Downtown Move

Yes, this past weekend, I finally moved downtown. I'm very excited as some of the best bars in LA are now within walking distance. Cole's/Varnish is literally less than two blocks away. Already been there twice in two days. Oh crap, maybe I'm too close. Wait, too close to quality booze? Never.

Boozin' in Boston

So, It's about time I talk a bit about my visit to Beantown. Afterall, that was last month.

Weeks before flying across the country, I made sure to do my homework, collecting information on bars I wanted to try out. I mean, who knows the next time I'll be in Boston. Of course, I had several non-drinkers (including my infant nephew who's a real lightweight) in tow, so it was a bit too tough to hit ever bar on my list (there were over a dozen). Still, we managed to make it to some pretty enjoyable drinking locations.

Fortunately, one of our destinations was the Samuel Adams Brewery. Mind you, what's brewed here is not what you buy at the grocery store. The Boston location is strictly an R&D brewery. Each of their recipes comes from this location, aside from the most ubiquitous, the Boston Lager, which was first formulated in a plain old kitchen. We were able to taste some of their beers, which is always nice, and picked up a few souvenirs from the gift shop. All in all, a good tour.

While we were at the brewery, we were informed that a local restaurant, mere steps from the brewery has the privilege of being the only place you can get a certain beer Sam Adams brews. It was tasty. This is a picture of the tap.

My first cocktail experience in Boston was during our dinner at Green Street (formerly Green Street Grill). It's tough to judge a cocktail program solely by the menu. I take that back. Usually, it's quite simple to do so. If I see the words "sour mix", "chocotini", or a plethora of suggestive cocktail names, I've got a pretty good handle on their cocktail program. On the other end of the spectrum, however, it's a bit more difficult. From the menu alone, I was excited about Green Street. That changed when I tasted their take on an East India House Cocktail. Or, at least I THINK that's what they were trying to do. The predominant flavor was that of the orange juice, and not fresh orange juice. It may very well have been freshly squeezed at some point. Maybe the day before? On top of poor taste, the numerous tiny glaciers pointed to poor training for the bartender who poured it. Shaken drinks served up should have absolutely no floating pieces of ice. If there's a few, I'll just ignore it, but it was as if he had actually tried to get as many ice chips in as possible. This is why I double-strain my shaken drinks and tip my hat to all the barmen who do the same. Needless to say, I switched to beer, which was a much better experience. A good beer menu, it seems, is less likely to betray you than a good cocktail menu. Makes sense.

On Sunday, we made it out to brunch at Eastern Standard. It. Was. Awesome. The cocktails ranged from great to fantastic, and the food, likewise. Cocktails imbibed include: Pimm's Cup, Pisco Sour, Sazerac, Harvey Wallbanger, etc. We shared. Almost everything was very well balanced. The Sazerac was one of the best I've ever had, though just a whisper on the sweet side. After a nice discussion with one of the resident cocktail folk (Kevin, I think?), we were graced with free samples of a lovely sour topped with foamy egg white and Fee's Barrel Aged bitters, giving a delightfully sharp cinnamon nose. A fantastic brunch I would love to repeat. It's near Fenway, so know if it's a game day or not, but certainly make your way down for some tasty treats, both potables and edibles.

Lastly, we made it to Drink. While they do have a great program there, I was less impressed than I intended on being. Large ice, good. Small cocktail glasses, good. Recommending flavored "martinis"? Shame on you, Drink. I know it's tough to say no to a customer, but steering them to a more respectable libation is perfectly acceptable. If they ask for a "chocotini", teach them about the Brandy Alexander. If they say "anything with vodka" (overheard three times in under an hour), it becomes more difficult, though still not impossible. I am glad that one bartender (I believe in response to one of the aforementioned vodka requests) suggested a Last Word, so there is certainly an effort to improve the clientele, even if it's not by refusing to make espressotinis.

