Manly Cocktails with Oro Pisco, Bourbon and Branch Beverage Academy, SF Bay Guardian Best of the Bay, and here comes Tiki Oasis!

Someone make me a cocktail, quick - I've got so much to talk about!

On July 31, a gorgeous, sunny Sunday afternoon, I had the great pleasure of visiting the home base of Oro Pisco, who held a cocktail competition in their beautiful creative space on Treasure Island. The theme of the contest was "Manly" cocktails - no pink drinks, no sweet, fruity, or tropical drinks - but something a man would be proud to hold in his hand and drink. A fun theme, to be certain! My entry was the Proper English, with the Oro Pisco Quebranta, Montenegro, and a bit of Peychaud's bitters in a glass smoked with a pipe tobacco blend (Latakia, Virginias and Orientals), and finished with an oak ice cube made from water barrel aged in virgin American oak for 9 months.

Here are a few photos of me in the contest, courtesy of Dg Blackburn (of the Boothby Center for the Beverage Arts):

Lighting the tobacco to smoke the glasses:


Barrel aged water, in solid form!


The well deserving winner of the contest was none other than Tony Devencenzi, who brought in Susan Eggett and myself last month to Bourbon and Branch's Beverage Academy, where we taught our Rumbellion, Rumbustion, and Flaming Cocktails - a Concise Rum Soaked History of Tiki Seminar, which was a total blast. We were honored to bring our presentation to Bourbon and Branch, and it was a pleasure to meet such wonderful people and to have the opportunity to stand behind the beautiful bar in the Wilson Room, and share a little of our aloha with others. Here are a few choice photos of the class, taken by Paul McMillan of Zero Coordinate, Inc.:

Susan and I prep for the class in the beautiful Wilson and Wilson room:


Decor from Forbidden Island, bringing a little tiki to the speakeasy:


Tony, myself and Susan:



Our communal bowl experience, presenting the Makalani bowl aflame:



Me, professing the glory of the history of Tiki, Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber:


Tony and I behind the bar as class participants, including Forbidden Island owner Michael Thanos, craft their own original tropical cocktails:


It was a treat. Thank you, Tony, and Bourbon and Branch! We look forward to the next class!

This year has indeed been one of honors for Forbidden Island, and our most exciting came just recently from the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Best of the Bay edition, where we were voted "Best Overall Bar" in the entire Bay Area by the Guardian readers. We couldn't possibly be more excited or proud! Michael and I attended the VIP party for all the winners last week, and it was quite something to be in a room full of that many winners, for so many things! The San Francisco Bay Area is rich with talented and wonderful people, and being there with many of them in one room was certainly a treat. Here is a photo of Michael and I with the plaque from the Guardian, and the winning issue of the paper:


This is the official photo of all the winners, published by the Guardian in this week's paper:


In all this excitement, I nearly forgot about my birthday, which was last week. Thanks, everyone who wrote, called, said hello on Facebook, and who showed up for my little shindig on Monday night. I had a blast.

Next up on the schedule is none other than Tiki Oasis! Forbidden Island is hosting two (count 'em, TWO!) exciting room parties on Friday and Saturday night this week down in San Diego at the Crown Plaza Hanalei. We're really excited for both - Friday night is our Fun in Acapulco Beach party, sponsored by Cruzan Rum, and Saturday is One Night in Havana, sponsored by Mt Gay Rum. I will be behind the stick for both parties serving up rummy goodness! If you're at Oasis, don't miss out on the best parties of the year. Also, Friday afternoon during the Sip and Shop at Tiki Oasis, I will be featuring a new cocktail with Appleton Rum and vanilla... not to be missed, for sure.

I'll see YOU there!

--Suzanne

Have you experienced SESSIONS lately?

Have YOU tried a SESSIONS cocktail lately?

If you haven't - today is certainly the day to do so. If you HAVE - well, then today is one not to miss, since I have something spectacular for you to try. My special ingredient is a flambeed rum cordial, which you simply have to taste to believe. It came about as an 11th hour fix while creating the Mystery Bowl at Ohana, Luau at the Lake this year - we needed something to fix the flavor of the cocktail, and in a moment of MacGyver inspiration, I decided to flambe the Appleton Estate Reserve with the only sugar we had on hand... about 300 single serving C&H sugar packets. Here are a few photos of me playing with fire in Lake George:










The result was fantastic, and I love it so much that I've created a special cocktail featuring it, which I'll be serving tonight (with a smoked glass, punt e mes, and fresh lime juice), and I feel it is fully worthy of a few sessions cocktails too! C'mon over and try the cordial for yourself, and let's create some spectacular Black Orchid Sessions cocktails together!

As always, it's also HAPPY HOUR all night long, so come and see me!

I'll see YOU, TONIGHT, at 5pm at the Island!

--Suzanne

A little Maurin Quina in the Ides of March

Wanted to post today about a wonderful little cocktail I've got on the menu here at Forbidden Island for only a short time longer. It is called the Ides of March, and features a wonderful, little known spirit called Maurin Quina. You are likely familiar with the image seen here, painted in 1906. The liqueur has recently become available again in the US and I was thrilled to get the chance to feature it in a cocktail, as I am madly in love with it! The cherry and almond notes of the liqueur make me swoon, and the addition of Black Maple Hill Small Batch Bourbon and the Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters just knock me over. The cocktail will disappear soon, though, as we're rolling out our summer specials in just two weeks.

Come and try one - no need to fear the Ides of March any longer. Especially when it tastes this good.

