January 16th, 2009
After a period of uncertainty about what exactly was happening with the bar formerly known as the B-Side Lounge, there appears to be confirmation of previous news that Daniel Lanigan (proprietor of the Moan and Dove in Amherst and the Dirty Truth in Northampton) will open a new beer and cocktail bar in that space. This is terrific news! Congratulations, Daniel, and good luck muddling through the bureaucratic fun that has to happen before you open.
Tags: B-Side lounge, beer and cocktails, new bars
Posted in Boston bars | 3 Comments »
January 14th, 2009
Ever wonder how the Boston mixology scene — the constellation of bars and bartenders who take drink-mixing seriously and are chronicled regularly on this site — came about? Who the originators and other key figures are? What they think of their collective work and its future? Well, you’re in luck, because I lay it all out in a recent cover story for the trade publication Nightclub & Bar. (Yes, that’s Drink‘s own John Gertsen on the cover.) Here’s to all the cocktailians in this city who are helping the scene to thrive!
Tags: mixology scene, Nightclub & Bar
Posted in Booze in the news, Boston bars, drinkboston in the news | 7 Comments »
December 29th, 2008
Since I’m out of the New Year’s Eve loop this year (I’ve temporarily abandoned Boston for Vermont), I decided to reach out to drinkboston.com’s readers to get a snapshot of what the discriminating Beantown imbiber is up to on Amateur Night. Here are a few of the answers I got.
James S. has a plan I can get behind. “I often entertain at home on NYE, but this year I have friends who expressed an interest in exploring cocktail culture more deeply, so I’m bringing them over to the bar at No. 9 Park, followed by dinner at The Marliave (downstairs, which has a far more modest menu that the ritzy upstairs, but the same worthy bartending).”
Brian D. said, “I’m having dinner at my wife’s sister’s house. Her husband is a wine importer, so I’m expecting something good. Then, I’ll probably just have a few beers on my couch. It’s a bad night to be on the road.” Indeed it is.
A romantic named Patrick has the following plan: “Probably heading to Bina for an early dinner, then getting home before the madness and getting under cover with my sweetheart to make out at midnight. I’ll make her a tremendous breakfast on New Year’s morning, and congratulate ourselves for not dealing with the douche-bag factor fighting for cabs at 1:30 a.m. Have a peaceful New Year’s Eve.” Same to you.
Sensible cocktailians Fred and Andrea of the Cocktail Virgin Slut blog say: “We’re eschewing all commercial establishments and the concept of driving anywhere for New Year’s. We’re probably going to start at an ex-co-worker of mine’s house whose wife was a Boston bartender and move on to friends of Andrea’s who are new-school creative cocktail wizards. We’ll probably visit our favorite bars and bartenders in the days before and after New Year’s.” Smart.
“We always stay in, low key, with bubbly and treats,” says freelance food/drink/sports writer Jacqueline Church. Mmm, bubbly and treats.
Meanwhile, Winn G. will be out and about in your ‘hood, Jackie: “I shall be attending the New Year’s Eve party at Sorriso, 107 South Street, in the Leather District. It should be good fun.”
The ever-acerbic MC Slim JB offers this opinion of the annual year-end ritual: “Pure amateur-night hell, about as good an idea as dining out on Valentine’s or Mother’s Day. Rookie drinkers, restaurant gouging on chintzy prix-fixe menus, a risk to life and limb on both sidewalks and roadways, and a better-than-average chance of getting your shoeshine ruined by someone else’s vomit. I’ll be cooking a luxurious meal (by the standards of my kitchen) at home for a few friends, serving some classic cocktails (I’m thinking maybe Scofflaws, as I made my own grenadine recently and they look so festive), and busting out maybe one fancy bottle of wine from my meager cellar. I may serve some Champagne as an aperitif, but most of my crew are wary of it, ascribing rough morning-afters to bubbly even in sensible quantities.” About that bubbly — make it a good one and no one gets hurt.
