Results tagged “bars”

When life gives you beer cartons, make beer carton libraries.

Bostonist had heard all sorts of things blamed for the shortage of this cocktail staple: bottling mishaps, distribution issues, politics, and, shaking a fist in the direction of Brooklyn, the recent fad of formulating beverages that contain whole ounces of bitters per serving.

The Archdiocese of Boston urges Catholics to hold off on the consecrated wine, lest they catch transubstantiated swine flu.

We were already wary of the suffix -tini, and now it's been combined with Twitter.

A British study says kids should learn to drink with their parents, because moderate alcohol consumption in a family setting involves less "regretted sex." [BBC]

Spring has come to Boston and with it, graduation season. And with graduation season come the herds of parents, siblings, and friends who want to take part in the big celebration and to seemingly annoy the hell out of every graduate in the city. We at Bostonist pondered this problem for a while and thought, “What better way to ease the tension than to drink?” We realize that liquor is not the answer to all of life’s problems, but having a place to go to entertain the masses will certainly help solve this problem at least.

    

The bartenders at Drink, in South Boston, are friendly enough that they have indulged, on several occasions, Bostonist and our entourage when we posed a series of "garnish challenges," wholly unreasonable demands to match a cocktail to something outlandish or much less classy than their usual Luxardo cherries or Cynar ice cubes. Circus Peanuts or beef jerky, for example.

       

This Bostonist owns many a compact, black and white volume of cocktail recipes, with small type and bare diagrams. Mixologist, booze consultant, and Museum of the American Cocktail founder Dale DeGroff's new book is, by contrast, a large, typographically lush (and generally lush) book of cocktail recipes with near-pornographic photography of perfect drinks, shivering in their garnishes. The Essential Cocktail is lovely, and, if we learned anything from its launch party at Drink on Monday night, you should take its commands seriously, including its injunction to flame those orange peels.

Cheap Mexican food is easy to find, but cheap sit-down Mexican is not so forthcoming. Luckily, Fajitas & 'Ritas in Downtown Crossing offers south-of-the-border eats with less cafeteria-style ambiance. Whether you're looking for appetizers and pitchers of margaritas or a full meal, there's plenty on the menu that will satisfy.

Join Fangela Fangula and about 700 other folks in the Boston Guerrilla Queer Bar project tonight as they take over a predominately straight bar. The action begins at 9pm tonight at the Cask 'n Flagon, 62 Brookline Ave Tequila Rain, 145 Ipswich St, in Boston. Flirt, skulk, dance, and show off those beautiful canines of yours. Gorilla-themed costumes are of course encouraged.

--Someone found violent messages in women's bathrooms, along with the date of February 28 (tomorrow), at Bridgewater State. Given recent violent incidents on college campuses nationwide, the school boosted security. Police are offering a $500 reward to find out who did it. [Boston Globe, Boston Herald]

The mayors of Boston and New York City, Mayors Menino and Bloomberg, are engaging in the standard "friendly wager" based on the outcome of the Super Bowl. If you compare the two lists, it's pretty clear which city has the better food options, and we're not talking about the Big Apple here:

Now that absinthe is legally available for sale in the US, the green fairy has landed on cocktail menus in Boston. Bostonist went to a couple local bars recently to try out the storied liquor of artists and poets. First, we tried out a more-or-less classic absinthe preparation at Kingston Station. It’s an interactive cocktail, and very pretty—you pour a bottle of spring water over a sugar cube sitting on top of a slotted spoon. The sweetened water trickles through a glass filled with ice and drains into a second glass, which holds your shot of absinthe (Kingston Station uses Kübler brand). As the water hits the absinthe, it becomes opalescent. Preparing the drink is maybe more fun than drinking it—the anise flavor is intense, and it is so strong (even when watered down) that it actually numbed our throats a little. Some of us loved it (the types who buy Good & Plenty candy), while others thought you might as well use NyQuil as a mixer. It’s definitely not for everyone. A couple guys down the bar from us ordered absinthes, each took one sip, and promptly ordered backup beers.

--Where have all the gay bars gone? Robert David Sullivan writes that we should be concerned about their disappearance: "In the Boston area, many of Harvard Square's bookstores, Kenmore Square's student eateries, and myriad other places that guaranteed a diverse urban experience have closed their doors, replaced by a far more uniform lineup of bank branches, chain stores, and upscale restaurants." A must-read. [Boston Globe] --If you haven't noticed with the cold temperatures and long...

