as one last gasp i will mention some experiences in the past two months:

comstock saloon. i had a great experience here with some other people. tasted a great sazerac and a manhattan that reminded me, somehow, of lake tahoe. something alpine. maybe a little green chartreuse? also a pisco sour which them madcats had infused with magrut lime leaf as a nod to a traditional coca leaf infusion. or something. at any rate, it was perfumy and delicious and complex. i myself had the pisco punch which was ‘merely’ very good, and the hop toad punch (rum, apricot brandy, lime, bitters) which was unexpectedly dirty and savory in all the right ways.

15 romolo. i am prepared to say that scott baird is a genius, i have had many of his drinks at the cuesa event and have been wanting to come here a long time. he may be my favorite drink creator in the bay area. stockholm syndrome, a great spirit-based drink using amontillado sherry as the sour component and leopolds apple as the sweet. then the los altos sour which on paper sounds like a typical sour variant but is somehow greater than the sum of its parts.

clyde common. much has been made of the barrel-aged cocktails, and i can’t say i loved the negroni. on the other hand, i don’t care much for the non-aged version so i’m not the best judge. a generally good drinking experience overall, but not better than anywhere i’ve been in the bay area. i will say that without exception, every person in that place, male, female, customer, or staff member, was better looking than me.

…

some experiments of late:

1 oz rye
1 oz bourbon
3/4 oz meyer lemon
3/4 oz giffard blueberry
1/4 medium strawberry, muddled
2 mint leaves
1 dash ango

(a variant/ripoff of the blue and red smash at rickhouse)

2 oz brandy
1 oz lime
1 oz triple sec
1 magrut lime leaf, muddled

(a variant/ripoff of the aforementioned pisco sour, or perhaps a sidecar)

1/2 oz tequila
1/2 rum
1 oz grapefruit vodka
1 oz lime
3/4 oz giffard lychee
1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
2 dashes grapefruit bitters

this was the using up of some odds and ends, tortured into a strawberry hemingway variant. really good.

now, i have lost my notes on drinks, and so am mostly constructing from memory. but here are some drinks that stood out:

five stars – calvados with a little lemon, caramel liqueur, and scotch. the idea was ‘apple roasted over a bonfire’ good, but smelled better than it tasted.

montenegro manhattan. montenegro is a delicious amaro. this drink was awesome paired with braised beef.

unknown – tequila, lemon, falernum, jasmine. your basic sour type drink, but the aromatics were insane. would drink this all day every day.

the zorak – brandy, cherry liqueur, lime, maraschino. a freestyle david wolowidnyk concoction. delicious, not at all cough syrupy, which is what you might expect.

while i was up there i picked up some giffard liqueurs; blueberry, and lychee. have since made a great drink with the blueberry:

1 1/2 oz blueberry liqueur
1 oz rye
1/2 oz meyer lemon

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come on! be a fan of random cocktails!

smugglers cove:

puka punch – rum and a lot of other stuff
three dots and a dash – rum and a lot of other stuff

so i have now had three drinks from there and though they were all really great, i don’t think i could distinguish one from another. they all read similarly on the menu, so i guess that was to be expected.

sebo sushi:

wasn’t cheap, but possibly the best fish i have had anywhere. and i got a bunch of things i’d never heard of before, much less tasted. new things to me: katsuo (bonito), kohada (gizzard shad), ainame (greenling), kuromutsu (bluefish), shirauo (ice fish), hotaru ika (firefly squid).

then i decided to check out range since they’ve got a new menu since i was last there. i tried to get there by bus, failed. resorted to a cab.

ran into my brother at range which was pretty cool and lucky, since neither of us are in sf very often.

range:

the b-line – bourbon, lillet, bergamot, honey, bitters. this was superb. a bourbon sour variant made silky smooth with the lillet.

‘cocktail of the day’ – i missed the name and also what was in it, except lime, guava, and sparkling rose. delicious, but maybe on the dry side for me.

kamilia – basically a margarita with guava. excellent. guava and tequila are perfect complements.

the bartender did something interesting: measured the citrus and the syrup, but free poured the brandy. i’m not a fan of the free pour, but this hybrid technique makes more sense. still inferior to a measured pour, of course.

