.Drink

The Factory Bar Richmond’s The Factory Bar is an urban oasis, a dog-friendly lounge with human-friendly drinks, frequent food popups and one of the best garden patios in the East Bay. Their spring menu includes nine new cocktails. ‘P7’ 2...

Berkeley’s Gilman District is celebrated for its punk music venue, breweries that have become popular gathering places, a Whole Foods Market, and, more recently, the new Boichik Bagels’ factory and cafe. But winemaker Nori Nakamura decided to...

If it wasn’t a ridiculous, horrible idea, Bex Pezzullo might have named her company and the fine hard cider she crafts, “Tenacious Focus.” Instead, the hospitality and beverage industry veteran applied greater wisdom, selecting Sincere Cider and...

Not only do East Bay distilleries produce world-class spirits, but the stories behind their inceptions are beguiling. East Bay checked in with four of them. Absinthia and the Green Fairy Absinthe was illegal and banished from the world of...

The owners of The Punchdown named their natural wine bar and bottle shop after a harvest term. During the process of fermentation, winery workers push the grapes down as they’re producing carbon dioxide. “Those are the little bubbles that push the grapes to the top,” explained DC Looney, one of the co-owners. Throughout the winemaking process, you need to push down on the mixture, ‘for a healthier fermentation.’”

Absinthe, the signature drink of Belle Epoque France, also had a ritual based on delayed gratification, though one not nearly as complex as the jigsaw puzzle of women’s undergarments. The traditional way of drinking the moss-colored spirit—nicknamed “the green fairy” for the supposed buzz it brings—is to start by pouring an ounce of the potent potable in a glass. Next, perch on the rim, like a vulture hovering over your soon-to-be comatose self—a slotted spoon holding a sugar cube. Now, slowly pour ice water over the cube, which takes the sugar down into the glass, releases the oils of anise, fennel and wormwood, and turns the verdant elixir a cloudy white known as the louche. 

Local craft distilleries are in high demand, particularly in areas like the Bay Area, where people tend to be very interested in where the products they eat and drink come from and how they are made. They may even be in greater demand in the Bay Area than anywhere else in the state because there are so few craft distilleries compared to wineries and breweries. To wit, there are close to 4,000 wineries in California, but just under 150 distilleries—and fewer than a dozen of those are Bay Area craft distilleries that offer tasting experiences.