Our friends Sam and Fred invited MB and I to join them last weekend for a ferry boat ride over to Hangar One for a vodka tasting. Hangar One is a very creative little vodka company over in Alameda. They made the infamous “wasabi vodka”, which was quite stunning and will probably never see the light of day again (due to the fact that the vapors of wasabi + vodka during distillation basically = mustard gas).
It was a gorgeous day in San Francisco.

MB and I decided to walk down to the ferry building. On the way we saw the infamous wild parrots of Telegraph Hill (who we hear screaming overhead quite frequently). They are the unofficial mascots of the area.

A little further on presented some quite gorgeous views of Coit Tower…

I had never taken a trip across the San Francisco Bay on a ferry before. It was sure efficient, and very speedy! I can imagine it’d be a great way to come to work in the morning. And the views… what a great way to start the day that would be. 🙂

A shuttle from Hangar One met us at the ferry, and drove us over to the tasting event. It turned out to be much larger than I had expected. There were a few hundred people, nibbles from other local food vendors, vodka and whisky and other delicious drinks to try, and even a band! Sam took much better pictures than I… I was too distracted by the huge vodka still. 🙂 We got to test out some of the 84%-alcohol which was in process in this still to become orange blossom vodka. Apparently the liquid in the still needs to be distilled down to 95% alcohol to officially be called vodka. The intensity of orange blossom flavor in the 84% was really incredible, and of course the percentage of alcohol basically burned the hell out of one’s mouth (but in a good way! 😉 )

In Hangar One’s front lobby they had samples of the fruits and blossoms they use to flavor their vodkas. I liked this giant Buddha’s Hand… (and incidentally the Buddha’s Hand vodka is amazing!)

After a thoroughly enjoyable and boozy afternoon, we caught the 4:30pm ferry back to San Francisco. The sun was just beginning to go down over the city.

What a wonderful way to spend the day. If you happen to be visiting San Francisco, and you like vodka, you should definitely take the trip to Hangar One!