Lou Bustamante

We were on our way to dinner at Nick's Cove, that cozy collection of cottages and a restaurant on the edge of Tomales Bay and purportedly the place where the barbecued oyster was invented. We were certainly there for oysters, but also to escape the hard landscape of the city for a few hours. The transition began in earnest after leaving highway 101 in Petaluma, the lush grassy hills dotted with cattle darting in and out of view as the car traveled along the two lane country road towards highway one. The bucolic scenery zipping by was so lush with spring grasses and wildflowers that even with the threat of cold and pollen wasn't enough of a deterrent to rolling down the windows for deep breaths of sweet air.

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Lou Bustamante

Even as our collective drinking palate continues to develop to appreciate spirits once considered too challenging (like smoky peaty single malts whiskies, rustic and flavorful mezcal, and bitter European liqueurs), we still may have a ways to go until people learn to love grappa.

Grappa (also known as marc or agua ardiente) is unaged distillate made from the solids leftover from winemaking called pomace -- a mass of skins, pulp, and seeds strained of the juice fermentation process. The spirit is simply a brandy, but the fear of its brash intensity with funky flavor swagger and high proof is not completely unfounded. There is a good amount of poorly distilled homemade and commercial grappa (as you'll find in every liquor category), the kind that St. George Spirits distiller once described as, "What we give dinner guests who don't want to go home."

But at Bar 888 inside the InterContinental Hotel, wine guy John Wight is working to showcase how interesting and versatile the spirit can be when made right.

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Anna Roth

Chipotle has always offered margaritas, but they've recently ditched the pre-made mix in favor of freshly made drinks and stepping up the liquor offerings. Now customers can wash down their burrito bowl with a $6.95 margarita made with Patrón Silver tequila, triple sec, fresh lime and lemon juices, and organic agave nectar (there's also a version made with Sauza Silver for about $1.50 cheaper).

I spied the booze bottles on a counter behind the assembly line on a recent lunch visit, and decided -- since we were staying to eat in the sun anyway -- to see if I could tell the difference between the two tequilas. You know, work.

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Lou Bustamante

The Kentucky Derby comes roaring into the final stretch this Saturday, kicking up roses and mint juleps as it makes its way around the track. The race may be about thoroughbreds and serve as the opening ceremony to the Triple Crown (followed by the races at Preakness and finally Belmont Stakes), but to us it's all about whiskey.

Just like Cinco de Mayo is symbolically linked to the margarita, the Kentucky Derby is all about the mint julep, that brawny concoction of crushed ice, a jolt of bourbon, sugar, and cooling mint. But stopping by the Derby Cocktail Company inside the lounge area at Off the Grid Fort Mason, we were treated to a variation on another whiskey classic worthy of a garland of roses: the Derby's Milk Julep ($9, Dickel Rye Whiskey, Tempest Fugit Crème de Menthe, sweet cream, celery bitters).

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Flickr/Charles Haynes

Customers on a tour at St. George Spirits.

St. George Spirits used to sell glassware -- and offer a complimentary taste of their spirits with a glass purchase. The reason? It's against the law for distillers to charge for tastings and sell bottles at their distilleries, like brewers and vintners can.

Although the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control recently cracked down on St. George's creative interpretation of current regulations, St. George's tasting room might be charging for tastings as early as September. That's because the California Artisanal Distillers Guild (CADG) is on a mission to pass a bill that would enable distillers to charge for on-site tastings. At present distillers can offer free tastings.

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Lou Bustamante

The Woodsman at Bloodhound is a take on the Old Fashioned.

When Bloodhound opened in 2008 (making it 36 in dog years), that stretch of Folsom was a rather lonely one with a few outlier clubs and leather shops. The bar's success and longevity is certainly due in part to the bartending skills that owner Dylan O'Brien honed over the years, but also because it has effectively juggled the role of being both destination and neighborhood bar. As the area saw an increase of housing and office development, Bloodhound took the opportunity to offer more, like being an early supporter of the food truck movement with the Chairman and Casey's Pizza food trucks regularly setting up in front of the bar.

Since then, O'Brien has gone on to open up Prizefighter in the craft cocktail-emergent East Bay with Jon Santer. With all those changes, including a new menu (see the full menu below), I was curious if the dog could still hunt.

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Lou Bustamante

Don't let the "brasserie" portion of the name fool you; the cuisine at Bluestem is all American. Named after the preferred grazing grass of cattle ranchers, the focus of the restaurant is decidedly on beef, with marrow, steaks, and tartar showcased on the menu. The bar incorporates a few of these Americana twists as well, like the viral-video namesake, Honey Badger ($11, Maker's Mark Bourbon, honey whiskey liqueur, lemon, BBQ water).

A drink built around a whiskey sour with the inclusion of barbecue sauce and spiced rim sounds more nastyass than badass, but owners Adam and Stacy Jed's attempt to recreate the flavors of an American cookout with bourbon work. The Hoegaarden foam "stripe" like the animal adds some texture more than flavor.

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Cochon555

We're not sure about you guys, but we're not the types of little piggies that "go wee wee wee all the way home." We're more the type of piggies who go out for Manhattans after work rather than head home. Heck, we'll even cannabalize our own kind, because pork is delicious.

Folks already know that this Sunday's Cochon 555 event is your best bet for satisfying porcine cravings. Five of the city's best chefs are breaking down their own heritage pigs, creating numerous head-to-tail dishes to share with a ravenous crowd. Attendees and judges will pick their favorites from the barrage of dishes, leaving one of our local chefs crowned as the Prince of Pork.

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Lou Bustamante

Pasa Tiempo cocktail

There were close to a dozen glasses in front of me, nearly the entire cocktail menu at the newly opened Padrecito in Cole Valley, all sitting in various states of consumption. The wave of drinks crested with the newest cocktails up front, the older and emptier ones ebbing towards the back, while the sea of liquor pushed and pulled like the tide. But two had beached themselves close to me, and despite my better judgment, I was close to finishing them.

I notice my personal telltale sign that the tipsy riptide was pulling me out to sea as I "lose" my phone in one of my own pockets (you fiend!). I fight the current's pull with an order of the Chicharrones with Fava Bean Sikil Pak dip ($9), but those two cocktails were so gorgeously bright and sparkly with citrus, that I couldn't help wading back in for "re-tasting" dip.

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It would have been simpler if Paul "Fotie" Photenhauer, semen-cooking enthusiast, were more of a creep. Then it would have been easy to dismiss his self-published cookbooks, 2011's Natural Harvest: A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes and the new Semenology: The Semen Bartender's Handbook -- two volumes that literally made me throw up in my mouth a little bit when I received them.

They have recipes like Slightly Saltier Caviar, Special 'S' Barbecue Sauce, Mexican Cumslide, and Watermelon Gin Jizz, all which require teaspoons and tablespoons of the stuff. There are sentences such as, "Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic," along with tips on how to make one's semen taste better (ginger!) and last longer (keep it in the freezer!). And then there are the photos, which give a new dimension to the term "food porn."

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