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Think outside the bottle

by Erin Souza | September 22, 2008

Despite — or due to — the fact that we can’t even draw a stick figure, we appreciate truly beautiful art when we see it. Which is exactly the reason we love the new art-in-a-bottle series Essential Artists from 1800 Tequila. In what’s become a kind of palette-meets-palate collaboration, the company rounded up emerging artists whose work they considered modern and innovative and commissioned them to create collectible, limited-edition art for their 1800 Silver tequila bottles. The nine artists hail from six cities in the United States and Mexico, and the varied art they turned out reflects not only their diverse backgrounds and personalities, but also the lack of restrictions placed on them when designing their pieces. The only limitation was the dimensions of the glass bottle; the rest was up to them. The result: nine bottles that are starkly different yet aren’t stark in the least. In addition to being printed on 1800 bottles of 1800 Silver tequila, each work of art will be showcased on outdoor billboards, online, and on customizable sneakers from Gourmet Kickz. Essential Artists bottles ($34.99) are available at Kappy’s Fine Wine & Spirits (10 Revere Beach Parkway, Medford, 781.395.8888). Some people have mantels to showcase their art collections. Now some of us have bars.

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Tonic For What Ails You

by Ruth Tobias | September 22, 2008

Not just gin anymore

Suppose you really savored your daily swig of mouthwash or craved the occasional tall, cool glass of PeptoBismol. Suppose your fondness for said elixir was in fact such that you were inclined, come cocktail hour, to mix it with a jigger of Bombay Sapphire and kick back with your own private highball.

You might even call it a gin and tonic.

After all, at its broadest, tonic is simply a synonym for “medicine,” for “restorative.” Hence its conflation with tonic water, whose key ingredient, quinine — derived from the bark of an evergreen indigenous to South America, though it’s also produced synthetically — has been used for centuries to ameliorate malaria (some New Age healers claim it relieves muscle cramps, too).

Quinine has also, for centuries, been mixed with alcohol, which eases its distinctive bitterness (never mind the bitterness mosquito-borne disease has a way of engendering). Apothecaries infused it in wine; others — namely British soldiers in India — made gin their spoonful of sugar. To this day, when at home, we Americans do as the colonialist forces did (presumably sans muskets), lounging out on decks with our lime-garnished G&Ts, occasionally shaking things up by switching to vodka.

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Going Solo: Hit a bar by yourself and see how much fun drinking alone can be

by Sara Faith Alterman | November 19, 2007
USUALLY IT'S easy to round up an entourage for a night on the town. But there are occasions when plans fall through and you're left on your own, hung out to dry on a weeknight or, worse, a weekend. You could throw on some sweats and resign yourself...

Gamay bear

by Thor Iverson | September 07, 2007
THIS ARTICLE isn't supposed to exist until November. It's part of the wine-writer calendar, well-known to anyone who plies the trade: romantic wines in February, domestics for the Fourth of July, wines for grilling sometime over the summer, turkey...

Mind your elders: Singing the praises of well-aged red wine

by Thor Iverson | August 28, 2007
AUTUMN LEAVES swirl in the breeze, their earth-tone scents rustling with the dusty residue of a long, hot summer. A thick, sultry mist lingers, preserving the rich aroma of late-season fruit pies baking in a nearby kitchen. Rain-soaked earth is poised...