—Christian

We live in the future. As if there was any doubt before.

SceneTap isn’t new. It’s been around since last year. But it is finally coming west to the great city by the Bay. Launching tomorrow in San Francisco, SceneTap uses facial recognition technology (captured by video cameras) to determine the age and gender of patrons entering bars with the system installed. What this means is that at any time you can use their app (download here) to get a headcount, along with the demographic composition of the crowd at your local watering hole. Which is great if you’re sick of dealing with all the recently graduated coeds in 6″ heels and tight dresses. Or, conversely, you’re seeking out that sort of company.

Sample screen from a bar in Austin

But the real beneficiaries are the bars themselves. For the first time they get an automated customer tracking system that will clue them in on who’s coming in and when. And based on the liquor consumption, determine what they’re drinking.

Of course, as with any tracking technology, privacy concerns have arisen—most notably with the imminent integration of the San Francisco market. It is potentially unsettling to know that you’re being tracked and tallied as part of a veritable marketer’s wet dream.

But while these dystopic, Minority Report feelings are justified, SceneTap is not the first company of it’s kind. A predecessor, Barspace, that launched amidst similar civil liberties and privacy controversy, installed cameras to stream live footage from participating city bars on its website and mobile app. For the record, Barspace has been pulled from the App Store and their website given back over to the SEO machine.

We’ll see how long SceneTap lasts. But whether you’re happy or horrified by the prospect, the cameras turn on this Friday. Josey and I will be out of town, but we’d love to hear how accurately it works. So wear a big hat and sunglasses and get in there to see if the M/F and age stats are correct! In the meantime, let us know how you feel about this new “service” below.

For a list of supported bars, including Enthusiast favorites Bamboo Hut, Kozy Kar and R Bar, check out SceneTap’s venue page here.

Surveillance camera photo courtesy of spsurveillance.com, Flickr.

—Christian

We threw a party on Saturday to celebrate the rare congruence of Cinco de Mayo and Derby Day. To ensure we were properly lubricated, the Enthusiasts supplied Margaritas and Mint Juleps. And, with the help of Cashmere Agency we able to secure a sponsorship from none other than the legendary Pabst Blue Ribbon! (For those of you who know me, this is a momentous accomplishment, to be sure).

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—Christian

A couple weeks ago our friends at MetroWize offered your humble enthusiasts a hosted happy hour from Absolut. The brand has moved away from the iconic print ads we used to paper all our walls with in high school and is now pushing “Cocktails Perfected.” And who better to enjoy some cocktails than us!

Graciously sponsored by Absolut

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San Francisco Enthusiasts, please join us this Saturday, March 17th for The Alcohol Enthusiast’s Annual St. Patrick’s Parade of Drunken Monkeyshines.

Don your finest greenery, wrangle your most iron-stomached drinking buddies, and meet us at LiPo Lounge at 1pm, ready to wrest this day from the amateurs and claim it in the name of true drunkards. From LiPo we’ll continue our parade through Chinatown to Red’s Place, then into North Beach where we’ll savor first the tropical atmosphere of Hawaii West. Because it’s St. Patrick’s Day after all, next stop is Maggie McGarry’s. And finally, a jaunt down Columbus to the ‘Nash (The International Sports Club), conveniently adjacent to Kennedy’s Irish Pub and Indian restaurant where we can enjoy some tasty solids with our liquid food.
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–Christian

Sazerac Bar—Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans

The Sazerac is one of the oldest cocktails still commonly consumed today. Invented around 1830 in New Orleans (where all the classics seem to have come from) by a Creole apothecary from the West Indies named Antoine Amadie Peychaud, the drink’s original recipe called for cognac, bitters, sugar and a dash of water. Incidentally, this concoction was pretty much the only cocktail recipe back in those days—something now referred to as the Old Fashioned.

Antoine’s particular approach and proprietary bitters were so popular that bars (or “Exchanges”) all over NOLA started serving it. Legend has it that a man named Sewell Taylor, owner of Merchants Exchange Coffeehouse, was serving the drink at his bar when he became the sole importer of Sazerac-du-Forge et fils Cognac. Shortly thereafter Aaron Bird took over the Merchant’s Exchange from Taylor, who had gone full-time into importing, and changed the name to Sazerac House after the liquor in their signature drink. And the first branded cocktail was born.
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—Christian

Every September San Francisco is host to a wondrous occasion know as Cocktail Week. Classes, lectures and bar-hosted events are held all around the city. This past cocktail week your humble Enthusiasts attended a seminar on a topic that has always been of great interest to me: the home bar.

Our gracious hosts were none other than Jon Santer­—founder of Bourbon and Branch (among many other prolific San Francisco bars) and David Nepove, aka Mister Mojito—currently a bar advisor by trade, but a long-time San Francisco cocktail guru. Between the two of them, it’s needless to say we were in good hands.

In this multi-part series I will take you through everything we learned. From how to build a bar; to the tools you’ll need to outfit it with; to the various ingredients you’ll want to keep behind it. In Part One we cover the bar itself. And depending on budget, the sky really is the limit.
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—Josey

Laura G. Duncan: Knows a lot about sex robots.

The request: Develop a drink for a happy hour presentation about Teledildonics, “Hey, Where’s My Robot Girlfriend,” at The Tip bar—which is exactly what your filthy, perverted mind imagines. Read more »

Our first happy hour event was a great success. After setting up at HANGR 16, I mixed drinks like crazy for almost three hours.
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Thanks to everyone who entered the haiku contest! The contest is over and the winners’ haiku can be read in the comments of this post. Cheers!
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—Zip

I work at the One Union recording studio. One year, our annual Christmas party was to be followed by a recording session at 2am. Turns out we were connecting to Cape Town, South Africa to record “Ninja” from Die Antwoord. It was noon there.

The fancy shmancy restaurant we go to for dinner every year is Jardiniere, by the opera house. They pour drinks with a heavy hand! We all had some whiskey at the office before the party, and once there I indulged in my usual drinking of the oldest and most expensive scotch they have available (it’s on the boss’ tab!) The dinner went well, was really fun, and Jesus those scotches were huge! We ate scallops, steak, risotto, holy shit, tons of buttery french shit piled up on top of all that booze. I drank like an asshole even though I knew I had an overnight session coming up.
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