He’s not the one to boast, humblebrag, or really even speak of personal success. And yet, almost nightly, at little coffee shops or large theaters across the country, whether in front of 10 people or a 1,000, Mighty Mike McGee has bared his soul.

The standup poet and comedian, spoken word artist, humorist, master of ceremonies and San Jose nightlife fixture is arguably one of the greatest slam poets in the world. He’s been featured on HBO and CBC Television, and served as a regular contributor to NPR’s Snap Judgment. He hosts seemingly every type of live, speaking-based event in the valley, from downtown San Jose’s Music in the Park and the Live Lit open mic at Caffe Frascati to a beer-sling Spelling Bee at the Local Color art collective or a rowdy talent competition, the Go! Go! Gone Show at Cafe Stritch, to name just a handful.

McGee, 41, toured the world for more than a decade, developing his art alongside the subterranean growth of slam poetry, while slowly becoming one of its most celebrated practitioners. His continual presence in the scene and his oft-autobiographical musings have earned him titles throughout the world of slam poetry, such as first place in the 2006 Individual World Poetry Slam Championship, and first in the National Championship in 2003.

But it wasn’t always this way. Like any superhero, McGee has a difficult origin story that required turning his biggest weaknesses into an irresistible strength.

* * * * * * *

Michael Matthew McGee always felt like an outsider. Born in 1976 on the Fort Campbell military base that straddles the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, he was diagnosed with spina bifida, a birth defect that prevents the backbone and spinal cord from fully forming. He has struggled with the disease all of his life. Moving to San Jose at a young age, he was bullied in grade school because of his different status.

One potential side effect of the disease is a lack of bladder control, and any kid forced to wear a diaper will experience a cruelty and callousness particular to young children.

“That gets as much credit as anything else in getting me into performance,” McGee says of his formative years. But rather than sit back and endure the teasing, he flipped the perceived weaknesses into a strength, assailing the jeers with skill and charisma.

While his life at home was economically strained, the environment was always positive, as his mother nurtured his creative aspirations.

“Doctors told my mom I shouldn’t be here, so I’ve kind of lived my life with this borrowed time framework,” McGee says. “I don’t feel like it’s a miracle. I just feel like it was bad diagnosis. I try not to live that way.”

He still deals with complications from spina bifida, which requires him to wear a diaper.

“I got sponsored by Depend a few years ago, and they paid me a lot of money to do one commercial for them,” he says. “It was cool and it was a great experience for me, and it paid my rent for a long time. I thought long and hard if I wanted to be associated with a product like that. When I was a kid, I didn’t know anyone who was successful in the arts who wore diapers. There was no role model for me. I took the commercial because if a kid sees me and thinks I’m an alright guy, and I say, ‘Yep, I wear diapers,’ I thought they might not have to go through all the same bullshit.”

By eighth grade at Hoover Middle School in San Jose, McGee had become a social butterfly—if not the class clown. He was done taking crap, and for the first time his mouth got him in and out of trouble.

“Now that mouth has also gotten me on and off a lot of stages,” he says. “It hasn’t stopped, and I don’t think it will.”

* * * * * * *

McGee, by his own estimate, is a professional coffeehouse loiterer. Cafes, diners and just about any other sit-down space with joe are such a staple of his creative process and journey that he can pinpoint the first place he sipped a cup of coffee. Now known as labarre studios, and for a long time the salon and art gallery Five Color Cowboy, the high-windowed former Bank of Italy building at 1445 The Alameda holds great significance to McGee. Those formative coffeehouse years began when McGee was a senior at Willow Glen High School, working at McDonald’s, and continued into the years after he dropped out of West Valley College.

“On my days off I would just loiter there,” he says. “It wouldn’t even be noon and I often had nothing to do.”

If anything, the coffee shop offered McGee some type of permanence. Besides bullying and hardships with money, his childhood was marked by constantly moving, which meant new schools and efforts to make new friends, a process that often resulted in isolation. Before high school, he had never spent more than a year and a half at any school.

“I told my mom I’m not transferring anymore,” McGee recalls. “I liked Willow Glen. It was different than the other schools I attended.”

He made friends, or at the very least “had a group of people that I could sit and eat lunch with.” In his sophomore year, he got involved in theater, which gave him a larger, more consistent social circle. McGee’s family still continued to move, this time from the very edge of San Jose to Lakewood Village in Sunnyvale. But he refused to leave Willow Glen High, turning his daily journey to school into a genuine commute. “I couldn’t get enough of Nirvana and De La Soul, and I would switch those two tapes back and forth as I took the bus downtown, then over into Willow Glen,” McGee says.

The coffee shop remained a fixture. Although he didn’t know it yet, it would become the launchpad for his career.

* * * * * * *

Like almost everyone in their early 20s, McGee was impressionable and searching for purpose. He had given up on West Valley after a year with no intention of going back. Frankly, McGee had always hated school. Especially in the early years, it was the setting for his worst memories. So he spent his time “truly loitering” at the coffee shop, sitting, talking and chain-smoking for six or eight hours at a time.

On a quiet night, McGee was shooting the shit when he noticed a guy sit down, his hair fashioned into purple liberty spikes, the rest of his clothing covered in studs and clothespins. McGee was making his friends laugh, when he noticed—with the radar of any good comedian—that the punk was also chuckling. McGee asked him to join the fun, but the punk demurred. After a few more encounters, they warmed to each other, and pretty soon the punk was trying to drag McGee to an open mic at the old Cafe Babylon.

“Going to that open mic that night changed my life”, McGee says.

The punk’s name is Geoff Kagan Trenchard. Along with friends Jeff Hicks and Jeff Archuleta (aka The Three Jeffs), McGee would hang out at Kinko’s and make zines, often with a humorous bent. He credits the Jeffs and his friend David Perez with jumpstarting his desire to engage in the arts.

