Browsing Tag

San Francisco

Cocktail Recipes, Drinks
Bubbly Girl Drink of the Week: Have a Pleasant Evening at Rickhouse

I’ve been to Rickhouse several times for special events, but I recently got to hang out there while showing around a bartender visiting from Chicago. And now it’s become my favorite bar in San Francisco. Once the door closes behind you, I like the way it feels like you’re in a different place. With its rough wood paneling, dim light and chicken wire detailing, the bar is set up to look like a rick house, a warehouse out in the country where barrels of whiskey are stored. Even the bathrooms are kind of like visiting an outhouse, sans the aroma. Rickhouse is well-known for its punch bowls, like the popular Pimm’s Berry Punch. But we were impressed with the creative cocktails on the menu, most of which were just $8. We slid into the open seats at the end of the bar and immediately started chatting with a friendly couple…
September 30, 2011
Bubbly Events
Nectarine Blossom & Honey Giveaway from Jo Malone Saks SF

It’s been a whirlwind weekend of pairing mixology with fragrance at the launch of Jo Malone’s Wild Bluebell scent in the Bay Area. While I’m not mixing cocktails, I’ve had a lot of time to explore the some deeper and more exotic fragrances in the line. The whole idea behind Jo Malone’s fragrance line helping people create their ownÂ custom scent by combining different colognes.Â I love the way dewy and fresh Wild Bluebell smells with Orange Blossom, Grapefruit, and 154. But my favorite pairing is Wild Bluebell with juicy Nectarine Blossom & Honey. Wild Bluebell launches at Saks Union Square on Friday Sept. 30 – you canÂ RSVP at 415-438-5243 for the 3 p.m. presentation. Danielle Morgenstern of Jo Malone Saks decided to sweeten the invite: She’s giving away a full size bottle of Nectarine Blossom & Honey Cologne ($110 value) to one lucky girl – or guy. Here…
September 27, 2011
Cocktail Recipes, Drinks
Pimm’s Cup 3 Ways: Sparkling, Updated & Classic Recipes

I’ve been ignoring all the back-to-school sales and mentally trying to turn this into an endless summer. Sadly, the weather is making it quite apparent that autumn is on its way. But I’ve been savoring some flavors of summer this month. While I never made it to a tennis or polo match this summer, I did indulge in the classic English summer drink at The Bubble Lounge SF: The Pimm’s Cup. The Pimm’s Cup cocktail has a rather convoluted history–even for the drinking world–where so many tales are fuzzy because the people telling them are slightly fuzzy-headed. We do know it was created in 1823 by a man named James Pimm who ran the popular Oyster Bar in London, according to the official site, fetchingly named Anyone For Pimms. The custom was slurping oysters and slugging back London dry gin, which was a bracing 90-proof spirit that didn’t necessarily enhance…
August 28, 2011
Bubbly Events, Champagne, Drinks
Best Discoveries from the Champagne Grand Tasting

The Grand Champagne Tasting at the Westin St. Francis last week was glorious. Walking into the light-filled room done in gold and crystal on the 32nd floor of the Westin St. Francis was like stepping into champagne heaven. Around the room that offered a panoramic view of San Francisco on a sunny day, more than 100 different styles of icy champagne rested in silver buckets, just waiting to be tasted. The first of its kind tasting was presented by the Champagne Bureau, the U.S. office of the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC), a 70-year-old trade organization. The CIVC’s main mission is making sure the trademarked word champagne isn’t applied to sparkling wines from other places in the world. “We have to defend this idea that champagne is from Champagne,” said Thibault le Mailloux, the new communications director of the CIVC visiting from France. One of the best ways…
June 3, 2011
Cool Bars
Cocktails & Mystery: A Visit to Wilson and Wilson Detective Agency

Cocktails and mystery just seem to go together. Or at least they do in detective stories of the 1930s and 40s, my favorite era for mystery books and classic movies. Whether it’s the fabulous Nick & Nora Charles and their love of martinis, rye and champagne; a hard-boiled private dick out of Raymond Chandler; or a curious tale of a Notorious villain under Suspicion, spirits and suspense go together. Last night I visited the new Wilson and Wilson Detective Agency, the bar-within-a-bar at San Francisco institution Bourbon & Branch in the Tenderloin. The new bar’s theme was inspired by a true mystery that can be summed up as The Lady Vanishes. During renovations for the new space, owners discovered a handbag with a 1932 driver’s license, lipstick, a nail file, and a torn up pair of stockings hidden between two walls. The license belonged to Lorraine Adeline Wilson, a slender…
April 1, 2011