Drinks are Served in San Francisco!

The Bora Bora and The Scorpion for Two at The Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar inside The Fairmont Hotel, 950 Mason Street, San Francisco

Ten Cocktails to Serve Before Labor Day

Though there certainly aren’t any cocktails out there that should be actively avoided during the summer, you’re probably less likely to want to stretch out on a lounge chair next to the pool sipping on a hot buttered rum.

So here come ten cocktails that tie in beautifully with the season. Some are sweet, some are fizzy, some contain some amazing liqueurs you should be familiar with, and some will just look damn good in your hand as the sun sets over your balcony every night between now and September.

The Manhattan is one of the few cocktails that never seems to go out of style.  As a boy, I remember them being enjoyed by my parents and their friends. And as an adult they are regularly ordered at the bars by my own contemporaries.

“Contemporaries” is my fancy way of referring to Laura and Sean: my hag and my mentor.

Laura and Sean were the ones who ordered me my very first Manhattan a few years back at Martuni’s, a slender tavern and piano bar wrapped around the corner of Valencia and Market Streets in San Francisco.  I first found the Manhattan’s sweetness slightly off-putting, but was eventually won over by it’s smooth finish and gentle kick.

The Classic Manhattan

1 1/2 to 2 ounces quality bourbon
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 maraschino cherry or lemon twist (or in my case, both)

Add bourbon, vermouth and bitters to a mixing glass filled with ice.  Stir vigorously for 30 seconds.  Strain into a martini glass and garnish appropriately.

Next: The Moscow Mule
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The Moscow Mule

As featured on Oprah’s Big Yosemite Camping Adventure…The Moscow Mule is a simple combination of vodka and ginger beer.  It’s a bright, peppery, summer beverage that is perfect to enjoy on the Fourth of July, especially since it emerged from two true cornerstones of American entrepreneurship – desperation and deceit!

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Starbucks Customer Goes Berzerk

Four years after I first posted this video I shot to YouTube, not a day goes by without a new comment hitting my in box. Everyone seems to have an opinion, and they seem to be split right down the middle. Some insist the cashier was required by law to accept the hundred dollar bill. The rest think that the woman was just a crazy… well, bitch. Having witnessed it first hand, I tend to side with them, but I’m open to argument. Two things I can tell you for sure about this video:

1.) Because I took it into the manager of the store the next day in defense of the cashier, I got free coffees for a month.

2.) I still laugh every single time I hear my mom at the end say, “What is WRONG with her???”

Video is below. What do YOU think?

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Dessert is served! January 21, 2011

The Manhattan

The Manhattan is one of the few cocktails that never seems to go out of style.  As a boy, I remember them being enjoyed by my parents and their friends. And as an adult they are regularly ordered at the bars by my own contemporaries.

“Contemporaries” is my fancy way of referring to Laura and Sean: my hag and my mentor.

Continue reading “The Manhattan” »

The Rob Roy

The Rob Roy is a scotch whiskey version of the classic Manhattan.  Scotch whiskey is used instead of rye whiskey in honor of Robert Roy MacGregor, the famed Scotsman who battled against feudal landlords in the Scottish Highlands during the 18th century in an effort to reclaim his land and protect his family.

The Rob Roy

1 1/2 oz Scotch
1/4 oz sweet vermouth
Angostura bitters to taste
Maraschino cherry for garnish (a lemon twist may be substituted)

Stir the first three ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish and serve straight up, or mixed in rocks glass with ice.

As the default Rob Roy is made with sweet vermouth, there is no need to ask for it “sweet,” though you can order “dry” or “perfect” versions. A dry Rob Roy obviously substitutes in dry vermouth for the sweet, while a perfect Rob Roy uses equal parts sweet and dry vermouths.

The origins of the drink are sketchy, though many peg it to the Waldorf-Asotria hotel in 1894, where a drink was created and named in honor of the opening of a Broadway show called Rob Roy by American composer Reginald de Koven.  Rob Roy opened at the Herald Square Theatre on October 29, 1894 and became one of de Koven’s biggest New York successes, ringing up 164 performances.

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The Honolulu Lulu

Just hours before Labor Day 2010 hits, here’s one last sweet cocktail to go alongside The Bramble, The Dark ‘N Stormy and The Moscow Mule as a drink just right for summer picking.  The Honolulu Lulu is ideal for sipping on your sun-baked balcony, poolside, or to get you through the agony of having to watch the neighbors sniff through your old album collections and mis-matched dish sets during your Labor Day Yard Sale Blowout.

Not to mention that if you plan on making a human sacrifice to your favorite tiki god on a forbidden burial ground deep in the heart of the Kula Kai Caverns, there isn’t a cocktail with a name better suited.

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