It’s not often you get a decent cocktail at a bar anymore. ‘Tenders are too busy making Jack & Cokes and pouring cheap beer.

In fact, we’ve gotten a few sneers for merely asking for a gin and tonic.

But we’re loving the hand-crafted “original” sours at Whiskey Tip (1910 Sebastopol Rd, Santa Rosa) made with American bourbon, simple syrup, lime juice and egg whites.

They’re beautiful and delicious, and only $8 rather than, well, a whole lot more at other fancy drink spots.

I loved this article in the SHED newsletter, written by Gretchen Giles (editor of Made Local Magazine). She’s graciously let me reprint it here. Consider checking out the class.

It’s not a grain and it’s not a wheat, but buckwheat acts like a grain and cooks like a wheat. Best part? It’s extremely high in protein and entirely gluten-free.

In preparing for Sonoko Sakai‘s soba-making workshop, slated for Oct. 5 at SHED Modern Grange in Healdsburg, we have buckwheat on the brain.

It’s a pretty amazing plant. Interplanted, it acts as a natural weed suppressant. Featuring triangulated seeds similar to those of the Beech tree, it’s original name is Beech Wheat; knowing that the Dutch word for “Beech” is beuc helps to understand today’s moniker. And before the advent of petrochemical fertilizers, we used to grow literally tons of it in the U.S. — one million acres were harvested in 1918 — as a green compost that rejuvenates soils.

The French love it for crepes; the Italians, for pasta; and the Japanese, for their slurping noodles. They even have a word, nodogoshi, to describe the sensation one feels when whole soba buckwheat noodles slide down the throat.

Anson Mills, one of the country’s only artisanal outfits able to properly process this notoriously difficult seed, has offered to custom mill two types of buckwheat flour just for SHED. For soba making, they are producing Ni-Hachi Sobakoh, a high grade flour made from buckwheat “just cut from the field a few days ago”, according to Glen Roberts, the visionary founder of Anson Mills. For pasta, crepes and other pastries (such as the buckwheat seeded cookie made by our talented pasty chefs), they’re milling a refined taragna buckwheat flour. Discussing buckwheat on their website, they rather poetically declare, “the aroma and flavor nuances of freshly milled buckwheat are fleeting.” Look for these custom milled flours in our cooler, expected sometime next week.

The best soba houses in Japan still mill their own buckwheat flour in order to best capture its transience. Sonoko has been known to leave her clothes behind in order to pack her luggage full of this flour when she travels to places where it is freshly milled.

Join us on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014 to learn more about this ancient staple and the soba noodle tradition that surrounds it. Sonoko has graciously allowed us to reprint one of her stories about buckwheat soba noodles and their importance to her personally on our blog this week.

On a recent tour of the Barlow’s SpirtWorks Distillery (6790 McKinley St #100, Sebastopol) BiteClub fell a little in love.

Partly with owners Timo and Ashby Marshall’s Boston Terrier, Bandit, and mostly with their newly-released barrel aged gin.

Made from their Red Winter Wheat gin, it’s aged in new White oak (giving it a more intense, toasty flavor), imparting a rich amber hue, with lots of vanilla, butterscotch, cardamom and orange and a perfect winter sipper. Try it mixed with a little eggnog or straight up by the fire.

Want to see the distillery for yourself? Guided tours are available Friday through Sunday for $15 per person, with reservations required. And while you’re at it, pick up a bottle of their vodka, rye whisky and sloe gin (a specialty of Timo’s family for generations).

Available at Oliver’s Markets, Bottle Barn and Bevmo, around $50.

Guerneville’s food and drink renaissance continues with the soon-to-open El Barrio cocktail lounge on September 27, 2014.  It’s the next in a series of food and drink projects by Crista Luedtke, who also owns big bottom market, boon eat+drink and boon hotel+spa.

The “Mexican modern cocktail lounge” will focus on spirits–bourbon, tequila and mezcal–rather than food, with a robust drink program developed by SF bartender and consultant Christina Cabrera (Novela, Range, Marlow, Michael Mina). Luedtke says the name, which translates as ‘the neighborhood’ is also a play on words “bar” and “rio”, or river bar.

The lounge replaces  Whitetail Winebar, and the revamped interior includes custom made Talavera tile and a graffiti wall installation by ‘the Apexer’, a SF based artists.

More details in the next couple weeks.

El Barrio, 16230 Main St., Guerneville, www.elbarriobar.com

Saturdays get even tastier on local news station, KSRO (1350AM, 103.5FM) with the debut of “At the Table with Wolf & Smothers” on Oct. 4, 2014.

Wine Country food fanatics Clark Wolf and Marcy Smothers will dish each week on food news and personalities with guests including Ruth Reichl, Emeril Lagasse, Bruce Aidells, Martin Yan and Top Chef Master’s Douglas Keane.

The dynamic duo’s first show airs live from the Sonoma County Fairgrounds during the Harvest Fair, and will on KSRO each Saturday from 1 to 3p.m. following The Good Food Hour with John Ash from 11am to noon and On the Wine Road with Jeff Davis from noon to 1p.m. Delicious!

BiteClub, of course, hits the local food beat on local radio station KZST (100.1FM) each Thursday morning from 7:40a.m. to 9a.m. with Brent Farris. Yeah, I just tooted my own horn. (And, PS…I’m truly sorry to those of you who have to hear me at Kaiser or your dentist’s chair.)

Get a sneak peek!

Sad news in Montgomery Village. Chef Jennifer McMurray has announced that her popular cafe, Viola Pastry Boutique and Cafe (709 Village Court, Santa Rosa) will shutter on Sept. 27.

The good news, however, is that her homey cooking (and her hostess/mom, Vickie) are continuing their culinary journey. McMurray will continue catering private parties and events and is looking for a new location for her restaurant. Stay tuned.

The adorable little roadhouse at 9890 Bodega Highway that’s seen a number of restaurants come and go in the last several years is being taken over once again, this time by the highly successful Fork Catering.

Owner Sarah Piccolo says she’ll use the spot for a variety of uses, including her catering kitchen, offering a breakfast and lunch eatery, food truck parking by the side patio for a “quick casual bite” and offering special event space.

Piccolo hopes to be open by November and plans to expand to weekend brunches, dinners and special events in the future. “The concept will be casual, approachable, family friendly, and will definitely support our local farmers, bread bakers, and community,” she said.

After several years of planning, permitting and building, kitchen outfitter Williams-Sonoma will be returning to its roots in Sonoma. In celebration of founder Chuck William’s 99th birthday, the store will open in early October at its original Broadway location on the Sonoma Square.

There will be a small cooking school and historic display, in addition to cookware and kitchen gadgets.

The landmark store opened in 1956, when a prescient Williams decided Americans might appreciate European-quality cookware. Just a few years later, Julia Childs’ Mastering the Art of French Cooking kindled a firestorm of interest in his high-end copper pots, pans and knives. utensils. Ironically, Sonoma County has’t had a Williams-Sonoma store since Williams moved his operation to San Francisco in the late 1950s.