Cocktail Week 2009
Photos by Jane Richey




The Barbary Coast Conservancy of the American Cocktail presented its Third Annual San Francisco Cocktail Week Celebration, May 11–18. This year’s events celebrated the “history of bars, bartenders and cocktails of the past in San Francisco, the present places in which to find the best drinks in town, and the people who make it all happen.”

For 2009, Cocktail Week founders H. Joseph Ehrmann (proprietor of Elixir), Jeff Hollinger (general manager of Absinthe), and Duggan McDonnell (owner of Cantina), added an opening night gala at Le Colonial and closing gala at Jardiniere, a Friday happy hour blowout at Epic Roasthouse, a Saturday afternoon historical bar crawl in North Beach, and an evening of farmers’ market-inspired cocktails mixed at the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture’s (CUESA) kitchen in front of the San Francisco Ferry Building.

This year was the debut of Cocktail Week Bar School – A Day of Education sponsored by Imbibe magazine, where at various venues (Hanger 1 Distillery, Absinthe, Bourbon & Branch, Heaven’s Dog, Cantina, Elixir, and SKYY’s Test Kitchen), mixologists shared their expertise in all areas of mixology, including bartending techniques and ingredients as well as their knowledge of mixology history and literature.

This year’s San Francisco Cocktail Week featured a panoply of mixology celebrities and stars including David Nepove, Dominic Venegas, Carlos Yturria, Jordan Mackay, Neyah White, Scott Beattie, Brooke Arthur, Erik Castro, Alicia Walton, Camber Lay, Kelli Bratbold, Scott Baird, Steve Liles, Jon Santer, Lou Bustamante, Dave Smith, Erik Ellestad, Daniel Hyatt, and of course Cocktail Week founders Ehrmann, Hollinger and McDonnell.

The Barbary Flip
Official Cocktail of San
Francisco Cocktail Week 2009
Created by Duggan McDonnell,
proprietor of Cantina

1 ounce Sagatiba Velha Cachaca
¾ ounce SKYY Infusions Pine
apple vodka
½ ounce Benedictine
1 ounce fresh lime juice
1 fresh egg white
Driscoll Farms strawberry
slice and Angostura bitters, for garnish

Combine cachaca, vodka, Benedictine, lime juice, and egg white in an ice-filled shaker and shake for 20 to 30 seconds, or until well chilled. Strain through a fine strainer into a chilled Champagne coupe glass, and garnish with a thinly sliced Driscoll Farms strawberry that has been doused with Angostura bitters. Makes one drink.