Earlier this fall I wrote a piece for the San Francisco Chronicle on a topic that just a few years ago would have made me roll my eyes: California brandy. My parents kept a liquor cabinet when I was a kid, but except for a bottle or two of decent whisky, much of the inventory… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Spirits
MxMo Lime: Planet of the Apes
In case you’re new to this blog, I’m a longtime fan of tiki, and ever since I got my spiral-bound copy of Grog Log for Christmas several years back, I’ve kept an ingredient list in my notebook for those times when I’m in grocery or liquor stores that have an inventory leaning to the esoteric,… Continue Reading
What I Drank on my Summer Vacation, 2010 edition
This week was the start of school here in Seattle, which means that promptly at 9:15 Wednesday morning I hustled my offspring through the doors of their elementary school and — while their new shoes were still squeaking in the hallways and before they’d had a chance to lose a backpack or a lunch box… Continue Reading
Bitter Maestro
It’s been a long, busy summer of mostly ignoring this blog, and if left to my own devices I’d likely let the radio silence continue until well after Labor Day. But in response to several inquiries and gentle nudges following the last round of Mixology Monday — a theoretically monthly event that last took place… Continue Reading
Art of the Aperitif
I love it when someone lectures me about vermouth. It’s happened a couple of times recently; a few weeks ago, when a guy sitting at the bar at Zig Zag decided it was his duty as a cocktail geek to put this random stranger sitting next to him (me) on the path to good drinking… Continue Reading
