Great gifts to give that help local businesses
Restaurant and bar folks are a resilient lot, even during the course of typical human events. But throw in a lockdown and stay-at-home order and that resilience can shine through. Employment in the restaurant business is often a two job affair. Sometimes that employment is at two restaurants, sometimes it involves employment outside of the industry and sometimes that extracurricular employment is not all that far removed.
Since there are still two shopping days until Christmas, I have taken the liberty of assembling a list of several local businesses where you can fill your holiday gift-giving bag. All these options also feature the added bonus of having former, furloughed or current bartenders handling their business.
If that isn’t a win-win-win, I don’t know what is.
• Cork Pops
When it comes to bar tools nobody beats Cork Pops, not only in Marin, but anywhere for that matter. The store carry it all, from its unparalleled wine opener, the eponymous Cork Pop, to the thermal gel-filled copper look Moscow mule cup, which will keep your mule chilled for as long as you could possibly need. Brian Lee, who was a bartender at the former Boca Tavern in Novato, is featured in most of the demo videos for Cork Pops’ products available online at their website. And he assures us that Cork Pops’ self-turning muddler is “the best bar tool” he’s ever used.
The large format Nicholas
32- ounce stainless steel cocktail shaker (with an ice-shaving interior strainer) might also just come in handy for these particular holidays.
Cork Pops’ catalog is available at its website and shipping is the only option. However, many of their products are also available locally at fine beverage and food shops, as well as at BevMo and Amazon.
• 7 Commercial Blvd., Novato; 800-322- 6757; corkpops.com
• Bitter Girl Bitters
Technically, Bitter Girl Bitters is in Petaluma, but owner, operator and founder Erin Hines has strong Marin County connections. Her illustrious bartending career has included several Marin hotspots and she is still mixing up to-go cocktails occasionally at Kentfield’s Guesthouse.
At her day job, however, Hines makes top-notch handcrafted bitters: Bitter Rose, Prickly
Poms and a Walnut that when not sold- out is an absolute must. Her barrel-aged coffee bitters (named Morning Wood, I kid you not) makes one fabulously uplifting old-fashioned, morning, noon or night.
The company offers online ordering only, but Bitter Girls is also available at Vintage Wine and Spirits in Mill Valley, Hanson of Sonoma in Sausalito and Bay Area Doorstep Market.
• 1505 Colwood Drive, Petaluma; 415-706- 6330; bittergirlbitters.com.
• King Floyd’s Bar Provisions
King Floyd’s not only makes nine kinds of aromatic cocktail bitters but also has rimming