“He has a very special, unique quality where he is friends with everyone, and in a way that’s not disingenuous,” says Perez, a former Santa Clara County poet laureate. “Everyone connects with him immediately.”

While that may be true now, McGee offers a slightly different view on his ability to achieve immediate success. How did he develop a gift for the spoken word?

“It was really a matter of people telling me I sucked in the nicest way possible,” he says. “My poetry friends were telling me that maybe I shouldn’t be doing these poetry events, because I kept losing. That compelled me to get better at it. I didn’t have my voice yet, and I didn’t know what I was trying to say. Once I got a feel for it, it was a lot easier from that point on. I did better on stages no matter where I went, because I was really focused not only on what I wanted to say, but also how I wanted people to feel after I performed. I wanted them to say, ‘Whoa! I didn’t know poetry could be like that.’ Because that’s what poetry did for me.”

During this time, the late ‘90s, McGee gained his nickname. When asked to provide an email address to his friend Trenchard, he found that every Mike McGee was taken—so he went for alliteration—Mighty Mike McGee. It stuck.

* * * * * * *

Before long he became heavily involved in the spoken word poetry scene, working his way up from city slam champion to a world stage. During this time he also began releasing compilation CDs of spoken word—33 to be exact—with his then-roommate under the moniker Bleeding Edge Spoken Word.

All the while, McGee was hosting, emceeing or running live events. Initially, people asked for his help simply because of his experience with poetry slams. But he soon started offering his services as a host, often for the express purpose of getting audiences to listen to his poetry after getting acquainted with him. Again, he didn’t exactly realize it at the time, but the winds of fate were blowing Mighty Mike in a certain direction.

Whether it’s a slam poetry and spoken word event or standup comedy and emceeing, Mighty Mike McGee can run the show. Photo by Greg Ramar.

* * * * * * *

Like a standup comedian playing clubs, but more haphazardly, McGee improvised a tour across the country in 2003, performing wherever folks would have him. Armed with a roller suitcase filled with a laptop and a few wardrobe changes—which, at that time, constituted all of his possessions—McGee lived the life of a transient. Almost always, he traveled alone to bars and theaters across the country, but loneliness was never too much of a factor. If you know even one person in a strange land, a place can embrace you.

“That was the beauty of the poetry slam network—you had allies wherever you went,” McGee says. “I’d get off a Greyhound bus and there would be people there waiting for me. It was such an amazing feeling.”

Humor is the great leveler, allowing for the darkest tragedies to be stripped of their weight and power. Laughter brings people together and forces out the insecurities that sit present in all of us, just waiting for a trigger to be released. But above all, humor is a coping mechanism—a tool for survival that McGee learned to use from an early age and now serves as a linchpin for all of his spoken word and poetry.

Even his most heartbreaking pieces weave together with an undercurrent of humor. Poems like “Everyday” use the imagery of terrorists strapping bombs to their chests as a metaphor for intense love, or “The End,” where he lists off the absurd ways the world would miss him if he died that day.

“It took me a long time to stop pitting comedy against tragedy,” McGee says. “I realized I could do both at the same time.”

But even with friends waiting along the way, life on the road is hard.

“I saw America from a Greyhound bus for at least 400,000 miles,” McGee recalls.

The stress, uncertainty and patches of boredom led McGee into a lifestyle of drinking—heavily. It brought him to the verge of a nervous breakdown. McGee was also diagnosed with diabetes several years ago. Combined with the drink and a rough life on the road, it could have been a death sentence.

“I am now so much more focused on what’s right for me, and what’s good for me—because if it’s good for me, then it’s good for the people around me,” says McGee, who gave up drinking and smoking. “Then I end up putting that much effort into my work, and the work of others, instead of putting that much effort into buying the next beer. … The diabetes also added another level of, ‘You might not be here that long.’ I have a lot of work to do before I die.”

Moreover, he realized he had been on the road for roughly a decade without any place to call his own—save for the couches he’d slept on. McGee decided to come back home with a new mission.

* * * * * * *

“Everyone wakes up with the feeling like I do this thing every day, but am I supposed to do this thing every day? I think everyone is so bent on ‘supposed to,’ and that’s the thing, we write that ‘supposed to’ ourselves.”

It’s this philosophy that drives Mighty Mike McGee’s habit of walking into venues with the sole purpose of seeing if he can create a show there. It’s a state of mind that has allowed him to set his sights on starting an arts and poetry foundation in the South Bay.

“I needed a new ‘supposed to,’ and everything pointed back to San Jose,” he says about the decision to settle down in San Jose in 2014.

McGee first focused on poetry, but he quickly realized that no one in town had established themselves as an entertainment provider or promoter. He had more than the requisite skills—hosting, organizing and decades of wrangling crowds. “I could be one of the guys that put on quality shows,” McGee thought.

A little less than three years later, McGee has become the quintessential South Bay emcee. Just last week—a quieter one at that—he hosted two different open mics, as well as his own performance with friend and musician CADO. In fact, on nearly any night of the week, one can find McGee adroitly hosting and offering his poetic musings somewhere in the South Bay.

“I have a mission here in the valley,” he says. “I want to show San Jose to itself from as many stages as I can. I want San Jose to know that it’s talented and poetic. And beautiful. It’s a beautiful place with beautiful people. It’s just a matter of people going out and seeing it for themselves.”

These days, McGee walks down the streets of downtown San Jose and he’s treated like a celebrity—if not some type of saintly figure—as random people stop to hug him, chat or simply thank him for one of the countless events and activities he has helped groom.

“Mike stands out to me as someone who has always been really supportive, and taught me a lot early on,” says Kim Johnson, a fellow spoken word poet. “He’s done so much for local artists. He’s really great with encouraging new artists in all genres to do their thing.”

His roommate, musician and artist Ben Henderson, echoes similar sentiments, as their proximity and house party poetry readings have become their own underground scene. “It’s inspiring to be around him,” Henderson says. “It’s inspiring to simply sit at the dinner table with him.”