Also, I'm so thrilled to announce that Forbidden Island is featured on the cover of the San Francisco Bay Guardian today! Mahalo to the great folks on Mississippi Street for the nod!

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I'll see YOU at the Island!

--Suzanne

(Cocktail Photo by Gabriel Hurley of Zero Coordinate, Inc.)

SHATFEST - More William Shatner than you can stand

Tonight. Will Not. Be. Your Average Night. At. Forbidden. Island.

At all, actually. Tonight is off the hook! It's SHATFEST,Will the Thrill at Forbidden Thrills monthly movie night at Forbidden Island. We're showing disgustingly fabulous William Shatner movies tonight, and it will be a complete blast! Come and join us for great cocktails full of dramatic pauses!

(Also, I am painted green. Yes, yes, really. Come and see for yourself.)

I'll see YOU at the Island!

--Suzanne

Will the Thrill's SHATFEST

Forbidden Island's Flight to Japan: Humanitarian Aid Benefit

Just had to take a quick moment and tell everyone about the amazing evening Forbidden Island is shaping up to have tonight. We've just finished assembling all of the gift baskets and beautiful donations for our "Flight to Japan" a Humanitarian Aid benefit raising money for the Red Cross for relief efforts in Japan. We are deeply in dept to all of the businesses that stepped up to sponsor our event and donate: St. George Spirits/Hangar One Vodka, Mt. Gay Distilleries Barbados, Effen Vodka, Southern Wine and Spirits, Young's Market Company, The Alameda Cineplex, The Devil-Ettes and Baby Doe, Tiki Oasis and Otto Von Stroheim, Takara Sake, Barceluna, artist MP, Trader Vic's, The Fraternal Order of Moai, and many, many more.

I do have to say, with the silent auction and raffle table spilling over with donations, there isn't a single thing I wouldn't be pleased as punch to take home with me... such gorgeous stuff!

Effen Vodka has made a special event out of our fundrasier and is sending their Effen Flight Girls in 1960s stewardess costumes to mingle with the guests. We're serving Susan Eggett's award winning Sakura Daiquiri all evening long, and 100% of the proceeds are donated directly to Japan Disaster relief.

Well, time to put on my kimono and head back to it! Come over and raise a drink with us, dance to awesome 60s Japanese pop with DJ Sid Presley aka David Greenfield and the Pacific reverb sounds of the Japanese Surf Coasters cover band THE SURF FAUX-STERS, featuring Ferenc from Pollo del Mar, Danny from The TomorrowMen, and Zanti, Abraham and Jonathon from The Deadbeats playing the music of Japan's The Surf Coasters and Eleki (Japanese instrumental) style hits!

I'll see YOU there!

--Suzanne

The Queen's Flip for a rainy Monday

Frequently at The Pad (thepad.us), we drink to the health of the Queen. Actually, we drink to her health about hourly. Which lead us to send her a postcard, actually -- but that's a different story.

Tonight at Forbidden Island, I'm sharing a flip that has been a favorite at The Pad - a cocktail that I've come to call The Queen's Flip - I like them so much that I'd like to keep drinking them, and keep toasting to her health as often as possible. Even more than once an hour!

The flip is made with fresh egg and a premium bourbon. We alternate between the Black Maple Hill Small Batch Bourbon and George Dickel Barrel Select. The addition of fig and blackberry preserves, honey, St. George Absinthe and St. George Aqua Perfecta Raspberry Liqueur makes for one delight of a cocktail.

Join me and Lee Williams this evening at Forbidden Island, as we, Sirens of Mixology, offer up this rich new enchantment, as well as Lee's latest, the Chipotle Margaritayeyayeyaye - featuring the unapologetic St. George Spirits/Hangar One Chipoltle Vodka and their amazing Qi White liqueur.

We'll see YOU there! 5pm!

-- Suzanne

Historic Tuning Temperaments and Classic Cocktails

Interesting thought about cocktails today. Part of the reason that classic and historic cocktails call me is for their history - for the same reason that early music called me. Doing tiki tropicals properly and doing classic and prohibition-era cocktails properly is about taking them on their own terms - understanding them in context. Understanding what they ACTUALLY TASTED like and what the fuss was all about - and recreating them using those tools to recreate the experience. It is precisely the same thing as stringing with gut strings, playing a theorbo, or using a pre-equal temperament tuning. To hear Lully played on period instruments, at the correct pitch and temperament, and with period phrasing is a powerful time machine, as passionate as can be imagined. To taste an Aviation or (other historic classic) with just the perfect measure of violette and maraschino, and the correct sort of gin, will take an interesting and new-to-you cocktail to the WOW place. Lully played by a Wagnerian orchestra just is not the same experience.

It is also important to remember that these things, while taking their lead from understanding their beginnings, can also take on a life of their own. In order to fully understand how to create cocktails based on classics, one must first understand the classics themselves. We have people like Dale DeGroff and Jeff Beachbum Berry to thank for laying the groundwork of our understanding - many tedious long years of tasting questionable experiments have lent themselves to a publishable history - one that I personally am very thankful for! Cocktail innovation is everywhere, and there are many methods to approach such endeavors, but starting with understanding their history and construction, in my approach, is key. One can create a glorious thing by taking a good Aviation, adding a passionate amount of *this* or *that,* and a new cocktail is born. It won't be an Aviation, but some of your most treasured classics have begun this way.

Raise a glass! I'll see YOU there!

-- Suzanne