Camper English

1 week ago | alcademics.com | Camper English

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.

1 week ago | sfstandard.com | Camper English

Want breaking Bay Area food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive Off Menu, where you’ll find restaurant news, gossip, tips, and hot takes every week. Some once-trendy cocktail ingredients — think sour apple schnapps and whipped cream vodka — are probably best left in the past. But bartenders across San Francisco have decided that others, like elderflower liqueur, are worthy of revisiting.

2 weeks ago | alcademics.com | Camper English

This venue has been in the works for a while - years I think. But I just saw some public info about it. Future Bars (Bourbon & Branch, Pagan Idol, Rickhouse, Bottle Club Pub, Local Edition, Zombie Village, Cask Stores, etc) is opening a venue with concepts that will regularly rotate, on the corner of Columbus and Broadway. The first iteration of the concept will be Cuban. I believe the venue is this one, adjacent to The Devil’s Acre, right on the corner.

3 weeks ago | alcademics.com | Camper English

A thing I do for edu-tainment is watch the Great Courses series on various (mostly historical) subjects. It’s like going to college forever, which is what I would do if I could afford it. You remember the Great Courses, of course! They were advertised in SkyMall. If I remember correctly they were first advertised on videocassette, then later on DVD, and now on streaming. The courses are college-level studies taught by university professors on a range of topics, but I mostly watch the history ones.

3 weeks ago | alcademics.com | Camper English

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 was the home of the Pisco Punch, the most famous cocktail in SF from roughly 1870-1920.