* * * * * * *

Mighty Mike McGee sometimes wonders if he asks too much of his city. He has purposefully rooted himself with a goal of increasing the status of poetry in the South Bay, while trying to still pay rent. All of his comedian and poet friends have stopped pursuing this goal full time.

“Besides tech, anything good that comes, leaves as soon as it gets successful,” McGee says. “I think San Jose and the South Bay really want you to mean it if you’re going to stick around, and that’s where I’m at right now. I’m trying to build my reason for staying.”

In a world in which people go about their lives in relative silence—and often suffer because of it—there are gems like Mighty Mike McGee, who put their hearts on the table with such bravery, wit and cool defiance that they can’t help but encourage others to do the same.

Below is a poem written by Mighty Mike McGee. 

EVERY DAY

by Mighty Mike McGee

Every day
I rewrite her name across my chest
so that those who wish to break my heart
will know who to answer to later
She has no idea that I’ve taught my tongue to make pennies and
every time our mouths are to meet
I will slip coins to the back of her throat and
make a wish

I wish
that someday
my head on her belly might become home
like doubt to doubt resuscitation
because time is supposed to mean more than skin

She doesn’t know that I have taught my arms to close around her clocks
so they can withstand the fallout from her Autumn
She is so explosive
volcanoes watch her and learn
terrorists want to strap her to their chests
because she is a cause worth dying for

Maybe someday
time will teach me to pick up her pieces
put her back together
and remind her to click her heels
but she doesn’t need a wizard to tell her that I was here all along

Lady
let’s catch the next tornado home
let us plant cantaloupe trees in our backyard
then one day I will remind you that I don’t like cantaloupe
and they don’t grow on trees
we can laugh about it
then we can plant things we’ve never heard of
because I’ve never heard of a woman
who can make flawed look so beautiful
the way you do
and
the word smitten is to how I feel about you
what a kiss is to romance
so maybe my lips to yours could be the penance to this confession
because I am the only one preaching your defunct religion
sitting alone at your altar
praising you out of faith
I cannot do this hard-knock life alone
You are all the softness a rock dreams of being
the mistakes the rain makes at picnics
when Mother Nature bears witness in much better places

So yes
Yes! I will gladly take on your ocean
just to swim beneath you
so that I can kiss the bends of your knees
in appreciation for the work they do
keeping your head above water

Originally published in Mighty Mike McGee’s collection, In Search of Midnight, Write Bloody Publishing, 2009.

To learn more about Mighty Mike McGee and his work, or to follow his Sweet Home San José newsletter, go to mightymikemcgee.com.

Multiracial American funk band War got its start backing British singer Eric Burdon, formerly of the Animals. “Spill the Wine” from 1970’s Eric Burdon Declares “War” effectively captured the zeitgeist of the era: a brotherly-love hippie ethos that was as sexy as it was hopeful.

Though the Long Beach-based group parted ways with Burdon after two albums, War’s distinctive Latin-funk-soul vibe continued to reap dividends. Hits like “The Cisco Kid,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” and “Low Rider” only scratched the surface; War’s fifth release, The World is a Ghetto was 1973’s top-selling album.

War’s impressive run of pop hits ended in the 1980s, but the group would continue to land singles on the R&B charts well into the mid-’90s. The classic lineup eventually splintered; today, only keyboardist-vocalist Lonnie Jordan remains from the original group (though three other band members have been with War for at least 15 years).

The group has long exemplified peace and love in songs like “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” Against that backdrop, the name War seems an odd choice. Jordan explains how it came about while the then-unnamed band was in Tokyo, with its manager at the time, Steve Gold.

“Steve was talking with a promoter; we were walking behind them in this alley,” he recalls. “We all had our bell-bottoms and Afros, and I guess were kind of loud. So Steve turned around and looked at us and said, ‘Wow! You guys look like you just came off a battlefield!’ And then the idea flashed in his head: War!”

Jordan says that at first, he and his bandmates thought the name was too radical, especially in 1970, when the U.S. military was still deeply entrenched in the Vietnam conflict. “But Jerry knew—and we eventually realized—that the music we were creating had a lot to do with rebelling against war,” he says. Jordan believes that with its music, the band was “actually fighting a war against war.”

Today War bills itself as “the original Afro-Cuban jazz rock blues band.” And while that’s an unwieldy label, it’s accurate. Jordan says that the band’s pan-cultural musical approach is central to its appeal. “It was definitely a part of our success to ‘the street,’” he says, because War makes “universal street music.”

Jordan admits that even in the anything-goes musical culture of the early ’70s, a band casting such a wide musical net did face some challenges. “It did generate a problem as far as trying to get awards or anything like that,” he says. “Because a lot of the people that were involved in award give-outs back in those days didn’t understand our category.”

But awards aren’t the way in which War measures its success. “We kept our fan base,” Jordan says. And he’s proud that War’s legion of fans draws from many cultures. That means that even now—47 years after releasing its first record—War can entertain most any kind of audience. Jordan mentions sharing bills over the years with Little Feat and the Beach Boys. “And then we can do a “Low Rider” show for a Latino audience, “followed by a gig at a reggae festival!”

For Jordan, beholding the diversity of War’s audience is the most rewarding thing about playing in the band for all these years. He says he loves to see “those beautiful smiles, the old—not too old—blended in with the young, and they’re singing along to our music.” He admits that sometimes the younger people in War’s audience aren’t as familiar with the band, so they look up the group on Google. “And then they say, “Oh, that’s them!” Jordan says with a laugh.

And he insists that playing for audiences in 2017 isn’t all that different from what it was in 1970. “It’s the same as it was back in the day,” Jordan says, “except that I’m having more fun than I did then. Because—I have to admit it—back then, I was high.” As a result, he says, a lot of important things escaped his notice. “I didn’t acknowledge the greatness that was around me. But now I do, and I feel blessed.”

