In The Billionaire’s Vinegar, Benjamin Wallace investigates one of the largest, if not the largest, alleged frauds in the wine business. The Billionaire’s Vinegar is a fascinating look into the world of high stakes, high priced wine. Loads of wine obsessed rich people looking to possess rare and elusive bottlings. You can see why this book is fascinating – it quickly caught my attention, and I was engrossed to the end. …Read More

I think that yogurt in cocktails is a wonderful marriage. It goes together very well during the summer season and is one of my favorite combinations. The sweetness of aged rum and fresh pineapple gives this Cultured Spirit very interesting layers.

This past week marked the 10th installment of New Orleans mixology orgy, Tales of the Cocktail. It is by far the largest celebration of cocktail culture in the country. Tales (as it called by ‘vets’) is a who’s who of bartenders, journalists and brands. It is a wonderland for up and coming barterers and enthusiasts. …Read More

The Wild Vine is a must read for any lover of American wine or what we like to call “weird varietals”. Weird varietals are obscure wines that are often made from indiginous grapes or hybrids. In this case, The Wild Vine chronicles the birth, growth and near death experience of Norton, a grape that its author calls the most American of grapes. As you learn in the book, it’s obscure, a hybrid and indiginous to the United States. …Read More

Poptails was made for this scorching summer heat! If you are wondering what poptails are, they are essentially popsicles made with booze. Yum! We received this book a few weeks ago and hadn’t gotten around to reviewing it. It’s hard to be excited about poptails when San Francisco has barely broken 70 this summer. However, we were inspired by the Oxley poptails that we had at the 2012 Tales of the Cocktail. As you can imagine, July in New Orleans is scorching hot with humidity so thick that you can cut it with a knife. It makes me sweat just thinking about it. Luckily, every day at high noon, Oxley served poptails made with their delicious gin. I was inspired. …Read More

I usually don’t recycle our Drink of the Week, but we figured once every 4 years is acceptable for honoring the opening of the Olympic Games. What can I say, this cocktail, aptly named “The Olympic” wins a gold medal every time!

or now, the popularity of the Bloody Mary has remained in the hands of folks who have been getting it right. Hopefully these crusading officiants of the watering-hole, “Bar-Tenders” as we’ll call them, will keep this train at full steam, carrying a payload of vine-ripe tomato. To keep this tradition alive at home, let’s examine some of the more interesting Bloody Mary mixes, shall we? …Read More

Today marks the final episode in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. It sounds like this will be the darkest and most intense of the three movies. This is hard to imagine given the intensity of The Dark Knight. Try one of these tipples before or after the movie.

Summer is officially here, and one of the first things I reach for behind the bar is tequila. Whether you like to sip a nice aged anejo neat or prefer your tequila crystal clear and frozen in a margarita while at the beach, its definitely the spirit of summer. With so many brands to choose from, every little gimmick counts and so you may have noticed advertisements for 1800 Tequila in the past featuring Soprano’s star Michael Imperioli. One of the coolest features of 1800 Tequila that was highlighted in its ad campaign was the bottle’s ability to pour a shot when turned upside down. In this case the top doubled as a shot glass. …Read More

The Daiquri hails from Cuba where it was invented by an American businessman during the Spanish-American war. It has since acquired a bit of fame and was rumored to be one of Hemingway’s favorite drinks. Given Hemingway’s voracious appetite for booze, I can’t imagine that he had only one favorite drink. The original Daiquri was a simple, yet delicious drink, consisting of only three ingredients – rum, lime and sugar – served shaken and in a cocktail glass. Clearly, this is a drink that has taken on a life of it’s own in the last hundred plus years. But, I do have to admit that on a hot day, the blended Daiquri is pretty tasty as well. …Read More