One of the things I noticed is that even the cocktail bars have some pretty good beer lists, a concept not found much in Los Angeles. If I ever make it back, I'll definitely try Drink again, but most of my effort will be spent getting back to Eastern Standard. I miss it already.

The Battered Beaver

Yes, that's actually the name of a bar. And yes, I have actually gone there... several times. Each Thursday, the Mixoloseum holds what we call Thursday Drink Night, where we select an ingredient, style of drink, etc. and come up with original drinks based on our chosen theme. There are even small (but very good) cocktail related prizes to be won. I make it a point to show up to this chatroom boozefest pretty much every Thursday, even when I'm out of town. Though, when I tune in from out of town, I'm more of a spectator than usual as I generally am far from adequate ingredients to partake. The evening's libations often contain things as uncommon to the average person as rhubarb bitters, cinnamon syrup, and bitter liqueurs flavored with artichoke. Heck, the average person hasn't even heard of the theme ingredient for this past TDN, the South American brandy known as Pisco. While my home bar is happily stocked with these items, most other places I might be caught at on a Thursday night do not.

This past Thursday, I was visiting my parents in the town I grew up in, Oakdale, CA, which proudly claims itself to be "The Cowboy Capital of the World." No, I'm not kidding. My usual bar when in town is even called The Cow Track, and no, I don't know what a cow track is. "The Track" as it is affectionately called by its regulars isn't the type of place you order a martini or an old-fashioned, but the whiskey is cheap and the beer is cheaper. The vast majority of drinks go for well under $4, so it's not a bad place to have a beer and enjoy some (often live) music.

Recently though, I've been more and more attracted to another local bar called The Battered Beaver. This is partly due to the name, but mostly because it's within easy walking distance from my folks' place. While complaining to the TDN crew that I couldn't join in on the fun, I briefly mentioned The Battered Beaver and was promptly instructed that this would be where I consumed my booze that evening, and that I needed to post pictures on my blog (likely to prove to them that a bar with such a name existed in my charming hometown of Oakdale).

While many consider me to be a cocktail snob, I actually opt for cocktail geek because a snob refuses to "slum it up," which is something that I rather enjoy doing now and then. Hey, we all have our guilty pleasures. So, I saunter on down to the Beav' and I order up, you guessed it, a light beer. While I enjoy my non-snobby beer, I notice mere feet from my pint glass none other than Angostura bitters. WHAT?!? I try to deal with my excitement mixed with confusion. Why in the world would the Battered Beaver have bitters? I say a quick prayer of thanks and frantically debate in my head what to order next, a Manhattan, or my favorite, an Old-Fashioned.

I decided that while they might not know how to make either, they've certainly at least heard of a Manhattan... and we have a winner. The first bartender asks another bartender as I insist I can lead them through it (in fear that the other bartender might have been taught how to make a poor Manhattan). Eventually, I'm able to walk one of them through making me a passable Manhattan. Next, I teach a different bartender how to make an (almost) equally passable Old-Fashioned. No, neither was what I would call well-balanced, but both had all the right ingredients in roughly the right proportions, so it was much better than I expected to be drinking before I walked in.

I ran into an old friend there and she insisted that I try a drink called a Mind Eraser, which she informed me had something like kahlua, vodka, citrus vodka, and 7-up. Despite being served in a double rocks glass filled to the brim, she also informed me that the drink must be consumed all at once from bottom to top via the given straw. Well... when in Rome. Apparently, on Thursdays, they have a buy-one-get-one-free deal so long as a lady is involved. So my lovely bartender and I erase our minds together, and I become convinced that the name is quite apt. This is clearly a drink designed to get as much alcohol in without the alcohol burn. Needless to say, I opted not to repeat the erasure. And when all is said and done, I'd say it was a pretty enjoyable Thursday Drink Night.

Reviving Drink-Well with San Francisco

Okay, so I said that I was killing off this blog, but it refuses to stay dead. I'll wait while you go mix yourself a Zombie.