After all these years, the secret to War’s longevity is simple: “We’re having fun with each other,” Jordan says. “And when our fans see us happy, then they’re happy. And that’s why I always say at the end of the show, ‘Thank you for being our rock and roll hall of fans.’”

War
Aug 25, 5:30pm, $10+
Plaza de Cesar Chavez, San Jose
sjdowntown.com

A pleasant bike ride shouldn’t devolve into racist tirades. But that’s exactly what we saw happen to a woman out cycling with her 9-year-old daughter. You pulled up in your late-model Nissan sedan right up behind them and began to honk your horn impatiently. The mother confronted you about your rudeness, but that wasn’t enough to check you, a pink polo-clad Valley Bro. “Oh, shut the f— up,” you shot back with a smug grin on your face before adding, “You fucking Cambodian n—–.” Good thing the mom recorded the encounter. Now you’ll have to face the consequences of your racism when you show up for your next shift after the 4th of July holiday.

I Saw You is an anonymous “man on the street” column. Email your rants and raves about co-workers or any badly behaving citizens to iSawYou@metronews.com, or send to 380 S. First St, San Jose, 95113. Submissions should stick to about 100 words.

I’ve heard of couples getting a little too comfortable with one another, letting a burp go here or passing a little gas there, but it would be great if you could leave the rest of us out of it. I was walking to a show with my husband when we passed you and yours. Out of nowhere, you stepped onto the curb and fired a snot rocket at a street corner trashcan. Making matters worse, you missed. I know you saw me watching you, because you quickly turned to your husband and swore that you had never done anything like that before. Yeah, sure.

I Saw You is an anonymous “man on the street” column. Email your rants and raves about co-workers or any badly behaving citizens to iSawYou@metronews.com, or send to 380 S. First St, San Jose, 95113. Submissions should stick to about 100 words.

I sit down to breakfast and ask, “You’re not a Trump supporter are you?” You’re an attractive, amiable man, so I was hoping we could clear that hurdle. Of course, you like Trump and defend him. Persistently. I tell you I expect there to be a civil war. You agree. Several days later, a politically motivated shooting occurs in D.C. From now on I’ll make a point of asking the deal-breaker question in advance. If Trump can be caught on tape bragging about grabbing women and still get more than half of all men’s vote, I have serious reservations about dating at all.

I Saw You is an anonymous “man on the street” column. Email your rants and raves about co-workers or any badly behaving citizens to iSawYou@metronews.com, or send to 380 S. First St, San Jose, 95113. Submissions should stick to about 100 words.

You’re a young man. You were with your son in the park. He was about 4 years old and riding his two-wheeler bike. He was riding between you and apparently his mother—and he was not wearing a helmet. I noticed this right away and then I saw his helmet on your backpack. I asked you why the boy was not wearing his helmet. You answered: “Because he is my son and I don’t want him to.” Unfortunately, I did not see a policeman nearby.

I Saw You is an anonymous “man on the street” column. Email your rants and raves about co-workers or any badly behaving citizens to iSawYou@metronews.com, or send to 380 S. First St, San Jose, 95113. Submissions should stick to about 100 words.

I waited for Mr. Harada in my lair located deep within the old New Almaden mine complex. The Quicksilver mines, as most people know it, arguably produced the region’s first outrageous fortunes (and superfund sites). The collection of San Jose mines was the most profitable outfit to come out of the Gold Rush. No other operation raked in more cash.

Some say there are intergalactic ley-lines that intersect the Bay Area, creating its unparalleled ability to generate economic boom after boom. Some say it’s the weather. Mr. Harada and I believe it’s the bars, especially the dives, that keep places like New York, Tokyo and Paris always trailing behind on those “top cities to …” lists.

Mr. Harada lowered himself into my subterranean abode. I greeted him with a flaccid handshake and a pint of Fernet, as is customary in our secret fraternal organization. We decided that evening/morning/day—it really is hard to tell at the bottom of a mine shaft—that fortune favors the bold and it was time to suckle the teat of the valley’s economic boom: Mr. Harada and I would create a hawt new app.

Now we just needed a small cash injection for development, branding, marketing, a new office building, a few private residences in Woodside and, of course, a monument. We prepared rucksacks, scrambled out of the mine shaft and made our way to Diridon Station. Here we would begin our journey to mecca, or Palo Alto.

We detrained with steadfast confidence and repeated the holy ABCs—“Always Be Closing!” The first stop on our map listed The Rosewood, but the name seemed pretentious and fabricated. It must have been a test. Who would consider such a place to speak seriously about the future? Bah!

Mr. Harada suggested Antonio’s Nut House, and I agreed for reasons I won’t say—but trust that they were more numerous than the fact that the bar was within walking distance.

Antonio’s Nut House
We entered from a side door. A sign reading “Hippies Use Other Door” hinted at the kind of characters running the place. They obviously have an elevated sense of humor.

A gorgeous facility where Stanford grads have adorned the ceiling with grotesque drawings on acoustic panels, Antonio’s is one part dive, one part taqueria. The place was covered in peanut shells and a dusty collection of bras hung above the end of the bar. Now we would only have to wait for the tech bros.

Mr. Harada and I sat down at a table covered with a piece of faux alligator that may have been an unfinished cosplay project. We sipped pints of Ballast Point Sculpin, on tap, and scanned the bar for potential investors. A bookish gentleman swayed at a table next to us. His untucked floral-pattern shirt, frayed khaki shorts and sensibly padded sneakers marked him as a heavy hitter.

I approached and introduced. “Hello, sir.” Before I could finish, the man expelled a burp that shattered my concentration. He was indeed a heavy hitter. I needed fresh air to regroup.

Back outside, Mr. Harada and I agreed to move on. Two multicolored bicycles leaned against a nearby telephone pole. Fortune was smiling upon us. Mr. Harada and I picked the locks and were off, through the charming neighborhoods, and onto the city on the hill: Mountain View!

