Are you familiar with the pickleback? The questionable practice of chasing a shot of whiskey with pickle brine originated on the East Coast where the combination has appeared as everything from Brooklyn bar novelty, to hangover prevention mechanism, to a molecular mixology experiment. Here on the West coast the trend has been slowly finding a foothold as local whiskey drinkers (Jameson is preferred by pickled purists, apparently) discover the magic/disgust of chasing mid-shelf whiskey with the briny dregs of a pickle jar. So it was only a matter of time before some enterprising bartender combined cheap whiskey and locally-sourced pickle juice. more ›

DRINKING: FunCheapSF has the scoop on 21st Amendment Brewery's annual celebration of Repeal Day with 5-cent beers, a march against Prohibition, a secret speakeasy event (password required!), and the tapping of the cask of Repeal Day IPA. Costumes encouraged! (4 p.m. to Midnight, 21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant, 563 2nd Street) 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 ›

You may recall that in recent months BART broached the topic of extending service by one hour, only on Fridays, and apparently even this extremely cautious but nevertheless welcome proposal has hit a bureaucratic snag. The current hemming and hawing comes from a study commissioned by BART which, surprise, declares that the trade-off in this proposal (BART said they would have to cancel their earliest Saturday morning train in order to make the late Friday train work) would unfairly impact minority and low-income train riders. You see, it's the more affluent folks who want to stay out all night drinking, and the poor folks who have early Saturday jobs still need to get to work. more ›

The temperature in Houston today is 25°. With wind chill, the temperature in Denver tonight will plunge to -11°. Once again, Connecticut is being hit with a massive and depressing ice storm. But in the Mission, at this very moment, the sun is shining, there's not a cloud in the sky and people are walking around in short sleeves showing off their ironic tattoos. Take that, rest of the country! more ›

According to a new study comparing men and women who abuse alcohol, women run a greater risk of liver damage, heart disease, breast cancer, and dying in a fatal car crash than men. "The physical differences between the sexes play a significant role in how their bodies metabolize alcohol. Women have more body fat and less water in their systems than men do, as well as lower levels of an enzyme important in the breakdown of alcohol... [also] when a man and a woman drink the same amount of alcohol, in general, the woman's internal organs will be exposed to more alcohol than the man's." [LiveScience] more ›

Just like last year and the year before that, Bay to Breakers organizers promise to enforce new rules. These stricter rules will, hopefully, stop non-registered participants (like Gavin Newsom) from crashing the course without proper payment and halt drunk bartrash from peeing on city streets. more ›

The drinking busts at Dolores Park are back, according to Uptown Almanac, although its unclear whether this was just a random sweep done out of boredom or the beginning of a new wave in the SFPD's ongoing War on Fun. more ›

SFist commenter DJ Tennessee (a onetime SFist contributor) raises the bar on drunken marathon madness. After creating a liquor store map for Bay to Breakers, he decided to upstage his very own un-upstageable brilliance. During Sunday's San Francisco marathon, DJ Tennessee drank 13 beers in 13 miles. more ›

We feel it's SFist's sovereign duty to once again show joggers where they can purchase spiked refreshments while prancing throughout the city half naked on Sunday. Check out this map to learn more. more ›

It's another gorgeous day here in San Francisco -- the perfect day for drinking (if you're into that sort of thing). Here are three St. Paddy's Day events going on downtown, enabling you to sneak out of the office to join in (or if you're like us, you'll steer completely clear of the mayhem). more ›

Patrick Heig reveals this year's list of the best new pubs in which to blackout. Smuggler's Cove, Rick House, Triple Crown (messy), Bloodhound (mixed crowd), and Blackbird (gays) all make the list. The top spot is a good one, but you'll have to read the original post to find out what it is, if only for the fact that it replaced one of the last remaining fecal flakes of the dot-com techno lounge era. more ›

ART: Artist Paul Madonna will debut his annual publication, Album, along with an exhibit of his corresponding large-scale, pen-and-ink drawings of '70s and '80s era toys, which serve as a catalog to the book. In the smaller Electric Works gallery, artist Ian Huebert will exhibit his images from an "(imagined?) Plain States landscape." The exhibit runs through January 9, 2010. more ›

People are crying foul after SFPD had the unmitigated gall to hand out citations to people boozing it up in Dolores Park. Drinking alcohol in San Francisco parks, as most of you know, is verboten. No matter how many shows at Amnesia you've attended. No matter how often you prattle on about the salted caramel at Bi-Rite Ice Cream Shoppe. No matter how age-inappropriate your haircut and attire is. Drinking in public is illegal. more ›

Last night marked the opening gala of the third annual San Francisco Cocktail Week celebration -- a week in which Bay Area barmeisters mix and mingle with mixologists and cocktail enthusiasts from around the nation. The fest includes multiple tasting events around town, education seminars for professional and amateur mixologists alike, a national bartending competition, and lots and lots of drinking. (See full skedge after the jump.) more ›

What with St. Patrick's Day synonymous with binge drinking, the number of drunk drivers on the road increases. Obviously. So, instead of trying to weave home after your ninth round at your favorite local pub, why not catch a cab home paid for Berg Injury Lawyers. See, their the Safe and Sober Free Ride Home for St. Patrick’s Day program will give residents in Alameda, Oakland, SF and Berkeley rides home for free. more ›

