Lou Bustamante

The Rock & Rye Old Fashioned with the Rock & Rye Hot Toddy in back

​When Greg Lindgren and Jon Gasparini first opened up Rye Bar, the pair researched all the possible ways to use rye whiskey in cocktails, but it was the lost classic American liqueur "rock and rye" that really piqued their interest. This combination of cinnamon, clove, fresh and dried citrus peels, and the medicinal herb horehound, steeped in rye and sweetened with rock candy, was a popular remedy for colds in the early 1900s.

After some experimentation -- and some unpleasantly astringent and powerful batches due to the oversteeping of the horehound -- Lindgren perfected the recipe by using horehound candy in place of the herb and to sweeten the mix. Originally designed to go into a Rock & Rye Hot Toddy ($10, rock and rye liqueur, hot water, cinnamon stick, citrus), the spiced liqueur also works cold in the Rock & Rye Old Fashioned ($10), which is simply the liqueur, chilled with bitters.

The mix isn't always the same, as Lindgren and Gasparini encourage the bar staff to add their own flourishes when replenishing the infusion at the end of the night, meaning that it can get more spice in the winter and fruit in the summer.

On a recent cold and foggy night, I wasn't sure I could feel the purported curative effects of the horehound in the toddy, but the warmth certainly clung all the way home.

Rye Bar, 688 Geary (at Leavenworth), 474-4448

Aubrie Pick

The Doblon Cocktail

​With Alex Smith's departure to Honor Bar, Gitane has found a new bar manager, and one who is no stranger to the restaurant: Ramon Garcia, who worked behind the bar during both Carlo Splendorini and Alex Smith's tenures, has taken the position and already implemented a new simplified sherry-based menu.

Included are classics like the Boothby ($10, cava, bourbon, sweet vermouth, angostura bitters) and the Martinez ($13, gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, orange bitters), both surprisingly food friendly renditions. Working with the kitchen to develop better integration of the food and bar menus, Garcia is topping out the featured cocktails at no higher than 20% alcohol by volume (abv).

The rest of the menu is like a sherry cocktail mix-tape, with the greatest hits from sherry cocktail competitions. Featured are locals like Jacques Bezuidenhout's La Pearla ($12, reposado tequila, manzanilla sherry, pear liqueur) and Neyah White's Sherry Shrub ($9, barbadillo manzanilla sherry, seasonal house shrub, lemon peel), but also the deliciously drinkable Doblón ($14, Yamazaki 12 year, fino sherry, fresh lemon, honey syrup) from Anthony Schmidt of San Diego's Noble Experiment. Although they won't hand you this unless you ask for it, they've created an encyclopedia of each cocktail, describing the ingredients, origins, and story behind the drinks.

Everything Ramon Garcia is serving is perfectly balanced and well-made, and we're really curious to see his own cocktail creations show up on the menu.

Gitane, 6 Claude (at Sutter), 788-6620

​What: Superbowl Cocktail Competition to Benefit Project Open Hand

Where: The Royal Exchange

When: Tuesday, Jan. 31, 5:30 p.m.

Cost: $5 ($10 at the door)

The rundown: The best drink deal in the city might be tonight at the Royal Exchange. For $5, you're getting four cocktails, you're representing your favorite football team at a Super Bowl-themed party (even if they're not in it), and it's all for a good cause.  Four of the Royal Exchange's best bartenders will be on hand to let the Tres Agaves Tequila flow, each competing to blow the judges (you) away and create the best championship-team-themed cocktail ever.

It's a good thing these bartenders are among the best in the city, too, because we still haven't been able to come up with a good New England-themed tequila cocktail. Then again, it's not like this crowd will be any easier to sway with a giant Long Island Iced Tea.

Buy tickets here.

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Lou Bustamante

Bar Agricole's moonraker: Now that's a beaut.