Mervyn’s Lounge
After a pleasant ride, we realized that Mervyn’s is located in the back of a tea shop that faces the street. Patrons can also head down the alley to the back of the building and enter through the front door, which is the back door.

The bar is small and intimate—a perfect place to venture and capitalize. We ordered bottles of beer since there are none on tap. The padded edge of the bar lets visitors rest their weary elbows, and a couple of extra worn-in spots exposed a layer of vinyl upholstery underneath. Dive bar archeologists live all their lives pining for such a discovery.

The prices were Central Valley low, so we took advantage of the happy hour deals and stole glances to make sure no one was on to us. Back on the bikes, we ventured to Sunnyvale, where we were sure to have more success.

Fibbar MaGees
Murphy Street is a place to relax, enjoy a drink, get noticed and get funded. So we thought.

Fibbar MaGees, an Irish-themed bar built in the ’70s, was packed with techies, faces glowing from their phone screens. Mr. Harada and I ordered a couple of stouts and sat down at a table to survey the scene, but we quickly realized this was not the place. Rather than finding funders on the floor, we had, in fact, stumbled into a wasps’ nest of competition!

We decided to move on before anyone stole our idea.

Murphy’s Law
We found sanctuary across the street at Murphy’s Law, a bar’s bar and unpretentious place to seize the day.

We found a handful of blue-collar fellows enjoying an after-work pint and struck up a hearty conversation about ’90s cinema. At one point, while trying to remember “Bronson Pinchot,” one of us may have attempted to look up the information on our phone. (Mr. Harada and I share a phone and there’s nothing weird about that.) We were politely asked by the barkeep to refrain from using technology to assist in the answer. We were, after all, there to enjoy each other’s company and not to search the internet for obscure facts. He received no argument from us.

After a couple of frosty drafts, we shook hands with the men and petted a Yorkie on the way out. We mounted our bicycles with renewed vigor. Success would be just a short stroll down El Camino, and Mr. Harada and I reveled in the wind in our faces as the sun began to sink.

Halford
As we approached Santa Clara’s Koreatown, Mr. Harada took the lead and signaled me to pull over. An unhealthy stench was emanating from my rucksack.

My heart sank into my wool socks. The app had gone bad over the course of the day and we hadn’t even presented it to anyone. Who would now invest in our balsamic-tarragon infused tako sashimi breaded cutlet served on a bed of gluten-free nasturtium pollen? No one, that’s who.

There we were, our world-saving, game-changing appetizer rotten in my rucksack, our stomachs gurgling for food, the street lights blinking, the roar of cars speeding down the street: the world is too much sometimes. And then we sighted a beacon of hope.

The Halford, potentially named after the lead singer of Judas Priest, is a modern brewpub. A large, rotating selection of craft brews accompanies a California-influenced menu. Traditionalists may balk at the strip mall location, or the well-lit interior, and that’s fine. There are plenty of dim dives and old-world themed bars to satisfy these curmudgeons.

Mr. Harada and I shared an order of shoestring fries that came paired with an excellent spicy orange sauce. The beer was nourishing.

Our app failed to get funded, but it is the journey that matters. Especially if one catches all the happy hour deals.

We live in an age when people revel in their ignorance, even when good information has never been easier to access. Save the politics. We’re talking cocktails.

Not too long ago Haberdasher owner Cache Bouren—the progenitor of craft cocktails in Silicon Valley—sent along an instructional video on how to make a great Old Fashioned. I had a feeling something was up before the bartender filled the glass to the brim with Jim Beam. There’s an art to crafting a great cocktail and clearly some basic rules were being ignored, if not trampled upon, doused in kerosene and animal hair, and burned in effigy.

Hoping to elevate our collective knowledge, we reached out to Haberdasher, located in San Jose’s SoFA District, to explain the necessary tips to cocktail like a pro this summer. It starts, of course, with good spirits and fresh ingredients, but then there are a few other rules: measured pours, ice shaken only seven to 10 seconds to prevent a drink from becoming too watery, garnishing with ingredients that fit the profile of the drink.

Bouren shared the secret recipe for a house special, the Tick Toki, as well as instructions on how to make a classic daiquiri. (Put that effing blender away.)

Tick Toki

• Toki Whisky — 1 ¼ oz.
• Cointreau — ¾ oz.
• Sage syrup — ¾ oz.
• Lemon juice — ½ oz.

Pour all ingredients before adding ice. Shake 7-10 seconds. Pour into a cold glass. Get a fresh sage leaf, smack it flat, and lay it flat over the drink. Voíla!

Check out SanJose.com on June 8 for a video featuring Haberdasher owner Cache Bouren’s tips to drinking well this summer.

Haberdasher
43 W San Salvador St, San Jose.
408.792.7356 | haberdashersj.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

55 South
55 S First St, San Jose
408.288.6000 | the55south.com
Tiki Tuesday falls on the last Tuesday of every month to feature a full tiki drink menu with Venezuela rums from Diplomatic. Also worth sliding through for Motown Mondays and tasty deep-dish mac ’n cheese every day.

Five Points
169 W Santa Clara St, San Jose
408.982.5816 | fivepointssj.com
An eclectic mix of punches, house shots and specialty cocktails—try the Boss Tweed—grace the menu. Exquisite wood carpentry provides a smoky ambience that pairs well with live jazz on Tuesdays and dueling pianos on Sundays.

Hult’s Restaurant
165 Los Gatos-Saratoga Rd, Los Gatos
408.354.3434 | hultsrestaurant.com
Hult’s Restaurant may be better known for its colorful farm-to-table entrees, but the cocktail menu also impresses with options like Siren Eyes, Honey, Honey, Honey, and Impassioned.

Jack Rose Libation House
18840 Saratoga Los Gatos Rd, Los Gatos
408.395.3500 | jackrosebar.com
Jack Rose Libation House has one of the best outdoor patios in the South Bay, which and the communal seating indoors and out  is the way to go with live music Friday and Saturday nights.

