Yes, yes, we've been here before too (Check out that last post, from May of 09, for a slightly more informative time.) And changed clothes in the bathroom after making friendly with the folks pouring the tastings. But the place is just too cool and has such a nice view of the city (when the day is sparklingly clear, which it happened to be on this visit) and offers tastes of such tasty spirits, we knew we just had to go back and drag Auntie, her friend Kathy, my brother David, and his girlfriend Courtney.
We tried to go on the tour, but apparently had failed to reserve our place correctly and were summarily (and not very nicely, I have to say) de-nied. I totally over-reacted to this and stomped angrily around the parking lot seething for a little while. My moral here? Cymbalta is a terrible hose-beast and I should never have been put on it.
ANYWAY. We missed the tour, I was a giant bitch, and then we got to do some tastings. In retrospect, it was actually a good thing that we missed the tour, because you can see basically everything from inside the tasting room, we didn't get herded around like sheep, and we didn't have to wait an hour after the tour to have our tastings. DUH! WINNING!
The actual boozes on offer differed slightly from our previous visit, but we still got to taste a couple of lovely eau-de-vies (eaus-de-vie? Hrumph) and a large selection of Hangar One Vodkas, which are infused with actual fruits instead of having perfumey chemicals dumped into them.
We also were given a taste of the Firelit Coffee Liqueur, which was totally less interesting than the smoky dark Qi tea liqueur we tasted last time. But it was good, if you're a coffee person - not too sweet, with real coffee flavor.
I think people had a good time.
We even tried the absinthe again. Such good, sharp flavors; it's like rolling around in a particularly fragrant meadow. Here is is louching all sexily.
St. George, I forgive you for being a little bitchy this go-around, partly because you were SO nice last time and partly because the folks pouring in the tasting room were so very on the ball and knowledgeable. So maybe it's just the hipster-girl who was working the ticket area on that particular day that I should be pissy at. Harrumph.
Also, I love that you kept this sign, though I doubt it's still true.
St. George Spirits is located at 2601 Monarch Street (though really, this is in the middle of the old Alameda Air Force Base). Call to reserve space on a tour, though apparently leaving a message won't work and will make the girl at the front act extra cooler-than-thou with you while snottily saying "Well, if you didn't talk to an actual PERSON" while rolling her eyes. Ah well. 510.769.1601.