​In the last few years, finding a bad drink in San Francisco has become harder than finding a good one. In nearly every neighborhood you'll find a bar filled with fresh juices, high-quality spirits, and a talented bartender conducting their craft. Having already covered the top 10 dive bars, now it's time for our picks of 10 bars that are moving the local cocktail culture forward, one drink at a time.

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Lou Bustamante

​We enjoy a well-made cocktail and are willing to wait as long as it takes for it to be made, but sometimes the focus of a bar visit is spending time with friends, not geeking out on cocktails. On busy nights, with patrons five-deep, we want something fast to get us back the socializing, and a shot and a beer isn't always what we crave. A few bars often mix up a punch to sell by the glass on those jam-packed nights, but the Hotsy Totsy Club is offering something unique: a bottled cocktail.

Order the Bitter Rivers ($7, Citadelle Gin, Aperol, grapefruit, lime, rhubarb bitters, water--all carbonated then bottled), and a short, cold bottle appears. The bitterness and fizz are light, refreshing with enough acidity to brighten up the drink and make them a perfect foil for the tacos ($1.25) sold by the truck parked in the bar's lot.

Owner Jessica Maria named the drink after one of her bartenders, Keli Rivers. "She laughed and liked double entendre for the name as she and the cocktail are both mildly bitter," chuckled Maria.

Hotsy Totsy Club, 601 San Pablo (at Garfield), Albany.

drewleavy/Flickr

"But mark the Rustic, haggis fed/The trembling earth resounds his tread"

​The culinary feast known as Burns Night, a dinner punctuated with poems from Scottish poet Robert Burns for his birthday (the 253rd one) today, is clearly not for the uninitiated. Aside from sourcing or making the Scottish national dish of spiced sheep offal encased in a sheep's stomach, finding a whisky to match with it could be a bigger challenge. So what should you drink with haggis?

Whisky

Clearly scotch is the preferred beverage, but with so many brands and styles (Lowland, Highland, Speyside, Islay, single malt, blended, etc.), in this case look for lighter and younger. "I wouldn't go very smoky; I don't think peat goes with food particularly well," explained barman Neyah White. "I'd go lighter, sweeter, nothing old. I would say, very young whiskies from Speyside."

Taylor Boetticher of Fatted Calf agrees. "I prefer less peaty and smoky Scotch, and I think that a more malt-driven one would go better with all the oats and organ meats," he said, adding that, "The fresher the haggis, the stronger the whisky, the better."

Popular and accessible whiskies from Speyside include brands like Glenfiddich, The Macallan, BenRiach, Glenrothes, and the Balvenie, all suitable for the event. If you are looking for a blended whisky, nothing else seems as appropriate as Sheep Dip, an eight year old whisky that combines barrels from all across Scotland. But don't feel like you have to stay in Scotland to find a pairing for haggis. "Japanese whisky is designed specifically to go with funky food--that's its thing," added Neyah White. "It's the only one of those whiskies categories where blenders are thinking about food right from the beginning."

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© Exploratorium

​Combining science and liquor together into a frothy and delicious drink requires the brainpower of the Exploratorium's scientists, and bartending know-how from the Bay Area's best bars. The resulting concoction is the Science of Cocktails night at the Exploratorium happening this Thursday. On it's third year, the event is bigger and better with over 15 bartenders crafting nearly 30 different drinks, experiments, demonstrations, and delicious bites.

The science portion of the evening will indulge your inner geek with experiments like creating instant infusions, the science of shaking versus stirring a drink (including examinations of dilution and temperature), and the anatomy of the cocktail exhibit that breaks down the effect the numerous components have on the drink, led by AQ's Tim Zohn.

On the cocktail side, expect to see the Cocktail Lab crew, along with bartenders from 15 Romolo, AQ, Bloodhound, Jupiter Olympus, Michael Mina, Rickhouse, Wo Hing , and special guest Erik Hakkinen from Seattle's celebrated ZigZag Café. Keep an eye out for the Manhattan Project, a collaboration between distiller Dave Smith (St. George Spirits), Darren Crawford (Bourbon & Branch), and Russell Davis (Rickhouse, Ice Cream Bar). The trio is showcasing locally produced bourbon that has rested in a barrel that previously aged Manhattan cocktails. Mind. Blown.