Labyrinth Bar & Kitchen
45 Post St, San Jose
408.755.5031
Don’t be scared by the few Yelp reviews—the line is already out the door on weekends. Combining Asian fusion and craft cocktails, the menu features a “Southeast Mule” for those ginger beer lovers.

Mortar & Pestle place an emphasis
on unique spirits and tasty Indian street food. Photo by Greg Ramar.

Mortar & Pestle
3250 Zanker Rd, San Jose
408.770.3541 | curryupnow.com
Mortar & Pestle’s Indian street food is unique, as is the everyday Social Hour from 3-6pm. Try sweet bites like Indian Railway Cutlet and Kofta Fauja Singh and then chase with the Bangalore Old Fashioned or the Husband & Wife.

Oak & Rye
303 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos
408.395.4441 | oakandryepizza.com
Lazy date night eats paired with premium spirits make this a pizza-cocktail get together we can get behind. Get fancy and request cocktail art before making a reservation for their monthly tasting classes.

Paper Plane
72 S 1st St San Jose
408.713.2625 | paperplanesj.com
A wall of spirits seemingly stretches a mile high, but the cocktail craftsmanship goes a step further. We still haven’t settled on a favorite from their 25 signature drinks.

Roots and Rye
3055 Olin Ave,  San Jose
408.429.2909 | rootsandrye.com
A dog-friendly patio with comfy chairs and glass fire pits make this a Santana Row favorite. Ambiance is A1 and the servers are friendly and attentive. The diverse seating arrangements make R&R intimate enough for a date and wild enough for happy hour with co-workers.

Timber & Salt
881 Middlefield Rd, Redwood City
650.362.3777 | timberandsalt.com
Timber & Salt does a little bit of everything: craft beers, a mix of import and local wines, enough comfort food to send us to sleep. But the real stars are The Masked Dancer, Cletus Del Roy and The Great Gabbo.

The Lexington House
40 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos
408.354.1600 | thelexlg.com
First rate in every way, Lexington is one of the few places to have food that rivals its stunning bar menu—Lexington offers multiple flights of scotch and single malts to melt the heart.

The Oxford
195 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale
408.245.8503 | theoxfordca.com
The pride of Murphy Street, this downtown London-inspired pub is bustling with authentic ethnic cuisines from around the world and a few forceful cocktails (e.g. The Dark Side #2 by Yoda).

The Table
1110 Willow St, San Jose
408.638.7911 | thetablesj.com
Since expanding to take over the neighboring dry-cleaners location, The Table has more or less dethroned Bill’s for Willow Glen weekend brunch supremacy. The restaurant has a huge selection of handcrafted cocktails. After a long night, consider the Corpse Reviver #2.

The Vesper
394 E Campbell Ave, Campbell
408.680.0401 | thevespercampbell.com
It’s best not to overthink it in a James Bond-inspired bar and just go with the eponymous cocktail. Also great tasty small plates.

Verge Restaurant & Lounge
140 S Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos
408.884.1054 | vergerestaurant.com
Located inside the Toll House Hotel, just about any cocktail will please but there’s just something irresistible about The Non-Vergen Mary, which includes Anaheim chile pepper-infused vodka and Sriracha.

One of the first things people notice when they look up IBU Taproom & Bottle Shop in Milpitas is that the six-month-old craft beer bar has no phone. Anyone interested in finding out what’s available on the 50 taps, or what’s featured in the rotating selection of 250-plus brands of cans and bottles, has two options: Facebook Messenger or get off their keister and inspect the library of beers in person.

“We started with a cellphone,” says Ravi Takhar, IBU’s beer coordinator. But then he trails off, shakes his head and smiles. He doesn’t need to finish. It’s obvious: He was wasting precious time talking about beer when he could be doing something like, say, stocking and serving beer.

Opened as an expansion to the neighboring 20-year-old Stuft Pizza franchise on Dempsey Road, IBU (an abbreviation for the measure of a beer’s bitterness) has deservedly received rave reviews by giving people a mind-blowing number of options. “We’re big on options outside of IPA: sours, stouts,” Takhar says. “There’s always some new style that we have on tap.”

Then there are the TVs. IBU and Stuft owner Ladi Musafar have made a combined commitment to put together more pixels per square foot than just about any bar and restaurant in the South Bay. In total, there are more than 30 screens to make sure guests can see the game from nearly any angle.

Check out SanJose.com on June 8 for a video featuring IBU beer coordinator Ravi Takhar’s tips to drinking well this summer.

IBU Taproom & Bottle Shop
1422 Dempsey Rd, Milpitas | facebook.com/IBUMilpitas

Click here to view the embedded video.

Forager Tasting Room & Eatery
420 S First Street, San Jose
408.831.2433 | sjforager.com
With plans to build six kitchens and a microbrewery in the next 18 months, this huge brick and mortar space offers 16 taps in constant rotation while championing local craft beers. The former billiards hall also doubles as a spacious venue for artists to showcase their work.

Golden State Brewery
1252 Memorex Drive, Santa Clara
408.727.2337 | goldenstate.beer
Golden State Brewery should be a first stop for dog and beer lovers. Beer flights are welcome, as are man’s best friends. Bonus: Good boys get their picture added to the GSB Dog Wall.

Good Karma Artisan Ales & Café
37 S First St, San Jose, CA 95113
408.294.2694 | goodkarmasj.com
A gift from the vegan gods, Good Karma’s rotating taps span the South Bay to our neighbors in San Francisco to friends in France. Usually a heavy selection of IPAs but also a sour or two.

Harry’s Hofbrau
390 Saratoga Ave, San Jose
408.243.0434 | harryshofbrau.com
Harry’s has more than 25 taps along with enough bottles of beers to get a small horse to take Uber home. While it might seem German is the name of the game, Harry’s actually puts an emphasis on local craft beers.

