Latest news with #Lozoff
San Francisco Chronicle
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area bartender who created the tequila sunrise for the Rolling Stones has died
Robert 'Bobby' Lozoff, the Marin County bartender who helped propel the tequila sunrise from barroom obscurity to international fame after serving it to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger during the Rolling Stones' 1972 U.S. tour kickoff, died April 14 in Hawaii. He was 77. His death was confirmed by writer, podcast host and bartender Jeff Burkhart, who chronicled Lozoff's career in Bay Area newspapers. The cocktail's breakout moment came during a private party at the Trident, a waterfront restaurant in Sausalito known for its celebrity clientele and counterculture ambiance. Concert promoter Bill Graham had arranged the gathering to ease the Stones' return to California following the violence at their infamous 1969 Altamont concert. Lozoff was working behind the bar when his sweet, citrusy cocktail caught the attention of rock's biggest stars. More Information Billy Rice and Bobby Lozoff's Tequila Sunrise 1½ ounces Santo blanco tequila 2 ounces fresh-squeezed orange juice ¾ ounce Sonoma Syrup Co. pomegranate grenadine syrup 1 Tillen Farms Merry Maraschino all-natural stemmed cherry 1 small orange wheel In a stemmed hurricane-style glass filled with ice, combine tequila and orange juice, and stir. Sink grenadine to bottom and garnish with orange wheel. Recipe courtesy of the Trident. 'Keith Richards walked up to the bar and asked for a margarita, and I said, 'Hey, have you ever tried this drink?' And he went, 'Alcohol? I'll try it,'' Lozoff recalled in 2016. 'So I poured him the tequila sunrise, and you could sort of see the light go on in his head. Bingo. You don't need a bartender to travel with you, just buy a bottle of Cuervo, a bottle of orange juice and grenadine.' That drink became a fixture of the Rolling Stones' 1972 tour. Richards later dubbed it the 'cocaine and tequila sunrise tour,' a moniker that stuck in music lore. The guitarist later confirmed the story in his memoir, 'Life.' As the band traveled across the country, so did the cocktail — eventually inspiring the 1973 Eagles song 'Tequila Sunrise,' a 1988 film of the same name and decades of pop culture references. It was later adopted in Jose Cuervo campaigns. Lozoff was born in 1947 in Canada. After graduating from college in Montreal, he moved to the United States, landing in Northern California at the height of the counterculture era. 'The music scene in San Francisco was big in the summer of '67, '68, '69, and Marin was the county where the Grateful Dead, Santana, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin' reigned, Lozoff told the Lahaina News in 2016. 'The minute I graduated from McGill University in Montreal, I bailed to the United States and ended up in Sausalito hanging out with hippie music circles in Marin County and got involved with the Trident opening up,' he added. Lozoff began his tenure at the restaurant at the bottom, first as a dishwasher, then a busboy. 'When I turned 21, they let me start tending bar, and I kept advancing up,' he said. The Trident, co-owned by the Kingston Trio, was itself a hot spot for rock stars and countercultural icons. 'I was definitely a Deadhead back in the '70s, so it was always thrilling to serve (the Grateful Dead) at the Trident,' Lozoff told the SF Weekly in 2016. 'David Crosby lived down the street, and he was in quite a lot. … One of the biggest names of the time was Janis Joplin. She always came in and drank anything I would pour for her. She invited me to her wild parties that she threw at her house in Corte Madera.' The Trident poured more tequila than any other establishment north of the border in the early '70s, and its innovative cocktail program, driven in part by Lozoff's experimentation, helped usher in a new era of American bartending. Lozoff moved to Hawaii in 1976, where he helped open the Blue Max nightclub and later pursued a career in technology. He taught computer classes at the West Maui Senior Center and remained active in the community until his death. In 2024, the Marin History Museum and the Trident restaurant honored Lozoff and Rice, who died in 1997, with a historical marker. Lozoff was unable to attend. A list of survivors was not immediately available.
Los Angeles Times
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The Sausalito bartender who created the Tequila Sunrise, and served it to the Rolling Stones, has died
The creator of the modern-day Tequila Sunrise, concocted and popularized in a Sausalito bar in the 1970s, has died. Robert 'Bobby' Lozoff, a longtime bartender at The Trident, a well-known bar, music venue and restaurant frequented by many celebrities, died earlier this month in Hawaii of unknown causes. He was 77. Lozoff's death was first reported by the Marin Independent Journal. Jeff Burkhart, a columnist there, said Lozoff's longtime friend confirmed his death. Lozoff and a co-bartender, Billy Rice, are credited with creating the 'most famous and most popular version of the Tequila Sunrise,' according to a historic plaque denoting the milestone, which the Marin History Museum erected in 2023. As the story goes, Lozoff served the drink to a member of the Rolling Stones in 1972, when the band was at The Trident for a party. It was an immediate hit. 'I poured [the band member] the tequila sunrise, and you could sort of see the light go on in his head. Bingo. You don't need a bartender to travel with you, just buy a bottle of Cuervo, a bottle of orange juice, and grenadine,' Lozoff recalled in 2016. In some versions of the story, Lozoff first served the drink to Mick Jagger; in others it was Keith Richards. Either way, the bandmates loved it, taking the tequila, orange juice and grenadine drink with them on tour, quickly popularizing the combination. Their 1972 tour would become known as the Cocaine and Tequila Sunrise tour, spreading the drink 'all around the globe,' the Marin History Museum plaque says. An earlier version of the Tequila Sunrise is said to have been created in the 1930s or 1940s at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, using tequila, soda, lime juice and créme de cassis — a heavy, red liqueur, according to Chilled Magazine. But Lozoff and Rice created today's more ubiquitous Tequila Sunrise, using orange juice and grenadine for a beachy, ombré effect. 'Over the years, I had the great fortune to interview Lozoff on a number of occasions, and he wasn't all that interested in his cocktail legacy — which is the opposite of how those things usually work,' Burkhart wrote in his column remembering Lozoff. But he said Lozoff had very fond memories of working at The Trident. 'It was a fun time, and I have no regrets,' Lozoff told Burkhart in 2012. According to The Trident, this was Lozoff's recipe for a Tequila Sunrise: 1 part Jose Cuervo Especial Silver2 parts orange juice1 tsp grenadine From there, the recipe says, 'pour tequila and orange juice into a glass, over ice. Then, slowly pour in grenadine. Enjoy in a way the Rolling Stones would approve of.'
