The website host/software I have been using for this site since about 2008 is suddenly shutting down with barely any notice. I will attempt to transfer much of the content under a different provider, but I expect a lot of problems with it- broken links, missing images, messy. My message...
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The website host/software I have been using for this site since about 2008 is suddenly shutting down with barely any notice. I will attempt to transfer much of the content under a different provider, but I expect a lot of problems with it- broken links, missing images, messy. My message to you is:
If you need any of the information on Alcademics.com, CocktailSafe.org, or CocktailGreen.org to refer to going forward, I recommend you save the pages to your local computer.
Thanks for understanding and pardon my mess going forward!
I’ve added more dates to the calendar for my SF Bar and Cocktail History Tours. I’m doing the tour every Saturday. Can’t make a Saturday afternoon? I can do private tours most anytime- reach out. On the tour, which begins in San Francisco’s Financial District and end in North Beach,...
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I’ve added more dates to the calendar for my SF Bar and Cocktail History Tours. I’m doing the tour every Saturday.
Can’t make a Saturday afternoon? I can do private tours most anytime- reach out.
On the tour, which begins in San Francisco’s Financial District and end in North Beach, you’ll learn:
Learn about shanghaiing, sailors, bars inside boats, Emperor Norton and Barbary Coast saloons, the Bank Exchange and the Pisco Punch, earthquake whiskey and drag royalty, the influence of vermouth and grand hotel bars, Cocktail Bill Boothby and the House of Shields, The So Different and “pretty waiter girls,” slummers’ tours and tropical drinks. The tour ends at a 1907 saloon that upholds the traditions and décor of an earlier era of cocktails in San Francisco – and we’ll share a drink together there!
Here are new cocktails and spirits books being released in September 2025. To see all the New Drink Books of 2025, visit this link. Savory and Sweet Shrubs: Tart Mixers for Delicious Cocktails and Mocktails Amazon Bookshop American Whiskey Master Class: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Bourbon, Rye, and Other...
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Here are new cocktails and spirits books being released in September 2025.
I was trolling the dollar store for things to freeze into ice cubes, as I do, and found these large fluorescent ants. I froze them into ice cubes using my Clearly Frozen tray. Then I shined a blacklight on them. They look awesome, even better in a glass with a...
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I was trolling the dollar store for things to freeze into ice cubes, as I do, and found these large fluorescent ants.
I froze them into ice cubes using my Clearly Frozen tray. Then I shined a blacklight on them. They look awesome, even better in a glass with a drink.
I wrote a story for the SFStandard about elderflower liqueur making a huge comeback. It was so popular when the brand St. Germain first launched in 2007 that it was given the nickname “bartender’s ketchup.” It’s so back, but now bartenders are using a wide range of products. Read the...
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I wrote a story for the SFStandard about elderflower liqueur making a huge comeback. It was so popular when the brand St. Germain first launched in 2007 that it was given the nickname “bartender’s ketchup.”
It’s so back, but now bartenders are using a wide range of products. Read the story here.
I was browsing in the dollar store for stuff to freeze into ice cubes, as I do, and found a bag of party favor rings. They’re made for kids and so can only fit about halfway up my pinky finger, but it’s proof of concept. To freeze the rings into...
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I was browsing in the dollar store for stuff to freeze into ice cubes, as I do, and found a bag of party favor rings. They’re made for kids and so can only fit about halfway up my pinky finger, but it’s proof of concept.
To freeze the rings into ice, I used my IceOlogy clear cube tray, which has an open top. I simply put a piece of bamboo skewer across the top of the opening, hanging the ring in the top part of the water.
They came out great. One of the rings was a little deeper into the ice than the other (making it really hard to wear), but that can easily be controlled.
Here are some pics.
For more information about clear ice and my book The Ice Book, check out this page.
My fellow drink writer Liza Weisstuch wrote a story about seltzer and the specific affinity that the jewish people of NYC have for it. The story includes some quotes from me, as I covered the medicinal history of spas and the soda fountain in my book Doctors and Distillers. The...
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My fellow drink writer Liza Weisstuch wrote a story about seltzer and the specific affinity that the jewish people of NYC have for it.
The story includes some quotes from me, as I covered the medicinal history of spas and the soda fountain in my book Doctors and Distillers.
There’s a new exhibit at the Transamerica Pyramid from a time capsule buried 50 years ago. I checked it out. The building was completed in 1972- the time capsule is from 1974. Before that, from 1853-1959, it was the Montgomery Block that hosted the Bank Exchange Saloon. The Bank Exchange...
The building was completed in 1972- the time capsule is from 1974. Before that, from 1853-1959, it was the Montgomery Block that hosted the Bank Exchange Saloon. The Bank Exchange was the home of the Pisco Punch, the most famous cocktail in SF from roughly 1870-1920. Duncan Nicol, mentioned in the pictures, was the proprietor of the Bank Exchange in its later decades, and the person who popularized the Pisco Punch. He took his secret recipe to his grave.
I’ve left these images purposefully crappy to encourage you to go see it yourself!