Since more people have taken the time to air their disapproval (7000+ on one Facebook page alone, according to SFCitizen) of ING’s new rules for the Bay to Breakers race than have registered for the race itself, a rally at City Hall will take place on Thursday to add even more fuel to the fire. (God forbid SFist should tell you how to prioritize your battles, San Francisco. But, a rally to keep public pissing, nudity and drinking in a race? Really? Huh.) Citizens for the Preservation of Bay2Breakers will hold a press conference this Thursday at noon at City Hall. Not sure where Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi stands on this issue or if he plans of making an appearance at Thursday's rally. Word on the street is that he thinks ING went too far/overreacted to last year's problems. more ›

In a bit of late-breaking news, teenagers are apparently illegally(!) drinking(!) underage(!). Marin County held a townhall meeting in Kentfield last night to discuss this very recent, out-of-control phenomenon amongst teenagers. Parents and teenagers (sober, natch) voiced their concerns about underage drinking and wagged their fingers at certain areas of town where drinking runs rampant at city high schools. more ›

We interrupt your holiday frivolity, wild binge drinking, and high stress levels to bring you the following event: more ›

-- Colors of Christmas: Oh yeah. You know you want to hear this KOIT-ish night of soulful holiday tunes live at Davies, right? Well, we sure do. Peabo Bryson, Oleta Adams, Ben Vereen, and Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. croon R&B-tinged holiday classics and modern hits starting at 8 p.m. at Davies Symphony Hall; $20-$80. more ›

Photos of Santarchy 2007 more ›

Bon voyag-ee, Cosco Busan! And don't come back! The leaky Cosco Busan ship that contaminated our beautiful bay with oil is expected to get clearance to get the heck outta Frisco, setting sail at noon today to head back to South Korea. more ›

Congratulations, Oakland (29th), Fremont (32nd), and San Francisco (34th) -- you made it on the top 50 drunkest cities in the U.S. list. At least, according to the December issue of the body dysmorphia-inducing rag Men's Health Magazine. The rankings are based on alcohol-related liver deaths, "binge drinking data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," FBI-culled drunk driving arrest numbers, death-related auto accidents that involved booze, and "grades given to cities... more ›

We love Gridskipper's edge as of late. Take, for example, today's revealing top 8 San Francisco bars with the "crappiest crowds." Rankings 8, 7, 6, and 5 are Beauty Bar, Medjool, Swig, and R Bar, respectively. In all fairness, you need to visit good ol' Gridie to find out just who made the top four. (Also, regarding the number-one spot, we've never visited the sorta chic spot but have heard mixed reviews. Is it... more ›

The hostage standoff is over. No one died. Nothing went ka-blam. The "deranged man" at Clinton's HQ was simply the town crazy infamous around those parts for his kooky mental instability. (Then, this situation must happen on a daily basis over at Hillary Clinton's SF headquarters.) According to CBS 5: WBZ Radio's Lana Jones learned that the [wacky] man's stepson reported to police that his stepfather had been drinking for two days. The son... more ›

In North Beach fights breakout and mild vandalism occurs after bars close at 2 a.m. This chaos, typical for any city, makes some of our sensitive city dwellers cranky before bedtime. Or whatever. So, the City Planning Commissioners somehow got it into their heads that closing pizza parlors on the the Broadway strip, pizzerias that normally stay open until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., before 2 a.m. will solve a slew of problems. According to the Examiner: more ›

While it's no new thing for rock bands to come out with their own movies, they've definitely gotten more dramatic. Two films (that couldn't be on more opposite ends of the cinematic concert-film spectrum, if you ask us) are showing in the next two weeks: Sigur Rós' Heima (Icelandic for "Home" or "Homeland") and Daft Punk's Electroma. While Heima is more your traditional rockumentary (see band play. See band play in nice locations.), Electroma is about (according to imdb) "the history of two robots, the members of Daft Punk, on their quest to become human." Well then. more ›

Anyway, the real story here is that it's an uninteresting race, but that that shouldn't matter. With Gavin Newsom running unopposed in the minds of many a San Franciscan, the city sheriff having no serious challengers, and the district attorney running unopposed, we can see why. And according to Alex Clemens in today's Examiner (AP), "[w[]"ithout a good fight at hand, a lot of people are worried that many San Franciscans will opt out of the process and just go to work instead." (That what they want you to believe, man! Wheels within wheels.) more ›

Anyways, Sean saw this, failed to see any humor in it, and made his offer to be the money bags to everyone's favorite "hunky-hipster attorney". Again, we don't know if this is true or what the what is with the story. It could be a joke, a crazy rumor, or something Sean and Matt jokingly talked about while drinking some wine and discussing the finer points of Costas Gravas's L'Aveu. more ›

Last week's winner, the deceptive SF Weekly. Letters abound, either outraged by the fake Barry Bonds story or entertained by the elk. Why don't the negative letters have the names of the authors? Are you now questioning all the journalism you read in the Weekly now, or did you just think it was a good joke? Matt Smith says Gavin Newsom is supporting a cult. No, not the cult of Gavin, though no doubt Gavin supports that too. Cover article: a family that's had two kids shot near the Sunnyvale housing project. It's a really interesting story! This weekend alone: Litquake, the Zine Fest, and Tease-O-Rama. It's good to live in SF! Meredith isn't so happy with an appetizer bar; SFist Ced isn't so happy with Meredith! Mercredi, C'est Ravioli will continue!!!! Yay! Recent disaster concerts in the Bay Area -- at least Lady Sovereign and Lauryn Hill showed up, unlike MF Doom. We liked Let's Get Killed's pensive mature tone about the tough times Rogue Wave's gone through, we really did. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and the Bouncer deconstructs the dive bar. more ›