Adventures of Absinthe(s) or To Have and Have Not

Absinthe Story 1 (To Have)



Recently Shannon and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. We decided to try a new (to us) place in SF and got reservations at Absinthe Brasserie & Bar. They are legendary for the drinks (which scores major points in our books). The bartenders there have even put out their own book, Art of the Bar (a great cocktail/history book if you are into that sort of thing). For drinks I got their Uptown Manhattan and Shannon got the Citron Lemonade. Drinks were, as expected, fantastic. We got a few appetizers that were great and for the main course Shannon got the free range chicken and I, feeling quite adventerous, went for the braised beef cheeks... thats right, actual cow cheeks... they were fantastic, but ever so often I had to keep from gagging when I thought about that I was chewing on a bovine cheek... All in all, we had a great time, and would probably go back, but just for drinks, as the menu is quite spendy...


Absinthe Story 2 (Have Not)



If you don't know what Absinthe is go look it up on wikipedia - there is a fascinating story behind this liqueur. This year Absinthe was legalized to be sold /produced in the U.S. after 95 years of being outlawed. St. George Spirits, located in Alameda, became the first distillery to make and sell the spirit in the U.S. in nearly a century when it sold its first bottle on Dec. 3rd. Yesterday, Friday the 21st, the product was put on sale to the public. With only 3,600 bottles made in the first run, and 1,800 of those going to restaurants & bars, only 1,800 were left for the distillery to sell from their shop. Wanting to snatch up one of these bottles before they were gone, Shannon and I headed out there this afternoon... as we pulled in to the parking lot, a sign greeted us stating "ABSINTHE IS SOLD OUT" - turns out they sold all 1,800 bottles on Friday. D'oh! I haven't lost hope though, I'm going to see if any of my connections can come through....

By the way, if you haven't been to the St. George Distillery - you definitely need to go check it out! They do a tour on Saturdays and Sundays and have tastings for around $10 where you get to try their brandies, their whiskey and the best of all, the Hangar One vodkas.... Let me know if you are interested in going to check it out... I'm always down to go out there.

Merry Christmas and (to Tyler) Happy Holidays