Pisco Punch: The Pricey San Francisco Cocktail That Was a Gold Rush Knockout
If you’re a cocktail drinker, you’ve no doubt tasted a few pisco sours in your time. It’s that pale, frothy drink made with pisco, a highly potent Peruvian brandy. The pisco sour was invented in Peru, with the first printed recipe appearing in the 1940s. But many, many years before that, 19th century San Francisco was gripped by a craze for another pisco concoction. They called it the pisco punch, and as Carly Severn tell us, by all accounts, this singular beverage should have come with a health warning.
The Story of the Martini, Straight Up, With a Twist
From James Bond to its own emoji, the martini is iconic. But did you know the martini has roots right here in California? But where exactly the cocktail was invented, how it got its name, even what it’s made of...that’s where it gets muddled. Bianca Taylor first brought us this story in 2018 for our Golden State Plate series.
California Foodways: Winemaking a Spiritual Practice for Trappist Monks
Historically, Tehema County's been known for its cattle ranches, not for its wine. Even Leland Stanford couldn't make a tasty vintage here. But, as Lisa Morehouse reports for her series California Foodways, there's a group of vintners who find making wine to be spiritual work.
The True History of Irish Coffee and Its San Francisco Origins
An Irish coffee is four parts coffee, a couple of sugar cubes, two parts whiskey topped with heavy cream. And one of the most famous places to get one is at the Buena Vista in San Francisco. This corner bar, located in front of a cable car turn-around, is often thought of as the birthplace of this drink. But is that true? Our friends at the Bay Curious podcast, Kelly O'Mara and Olivia Allen-Price, checked it out in this story we first aired in 2019.