Two dozen of the best bars in San Francisco are taking part in San Francisco’s Cocktail Week. This event follows World Cocktail Day, which was celebrated on Sunday, who knew? I guess the PR folks forgot to tell us.

Each bar is featuring one classic and one original cocktail all week. The list of bars is impressive, with the likes of Jaredinere, Tres Agaves, and Elixr making such delights as the Sidecar, Manhattan and Mint … Read more

In a marketing case that just sounds too good to be true, Japanese vending masters Apex Corp. have purportedly laid out plans that will bring free or subsidized non-alcoholic beverage to thirsty consumers who are willing to watch a 30-second commercial before partaking. It is aiming to be launched in Japan next month.

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Stars love to put their names on things and booze is no exception. Actor Danny DeVito is capitalizing on his drunken appearance on the view and realesing his own brand of limoncello. As he said at the time, “I knew it was the last seven limoncellos that was going to get me.” The product also honors the actors Italian heritage.

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Gary Regan, celebrated mixologist and writer gives us a terrific journey into the world of new small-batch gins flavored with much more than just the required juniper berry. These days, gin is flavored with a wide variety of herbs, spices and botanicals including lavender, caramom, cinnamon, ginger and citrus. This makes for many a ideal martini, each unique to the batch of gin at its base.

Regan reviews a handful of small batch gins including … Read more

Absolut is running a cool ad campaign, The 100 Absolutes. Absolut is asking us all to rate the Absolutes on 100 topics in 6 Categories: Culture, Fashion, Food & Drink, Science & Tech, People & Places and Miscellaneous.

I gravitated to the food & drink category. Pictured above are the 8 choices for Absolute Cocktail. Drink of the Week readers seem to favor the Appletini, personally I like a Vodka Martini. My Picks in other … Read more

Smirnoff Ice is running a fun campaign this year, “Save the Mistletoe” aimed at saving all the Mistletoe from certain death. The lined up a group of celebrities to sing a benefit song & video (à la “We Are the World”) including Erik Estrada, Downtown Julie Brown and Kato Kaelin. They also put together a funny exposé video on the Mistletoe industry. For those of use who want to do our part, a Mistletoe Conversion … Read more

Some crazy cocktail fun went on this past week in Vienna. The annual Roboexotica “Festival of Cocktail Robotics” was held, bringing together the best cocktail-making robots the world has to offer. Yes, cocktail-making robots. These robots come in all shapes and sizes, and the majority bares no resemblance to your neighborhood barkeep. For example, the “Epson Bar,” pictured above, is a cocktail “printer.” Using parts from a large scale Epson printer, this robot carefully mixes … Read more

Johnnie Walker is giving back to the community this holiday season and whisky drinkers can help. The whisky maker is donating $5 from every personalized label ordered from johnniewalkergives.com. The money will go to building housing in New Orleans, which is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The company has pledged $150,000, which will build 2 houses.

“Johnnie Walker personalized label is an easy way to make a truly impactful holiday gift,” said Bill Topf, Johnnie … Read more

The nice folks at Thrillist are giving away some nice bottles of super-premium spirits and a Metrokane barware set just for giving them your email address. They’re picking a new winner each week until either they run out of booze and bar sets.

Thrillist is a New York based daily email covering the latest in food, drink, gear, gadets and travel. They only send one item each day, so as not to overload us with … Read more

We love contests, and this contest put on by the folks at Baileys should be a blast. The contest involves Drinkable Desserts, a new trend in desserts popping-up in restaurants and bars all over the country.

“Drinkable Desserts are the latest trend in cocktails and are a great alternative to traditional desserts,” said Chef de Cuisine of Gourmet’s Cooking Arts Center, Jennifer Day. “The Baileys Drinkable Desserts Challenge encourages people to start with Baileys Original … Read more