Author Archive
November 4th, 2008
Washington D.C.’s historic Round Robin Bar is, according to this article, serving a special presidential cocktail menu from election day through the presidential inauguration. The menu features beverages — both alcoholic and non-alcoholic — anecdotally linked to each chief executive. Like: rye whiskey, straight, for Andrew Jackson; a Beefeater martini up with olives for JFK; and Diet Coke with lemon for W. Also featured: a Ward Eight for Theodore Roosevelt, which the Round Robin describes as a “politically-charged concoction, brought to D.C. by ‘Big Stick’ Republicans from New York.” OK, so the homework here is a little sloppy. Still, it’s a fun concept. Well, except for what the bar concocted for our forthcoming president:
“Depending on the outcome of the upcoming election, one libation [was created] for each of the two candidates for the 44th presidency of the United States:
“John McCain — Belvedere vodka, on the rocks, a straightforward, clean and refreshing bracer.
“Barack Obama — Obama shake, flavored vodka, fresh fruit and cream, steady and smooth, served tall and cool.”
Surely, they could’ve come up with ideas a little less lame?
Tags: 2008 election, presidential drinks
Posted in Booze in the news | 2 Comments »
November 2nd, 2008
We knew this day was coming. For those who haven’t heard, sorry for the late notice: B-Side closes its doors for good after tonight. I’m heading over there for one last drink. I hope I can get in the door, as I imagine many people will be there to pay their last respects to the bar that re-introduced greater Boston to serious cocktails.
Posted in Boston bars | 6 Comments »
October 30th, 2008
Let’s be serious for a minute. Once we vote on election day 2008, the only thing we can do is sit back and watch history happen. The grueling tension of this millennium’s first three presidential contests has made a lot of people understandably skittish about the outcome next week. But I’m beseeching you: this year, don’t stay home with your head under the bedcovers, or watching cable news while drinking gin straight out of the bottle. Cast your vote, take a deep breath, and commune with your fellow citizens at one of Boston’s best bars: the Independent.
The Indo and drinkboston are teaming up for an election night happening where you can watch the state-by-state returns on TV, eat a free snack and have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate by showing up wearing what is deemed the best political election garment or accessory. And we’re not just talking “Change we can believe in” or “Country first” T-shirts. We’re talking vintage buttons from the Kennedy-Johnson campaign … boater hats with red, white and blue ribbon … Eisenhower earrings.
Oh, yes, and the featured libation with which we’ll anoint this “Where were you when…” moment? The Ward Eight — and for only $5! I know I can’t shut up about this cocktail, but come on — not only was it invented for an election (110 years ago, to be exact), it’s Boston’s best-known drink. And it’s damn good when made properly (as the Indo’s bartenders do), with rye whiskey, fresh lemon juice and real pomegranate grenadine. Of course, you can also eat and drink as usual from the Indo’s regular food, cocktail, beer and wine menus.
It all starts on Tuesday, November 4 around 5:30. No need to RSVP — just show up. And don’t forget to vote!
Posted in Events | 10 Comments »
October 23rd, 2008
“Why is craft beer so male-dominated: brewers, retailers, consumers? Do women not get craft beer, do they get the impression that they shouldn’t get craft beer? What’s up?”
Thanks to the cheeky, thoughtful and good-hearted Lew Bryson, chronicler of all malt beverages, for asking me this question and thus providing the basis for my last Ms. Mug column for Ale Street News: Women and Craft Beer: It’s Complicated. Topics of discussion: reasons why craft beer (and beer in general) is male-dominated; women’s perception of beer as fattening; how to introduce women to craft beer; and whether women prefer fruity, “chocolatey” beers.
While we’re on the topic, check out this Boston Menu Pages post, Mad Men, Round Two: The Cocktails (brought to my attention by the photographer Matt Demers, who did the portraits for LUPEC Boston’s Little Black Book of Cocktails). It admires the period cocktails that appear on the show — Peggy Olson’s Brandy Alexanders and Betty Draper’s Tom Collinses, not to mention Don Draper’s Old Fashioneds and Roger Sterling’s Martinis — before pointing the reader to two pages scanned from the 1949 edition of Esquire’s Handbook for Hosts. Titled “Something for the Girls” and “Something for the Boys,” the pages list — you guessed it — gender-specific cocktails to serve at parties.
There is plenty of fodder for discussion here, but the thing about this post that really got me was this conclusion: “If you are feeling ambitious, replicating some of these seems like a very fun activity. Otherwise, be glad that we have bars like Temple Bar to carry out your vintage cocktail sipping.”
Um … Temple Bar? Other than a Vesper and a Death in the Afternoon, TB’s cocktail menu runs more along the lines of the Lemontini and the Cherry Breeze (otherwise known as “something for the girls”). And to think there was a time when girly drinks included Bronxes and Clover Clubs!
Tags: girly drinks, Mad Men, women and beer
Posted in Beer | 5 Comments »
October 20th, 2008
This is for the fine folks who attended my Bringing Back the Cocktail Hour session at the Martha’s Vineyard Food & Wine Festival yesterday. First: thanks again for coming! Second: that homemade grenadine we had in the Ward Eight? I realized the recipe’s buried somewhere in the 2006 archives, so I thought I’d make it easy for you and republish it here. Just so you know, I got this recipe from Jackson Cannon, who runs the bar over at Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square. And FYI, the French word for pomegranate, grenade, is where “grenadine” comes from.
Real Pomegranate Grenadine
2 parts Wonderful POM pomegranate juice
1 part sugar
orange flower water
Heat the POM and the sugar in a saucepan until boiling, then turn the heat down and let the mixture simmer gently for 5-15 minutes. Let mixture cool, then pour into a sealed container. Add just a drop or two (literally — the stuff is strong) of orange flower water and store in fridge. If you want to keep the grenadine around for more than a week, add a little high-proof vodka as a preservative. You can also freeze the grenadine.
There are a couple of other recipes for grenadine at Cocktail Chronicles, neither of which call for orange flower water. To find orange flower water, look in Middle Eastern, Caribbean or Asian specialty food stores.
Now, here’s the recipe for the Ward Eight using the homemade grenadine. You can also find the Ward Eight on the Boston cocktails-old page and the Can-Can and the Ninth Ward on the Boston cocktails-new page.
Ward Eight
2 oz rye whiskey (if you can’t find rye, use bourbon)
3/4 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2 oz real pomegranate grenadine
Shake all ingredients very well (for at least 30 seconds) over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. About the ice: if you’re using standard cubes from your fridge, crack them first in a ziplock bag or dish towel, or get yourself a Lewis Bag. Cheers!
Tags: pomegranate grenadine
Posted in Cocktails | 4 Comments »
