Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
September 16th, 2008
On Monday, September 22nd, join me, Scott Howe, and the rest of your fellow barflies in the drinkboston community in a big group hug for the B-Side Lounge.
If you haven’t heard the news yet, scroll down a few posts (The death of a lounge) and you’ll see that the B-Side, which single-handedly resurrected classic cocktails and old-school bartending in greater Boston, will soon change hands. While we’re optimistic about the incoming establishment, we have to take a moment and give props to the B-Side, its owner, Patrick Sullivan, and all the ‘tenders as they serve up their last Windsor Hi-Lo’s and Double-Wides.
This is not a wake, so no crying. And it’s not an event per se, i.e. you don’t need to buy tickets. Just show up sometime between 5:30 p.m. and closing, and order a drink or three. It’ll be like a farewell party for that beloved boss who’s retiring, with everyone from the office showing up, buying drinks, telling war stories and toasting the jolly good fellow. I’ll do my best to be there until last call, so stop by and raise a glass with me to the place that spawned some of our city’s best bars and bartenders. As Patrick himself put it, “The trade is now in better shape than ever.”
Posted in Boston bars, Events | 5 Comments »
September 5th, 2008
I love local shellfish so much that I’d have a blog about it if I didn’t already have a blog about bars and drinks. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever met a lover of oysters, littlenecks, steamers, etc. who didn’t also like to drink. Booze and bivalves just go together.
If you subscribe to that belief, you may want to head over to the Boston Beer Co. (brewer of Sam Adams) in Jamaica Plain on Sunday, September 14 between noon and 5:00 p.m. for the first-ever Bay State Farmed Shellfish Shindig.
I usually herald the prime season for shellfish (fall and winter) at the Wellfleet Oyster Fest, but that event, while still great, has become popular to the point of overcrowding. So this year, I’m opting for the smaller-scale fest right here in Boston.
The $10 admission fee includes tastings of two Sam Adams beers ($25 gets you six) and the opportunity to chat with a brewer or two about shellfish and beer pairings. Meanwhile, growers along Massachusetts’ coastline — from Buzzards Bay to Cuttyhunk Island to Katama Bay on Martha’s Vineyard to, yes, Wellfleet — will sell several varieties of raw and cooked shellfish a la carte while talking up the importance of sustainable aquaculture practices.
Rowan Jacobsen will be on hand to discuss and sign copies of his book A Geography of Oysters, whose premise is that these creatures owe much of their flavor to terroir. And for those who max out on seafood, chef Will Gilson from Garden at the Cellar will be there with his grass-fed mini-burgers.
Co-hosting the Shindig with Boston Beer is the Massachusetts Aquaculture Association, on whose website you can buy advance tix. See you there.
Tags: boston events, sam adams beer, shellfish
Posted in Beer, Events | No Comments »
August 8th, 2008
Photos by C. Fernsebner
Joy Richard, bartender-manager at Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel in the South End, also known as Bourbon Belle of LUPEC Boston, won the Hendricks Gin Beantown Bartender Battle at Green Street on Tuesday night with her recipe, Nobody’s Darling, and the limerick she wrote to describe it. Congrats to Joy; she gets to fly anywhere in the country on Hendricks’ dime. Her drink, which will soon be on Tremont 647’s cocktail menu, was a most unique mixture starring the flavor of celery (one of the dozen botanicals used in Hendricks).
Parked at the bar for most of the evening, I was like the misbehaved kid in the back of the classroom ignoring the lesson, so I don’t have much color commentary for you (check out C. Fernsebner’s captioned photo gallery on Bostonist for an idea of how the battle went), but I did manage to track down all five finalists’ recipes — which only the judges got to sample that evening — along with Joy’s winning limerick.
Nobody’s Darling
by Joy Richard
2 oz Hendrick’s Gin
1/2 oz yellow Chartreuse
1 oz angelica root-infused honey
3/4 oz fresh celery juice
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
Place all ingredients in iced cocktail shaker, shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
An elixir of cucumber and rose
With a scent that amuses the nose
Angelica-honey we’ll pair
Then some celery sounds fair
Yellow Chartreuse, lemon juice and there goes!
