"speakeasy" news and stories

While pseudo-speakeasies concocting perfectly calibrated cocktails may be an unstoppable trend, we prefer a different kind of cloak-and-dagger operation: Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, one of the Bay Area's top breweries. Since its 1997 inception, Speakeasy has won suds fans with its full-bodied beers fashioned in steam-fired stainless steel tanks and kettles, then aged in a cool cellar.

Though the malty, generously hopped Prohibition Ale and the citrus-wheat White Lightning Wit are winners, we pine for the super-drinkable Big Daddy I.P.A. Ho-hum, you think, yet another bitter India pale ale. But hear us out, for Daddy is not your normal mouth-puckering ale.

"Compared to other IPAs, Big Daddy is quite dry, so its profile is novel and completely out of style," says Speakeasy president Forest Gray. "We are not interested in making beers that are difficult to drink, just so we can say that it is hoppier than someone else's beer. We pride ourselves on the fact that one can actually drink Speakeasy beers and enjoy them."

And we definitely enjoy Daddy. The pale-gold ale (6.5 percent ABV, about 50 IBUs) packs a juicy citrus scent, with a touch of malts tossed in for balance. The taste is a hop wallop -- grapefruit sweetened with a sprinkling of sugar -- but Daddy still drinks crisp and as dry as a desert afternoon, with the bitterness lingering like a lush at last call.

Once again, Daddy knows best.

What other West Coast IPAs do you crave? Spill it in the comments.

Joshua M. Bernstein has written about brews, bars and booze for New York Magazine, Time Out New York, ForbesTraveler.com and the New York Times.

• From pig to prosciutto -- how dry-cured hams can offer the most rich and rewarding flavor.
• New York is awash in speakeasies. They might not look like the bars of Prohibition, but the same hidden doors and password rigmarole applies.
• A look at Zach Brooks and his Midtown Lunch Web site, which is dedicated to finding decent and reasonably priced lunches in, of course, Midtown Manhattan.
• Stop! That white wine in your fridge should never be served super-cold.
• Per Se, Thomas Keller's famous Manhattan eatery, has one heck of a saucy kitchen.
• Organic dairy farmers are in dire straits thanks to the recession's harsh impact.
• Ballparks might not be going gourmet, but the fast food has been given a haute twist at hotspots like Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

More news after the jump.

This month, Good Magazine - which donates its readers' subscriptions to the nonprofit org of their choice - let us all in on a little secret. Actually, several little secrets. They're called "speakeasy restaurants," a catchy term for underground eateries and "supper clubs" that aren't sanctioned by their city's health departments and are frequented only by a small, specific clientele who are privy to the information. This usually occurs virally, because even posting about them online increases the chance that the speakeasies will be closed down.

These "restaurants" are primarily run out of people's homes, and actually aren't all about the food. Instead, the point of going to one is the people you'll meet and the comfortable atmosphere you'll enjoy. In fact, from the sound things, the only clandestine quality about these top-secret eateries is exactly that: the fact that they're operated in the shadows and that they are choosy about their diners. And except for a few suspect experiments in molecular gastronomy here and there, the get togethers sound relatively tame, and feature mainly traditional, home-cooked meals.

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