In honor of the original beginnings of Drink-Well, it feels fitting to revive it with a post on Cocktail Week. This year, I was not celebrating in my current home of Los Angeles. Instead, I was able to make it up to the Bay Area for San Francisco festivities.

The Opening Gala on Monday the 11th was at Le Colonial, which can be a bit difficult to find (yes, it's back in that alleyway), but a very enjoyable venue. And despite the heavy influence of vodka, their cocktail menu is actually pretty decent. Of course, there was a special list for the evening containing a few select cocktails one could pick up in exchange for one of the two drink tickets included in the $25 price tag for the evening, with additional drink tickets available in advance for a very reasonable $5, or at the door for a still reasonable $7.

I had a chance to taste each of cocktails and was at least mildly disappointed. Generally, they were too sweet, and I would only have described maybe one as being "well balanced". Although Camper (from alcademics.com), whom I was finally able to meet in person (both of us being regulars at The Mixoloseum) actually quite liked the drinks that night. Maybe we got our drinks from different bartenders? H. from Elixir was even there to help out, but they seemed to be using him more as a barback. I still had a blast, loved the little bites being passed out, and was able to finish off the evening with a glass of Maker's, bought for me by some new booze friends. Thanks again.

Tuesday night was filled with lots of fun at the United States Bartenders' Guild National Competition (with the local San Francisco competition happening earlier in the day). The evening was held at Harry Denton’s Starlight Room at the top of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel (which was quite nice) and sponsored by Tres Generaciones Tequila, which meant that while the judges were able to taste all the competitors' entries, we all sipped on some (mostly) tasty tequila libations. And yes, despite coming from Sauza, these tequilas really are well worth drinking, unlike their infamous mixto tequila.

While there, I actually met up with some LA booze folks, so I ended up spending most of the event with them, cheering on our SoCal representative from the Tlapazola Grill. I apologize to the gentleman, as I can't recall his name. While the Tlapazola Grill isn't well known in the cocktail community, I'm told they've formed a pretty solid cocktail program, so I'll definitely have to check that out. Unfortunately, in the end, the title went to the Las Vegas representative, Armando Rosario.

Those were the only Cocktail week events I went to largely because I was flying to Boston mid-week (more on the booze of that trip later). Wednesday night, I was ticketless, which wasn't too bad as it freed up the evening for me to revisit Bourbon and Branch, which, in my opinion, is the best bar in SF. Sad to say, I was let down a bit there as well. Granted it was still at least a B+, it lowers my cumulative ranking from an A+. Bartender was very friendly, but the drinks were mostly a little off. Not much, mind you, but I hold Bourbon and Branch to a very high standard. Even my old-fashioned was slightly unbalanced. Despite small imperfections, every drink was still far more than drinkable and Bourbon and Branch remains my must-go-to bar whenever I'm SF.

The week in general gave me a mild fear that the cocktail culture of SF might be resting a bit on their laurels. I hope that this is not the case and trust that even if it is, they can't continue for long, given the number of quality bars popping up in Los Angeles and throughout the country. And we can certainly thank San Francisco for their role in that. Cheers!

Repeal Day!

It now seems inescapable that this blog has perished. We bid thee, dear blog, a fond farewell. But today is not a day of mourning, for there are a great deal of wonderful cocktail blogs around. No, this is a day of celebration. In fact, I intentionally chose this day to say goodbye to drink-well. You see, today is Repeal Day. That's right. Exactly 75 years ago today, the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified by Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah, completing the ratification process, thus ending The Ignoble Experiment, Prohibition.

We cocktailians look back on Prohibition with somewhat mixed feelings. Granted, it gave a strong foothold for organized crime in America, converted Christianity into Moral Deism, nearly ruined California wine for the following several decades, killed countless home distillers and bathtub gin drinkers, and of course, it even tried to take our booze away. But on the other hand, it failed to rid us of our drinking, gave us some interesting history to relive through the modern speakeasy, and it forced the creation of a great deal of mixed drinks. When your gin is made in your next door neighbor's basement, you're probably going to want something to alter the taste a bit.


