Saturday is Cinco de Mayo, the time of year when some of the worst revelers go out at night to do bodyshots on bar tops. (Seeing as how it falls on a Saturday this year, you will want to be especially careful being caught after dark at any bar or discotheque.) It's also a date primarily honored in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. And with that, we give you Joanne Weir's recipe for a margarita. Weir just opened her first restaurant in Sausalito called Coptia, a Sausalito-based tequileria and eatery with a strong emphasis on tequila. Which is to say, she knows her way around a mighty fine margarita. Behold: more ›

Who needs entire, well-rounded meals for dinner? Not us, that's who. Give us some cheese and some booze for sustenance, and we're a happy little drunk mouse. Which is why we love Quince's "scotch and cheese" flight for a mere $35. Head over to their newly renovated bar and lounge in the FiDi (right next to North Beach!) to nibble and sip on the following trio of cheeses and scotches: more ›

A new study from UCSF shows that males whose sexual advances are rejected by the fairer sex were "driven to excessive alcohol consumption, drinking far more than comparable, sexually satisfied" males. Of course, the UCSF study was referring to male and female fruit flies, but apparently human drinkers are pretty similar to the alcoholic fruit flies, just with more brain cells to kill. more ›

Although San Singer and Jon Handlery has promised to padlock the place on Saturday, the Gold Dust Lounge will be open this weekend... and possibly beyond. Which: WOO HOO! Gold Dust Lounge breaks the news: "Attorney Joe Cotchett of Cotchett, Pitre & MCarthy is telling the Bovis Brothers and Gold Dust Lounge employees that they’re doors will not be padlocked this weekend (as threatened by San Singer and Jon Handlery) and Sheriff Mikarimi has no court order to evict. Cotchett say’s that as long as the litigation continues, no judge will put the wonderful Bovis brothers on the street and the GOLD DUST LOUNGE Will CONTINUE TO OPERATE AS USUAL." more ›

Also, former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown will be in attendance. Far more importantly, however, is the face that Gold Dust Lounge, now beeping on life support, will offer patrons $1 vodka drinks tomorrow, Friday, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Catherine Hill will also sing a song she wrote about the historic/possibly doomed Union Square bar. more ›

Today, February 22, is National Margarita Day, one of the most sacred days for Marina cougars and Jimmy Buffett fanboys living in Sausalito. While San Francisco's artisan bar scene desperately wants to make margaritas the new manhattans (we'll let Regina George tell you how we feel about that), the drink of choice for many a Lake Havasu spring-breaker remains just that: the cocktail of the pedestrian partier. And we wouldn't want it any other way. more ›

The Financial District's noted restaurant of glitz and glamour, Quince, just concocted several new cocktails to coincide with Oscar season. (Pst, the Academy Awards fall on Sunday, February 26th.) Most of the drinks sound irresistible like the Chinatown Collins (a gin and lime brew) or the Casablanca Cobbler (with quince-infused cognac, lemon, Meyer lemon tincture and sparkling wine). Yet a couple brews, based off of Two Women and Papillon, are unusual cinema choices for festive cocktails. (The former film is about a mother and daughter's brutal gang-rape by Moroccan soldiers; the latter involves Dustin Hoffman famously shoving something up his butt.) more ›

In frozen dessert news, there's a "1930's-inspired ice cream and artisanal soda shop" cleverly called Ice Cream Bar, opening in Cole Valley around the end of January. Judging from Eater's preview of the place, Ice Cream Bar will hit all the right buzzword buttons by harking back to a simpler time when booze was illegal, sodas were medicinal and milkshakes weren't just made by throwing ice cream in a blender. more ›

You there: what are you still doing at work? Why are you not out in Union Square wandering the streets with a seasonal coffee drink and a pint of peppermint schnapps? (It makes the rush of consumerism that much more bearable.) Are you just avoiding the inevitable drive home to the in-laws' house? Are you polishing off that bottle of whiskey you've been hiding in your desk drawer, at least? more ›