The Seersucker
by Chris O’Neil of Upstairs on the Square
2 oz Hendricks Gin
3 oz chamomile syrup (chamomile, orange peel, honey, sugar)
Dash of lemon juice
Mint sprig to garnish
Shake first three ingredients in an iced cocktail shaker, pour into a highball glass, top with mint sprig.
Hendrick’s Tea
by Claudia Mastrobuono of Highland Kitchen
1 1/2 oz Hendricks Gin
1/2 oz orange peel-infused simple syrup
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
3-4 oz chamomile iced tea (enough to top off the highball)
Shake all ingredients in an iced shaker, pour into a highball glass and garnish with a candied orange peel (the candied peel is a by-product of the simple syrup — just roll the peels in sugar and let them dry out).
Boston Tea Party
by Jeff Grdinich of White Mountain Cider Co.
2 oz Hendricks Gin
1 1/2 oz chamomile citrus tea*
1/2 oz Demerara simple syrup**
1/4 oz lemon juice***
1/2 to 1 barspoon Fernet Branca***
* Infuse 1 bag per 8 oz water for 5 minutes.
** Dilute 400g Demerara sugar in 1000 ml water.
*** Amount of lemon juice and Fernet varies based on tea infusion. Start small.
Place all ingredients in an iced cocktail shaker, shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Note: In the spirit of the competition, which required highlighting the botanicals used in Hendricks, Jeff put one hell of a garnish on his cocktail: a toasted brioche and cucumber sandwich brushed with butter that had been infused with most of the Hendricks botanicals. If you simply must have the recipe for that, email me.
Captain Kidd Cup
by Justin Falcone, freelance bartender
1 1/2 oz Hendricks Gin
1/2 oz pimento dram (St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Liqueur)
1/2 oz Pimm’s
1/2 oz lemon juice
Shake all ingredients in an iced cocktail shaker and pour into a highball glass. Top with ginger beer and garnish with lemon wedge and cucumber spear.
Tags: contests, hendricks beantown bartender battle, Recipes
Posted in Bartenders, Events, Gin | 1 Comment »
August 1st, 2008
The folks at Hendrick’s Gin have chosen five finalists to compete in the Beantown Bartender Battle at Green Street this Tuesday night, August 5. Selected on the merits of the original, Hendrick’s-based cocktails they submitted, the contestants will be mixing those cocktails for a panel of judges that includes chef Barbara Lynch, Boston Globe writer Liza Weisstuch, bartender and cocktail historian John Myers of Portland, Maine, and Hendrick’s brand ambassador Charlotte Voisey. As they’re mixing, the only way they can present and describe their potion is by reciting a limerick that they penned themselves. Oh, this is gonna be good. The finalists are:
Justin Falcone, Boston-area freelance bartender
Jeff Grdinich, bartender at the White Mountain Cider Co. restaurant in Glen, NH
Claudia Mastrobuono, bartender at Highland Kitchen in Somerville
Chris O’Neil, bartender at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge
Joy Richard, manager of Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel in Boston
From what I hear, there were a lot of kick-ass recipes submitted for this contest, so to those whose cocktails weren’t chosen: you’re in good company.
There’s still time to make reservations for this cocktail party-style event, whose $20 price gets you four Hendrick’s cocktails (separate from those competing in the Battle) and some light snacks. Call Green Street at 617-876-1655. A limited dinner menu will also be available for purchase. One of the featured cocktails is by Sierra Zimei, the winner of the San Francisco Bartender Battle:
The Secret Garden
2 1/2 oz Hendricks Gin
1/4 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 oz cilantro infused simple syrup
4 slices of cut-up cucumber
Shake and strain ingredients into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with slice of cucumber.
Hope to see you there.
Tags: mixology contests
Posted in Events, Gin | 6 Comments »
July 23rd, 2008
This just in from Green Street bar manager Misty Kalkofen regarding the Hendrick’s Beantown Bartender Battle at Green Street on August 5: “We’ve extended the deadline for recipe submissions to Sunday. As many of us were busy destroying our livers in NOLA, Charlotte [Voisey, Hendrick’s brand ambassador] and I felt many folks could use a couple of extra days. Email your submissions to Charlotte and start working on a limerick!”
Tags: contests, mixology
Posted in Events, Gin | No Comments »
