Ah, Charleston. Finally shrugging off the frost of a long, cold winter, I was excited to travel down to the Holy City for a wedding in the woods and an extended weekend of polite excess. I’m a long-time and fervent booster of the city, boring all who will listen with over-long attestations to its limitless… Read More A Boozy Guide to Charleston
In my over three decades on Earth, much of it on the East Coast, I’ve never been to Pittsburgh. It’s a particularly shameful oversight for a history/sports nerd like me – after all, the Steel City has been at the cross-roads of so many formative American trends: the explosive growth of heavy industry, the waves… Read More A Boozy Guide to Pittsburgh
As a budding gin-o-phile, I’ve developed a reputation among my friends for offering long-winded, incoherent, but passionate testimonies to the glories of gin. Armed with half-baked history and indecipherable tasting notes (flowery…but not too flowery, right?), I will compel you to embrace gin as I have, no matter how many conversations/parties I must ruin. Folks, that’s… Read More Gin School at Left Door
Although I’ve lived up and down the mid-Atlantic my entire life, I’ve only visited the city of Philadelphia on a few fleeting occasions. So, with Philly’s rep sky high and my hankering for good cheesesteaks at a fever pitch, I jumped on Amtrak, put my feet up, and girded myself for battle with the town’s… Read More A Boozy Guide to Philadelphia
On the lookout for weekend plans, an acquaintance reached out over Instagram (I take pictures too folks) to inform me that the pros from the 1 Ounce or 2 Cocktail Club had set up residence at District Space to sling cocktails incorporating beer from the Flying Dog Brewery. She had me at beer! The late… Read More Suds and Spirits at District Space
It was on a freakishly balmy early January evening in Blagden Alley that we headed to the Columbia Room to sip through their fall tasting menu; temperature wise, it was eerily reminiscent of the last time I’d visited the bar in August. But we cast off our global warming concerns and threw ourselves into the 5-cocktail… Read More High Art at the Columbia Room
My little Christmas cocktail party was all set – early December Saturday reserved, tons of alcohol procured, and a dozen homemade ingredients in the preparation process. But one winter morning I woke up with a horrible fever, and my holiday season was transformed into an fierce battle between my immune system and a hellspawn virus.… Read More Christmas Cocktails Came Late This Year
“There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even—the French air clears up the brain and does good—a world of good.” – Vincent van Gogh Upon returning from my week-long trip to Paris, I felt silly telling friends how wonderful it was. The last… Read More Paris je t’aime
This week I’m reviewing Richard Elliott Friedman’s new history of the Exodus. While the mention of the Old Testament usually evokes strict moral codes and sober living, the document itself is choc-ful of booze-fueled fun/sin. For those too busy to read all 24 books, Wikipedia provides a great run down of alcohol’s role in scripture. So,… Read More Old Testament Cocktails
DC’s favorite laboratory for the cocktailian sciences, Barmini is the epitome of innovation, style, and taste. Ambiance: ***** Decor: ***** Cocktails: ***** Service: ***** Overall: 5 My failure to visit Barmini is a bit of a scarlet letter. I mean, I’ve visited hundreds of other bars including dozens in the DC area – but not one… Read More The Sweet Science – Barmini