San Francisco's Beer Week returns for ten days in February 2012 and thanks to the overwhelming, sloshy success of last year's festivities at YBCA, this year's opening day event will be making a change of venue to the larger, more accommodating Concourse Pavilion at 8th and Brannan in SoMa. Since the first day of festivities tends to be the most popular and brings with it some exclusive tasting opportunities, in-the-know beer nerds, hop fiends and malt mavens are lining already lining up for early bird tickets to the marquee event which promises "newly minted nanobrewers* pouring alongside legendary craft brewing pioneers." more ›

Over in Portrero Hill, photographer Bhautik Joshi snapped this Laverne & Shirleyesque shot from inside the Anchor Brewery, home of 10 noted beers. We can only imagine how many times factory employees have placed a white glove atop a bottle of beer. Because we'd get fired for doing it every single day. more ›

Controversy erupted during our Pick San Francisco's Best Bar poll. Union Square's Jasper's questionably pulled ahead in the high-end bar category during the last hours. Like, literally, within the poll's last few hours. Which is to say, we smell PR rat. Or some sort of rat. Nevertheless, they are hereby disqualified. (If you can't trust an unscientific poll on a wildly popular blog, what can you trust!?) Jasper's is a fantastic place and we cannot recommend it enough, but it just open. Their fan base simply is not yet that large. Nice try. more ›

What with S.F. Blackout Week S.F. Cocktail Week a few days away, we thought it fitting to ask the city's biggest booze fans (i.e., SFist readers) to reveal their favorite watering hole. Call us pinko commie tools, but we still believe in the bar or restaurant as a whole rather than glorifying the star chef or, as in this case, the bartender/mixologist. Which is why we're asking for you to tell us your favorite bar in San Francisco -- your single favorite gin joint right now. You can't pick just one, you bemoan? Fine. You can pick two. But that's it. more ›

San Francisco loves a little tipple here and there (as if you hadn't noticed). And since we've ridden out this fancy cocktail movement until reaching a critical mass of artisan shakers and perfect-ice-cultivators, it makes sense that we'd celebrate that strong livered culture with a whole week of sloshy events. Thus: next week, from September 19th - 25th, the Barbary Coast Conservancy of the American Cocktail hosts the fifth annual San Francisco Cocktail Week which involves a lot of post-secondary cocktail education and a slew of cocktail friendly dinners. more ›

In the realm of mundane news that may actually affect you, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 39 in to law yesterday, banning the production and sale of beer infused with caffeine in this great state of California. The ban goes in to effect starting January 1st, 2012 and follows City Attorney Dennis Herrera's ongoing war on sugary caffeinated booze. more ›

Ohio University topped this year's list of America's Top Party Schools by Princeton Review. The Athens-based institution of higher learning landed on the the party school list 12 times since 1997. This is the first time it's reached the top. (So... kudos?) While no Bay Area schools made the esteemed list (nerds!), one California college did manage to crack the top 20. Can you guess what it is? The entire depraved list is as follows: more ›

While we sadly bid farewell to the beloved Red Vic tonight, we gladly welcome a new addition at one of the city's favorite independent movie houses: As the boozegazers in the Mission report today, the Roxie on 16th street has applied for a full-time, on-sale beer license. Meaning upcoming screenings of Happy will get that much happier and lines at the Roxie's tiny restroom facilities will get that much longer. more ›

In an effort to curb violence at the Pink Saturday festival in the Castro, the city has banned booze at the annual precursor to the Pride Parade. Last year, if you recall, a 19-year-old male was killed and two others injured at Market and Castro by a gunman more ›

Just in time for San Francisco Gay Pride, Absolut Vodka has introduced a "limited" SF edition. Following on the heels of New Orleans, Loas Angeles, Boston, and (oddly enough) Brooklyn flavors, San Francisco is the fifth city to receive the company's boozy bottle honor. But does it taste good? Normally, flavored vodka taste like corn syrup-tinged diarrhea. (Some might say the same about plain vodka, but those types are usually pretentious mixologists. You need to ignore those people.) In an effort to review the allegedly hella-SF booze, we demanded a PR representative to deliver a free bottle of Absolut SF to our front door posthaste for immediate tasting. more ›

