It's a story well told, two guys sitting around, reminiscing about some killer concoction they had overseas one night. Like any good tete-a-tete, a challenge is laid forth and from it, a blessing to all mankind. In the case of The Buena Vista, on Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco, it's the Irish Coffee for your Aunt Pauline to drink without looking like an alcy.
Born in 1952, the Irish Coffee was a collaboration between owner Jack Koeppler and international travel writer Stanton Delaplane, and it's based on a drink served at Shannon Airport in Ireland. The pair toiled over getting every component just right, the crux being the float of smooth airy cream on top. Maybe if the US wasn't so inherently puritanical we'd all be sipping Irish Coffees every afternoon instead of soy half-caff jerk drinks?
The Buena Vista has yet to go chain on us and the original Irish Coffee still remains the best. Yes, it's located in one of the craziest tourist sections of the city, but it's still worth a stop to drink up some real history.
Sure, this weekend is the unofficial start of summer. More importantly, though, it's the mega-official start of outdoor beer-drinking season. We believe it was Washington Irving who so succinctly summed it up, saying, "They who drink beer will think beer."
We've most definitely got cold beer on the brain but before we crack our first tall boy, we thought we'd put together a big list of suds festivals for ya. Enjoy.
Tales of the Cocktail, the booze-focused "conference" for bartenders, restaurateurs and, uh, enthusiasts, runs July 16-20 in New Orleans. With seminars, demos, dinners and hobnobbing, it's like a giant cocktail party without the black ties and annoying co-workers.
One day passes are available for $175 and include four events and nighttime drinks. You can also just pick and choose a couple events, hanging at the festival as a smaller part of a New Orleans vacay. Tickets range from $25-$75, depending on what you're attending.
If you really wanna get serious, the Founder's Day pass gets you into everything and goes for $625. Seems steep, yes, but it's probably less than your bar tab for five days in NoLa would be.
Festival headquarters is the Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter, and we can tell you from experience that it's the best place to stay for the event. Aside from giving you easy access to the Carousel Bar and festival seminars, it's also got discount rooms available if you book early.
We didn't have much of an opinion on the vodka-loving German who pounded a liter of booze rather than surrender it to airport security officers last month. But it seems he started a quiet revolution in liquor-loving travel, spawning both TSA sympathy and solidarity among travelers.
On a recent trip, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford forgot about his 375 mL bottle of 1991 Krohn port before passing through security at Spokane International. Instead of dumping the (undoubtedly dangerous!) wine, a screener told Morford that he could quaff it before passing back through the checkpoint. Why not, right?
I took my first big swig, and proceeded to enjoy one of the stranger, warmer, fuzzier late-morning lunches I've had in awhile. It was pretty good port. At least, for 11 am on a Saturday in an airport baggage claim.
And rather than down the whole thing, he shared the rest of his bottle with another traveler. Smart, that.
We've gotta hand it to a guy who's so fed up with airport hell that he'll guzzle a liter of vodka to spite security screeners. But lost in the news about ridiculous liquid bans and the poor fellow's hospitalization is some good news for fans of duty-free booze.
The European Union is no longer confiscating liquids in transit from Singapore. After studying up on security measures at Changi Airport, officials say its safe to let bottles bought in Singapore onto connecting intra-Europe flights. The EU says it'd be happy to add other airports to its secure list in the future.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't have helped the 64-year-old flier who pounded his bottle of vodka in Nuremberg rather than surrender it to screeners: He was flying into the EU from Egypt.
Keifer Sutherland, shocked employees of the Ye Rustic Inn in California when he entered with a group of rowdy friends demanding to start a tab at 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning. When presented with the bill, Sutherland claimed that his wallet had been stolen and he told the staff, "I promise I'll come back and pay." Then, according to witnesses, he proceeded to do a series of karate kicks in the middle of the floor. A fan of the actor agreed to buy him several rounds of J&B on the rocks, and after devouring a plate of chicken wings and throwing the bones on the floor, Sutherland left without tipping.
Last month it was "redecorating a London hotel", this month it is "how to get drunk without paying the tab in LA". Looks like Keifer is ready to launch his own travel guide series--"Travelin' Drunk".
For what its worth regular patrons seem to really like Ye Rustic, though not everyone shows their appreciation by doing a series of gleeful karate kicks.
The Guardian takes a close look at the "Russian Season" in Courchevel, France this week. Every year in early January, Russian billionaires and throngs of hangers-on--as many as 20,000--descend on this tiny ski town.
Preferred activities while in Courchevel include ordering jeroboams of Cristal, hiring Elton John to play for 20 minutes at a child's birthday party, and importing escorts for "atmosphere".
On my last night in London recently, I asked my English friend J. to take me "somewhere fun". I should have been more worried that something would get lost in translation, but luckily for me, J. was up to the task.
We ended up at Nordic, a bar near the Goodge Street tube station just off Oxford Street. The door was practically hidden, leading me to think we'd be going to a speakeasy, but once inside, there was a much different kind of fun going down. Nordic was packed, and everybody inside was having a great time, but I don't think I saw one man who wasn't wearing a suit and carrying the whiff of i-banker on him. (Then again, it was 7:30 pm on a Friday night, so maybe I needed to cut the poor guys some slack.)
The decor--think all white with artful lighting and nordic posters--more than made up for the so-so crowd, however, and the drinks list is even better: choose from delicious cocktails like the Northern Light, Snowflake, Ice Maiden or Winter Paradise. Yum. If you can't go straight to the source, Nordic is the next best thing.
On my last night in London recently, I asked my English friend J. to take me "somewhere fun". I should have been more worried that something would get lost in translation, but luckily for me, J. was up to the task.
