm assuming your talking about the Rosamunde in The Mission? The only other one I know of is the tiny one by the Toronado

Drinking a Sazerac right now. No new content for the thread, but it's really good. Rinsed with L'Estaque (pastis) since I couldn't find my Pernod and I'm out of absinthe. Muddled raw sugar and Peychaud's, added Russel's Reserve 6 year Rye and ice, stirred, strained into cold glass with the pastis rinse, squeezed lemon peel rose over the top. Then I put the lemon peel in, even though "they" say not too, because damn it I like it that way.

Cheers!

Man you guys are lousy drinking buddies...

Fitz,

I like tossing the peel in too!

I'm currently hanging out at a friend's bar testing recipes.

The one he's working on right now is so far:

1oz rye
1oz brandy
1/4 oz pineapple gum syrup
1/2 oz Cointreau

It's close but not quite there yet

Fitz,

That sounds good, and I'm jelly b/c my home bar is so pathetic right now. Low summer wages + wife being unemployed for 2 months = a bottle of Evan Williams green, some bitters, vermouth and vodka. I do have like two fingers of A.H. Hirsch left, but that is being saved for a very rainy day.

Sounds like it would be too sweet for my tastes. Dump the Cointreau and up the brandy a bit, orange peel garnish? Or, a personal trick for when I've made a cocktail and find it too sweet, a splash of soda water?

If I were anywhere close I'd invite you over for a drink. Bought some Bushmills 1608 (http://www.connosr.com/reviews/bushm...shmills-blend/) last month and I've been contemplating what to make with it since then. Of course I'll first have to have a glass neat...

Rereading that looks like I'm trying to rub it in, but I mean far the opposite. Fortunate enough to have the $ to spend on good booze, but I'd like to share.

I'd swap out the cointreau for Orange bitters, maybe?

Had a party on Friday night, made someone a Zeus Martini which actually transpired to be very nice - it had a Fernet rinse, and muddled raisins with cognac, plus kahlua and maple syrup. I was pleasantly surprised.

That was the best one for the evening, but I will admit to having had a Sazerac too. Made the first for my friend with Sazerac Rye only, then round 2 did it my preferred way (1/2 rye, 1/2 cognac). Both peychaud's and angostura in it too. It's pretty high octane but I do love it. And woke up sans hangover.

Did drain the amaretto, chambord and cognac though. Time to restock. Still need a bottle of chartreuse too, that's killing me.

For anyone in the twin cities, do yourself a favor and sign up for Morelli's email list. Their sale prices beat Sam's and Costco. For example, I picked up liters of Bacardi for under $19 at their Labor Day sale.

Pete, if you have to choose between green and yellow chartreuse go with the yellow first, it's much more flexible ingredient for making cocktails imo. One of my new favorites is a Manhattan where you swap half of the sweet vermouth with yellow chartreuse, gives it a nice complex flavor to it.

Ta El T. I have to admit I'm pretty at sea with some of the wackier herbals, chartreuse was one of those and the green/yellow decision was a toughie.

Off the back of recommendations here I got Aperol and Cynar, plus Fernet, and have enjoyed all to varying degrees.

Interestingly this summer the Edinburgh Festivals had an aperol explosion, everywhere was selling Spritzes (3 prosecco, 2 aperol, 1 soda water), like they were going out of fashion. Nice to have this thread to keep me ahead of the curve!

I got a bottle of Aperol last week and I'm loving it so far.

Two weeks ago I was in San Diego and went to el Dorado bar, can't recommend enough, if you're there give it a try.

Anyway, they have a bartender's choice cocktail where you choose a base spirit and they make you a drink. I chose pisco and the bartender made me an Aperol sour which was really tasty. I don't remember the exact proportions but it was something like 2oz pisco, 1.5oz Aperol, egg whites, maybe lemon or lime juice. I'm going to try it at home once I get back from traveling.

Peter,

A few new bottles to consider:

Gran Classico - this is a sweet herbal liquor similar to Campari, but without some of the cloying sweetness and harshness I find in campari (which I am not a fan of)

Carpano Antica - a sweet vermouth I really like

Punt e mes - this is a sweet vermouth but has a bitter herbal note too

These three are really fun to play around with in cocktails.

ET,

Aperol is great and really versatile. Just had a drink the other night:

2oz tequila
Splash grapefruit juice
1/4 or 1/2 oz Aperol
Splash agave syrup
Grapefruit bitters

Was delicious.

Got my two inch ice cube trays as mentioned a couple of pages back, and have some nice ice ready now, but I'm kind of at a loss - most of my cocktails are shaken and served without ice. What should I have tonight that will show off a huge cube?