Anyway, long story short, God took something evil and used it for at least some good, but we're still very glad to have the right to plead the 21st. So raise a glass tonight in honor of that precious Amendment, and perhaps even ponder if it goes far enough. Consider the following, admittedly grabbed from Wikipedia:

The Twenty-first Amendment is also one of only two provisions of the Constitution to prohibit private conduct; the other is the Thirteenth Amendment. As Laurence Tribe points out: "there are two ways, and only two ways, in which an ordinary private citizen ... can violate the United States Constitution. One is to enslave someone, a suitably hellish act. The other is to bring a bottle of beer, wine, or bourbon into a State in violation of its beverage control laws—an act that might have been thought juvenile, and perhaps even lawless, but unconstitutional?"

And this doesn't even address the current Prohibition still severely limiting Alcohol production and consumption such as (insert your favorite three or four modern forms of Alcohol prohibition here). Laws like these, public drinking laws as one group of examples, continue to criminalize drinking, and thereby also further our negative cultural perspective on alcohol. Still, the more obvious current Prohibition comes in something oh-so-creatively named "The War on Drugs," as though it's an enemy to be fought. This, as with all prohibitions, merely furthers organized (and unorganized) crime in this country as well as... Okay, sorry for all the politicizing. You get my point.

Anyway, be sure to find a good Repeal Day party tonight to honor those who fought for your booze. Several bars are holding such parties. And if you can't find one or make it out tonight, hold a celebration of your own. So long and drink well.

-Mark

The Scots Love Their Contests

Okay, I don't actually know whether or not those of Scottish decent have a proclivity for contests, but I did happen to stumble upon a couple of interesting booze related contests both rooted in Scottish products.

The first Scottish booze product, you can probably guess. It's called scotch -- specifically, a brand new 40 year single malt from Highland Park, a Highland island (not Islay) distillery in Orkney (right off the northern coast of Scotland). Anyway, Whisky Magazine is having a contest wherein they're giving away a bottle of the prized 40 year old, which Highland Park claims will be part of the permanent line-up rather than a limited release. The bottle is retailing at £899, which I can only assume is a great sum of cash (a little over $1,600, but who's counting). The cheapest I've found it is at Loch Fyne Whiskies where they're letting it go for a scant £638.30 (you can do the math on this one). The point is, I can't afford it and, most likely, neither can you. So enter the contest already. And if you win, perhaps you could offer a wee dram to your favorite booze blogger. Don't bother clicking it, it's just me.

The other contest, while not as boozy, has an equally boozy source, Hendrick's Gin. Extra points if you somehow saw this as the next obvious Scottish liquor. Their website, The Unusual Times is giving away a fittingly unusual musical instrument, the theremin. If you're not familiar, there's a link to a nice video on the contest website. I personally prefer this video though:

If somebody wins this, I'll also be expecting a wee dram. You heard me.

Alaskan Brewing Company

So, it's about time I write a little something about the cruise to Alaska and, of course, the booze involved. While our pub tour in Victoria was canceled, we did still get to thoroughly enjoy our trip to Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau. We were encouraged to grab a sample beer (or our second) so that we could start the tour. I was also pleased that our guide gave an intermission during the tour specifically so we could refill our glasses.

In addition to all their mainstay brews (and the seasonal Summer Ale), we also were able to taste their coffee brown ale. That's right, a brown ale brewed up with a healthy dose of real coffee. While not a huge coffee fan, I am a brown ale fan. And having been disappointed previously by such travesties as raspberry brown ales, I was a little wary of the concept. I must say, though, that I was very pleasantly surprised, and I hope that this tasty brew will be available outside of Juneau, Alaska shortly. As a fan of mixology and beer, seeing craft breweries creating products like this makes me very happy. It's just sad that, not unlike other quality forms of booze, the demand (while growing) is still rather low. Still, if you're ever in the area, for whatever reason, stop on by the brewery. You won't be disappointed.