Best drink web sites
They run the gamut from urbane and erudite to unkempt and foul-mouthed: meet our drinking buddies.
Beer Advocate
The largest online beer community in the world, started by two Boston boys: Jason and Todd Alstrom. Motto: Respect beer.
Big Ol’ Black Table Beer Run
The funniest, rudest beer reviews ever.
CocktailDB (The Internet Cocktail Database)
Want to know what Chartreuse is? Want to know which cocktails call for it? The Internet Cocktail Database is “the most complete source for cocktails, cocktail ingredients, and barware knowledge on the web.” Search for thousands of drinks on this easy-to-use, beautifully designed site. Be sure to try the Mixilator, a totally genius invention that allows you to choose your cocktail variety, cocktail strength, cocktail hour, etc. and then generates a cocktail recipe perfectly suited to your needs and tastes.
Drinkboy (Robert Hess)
Back in the late ’90s, many of the luminaries of today’s world of mixology fomented the cocktail revolution through virtual meetings on this site. The Seattle-based Hess wrote a nice review of Boston’s own No. 9 Park, also reviewed here under Best Boston bars.
King Cocktail (Dale DeGroff)
Dale popularized the Cosmopolitan, but we won’t hold that against him. That drink has introduced the public to cocktails in the way that “What’s Opera, Doc?” introduced cartoon viewers to classical music. If there’s a Julia Child of the cocktail world, Dale’s it.
Make Mine a 007
“The libations of James Bond, drinker, sailor, connoisseur, spy. From Casino Royale (1953) to Die Another Day (2002), find every alcoholic beverage consumed by the world’s most famous secret agent.” Wow. Thanks, Minister of Martinis, whoever you are.
The Modern Drunkard Magazine
“Say it loud. Say it plowed.” The best contemporary writing about boozing. If you don’t already own editor Frank Kelly Rich’s book, The Modern Drunkard, for the love of God, buy it.
The Museum of the American Cocktail (MOTAC)
“A global network of the most passionate and talented bartenders, collectors, historians, and writers on the subject of drink are in the process of establishing the world’s first Museum devoted to the American Cocktail.” The museum started out in New Orleans, but after Hurrican Katrina, most of its artifacts moved to another booze-soaked American city, Las Vegas. You can now find MOTAC’s collection of “Tiki barware, Hollywood memorabilia, rare books, sheet music, and an amazing assortment of bottles and shakers” at Commander’s Palace.
