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Crowdsourcing San Diego's best craft cocktails
Introducing our new series on San Diego's best cocktials Meet bartender Sarah Ellis
Jaynes Gastropub's new mixologist is just getting started San Diego continues on its path toward classy craft-cocktail greatness
Our city's first-ever Craft Cocktail Week and more Meet mixologist Jeff Josenhans
Grant Grill's floral infusions, The Hopping Pig's martinis, El D's Family Night and more Awaiting Ballast Point's whiskey
The local distiller gives us an update on the Devil's Share release date Noble Experiment's odd couple
With the Willy Branca, Frenet and mezcal learn to mesh Beer cocktails and aged cocktails
Two trends to drink to Jen Queen follows the Tequila Trail to victory
Finding the perfect mix at the Spirits of Mexico festival Saltbox’s cocktails range from simple to complex
New York transplant is taking things slowly behind the bar in newfangled Downtown hotel The Whaling Bar serves a whale of an ice-cream drink
Longtime barkeep Rey Arcibal turned a simple request into a sweet concoction

Friday, May 24,2013
Cocktail Tales

Bring on the Borghetti

The espresso-based Italian liqueur is Kahlua 2.0

By Kelly Davis

It would be generous to say that grappa's an acquired taste. A byproduct of wine (made from the stems, seeds and skins of grapes), it's got a smell best described as "highly flammable."

Friday, May 3,2013
Cocktail Tales

Summertime drinking in San Diego

Five bars serving up season-appropriate libations

By Kelly Davis

There's more to summer cocktails than a paper umbrella, fruit spear and rum. Not that there's anything wrong with those things, especially when the fruit spear's soaked in rum.

Friday, April 12,2013
Cocktail Tales

Bitters, well-done wells and taco-friendly drinks

Checking in on RX Bitters, Saltbox and Snake Oil Cocktail Co.

By Kelly Davis

Saltbox bar manager Ali Terrill hit on a gem of an idea with Wells Done Well, a newish cocktail program at the Hotel Palomar bar (1047 Fifth Ave., Downtown). It's a small menu of classics—Manhattan, Paloma, French 75 among them—made with well liquors and quality touches like fresh-pressed juices.

Monday, February 25,2013
Cocktail Tales

Polite Provisions is an adult soda shop

North Park bar is the latest addition to Arsulan Tafazoli's cocktail empire

By Kelly Davis

Polite Provisions is the newest venture by Arsalun Tafazoli (Neighborhood, Noble Experiment, Craft & Commerce, Underbelly); its theme—old-school soda fountain—stops short of being kitschy.

Friday, February 1,2013
Cocktail Tales

The Propagandist is hittin’ the bottle

Downtown bar rolls out a new menu and experiments with new beverage delivery

By Kelly Davis

“You haven’t had the Arch Nemesis,” Brian Divine says. I’m at The Propagandist, the bar whose spicy Mango en Fuego cocktail I fell in love with almost a year ago. Divine flips off a bottle cap and pours me a glass. Yep—bottle cap.

Monday, January 14,2013
Cocktail Tales

Adventures in retro cocktailing

Lessons learned from an obscure 1941 recipe book called ‘Here’s How’

By Kelly Davis

With this issue of CityBeat having a retro focus, I was at a loss as to what to write about. No, really. Retro cocktails are pretty much all I’ve been writing about in this space.

Wednesday, December 26,2012
Cocktail Tales

Alchemy's cocktail alchemists

Blind Tiger provides the how-to for South Park restaurant’s new menu

By Kelly Davis

Ever since I took over this column in April, I’ve wondered: Is there really such a thing as a new cocktail—an idea no one’s tried before?

Friday, November 30,2012
Cocktail Tales

Jennifer Queen’s mystery liqueur

The mixologist makes Monello its own vermouth

By Kelly Davis

Jennifer Queen’s stoked about her vermouth. And she should be.

Friday, November 9,2012
Cocktail Tales

Party time

Cusp and The Pearl roll out winter cocktails while Quality Social mixes up Bloody Marys

By Kelly Davis

I’m writing this the morning after election night, just a bit hung over from celebrating, but not too much so to think about celebrating some more.

Monday, October 22,2012
Cocktail Tales

Leroy’s ‘cocktail creator’

Meet the woman behind the Coronado restaurant’s tasty libations

By Kelly Davis

Leroy’s Kitchen & Lounge in Coronado was still a shell when Emily Tracy started dreaming up its cocktail menu last June. The makeshift bar area, where she’d offer the staff tastes of her creations, was a card table and egg crates full of liquor.