Brothers and sisters, I don't know about you, but the cabinet I'm focused on this holiday season is the liquor cabinet. One needs to fortify oneself for the times ahead, or at least forget your troubles, like a good Judy (Shirley Temples ain't gonna cut it).
So, belly up to the bar for a round of potable last-minute gifts, and some choice boozeless booty as well. We've checked our list twice with online purveyors to make sure anything you order by Dec. 15 will arrive in time for Christmas. All of our liquor selections are also available at some local retailers.
Bottle service
Denial will get you nowhere, so open your eyes to See the Elephant. Despite sounding fit for only a Republican publican, this eccentric amaro has an adventurous San Francisco foodie flair: The stuff is made with arugula! Difficult to pin down, but surprisingly smooth, this Italian concoction is a sure conversation starter.
The peppery bitterness of your pizza's favorite salad green is balanced by a perplexing, soft sweetness that veers toward bubble gum. You'll just have to drink more to untangle its mysterious flavor. As a bonus, the trippy, multicolored label design means there's no need for giftwrap. www.elephantamaro.com
From the Andes Mountains, and film director Steven Soderbergh, comes Singani 63, the only brand of Bolivia's national spirit, Singani, sold outside its home country.
Soderbergh, who was born in 1963, first encountered singani while filming his Che Guevara biopic (the charismatic global revolutionary met his end in Bolivia) and partnered with distillers on an export product.
Distilled from wine made exclusively with Alexander of Muscat grapes grown at high altitude, it's a floral, 40% ABV cousin to both pisco and brandy, but with its own distinctive character. Traditionally sipped straight with a squeeze of lime, it's also a versatile player in cocktails, worth experimenting with in lieu of both gin and whiskey. www.singani.com
You say Kahlua, and I say Koloa. But let's call the coffee talk off, because when it comes to bean-and-booze combos, Kōloa KauaŹ»i Coffee Rum is the flat-out winner when pitted against the old school, sickly-sweet java tipple. Its coffee flavor is richer, its alcohol content is higher, and it's made with beans grown near the distillery on Kauai. www.koloarum.com
Spike your cocoa with something local! The latest release from the Sausalito Liquor Company is their limited-edition Unsinkable Chocolate Liqueur. It's a Bay-spanning spirit, incorporating cocoa nibs sourced by Berkeley's own TCHO Chocolate.
The flavor and texture are rich enough that a slowly sipped shot could stand in for dessert after a heavy holiday feast, and it's not unthinkable to pour a glug of Unsinkable on a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
But don't relegate this bottle to the sweet table. Give it a ride on the bar cart, too. Unsinkable makes surprising, tasty sense when used sparingly in riffs on the Negroni and the Old Fashioned, providing a counterpoint to their bitter citrus elements. www.sausalitoliquor.com
Liquid cheer not your spirit lifter of choice? Well, poinsettias aren't the only flower that suits the season. Cannabis connoisseurs will love to fuel up their Yule with the sleek, combustion-free Iven vaping device from Southern California's e1011 Labs. This pocket-sized push-button convection oven is the ideal low-smoke, flame-free way to get yourself baked like a Christmas cookie; available in a handsome evergreen model. www.e1011labs.com
Jolly jaunts
We're not quite done drinking yet. For a great experiential gift, stuff your sweetie's stocking with a ticket for the little-trafficked Treasure Island Ferry and take them on a private gold rush.
After an eight-minute zip across the bay from the Embarcadero, debark on the island and take a gander from whence you came. This is a spectacular perspective on downtown San Francisco never seen by many local residents. Now walk a few hundred feet further onto the island toward the curved art moderne façade of a former U.S. Navy administration building.
Inside, along with a spectacular 251-foot long, 26-foot mural chronicling military history in the Pacific since 1813, you'll find a shiny surprise: The public headquarters of locally distilled Gold Bar Whiskey.
This plush cocktail lounge and showroom, open from noon to 9pm, Tue.-Sun., has a Midas vibe, with stacks of the brand's shiny, ingot-shaped bottles on display and a surfeit of gilded surfaces. How ridiculously glitzy is San Francisco's secret Fort Knox of cocktails? Last year's season finale of "Vanderpump Rules" was filmed here. www.goldbarwhiskey.com
Rev up for a wild 2025 with an exhilarating trip around the city (or wine country) on one of Jerome Ribeiro's licensed fleet of sidecar motorcycles. For locals accustomed to traveling by car or public transit, Ribeiro's Rides by Me is a whole new way to experience San Francisco. You'll speed down the steepest hills, do the Lombard Street slalom, and wave at gawking pedestrians like you're the queen of England.
A French native and former chef, Ribeiro is a loquacious Bay Area cheerleader. He and his team of moto-chauffeurs provide wisecracking commentary through helmets wired with radio transmitters. Curated routes and customized itineraries are available for up to two passengers per bike; one in the sidecar, one straddling the driver. For a group gift, you can hire multiple vehicles. www.ridesbyme.com
Glad rags
Tie one on with Mister Bandana and reconnect with queer history. Based in the gay stomping grounds of Manhattan's East Village, Josh Stoneman and Roko Sinovcic design and produce a fetching collection of American-made bandanas for retro hanky-panky with contemporary style statements.
Their collab with actor Alan Cumming's louche nightspot features a woodcut-style illustration of flirty red-lipped ephebes surrounded by a decorative border and is available in an array of communicative colors. Check out their Tarzan-inspired "Jacked Lion," roaring pink dragon, and rodeo buckaroo designs at www.misterbandana.com
Would you gamble on your garb? At only $50, it's well worth a wager on Chance by Annemarie, the artistic upcycling endeavor from Annemarie Hereford, an alumnus of San Francisco's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (now relocated to Los Angeles). A fulltime designer at a major accessories company, she operates Chance as a labor of love and a personal creative outlet.
Hereford sends customers small shipping bags to fill with clothes they've stopped wearing but still feel attached to, along with a questionnaire about their personal style.
She then makes like a fashion Frankenstein, snipping, sewing and creatively remixing the submitted items into a fresh new statement piece. Hereford has reinvented trousers as handbags, skirts as blouses, and orchestrated a wide range of subtler nip tuck transformations. If you order this week, you'll receive the shipping bag by Christmas, not the finished work. www.chancebyannemarie.com
Tradition and diversity
In anticipations of dark December nights when folks just want to snuggle up at home, give old-fashioned gifts with an LGTBQ+ spin. Crack open some snacks with rainbow-festooned wooden soldiers from Nutcracker Ballet Gifts, which donates 5% of the profits from sales of its Pride Collection to queer charities. www.nutcrackerballetgifts.com
Ready to do some boob tube swooning over "Hot Frosty" or the drag queens of Christmas contemporary classic "Tangerine" (Director Todd Baker is currently back in cinemas with his Oscar buzzy "Anoura")? Give a fellow cineaste one of the Movie Night gift boxes from Pop 'N Dulge, which include a three types of heritage popcorn kernels and five different seasoning packets. There's even a special Hannukah-themed version available. www.popndulge.com
And for an update on Old Maid and other antiquated card games, consider the Many Queens Tarot Deck, with its inclusive illustrations of family, femininity, beauty, and body image. It's designed by artist and San Francisco Art Institute alum Lettie Jane Rennekamp, who describes herself as "an Aquarius, a weirdo, a horse-girl" and a witch. www.lettiejane.com
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