Boston is full of blue-striped-shirted, Bud Light-swilling
guys, but let's face it - that's no way to impress a lady. You want to class it
up, but there's that one seemingly insurmountable obstacle: it's scary facing
that wall of liquor in a swanky bar, unsure of whether you're accidentally
ordering a $100 glass of something that you'll choke down or, worse, ask the
bartender to mix with Coke.
Thankfully, your iPhone comes to the rescue again, this time in
the form of whisky social network Connosr (connosr.com).
That's right, whisky. No "e." The way it's supposed to be spelled.
That's how serious the members are on this London-based website,
where you can search for whiskies by country of origin and brand, check out
reviews by other users, and examine Google maps to see exactly where that
single malt came from. Okay, fine, that last point is trivia. But when the
conversation hits a lull and your date starts eyeing the cute bartender (who,
by the way, can also tell her where that distillery is located), you'll be glad
you know.
We visited City Bar at the Lenox Hotel
(61 Exeter Street, Boston, 617.933.4800) to see whether Connosr could come to
the aid of two novices faced with one of the best whisky collections in town.
Before we got started, we asked bartender Brian Roberts what we could add to
our whiskies. Coke? Sour mix?
"Ice," was his response, and we got the message loud and clear.
Roberts is exactly the type of whisky purist that Connosr targets. They're
obsessive: the kind of people who sniff their whisky before they drink it and
taste notes of wet wool or toasted bread where the rest of us just feel a path
burned from our tongues to our stomachs.
Using our iPhone, we tapped Connosr's self-proclaimed experts to
figure out what to order, sticking with whiskies tagged as "caramel," "honey,"
and "vanilla," avoiding the two tagged as "sweat." Seeing us struggle with our
options, Roberts offered some words of wisdom.
"It's an acquired taste," he said. "But my advice to a beginner
is to keep on trying different things. It's like red wine: you might not like
the first glass you try, but there are so many different varieties of grapes,
you'll find something."
After a little on-the-fly research, we settled on Maker's Mark,
reviewed by a user on the site as a great beginner's sipping bourbon - and one
that wouldn't give you a headache the next day. Good thing, because we were
working here. We ruled out our first choice, Wild Turkey Rare Breed, thanks to
the handily available information indicating that it was 54% alcohol by volume.
Yikes.
The most useful parts of Connosr are the Whisky Cabinet, where
you can "store" the bottles you'd like to try one day, and the tag system,
which users employ to assess liquors with descriptions like "smooth,"
"cinnamon," or the ever-popular way to identify an aged whisky: "peaty." And
when you select a bottle, its price will show as well (albeit in British
pounds), giving you an idea of whether you'll be able to make your college loan
payment this month if you order it.
Between Connosr and a friendly bartender, we were able to
assemble an informal but informed whisky tasting - the kind that would make our
virtual Connosr friends proud. At least one of us left vowing to dump his
six-month-old bottle of Jameson when he got home. Sophisticated palates, here
we come.