…

inspired me to make a sidecar of my own with the leftover five-spiced syrup. it decants nicely.

rickhouse:

blue and red smash – bourbon, lemon, red and blue berries. excellent.
kentucky buck – bourbon and ginger/ginger beer, other stuff. also excellent.
favela – cachaca, lemon, coffee. not very good.
some kind of sling – gin, cherry heering, other stuff. also not very good

then went to boot and shoe service:

fata morgana – bourbon, amaro nonino, dry vermouth, blood orange, cardamom. really excellent.

…

some experiments:

1 oz bourbon
1 oz rye
1/4 oz lime
3/4 oz grapefruit-honey-maraschino mix
grapefruit bitters
grapefruit ribbon

grapefruit-honey-maraschino mix

6 parts red grapefruit juice
3 parts honey
1 part maraschino liqueur

cross between a manhattan and a hemingway. excellent. but i once again forgot: do not muddle seeds. never, ever.

also:

1 1/4 oz bourbon
3/4 oz vermouth
3/8 oz cherry liqueur
1/4 oz lime

basically a manhattan with citrus. very good.

i lost my bottle of angostura bitters. not sure if it can be replaced any time soon, as there is a shortage.

…i started these experiments using some cheap bourbon and rye, figuring that i didn’t care and couldn’t tell the difference. but i found that i did care, and could tell the difference. i upgraded to bulleit bourbon and old overholt rye (according to the bevmo lady, rittenhouse isn’t making rye anymore). life is better.

il gitano (amaro, lime, pineapple gomme, grapefruit, bitters). excellent. interesting use of amaro as a base spirit.

the acadian (rye, sloe gin, lemon, honey, absinthe, rosemary). also great. delicate hand with the absinthe which can easily overpower a drink. i didn’t detect any rosemary. i need to find out more about sloe gin, taste it neat.

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a draft of randomcocktails.com is up. please check it out and provide feedback.

incredible menu, and a fun, cozy space. i will definitely be back.

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boot and shoe service: the sequel to pizzaiolo. tried a new cocktail, ‘kushiel’s dart’ (rum, carpano antica, lime, grenadine). really excellent. the vermouth used as an accent/herbal notes. nice.

and the room is beautiful.

…

what jen wanted was egg nog. but we had no eggs in the house, and she is off dairy right now. so i made a version of the japanese cocktail i got at p the other day.

yarou (japanese for ‘bastard’)

1.5 oz brandy
0.5 oz dark rum
1.5 oz almond milk (unsweetened)
1 T organic sugar

dry shaken first, then shaken with ice. top with grated nutmeg.

this could be a little sweeter, and jp would have preferred less boozy. so maybe something like 2 oz almond milk and 1.5 T sugar.

the japanese cocktail seems to be part of the family of:

2 oz spirit
1/4-1/2 oz syrup
bitters/other flavors

…which includes sazerac, mint julep, corn and oil, and old fashioned…

nocino manhattan – as advertised, made with housemade nocino. tastes like a manhattan up front with walnuts on the finish. awesome.

some highlights:

loft liqueurs (deep, clean flavors)
j witty (like a subtle falernum variant)
pc7 (though i know nothing of scotch)
north shore gin no. 11
square one botanical (basically a light, modern gin)
hangar one spiced pear (i’m not generally a fan of commercial flavored vodkas, including most from hangar one, but this is a home run)

…

tried out morgenthaler’s egg nog recipe, though used lighter milks and creams than the recipe called for, and have since cut it with milk and it’s just fine. i also used gosling’s dark instead of spiced rum. quite delicious.

they have a facebook fan page, james hetfield is a fan!

and they bring in a taco truck on thurs-sun nights straight from intl blvd. i am in love.

(over the course of three visits:)
mexican velvet – tequila, mezcal, lime, pineapple gum, falernum
chokehold – rum, cynar, elderflower, lemon
muay thai – thai rum, lime, orgeat, triple sec
bitter rivers – gin, aperol, grapefruit, lime, soda, rhubarb bitters
carjack – applejack, cane syrup, lemon
knickerdropper – rum, raspberry gum, triple sec, lime

everything worked. the depaz cane syrup in the carjack is crazy delicious.

no double straining, so there were some ice flecks.

one of the bartenders there (jacque) was ECHS class of 87, turns out he knows my sister pretty well, and is good friends with some people from my class, eg, steve bradley.

one my most recent trip i brought some of my warez to share with jacque and one of the owners. that will be a separate trip report.