Hapa’s Brewery
460 Lincoln Ave, San Jose
408.982.3299 | hapasbrewing.com
One of the newer brewers to the South Bay, Hapa’s seems to be adding a new beer to its resume every couple weeks. Try their newest IPA before hopping outside to choose from a rotating selection of food trucks that hang near the brewery.

Hermitage Brewery
1627 S Seventh Street, San Jose
408.291.0966 | hermitagebrewing.com
Hermitage has been brewing beer since the ’80s, but it only recently started getting the recognition it deserves. 2016 netted the brewery three awards for in-house creations. We recommend the Maltopia Scotch Ale and Sour Cherry Sour.

ISO Beers
75 E Santa Clara St, San Jose
408.298.2337 | isobeers.com
The bar and bottle shop doesn’t have a kitchen, which makes the BYOF (bring-your-own-food) policy a welcome accommodation. Customers are almost certain to stumble upon something new each visit.

Jack Holder’s
3153 Meridian Ave, San Jose
408.613.2365 | facebook.com/Jackholdersrandb
The food may be the draw for some—the restaurant and bar is owned by the same folks responsible for the four Holder’s Country Inns scattered across San Jose—but the drink menu here has a couple of local gems, including favorites like Hermitage’s own 408 Session.

Loma Brewing Company
130 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos
408.560.9626 | lomabrew.com
Hot off catering BottleRock in Napa this year, Loma Brewing Company is no average pub. In addition to brewing their own selection of craft beers, the brewery also holds events such as Oktoberfest and Yoga & Beer night.

Liquid Bread
379 E Campbell Ave, Campbell
408.370.3400 | liquidbreadcampbell.com
It’s not even remotely possible to taste everything this delectable gastropub has to offer in one visit, and the same goes for the huge craft beer selection. Single tasters go for $3 while three-beer flights offer an alluring variety at a reasonable $7. Go bold on at least one, like the Altamont Mac Drizzle with Toasted Coconut (Nitro).

Rabbit’s Foot Meadery
1246 Birchwood Dr, Sunnyvale
408.747.0770 | rabbitsfootmeadery.com
Using honey just about whenever they can, Rabbit’s Foot stands apart from most brewers in taste and style by creating their own meads and ciders. The space may be humble but the taste is anything but. The brews have won a slew of awards, both domestic and international, and the Chocolate Raspberry Love—poured over ice cream—tops out at whopping 18 percent alcohol.

Santa Clara Valley Brewing
101 E Alma Ave, San Jose
408.288.5181 | scvbrewing.com
Namaste and cheers! Santa Clara Valley Brewing has their own twist on the Yoga & Beer trend every other Sunday. After praising Ganesha, guests can sample any of the bar’s countless house brews. Most beers’ names give a local nod, such as the Valley Surprise Double IPA.

Loma Brewing Company
specializes in events like Yoga & Beer Night. Photo by Greg Ramar.

South Winchester BBQ
1362 S Winchester Blvd, San Jose
408.376.0485 | swinchesterbbq.com
Most customers first visit South Winchester BBQ with little more than lunch on the brain. Luckily, South Dub keeps eight brews on tap and an array of bottles and cans available.

Spread Deli & Bottles
193 E Campbell Ave, Campbell
408.340.5549 | spreadcampbell.com
Sandwiches like the opulently named Duchess come in at a hefty $14, but the delicious combo of fried sliced turkey, pastrami, cheddar and black garlic aioli make it worth the price—plus, it’s comfortably split between two people. Wash it down with a competitively priced draft or one of several scores of bottled and canned options. Drinks are discounted when purchased to-go.

Strike Brewing Co.
2099 S 10th St,San Jose
877.855.8620 | strikebrewingco.com
Strike could only exist in the 21st century. The brewery successfully tapped locals for support after putting up a Kickstarter to build the taproom in 2014. They’ve also collaborated with the likes of Santa Cruz Skateboards to make a blonde ale that has become one of their most popular.

The Tap Room
233 University Ave, Palo Alto
650.752.6132
The merits of this pub are obvious, even for those of us who don’t attend Stanford. Also doubling as a tap room for Palo Alto Brewing, the draw here is a happy hour that usually features a specially discounted beer of the day. PABC specials include Hoppy Ending Pale Ale, Cool Beanz Coffee Porter and their Atlas Double IPA.

Taplands
1171 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara
408.709.2990 | taplands.com
Open for just a bit more than a year, Taplands gave a stamp of authenticity to the Mission City’s craft beer scene. The bottle shop and taproom also brews one 15-30 gallon batch at a time to keep an exclusive craft beer on hand.

The Halford
1494 Halford Ave, Santa Clara
408.243.1290 | thehalford.com
Home to 71 beers and six wines on tap, the Halford’s drink menu is nothing to sneeze at. They use their short-draw pour system to ensure that drinks only get warmer once they’re in customers’ hands. They’ve also got a killer happy hour with $5 pints every Monday-Friday from 3-7pm.

Original Gravity Public House
66 S 1st St, San Jose
408.915.2337 | originalgravitypub.com
In addition to having hands down the best hot links and gourmet brats in San Jose, Original Gravity has made its bones by maintaining one of the best beer selections in town. Staff is friendly and helpful and the 35 rotating taps always have one saison that stands out.

The Running Shop
17500 Depot St, Morgan Hill
669.888.3900 | therunningshopandhops.com
Housed in The Granary in Morgan Hill, The Running Shop doesn’t have time for beer bellies. Choose from their 86 draft beers—that’s not a typo—before sauntering into the athletic section to stock up on running shoes, which will be perfect for burning off those tasty calories.