Oh boy, oh boy: Leah Garchik and Paolo Lucchesi will make cameo appearances Wednesday night behind the bar at Traci Des Jardins' Jardinière. It's all part of the restaurant's monthly guest-bartending series. See, noted lady-about-town and SF Chronicle columnist Garchick will serve an (organic) umbrella-adorned (!) tequila cocktail called the 25th Palm for $9.00 a pop, while Inside Scoop editor Lucchesi assists Garchik with any and all mixology/sidekick needs. (We except wisecracks galore, Paolo.) more ›

Each year SFist makes it a tradition to post your much-loved Bay to Breakers Liquor Store Map -- by way of Joe Kukura of Exercising While Intoxicated, of course. And here it is. Beautiful, isn't it? Also, for further alcoholicky ease, make sure to download the booze map on your iPhone today. more ›

Of course, says Joe Kukura of Exercising While Intoxicated, one should conceal sweet nectar while running this month's Bay to Breaker's race. Even though getting lit could land you in pretend jail (or, far worse, land you and your naked butt a cameo appearance on SFist), it might also result in loads of good times. For those of you who plan on imbibing during next week's zany race on May 15th, Kukura suggests the following: more ›

After turning his nose up at trend-piece drink Four Lokko, City Attorney (and mayoral candidate) Dennis Herrera now sets his anti-fruit-flavored-alcohol-seeking laser beams at Pabst Brewing Company’s Blast by Colt 45, a barfy booze beverage arguably aimed at the underage youth of America. "Herrera joined 17 attorneys general, including California’s Kamala Harris, in penning a letter asking Pabst to discontinue the malt beverage, which is 12 percent alcohol and comes in grape, strawberry lemonade, strawberry watermelon and blueberry pomegranate flavors," reports The Examiner. Which, yeah, that sounds gross. (While we're on the subject of banning vile alcoholic concoctions, does this mean we can do away with White Russians at local bars? Because dairy and vodka should never mix.) more ›

Last year San Francisco's No. 209 Distillery, makers of some of the finest gin this side of the Prime Meridian if you don't mind us saying, produced a limited run of Kosher for Passover Gin at their Pier 50 distillery. And thus, the chosen people who choose the heavy stuff no longer had to suffer Manischewitz at the dinner table. This year, they've knocked out an even bigger run of bottles, so you shouldn't have to wander the deserted aisles of BevMo too long to find one. (In fact, we checked with the artisanal beverage purveyors at Cask and they've already got a stock of the stuff.) Distilled from sugar rather than the usual grain spirits, the Rabbi-approved formula of No. 209 might throw off the balance of your crisp martinis a little bit, but it's better than pissing off the big guy upstairs, right? Depending on how you take those martinis, you might need to go in search of some kosher vermouth as well, but around here we maintain that vermouth is for suckers. [NYTimes] more ›

Bender's, the Mission's favorite glamour trap, offers patrons $6 for a Tecate and a shot of tequila tonight from 10pm - 2 am. What's more, free horror films will play on the wall. Eeps! Bender’s, 806 South Van Ness Avenue (at 19th Street), SF. [Broke-Ass, via Eater] more ›

Returning to San Francisco after a 14 year absence, Rye's Rhachel Shaw spent time in Los Angeles working at Barkeeper in Silverlake, Malo Cantina on Sunset Boulevard, and Caña Rum in Downtown L.A. So, you know, she knows her stuff. And, seeing as how SFist errs on the side of silver linings, we're sure glad she moved back to the Bay Area before Elizabeth Taylor's death. See, Shaw came up with a fittingly boozy yet divine tribute called White Diamonds. more ›

SFPD has alerted the media that they'll be setting up a DUI checkpoint out in this Richmond this Saturday night at Geary Blvd and 9th Ave. There's always a tiny moral quandary whenever we post these announcements, but if you absolutely must venture to or from the avenues to get hammered tomorrow night, why don't you just take the 38 instead? It'll be an adventure. more ›

The recent trend in high-end cocktails (in vulgar parlors: mixology) has made us long for the halcyon days of kegstands and saki bombs. For many, like San Francisco bartenders, it's gone too far. While barrels of artisan know-how has been imparted since the cocktail trend started a few years ago, aimless snobbery also ran amok. more ›