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Lou Bustamante

​Chasing down the new bar openings around the Bay Area is easier than remembering to revisit those places that have been around for a while. Bar Adagio is one we returned to, in particular because of their talented bar manager, Kristin Almy, who quickly made a name for herself with creative original drinks and her popular free Cocktail College classes at the hotel bar after moving here from Las Vegas a few years back.

With citrus season in full swing, the 100 Year's War ($10, No. 209 Gin, vanilla bean infused dry French vermouth, Combier Orange Liqueur, grapefruit juice) is a perfect mid-January aperitif cocktail: lightly sweet with a pleasant grapefruit bitterness, held together by the woodsy, herbal, and floral vanilla vermouth. Named after the countless battles fought over control for the French throne in the 14th century, the cocktail peacefully unites those old rivals the English and French liquors in a tall tasty glass.

Just be aware that you should grab this drink while you can: Bar Adagio will be closing down at the end of the month (January 31st), for a full remodel and transfer of management from the Joie de Vivre Hotels to another group. Kristin is heading to a new project in Oakland.

Bar Adagio, 550 Geary (at Taylor), 775-5000

Lou Bustamante

​I have a teenage nephew who, in the span of two weeks, went from plump, short kid to tall, lanky young man. It's hard not to have that same kind of slack-jawed reaction to the sudden growth spurt of craft bars springing up in Emeryville, first with Prizefighter and now with Honor Bar.

A new project headed up by talented barman Alex Smith who formerly mixed up libations at Gitane in San Francisco, Honor Bar's menu is a collection of layered and complex preparations that drink effortlessly. Smith's homemade ingredients, infusions, and tinctures are found in almost every drink, complementing the cocktails in a well-measured and appropriate ways. One of our favorites is the Queen Anne's Revenge ($10, hibiscus-infused gin, grapefruit marmalade, egg white, ginger beer, lemon), which is served in a champagne flute with the fluff of egg whites stratifying in an elegant presentation. Taking a sip, you get creamy egg white followed by the earthy and floral sweetness from the marmalade and hibiscus-- it is simultaneously rich and refreshing.

The drink may look delicate, but the name of the cocktail comes from Blackbeard the pirate's ship, which should be ample warning that it carries a punch. We like to imagine that the name was inspired by the dimpled mark on top of the egg white foam, marking the spot where the hidden liquid treasure lies buried underneath.

Honor Bar, Grill & Cocktails, 1411 Powell (at Hollis), Emeryville, (510) 653-8667

Lou Bustamante

Prey of Thieves cocktail, warming and smoky

​With winter's chill just outside the door, the bar at AQ dressed in pale white marble and bare birch branches feels cozy and inviting, as if stumbling into a forest clearing with a full bar. Small puffs of herbal smoke drift upwards as the bartenders blowtorch bay leaves for the Mexican Piano ($10 Espolón Tequila, huckleberry syrup, lime, tarragon, bay leaf), adding to the atmosphere. While the construction of the refreshing drink may be responsible for fortifying the mood, it's the Prey of Thieves ($10, scotch, tawny port, chicory coffee tincture, orange twist) cocktail that feels most in tune with the season.

A Manhattan variation beefed up with scotch in place of the bourbon or rye whiskey, port instead of sweet vermouth, and the coffee tincture filling in for the bitters, this is a rich, restorative drink that almost demands a fireplace. The scotch and coffee add layers of smoke to the drink without being smoky, while the port adds a cherry-chocolate quality that made it hard to set down.

This talented team of bartenders (led by Timothy Zohn and including Ethan Terry and Brandon Josie), and the restaurant's shifting seasonal décor and menus, already have us yearning to drink spring.

AQ, 1085 Mission (at 7th St.), 341-9000