Fresh fruit and herbs are the best drink ingredients, but growing seasons can be short, while cocktail cravings last year-round, so the best compromise is to preserve fresh produce for later use. This approach also works if you have a surplus of fruit and want to use it over the next month or so, except …
Category Archives: Mixers
My Competition Cocktail: Cobra Candy
This is the drink I am entering in the Fusion Cocktail Competition on Wednesday. Pretty, huh? Hope I see you there! Cobra Candy 2 ounces raspberry kombucha 1 ounces Absolut Citron 1 barspoon meyer lemon juice dash Peychaud’s bitters Shake and serve over ice in a collin’s glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. …
My Next Cocktail Competition is this Wednesday
I got bored this week and started entering cocktail competitions. Every entry form that didn’t ask for a place of employment (because I haven’t worked at a bar in a decade), I submitted. The first to invite me is this Wednesday at Osha Thai on the Embarcadero, and will feature my homemade raspberry kombucha. It’s …
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Monthly Mixer: Syrup Made Simple
[“Monthly Mixer” is my new column on Drink of the Week, providing recipes and uses for excellent homemade cocktail mixers, and the following is my 2nd post.] Simple syrup, is called simple for a reason. It is the easiest way to sweeten a drink, and blends into a cocktail much easier than plain sugar. You …
Kombucha Class
I’ve recently discovered the sweet and sour joy of Kombucha. So recently, that I had consumed less than one bottle before signing up for a workshop with local jewelry designer, Shana Astrachan in her Mission District shop. Shana was welcoming and informed, providing a great run-down of how to start making my own kombucha at …
Monthly Mixer: Grenadine
[I am writing a monthly column at Drink of the Week, providing recipes and uses for excellent homemade cocktail mixers, and the following is my first post.] That never-expiring bottle on your shelf isn’t really grenadine. That bastard stepchild of the classic cocktail mixer, which comes in a color not found in nature and is …
Toddy Water
It’s that time of year, when the leaves have fallen off the trees, you can see your breath, and there’s a nasty Rhinovirus in heavy circulation (don’t freak out, that’s just the common cold). We all deserve a hot toddy, but not everyone keeps the requisite cinnamon, citrus and spice in their kitchen, and nobody …
Fresh Pressed
Can someone explain why the swill they pass off as cider on the West Coast all tastes like the government issued apple juice served in public school cafeterias? Autumn always makes me crave the fresh cider pressed at Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury, Vermont. I wonder why they can’t reproduce it here in California, …
Pomegranate Liqueur
The New York Times recently ran a great article with really deceptive photos on preserving fruit in alcohol, which gave a bunch of great ideas, techniques and uses for the preserved fruit, but the gorgeous images of pomegranate seeds in gin didn’t ring true. I have a couple jars on my mantle full of pom …
Fiery Shrub
Almost as good as the hot sauce I made yesterday is the spicy, salty vinegar that rises to the top of the jar when the hot sauce settles. Inspired by a Strawberry Shrub I had at an SF Chefs event last year from Neyah White, then of Nopa, I whipped the bright orange vinegar into …