Scott Mitchell, the 40-year-old man from Sebastapol who tried to take a shortcut to the Embarcadero from Church Street in his Ford SUV last month, had a blood alcohol concentration nearly three times over the 0.08 legal limit in California. According to an assistant district attorney, Mitchell's BAC tested at 0.20 three hours after he finally rammed his vehicle in to the side of the tunnel. more ›

Jardinière, Hayes Valley's white-hot spot for perfect food and all-around exquisiteness, is having another one of their local guest bartender series tonight featuring Frommer’s Travel Guides editors. David Lytle (whose photos regularly appear on SFist) will be serving up the rye based The Rytle while newly relocated SF resident Stephen Bassman will mix the bourbon based Manhattan Transfer. Each Manhattans will sell for $9.00 with all proceeds going to Family Builders, a local organization that works to place foster children in permanent loving homes. (Proceeds going to a worthwhile cause? Hippies.) more ›

When last we checked in at the with the problematic Jack in the Box in the Richmond, the twofer taco joint had lost it's 24-hour privileges after a drunken altercation at the restaurant ended in an intentional hit-run incident nearby. The neighbors protested, as they do, but the franchisee went right ahead and asked the Entertainment Commission to reinstate their permit to sling cheeseburgers after 2 a.m. Finally, after putting it to a vote at last night's meeting, the Entertainment Commission did just that. more ›

Critically acclaimed bon vivant Jay Barmann will be mixing drinks behind the bar at Jardiniere tomorrow, November 1 from 6-8pm. Join him, won't you? more ›

Mission / Shooting: Police today increased efforts to learn more about the daylight killing of 18 year-old Kevin Hall, who was shot near the intersection of Alemany Boulevard and Crescent Avenue on August 25. [Examiner] more ›

Anyone who thought the 100th running of the Zazzle Bay to Breakers 12k urine-a-thon was going to be boring ought to check out the organizers' plan to handle the drunkards. As race spokesman Sam Singer told the Examiner, organizers will be setting up "sobering tents" along the race course to corral those who left their sobriety back at the starting line. In addition to getting the sloppy ones off the streets, workers in the drunk tents will also be handing out free water and juice while they try to find inebriates a ride home. Did you hear that? Free juice! more ›

Starting at 6:30 p.m. and extending throughout the evening the SFPD will be doing a sobriety checkpoint at an undisclosed location to look out for drivers who partook too much of the Jameson's and green beer. We're guessing SoMa, near a bridge approach, but the strategy has also got to include an area where cars can easily bolt in another direction when they see a sobriety checkpoint up ahead. Any other guesses? more ›

And today on our favorite beat, namely the Drunks Behaving Badly beat, we find one obviously [read: allegedly] drunk dude who drove his car into McLaren Park around 2:20 a.m. this morning, shortly after last call. As Mike Aldax the Ex reports, cops found the car stuck “half off the road and in the air” near the pond by the playground. The driver then proceeded to fail all field sobriety tests. more ›

Even though Gavin vetoed that alcohol "fee" (or "tax" if you prefer), there are apparently rumblings still on the Board of Supervisors, likely originating with John Avalos, about trying to override Gavin's veto. We thought they needed eight votes to veto the veto, but according to the Examiner, confusingly, "The legislation passed 6-3, but would need a two-thirds vote to override the mayor’s veto." So it only needs six votes in a new vote? That makes no sense. Anyhow, we're pretty sure this thing is still dead in the water, and any threats Avalos makes about putting this on a ballot for the voters seem pretty empty and ill-advised. [Examiner] more ›

You know how the Board of Supervisors are trying to make up for some $17 million spent annually on medical care and law enforcement related to alcohol abuse by taxing all alcohol sold? Well, as ABC 7 reports, another controversial method they have of lowering the taxpayer burden for caring for drunks is setting up a "wet house," something Seattle has already done, where chronic inebriates who mostly live on the streets can receive free housing and medical care, while they continue drinking. more ›

We made it a personal mission to check out the sitch in Dolores Park this past Friday afternoon, following on reports of a police crackdown on "illegal" drinking in the park, and we returned yesterday, wine safely contained in a hard plastic water bottle, to continue our investigation. Here's what we found: police presence on Friday, which was the best weather day of the weekend, was not visible in the several hours we were there. A police van and truck were both stationed, mid-park most of the day on Sunday (and presumably Saturday -- see photo), and much of their attention was focused on the more densely crowded shitshow on Hipster Hill / Fixie Flats. more ›

Last week in New Orleans, bartenders and cocktail journalists from around the country gathered for a particularly booze sozzled conference known as Tales of the Cocktail. Highlights included the History of Saloons in America panel led by H. Joseph Ehrmann of SF's Elixir, the nomination of local cocktail blogger Camper English for Best Spirits Writer, a seminar on bacon-infused cocktails, and Bols Genever winning Best New Spirit. Jonathan Santer of Heaven's Dog brings us this dispatch, and our weekly recipe: more ›

Because we've developed an addiction to this little site called Texts From Last Night -- to which users submit the funny / insane texts they either sent, or received "last night," identified only by area code -- we decided to share the best recent posts from our hometown brothers and sisters in a semi-regular feature. Don't fret, 510 and 650: should your work prove worthy, we'll spotlight you at some point too. more ›

Because we all know the Twain adage about summer in San Francisco, we'll skip it and throw out this recipe for a slightly wintry concoction that comes to us via Greg Lindgren of Rye (688 Geary). It's their signature infused whiskey called Rock & Rye; it would mix well with ginger ale and makes for a great hot toddy base for those cold and foggy July and August nights. From Greg: more ›

The weather was hot and nice and a good time was had by all -- except those in heavy gorilla suits -- new regulations be damned. (Some pics NSFW!) more ›