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Fall For It: Local Bartenders Think Seasonal

by Ruth Tobias | October 06, 2008

On a chilly November night two years ago, an old friend and I slid into a booth in a quiet, candlelit New York bar for what was to be a quick drink and a chat. Several hours later, we slid out, in tears and in love — drunk on the potion that was hot buttered rum.

Thus owing my whole sex life to a winter warmer, I tend to look rather sentimentally forward to cold snaps.

So like a Cherokee doing a rain dance in full headdress, I’ve been working frantically to hasten the season by beseeching the gods — or at least some local mixologists — to send cocktails: rich, dark, tummy-tingling cocktails. And lo, they have heard my calls and promised to deliver. Though not all the concoctions they’re crafting are toddies, all share dear alcohol’s wondrous ability to “increase[] the volume of warm blood in the skin” and thereby produce a “feeling of warmth,” as authors Haven Emerson and Gerald N. Grob put it in Alcohol and Man: The Effects of Alcohol on Man in Health and Disease. That may not sound so romantic in the flush of Indian summer, but read on — the scoops I got should set your capillaries stirring. ...

Bitter sweet

by Liza Weisstuch | July 25, 2008
Bittermens comes to Boston It’s business as usual at Green Street on a recent Wednesday night. The barflies’ conversation adds up to a clamorous but comforting din, a row of ice-filled martini glasses sits chilling on the bar, soul music plays over the...

Bottled up: on magnums, flutes, and goat scrotums

by Thor Iverson | June 23, 2008
I’ll never forget my first magnum. It was in Alsace, and after a particularly lengthy tasting, the owner offered a gift: an oversized container of his house’s best riesling. The traditional Alsatian bottle is called a flute: taller than average, thin...

Pinot envy

by Thor Iverson | May 19, 2008
It’s the guy issue, and what subject is of more interest to guys than their pinots? Walk into any wine cellar and you’re likely to find a bunch of guys talking about them, bragging about them — sometimes even taking them out and looking at them, just...

The Dating Game: Every wine has its year

by Thor Iverson | January 08, 2008
MY DINING companion looked up from the wine list, perplexed. "But it's supposed to be a great vintage." "Yes, it is. Which is why you shouldn't order it." He dropped the list on the table, exasperated. "Did anyone ever...

'Tis the Seasoning: Spices are turning up in cocktails all over town

by Sara Faith Alterman | December 12, 2007
PARSLEY, SAGE, rosemary, and ... chipotle? Spices from all over the globe are popping up in local cocktails, and we couldn't be happier. Herbs and spices add depth to your favorite dishes, so it makes sense that adding a pinch or a dash to your drink...

Size Matters: Watch out for great whites

by Thor Iverson | October 17, 2007
IT'S DRILLED into our wine-drinking subconscious: first white, then red. But why? While it's tempting to blame the usual "bigger = better" delusion, everyone else does it this way as well. And there's a sensible reason. Bigger wines...

Cento box: 100 bottles of wine on the wall

by Thor Iverson | August 10, 2007
THIS IS A list of interesting wines. No more, no less. By no means is this a “best of,” which can easily be found from all the usual wine-critic suspects. Some wines are cheap quaffers, others are expensive and meant to age, and a few you’ve seen before...

Gang green: You don’t have to embrace tofu to fall in love with environmentally friendly alcohol

by Sara Faith Alterman | August 10, 2007
THESE DAYS, everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Al Gore is trying to get you to go green. But though you can reduce, reuse, and recycle your little heart out, let’s be honest: there are few chores less exciting than sorting your glass from your plastic...