Our favorite drink of the day at Sunday’s Bathtub Gin BBQ: Naked In the Rain from Sidebar in Oakland.
This past week was a marathon of liver-taxing fun for a great many of the city’s cocktail nerds, booze industry folk, and assorted other hangers-on of the bar scene. We ourselves partook of a tipple or three, at last Monday’s Cocktail Week opening party at Anchor Brewing Company, and yesterday’s closing event, the Bathtub Gin BBQ at St. George Spirits in Alameda, as well as a couple other stops in between. Check out our documentation below, and wish us well as we cleanse and rehydrate.
Earlier: Recapping Cocktail Week, One Hangover at a Time
The scene from the opening night party at Anchor Brewing Co., which featured the bevy of spirits now in the Anchor portfolio, including the Luxardo brand from Italy, and Chinaco tequila.
Ronaldo Coli, bartender at Americano, served up a cocktail with Chinaco tequila and two kinds of mole bitters.
We tucked into this tasty pork sandwich to absorb some of that booze.
One cocktail featuring No. 3 gin had bergamot tea in it, and was served in this antique teapot by Stuart McCluskey, owner of The Bon Vivant in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Said gin, lemon, and bergamot concoction.
Booze PR rep Debbie Rizzo.
Michael Mina bar manager Carlo Splendorini mixed up a marvelous drink using bourbon, bitters, and Luxardo maraschino liqueur.
And of course, Anchor’s beer-tasting bar was open too.
Thursday night featured a subway series, if you will, with the East Bay Smackdown happening in Oakland, and the Best of the West party – featuring this St. George absinthe ice-chute, casino games, and a bevy of bartenders from up and down the West Coast.
And here we are across the Bay at the East Bay Smackdown, which also featured casino games, and a bevy of bartenders from the East Bay.
The Bathtub Gin BBQ had to be moved indoors at the Hangar One/St. George distillery in Alameda, due to threat of rain, but it was very well attended and featured a bunch of great and innovative drinks using St. George’s three awesome new gins.
Said gins, on display, with rubber ducky and bathtub.
Thankfully there were food trucks to fill our booze-filled bellies, including FiveTenBurger, and Annakoot, and Indian truck.
They were holding a competition among the bartenders for who mixed the best drink using the new gins. Our favorite was named Naked in the Rain, by the boys from Sidebar in Oakland, and it featured the most difficult-to-mix of the three gins (the piney Terroir). The drink also contained Tempus Fugit Kina, and Tempus Fugit Liqueur de Violettes, creating a remarkably smooth, complex, and well rounded flavor out of extremely botanical gin.
A sign outside the St. George Spirits tasting room.
Fist of Flour Pizza’s James Whitehead also brought his oven and stand to the outdoor food court.
All told, we should be happy our hangover wasn’t really so bad today.