-- The Mashpee Wampanoag celebrated federal recognition yesterday. "We are not celebrating Thanksgiving," said Shawn Hendricks, president of the tribal council. "It's not one of the better holidays for us. Columbus Day, that's not our top holiday, either." -- The sprinkler law is full of holes. Only 22 Boston bars have installed sprinkler systems. The rest remain as flammable as before. -- Pot advocates gathered 105,000 signatures, enough to get a decriminalization initiative on...

The Thomas Crown Affair and The Friends of Eddie Coyle Brattle Theatre, Harvard Square, Cambridge Wednesday-Thursday Showtimes and tickets Millionaire Beacon Hill residents have a lot of time on their hands. Who can blame them if they use it plotting bank heists? Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), which screens tonight and tomorrow at the Brattle, doesn't point any fingers. It's a schizophrenic movie with a paper thin plot and a clumsy script. Thomas...

MC Slim JB at Boston Magazine just did a piece about the wave of gentrification in the South End. People with obscenely expensive tastes are either moving in or visiting too much, and the prices are going up. Not only do the new residents like to throw money around, but they also look tacky doing it. One woman quoted in the piece proclaims, "The only cool people [at the Beehive] are the bartenders—half the...

The Mayor's Office announced that Mayor Menino and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper have set up a bet. Depending on who wins the World Series, the losing mayor will ship foods native to that area to a local charity. The press release's language is precise: "When Boston wins the World Series" and "If the unthinkable should occur." The mayor is leaving nothing to chance when it comes to winning the Red Sox World Series, and we...

We did our best to spread the word on Sunday that Boston Police would be cracking down on debauchery outside Fenway Park during Game 7 of the ALCS, but let's face it: we're naturally curious. We wanted to see with our own eyes what the scene was like down by the ballpark, given the likelihood of stories running wild about who was going to take it too far: the crowd or the police. Police had...

--Since Red Sox fans have a reason to party this year, Mayor Thomas Menino is already stepping in to settle them down. He met with bar and restaurant owners to discuss when to cut off the sloppy drunks. He also said he doesn't want any live cameras in bars. No live cameras? What would a nationally televised game be without a cutaway to the fans who couldn't afford tickets but who still want to celebrate?...

Celebrate the origins of the Native American genocide by going to see some European art! Bostonist couldn't miss that irony. But the truth is, if you've got this rainy Columbus Day off anyway, you could do worse than to check out the Fenway Cultural District's "Opening Our Doors." All the museums in the area are free today, from the MFA to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (The reaction of one Bostonian: "The Gardner's free?! That...

The Boston Globe assembled yet another online photo album that is custom-made for workers to peruse during lunch break. Only this time around, the Globe tackled a touchy subject - "What makes a true Bostonian?" As opposed to what? A false one? And how long do you have to live here to get your credentials? Not to pick on the Globe, but any kind of list such as this is going to have its problems,...

The next Four Stories reading will be on October 1, 2007. Kris Frieswick, Jake Halpern, Michael Lowenthal, and Hank Phillippi Ryan will be participating. The evening's topic is "Love and Money: Tales of Making It, Having It, and Losing It," and the readings will take place at The Enormous Room. For more details, visit the Four Stories site. To prepare, check out Bostonist's interview with Jake Halpern. Many of us spend our days in front...

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,...

Sam Adams is the flagship beer of the Boston Beer Company. On the tour of the brewery in JP, they'll tell you that there are a couple of reasons they call themselves "The Boston Beer Company" – the two most compelling – the name was available when Jim Koch started the company and they're located in Boston. A deal was announced today that will put the Boston Beer Company in a position to purchase a...

--After a lengthy undercover operation called "Operation Roadkill," the feds took down 15 alleged members of the Outlaws, a biker gang based in Taunton. In the raid, they picked up large quantities of drugs and, as Boston NOW gleefully noted, a stripper pole. We're not sure how the feds took the stripper pole from the house without leaving significant damage behind, but, by golly, the feds were going to take that stripper pole as evidence!...

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a...

As we've often said of police commish Ed Davis, he's willing to try anything. His latest attempt at crime-stopping is to start "Text a Tip," a text-messaging tip service that is designed to keep anyone with tips anonymous and safe. The BPD released an announcement that Boston will be the first city to use text messaging for anonymous tips because the phone-based hotline - well, it sure doesn't put "hot" in the hotline. So now...

On Thursday, Bostonist joined a bunch of tired people in a red line car, and a guy hopped on and started shouting. We rolled our eyes at each other and looked uncomfortable because we figured he was either there to make trouble or sell candy bars for a dubious charity. But he had a surprise. He whipped a boom box out of a voluminous green backpack and pressed play. The sounds of Stevie Wonder's "Part-Time...