Muddle one half of a sugar cube in a double rocks (‘lowball’) glass with three dashes of Angostura Bitters.
Take a wide strip of lemon and orange (peeled with a vegetable peeler) and wipe it across the inside wall of the lowball glass, leave the peels in the glass.
Add one large ice cube.
Add 1 oz Michter’s Rye and 1 oz Fighting Cock 103 proof bourbon to the glass.
Stir once.
Voila – the perfect Old Fashioned.
Tonight was the Corzo Silver Tequila competition at Rye. I had the honor of being one of the judges along side Dahi Donnelly, Proprietor of Swig and an Editor from San Francisco Magazine. The rules were simple. We would judge 8 cocktails on five criterion: Name, Appearance, Aroma & Taste, Balance & Drinkability and finally Uniqueness and how appropriate the drink is for a bar setting.
And the winner is…
Agua Caliente – a mango/Campari cocktail whose rim is coated with chili powder won the competition hands down – most surprising is that the winner was not a bartender at all.
Second place went to the beautiful Forbidden Fruit made with pomegranite liquor and lemon.
And finally, third place went to the Lolita, a Cointreau and tequila drink with a guava ginger foam.
Rounding out the competition was…
A kiwi nectar and 7Up based Tequila Press
A well balanced chocolate and orange Corzo Kiss
A Habanero and Horseradish interpretation on a Bloody Maria – the perfectly firey Cock-Tizer (fantastic, but I couldn’t finish it and I love hot food)
The May 1st, a sweet limoncello and basil cocktail…
and a Pineapple Sangrita called the Fantasma served with a shot of tequila.
Though the Agua Caliente was great, I wonder if any could beat just a simple perfect Corzo Margarita, made by Greg, Publican and owner of Rye.
Why is it that when people think of Irish stout that the first thing that comes to mind is Guinness? Don’t get me wrong, my family has a long connection to the Dublin brewery, having imported it into New York in the mid 1900s… but it pales to the great beer from our sister city, Cork – Murphy’s.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been searching out pints of the obsidian elixir as we paitently wait for O’Neill’s to open down the street.
Last week, it was Johnny Foley’s, a beautiful Irish bar near Union Square. Though the crowds were annoying, the bar was fantastic, the Murphy’s was fresh and the glasses were clean.
This weekend, while coming back from Ritual to pick up more beans and have a couple of cappuccinos, we noticed The Phoenix, a nice Irish bar with lots of nooks to hide in on Valencia near 19th street. Again, fresh Murphys and great graffiti in the bathroom…
Nothing like the search for the perfect pint!
(Lots of glasses to be washed…)
Yesterday afternoon, we decided to stop off at the Toronado for the Wet Hop Festival. Now, we figured they were just going to have some wet hopped beers available by the pint. Boy, were we wrong.
Wet Hop Festival
Description:A selection of wet hop beers made from hops thathave not been dried, which imparts a different aroma and flavor profile than normal.
Location: Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, California
Time(s): 11:30 AM till closing
Admission: no charge
Toronado Events Calendar
Unexpectedly, we walked in to a typical Barleywine festival sort of madhouse… the bar packed to the rafters with not just the regular beer geeks, but scores of people who had seen a recent review of the Toronado in the Chronicle and read about Saturday’s festival.
(the list with our sloppy annotated notes)
There were 25 beers available (the 26th never made it to the bar)… and throughout the night, we were able to go through all of them. The highlights:
Blue Frog – Last Hop Standing
If you didn’t now it was a beer, you’d swear that you were sniffing a sauterne wine. It was absolutely amazing.
Deschutes – Hop Trip
I would never expect anything less from Deschutes, and they certinaly delivered.
Pizza Port (San Clemente) – Rip Tide IPA
The best classic IPA in the lineup.
It was great to see Tad and Ian together once again behind the bar, the beer fantastic, and aside from Rosamunde closing at SEVEN-FREAKING-THIRTY, it was a perfect way to pass the afternoon.
How the hell did Tres Agaves Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Lounge get so popular without any advertising? They opened on Wednesday and haven’t been deluged with press, but by 8pm, the place was packed to the exposed timber rafters.
Pitchers of excellent margaritas started at $24 and hover around the $32 range before shooting up for the ultra-premium tequila (why you would want to waste a good tequila on a margarita baffles me) at $64. The food was excellent… the braised ribs in green chiles, carnitas, and the chocolate cake with chili powder all stood out as winners, and the guacamole was fantastic as well.
Hopefully it will not be as busy during the week… as it would be a perfect place for an after work drink.
Sitting in Omaha with a decent beer…