]]> https://activate.metroactive.com/2017/06/craft-beer-metros-2017-guide-to-drinking-beer-like-a-brewmaster/feed/ 0 https://activate.metroactive.com/2017/06/wine-metros-2017-guide-to-drinking-wine-like-an-expert/ https://activate.metroactive.com/2017/06/wine-metros-2017-guide-to-drinking-wine-like-an-expert/#comments Wed, 07 Jun 2017 17:47:18 +0000 http://wp.blvdscms.com/activate-metroactive-com/?p=119386
Summer is coming. That may not sound as ominous as winter, but here in breezy Northern California the number of wine options can sometimes leave non-sommeliers in a state of paralysis by analysis. In steps Will Sundquist, wine director for Rootstock Wine Bar. A Los Gatos institution for six years running in…]]>

Summer is coming. That may not sound as ominous as winter, but here in breezy Northern California the number of wine options can sometimes leave non-sommeliers in a state of paralysis by analysis.

In steps Will Sundquist, wine director for Rootstock Wine Bar. A Los Gatos institution for six years running in Los Gatos, the celebrated wine bar and restaurant expanded operations a little less than a year ago to the bustling Vallco Shopping Mall in Cupertino. On a hot summer day, Sundquist recommends a rosé for the “perfect marriage of white and red” to avoid anything overly sweet.

“I’m searching for the best producers in Napa and Sonoma,” he says, “and I’m also looking for some of our best producers in our backyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains.”

Rootstock has plenty of competition, as the public’s palate has elevated while prices for quality wine have dropped, but a top-flight wine club, comfortable outdoor seating and a selection of addictive flatbreads keeps ’em coming.

Check out SanJose.com on June 8 for a video featuring Rootstock wine director Will Sundquist’s tips to drinking well this summer.

Rootstock Wine Bar
19389 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino.
408.642.5821.
217 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos.
408.354.7668. | rootstockwinebar.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

20twenty Cheese Bar
1389 Lincoln Ave,San Jose
408.293.7574 | 2020cheesebar.com
20twenty cheese bar keeps it even with 20 wines and 20 beers, but the rotating cheese and charcuterie menu keep it especially eclectic, along with the fan-favorite truffle oil popcorn. The space is fresh and dog friendly in the heart of Willow Glen.

Cin-Cin Wine Bar & Restaurant
368 Village Ln, Los Gatos
408.354.8006 | Cincinwinebar.com
Of all the reasons to love Cin-Cin—and there are plenty, as it won 2017 Best Of awards for happy hour and wine bar—this lively joint offers 50 percent off all bottles on Mondays.

Enoteca La Storia
416 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos
408.625.7272 | enotecalastoria.com
More than just a wine bar, Enoteca La Storia touts a robust menu while also playing host to nine different wine clubs. Regular wine tastings are held and members can attend monthly pickup parties.

Noah’s Bar & Bistro
17500 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill
408.779.2006 | noahsbarnbistro.com
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well,” Virginia Woolf said. And what is dining well without the perfect drink to complement the flavors on your plate? Noah’s menu is a wine-pairing paradise with excellent steaks, four-cheese fondue and seafood pastas.

Savvy Cellar Wine Bar & Wine Shop
750 W Evelyn Ave, Mountain View
650.969.3958 | savvycellar.com
This three-time winner of the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Best Wine Classes in the SF Bay Area” will enlighten taste buds and teach aspiring connoisseurs as well as everyday newbs everything they need to know.

Parcel 104
2700 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara
408.970.6104 | marriott.com
Consistently noted as the top fine dining experience in Santa Clara, Parcel 104’s award-winning chef Bradley Ogden pays tribute to farm-to-table fresh American fare. Check out Friday’s Farmers Market Dinners, which are accompanied by Parcel’s selection of rare wine flights.

Tessora’s Barra di Vino
234 E. Campbell Ave, Campbell
408.626.7711 | tessoras.com
Paint, laugh and nibble on crafty Italian cuisine while sipping quality vino. At Tessora’s, customers get the wine bar and bistro experience as well as comedy shows, game nights and live music on the weekend.

The Wine Room
520 Ramona St, Palo Alto
650.462.1968 | thepawineroom.com
Aficionados and novices alike will appreciate this cozy retreat, which feels more like a friendly neighbor’s living room—assuming that neighbor is a sommelier—than an actual wine bar.

Vintage Wine Bar
368 Santana Row, Suite 1040, San Jose
408.985.9463 | vintagewinemerchants.com
Conveniently situated in Santana Row’s open-air marketplace, Vintage offers reprieve from shopping to relax and watch people while sipping premium wines. We recommend the “Fun and Flirty Flight of Wine” sampler.

Vino Vino
87 N San Pedro St, San Jose
408.703.2333 | vinovinosj.com
This is a bastion for those interested in tasting different local wines without using a spitoon. The bar has more than dozen wines on tap, and a list of 30 bottled wines from the greater Bay Area to choose from. No snobbery here, just good wine.

Vino Locale
431 Kipling St, Palo Alto
650.328.0450 | vinolocale.com
This European-style wine bar specializes in small production boutique California wines, mirroring its name with world-class wines from Santa Clara County and the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Vyne Bistro
110 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose
408.375.2618 | vynebistrosj.com
Nestling guests in dim tones of red and black, this modern wine bistro offers an irresistible happy hour menu of $5 house sparkling, smoky Argentinian Malbec, Sweet and Sour Citrus Mojitos and more. It’s not uncommon here to end up conversing with a San Jose State professor while enjoying a glass.

We Olive Wine Bar
112 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos
408.354.7474 | weolive.com
Ancient Romans often said: “The necessary ingredients of civilization are wine and olive oil.” It stands to reason that We Olive recognizes the benefits of pairing these age-old accomplices. The menu features some excellent California Cabernets and less common varietals like Trousseau Gris.

Wine Affairs
1435 The Alameda, San Jose
408.977.0111 | thewineaffairs.com
Wine Affairs attracts a bit younger crowd thanks to their 50 wines, 40 craft beers and wide array of tapas. The bar is also home to three different wine and beer clubs and the happy hour is a legitimate deal.