Jennifer H. is (thankfully) not afraid to share this: “My roommate and former boyfriend — yes, it’s true — is getting a root canal that day so I may stay in that evening out of pity. I have the afternoon off and would like to run around doing First Night stuff if my knees are up to it. My best New Year’s, however, began at the Independent, moved to Atwood’s by foot via the Shell station for cigarettes and whatnot for the rest of the group, then to Joey Mac’s (I love dives), which was closing, then on to a party Joey’s bartender had been invited to at the East Side Bar & Grill. All I remember is that in the back the walls were shell pink and there was a DJ and dancing … no, I remember a little more than that. This was exactly what I wanted to do … not be in the big city for the fireworks, something I did at nineteen, but celebrate and drink with a bunch of friends, not ignoring the night either.”
Poor Mary J. needs our help, as she’ll be “in Pittsburgh, PA, desperately seeking a good Manhattan! Ideas?” I told Mary to track down one of the Pittsburgh broads who started the original chapter of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails.
Finally, Amie D. plans on “hunkering down with my best sweats, lo mein, and a delicious bottle on whim. Will hit the Southie Brownies in the a.m. if I have back up …” No f-ing way! OK, maybe next year.
See you at the bars in ’09, everyone.
Tags: Bostonians, New Year's Eve
Posted in Boston bars | 9 Comments »
December 9th, 2008
Established: 2008
Specialty: Cocktails
Prices: Moderate to high
Atmosphere: World-class drinks and service with an approachable style in a minimalist but warm subterranean space.
See Best Boston bars for address and contact info.
Imagine you’re John Gertsen. You work for several years behind what is probably the tiniest bar in Boston, at least in terms of workspace — the bar at No. 9 Park. And yet you manage to make a name for yourself by mixing some of the nation’s best cocktails. One day, your boss, chef Barbara Lynch, says, ‘John, I’m opening a new bar, and I want you to run it. You can help design it, too. Here’s a blank check.’
So, you take the exposed-brick-and-granite basement of a building in industrial Fort Point — the type of space a hot, new design firm might occupy — and arrange slabs of smooth oak into three distinct but connected U-shaped bars. You go minimalist by storing all liquor bottles out of sight so that, aside from careful lighting, the bar’s only decor consists of vintage glassware and punch-bowl sets lining the back bar, vases of fresh herbs (to be muddled into cocktails), and antique bar tools — including large iron tongs for gripping 50-lb blocks of ice and various picks and mallets for breaking those blocks apart to use in drinks. Finally, you hire some of the most talented bartenders in the country, whose mixological creativity renders printing a cocktail menu unnecessary.
Lynch and Gertsen’s bar, Drink, opened in early October to great fanfare. It is re-inventing the concept of a bar in this city. If visitations from such personages as Dave Kaplan and Phil Ward of Death & Co., Simon Ford of Plymouth Gin and Dale DeGroff are any indication, not to mention two (1, 2) citations already in the New York Times, Drink has assumed the position of world-class representative of the Renaissance of Cocktails and Bartending.
If this all sounds a bit much … it’s not. Drink works. It’s a cool-looking bar where you can get a great cocktail and either sit back and watch the show or mingle around the room, which is strategically designed for socializing. Gertsen is at pains to demonstrate that Drink is as much a friendly neighborhood bar as a shrine for cocktail geeks. “We don’t want to be snobs and dictate to people.” If a customer orders something as basic as a vodka and soda, it will be made with care — with sturdy Kold Draft ice and a nice spiral of fresh lemon peel. The next time that customer orders, he might be gently persuaded to try, say, a Collins. After all, he’s paying $10 for a simple highball. (All drinks at Drink are $10. There is also a cheekily limited beer and wine menu: one light beer, one dark beer; two kinds of red, two kinds of white).
Despite the “we cater to all tastes” philosophy, it is cocktail enthusiasts like me who are going to have the best time here. For me, Drink is about the adventure of simply naming my base spirit and seeing what the bartenders come up with, or ordering a bowl of flaming Chartreuse punch with a group of friends. I like that there is no dress code, but rather a strict bar code that emphasizes quality drinks over brands, and hospitality over attitude. I don’t have to ask, as one tarted-up nightclubber did after receiving a vodka and soda poured from a bottle not clearly marked Grey Goose, “What’s the point of this place?”
Posted in Boston bars | 39 Comments »
