I read through the book and the first thing I tried to do was find a recipe I could make. First I discarded recipes that would require a ridiculous amount of prep work. Then, I discarded recipes which called for St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, a.k.a. Bartender’s Ketchup. Then, out went any recipes calling for “molecular gastronomy” ingredients like Maltose and Xanthan Gum. At that point, I felt like I was left with some recipes which could stand the test of time, maybe didn’t even call for specific brands. The list was pretty small.
Erik Ellestad’s Review of “Left Coast Libations”
I love this critique of a recent Bay Area cocktail compendium by SF bartender Erik Ellestad (the man behind the Savoy Cocktail Book project) because to me it articulates what I’ve come to find a bit cloying about a lot of the Bay Area bar scene: its preciousness, its emphasis on novelty rather than simplicity, its reliance on exotic ingredients, the term “bar chef.” There are many bars I love in SF, don’t get me wrong, but I think the scene as a whole is not creating many great drinks that are simple and timeless enough to really stand the test of time in the way, say, Cure in New Orleans, the Violet Hour in Chicago, or Milk & Honey in NYC are.
