John Barleycorn Has Died

In today's L.A. Times, there's a not-entirely-new-news-but-still-readable piece about the demise of some of San Francisco's great booze temples (John "The Corn" Barleycorn, Bobby's Owl Tree, Moose's, the Washington Square "The Washbag" Bar and Grille, Dago Mary's), and the interesting note that SF has one of California's highest percentage of bars per capita.

Two highlights:
1) A reference to the olde Englishe song (and, I hope, the old Traffic album):

That's when Ayre knew the John Barleycorn must die. "It was a pit-of-the-stomach feeling," he said.

2) The bar's owner set up artifacts from the bar in his house and has had regulars over for some wistful drinks.

Ayre moved all the bar's furniture to his house in Santa Rosa.

Not long ago, Antico and Elke visited him there. They sat at the 25-foot-long bar in Ayre's great room, perched on their customary stools. Ayre poured them pints of Guinness, for old times' sake.

I wasn't going to do the obvious thing, and bemoan that Baltimore had some magnificently crappy watering holes that are no longer (the hot and crooked Miss Irene's is reopening with the same name but appears to be no longer about to collapse, and now it has a website with a wine glass logo, fer christssakes.) But I am kinda doing it anyway. Sorry.

Places that frightened off the tourist trade and those in search of a mojito (no offense to the mojito, mind you) are harder to find in every respectable city. There was another great place on Lancaster Street in Fell's Point called "Bar." It had a wine list that read thusly:

WINE LIST
1 - Red
2 - White
Please Order
By Number

Anyway, old urban bars for professional drink enthusiasts are closing because of gentrification, and it is a shame. Though it means the city is probably doing better, which means more tax revenues, so that's not a shame.

Let's end on a positive note: Here's a drink recipe from the Colonel.

Recipe:
two quarts of Glyndon Bourbon Water
one package of noodles
one bunch of chopped mint
1/4 cup of sugar

Drain noodles
Discard noodles
Drink the broth
Do not drive or use heavy machinery