NY Barfly

Greenpoint's Garden of Beer

Greenpoint continues to bloom. Maybe it’s like a forest fire. Studio B burns to the ground, and everything else grows out of the ashes.

Never hurts when the drunks are watering the plants. Well, maybe it does, but not when the plants are metaphorical nightlife ones!

Red Star, a Greenpoint sports bar, just announced a Beerfest. And, how does their garden grow? With 33 craft and microbrews.

Stop by to enjoy 15 local, national, and international breweries including Blue Point, Sierra, Smuttynose, Lagunitas, Brooklyn’s own Kelso and Sixpoint, Brooklyn Brewery’s brewmaster reserve, and for the first time in the United States, Latis’s Steenbrugge Tripel. 

The Beerfest is on Saturday, November 7^th. Best part? It starts at 1 PM. Gotta get there early and water some plants (i.e. your liver).

Check out the flyer below:

More Halloween Drinks: A Bucket of Worms

Southern Hospitality is getting pretty creative with their Halloween cocktails. Their menu currently contains The Creek Water Bucket, which serves four or five thirsty bar goers. The spooky part? They’ve garnished it with worms! We hope your blood curdling scream did not disturb your office mates.

It’s not that scary – these creepy crawlies are of the gummy variety. The tasty insects live in a juice of Rum and Iced Tea.

The best part about this drink? You’ll have a good story for the next day. When everyone asks you, what you did for Halloween, you can reply “drank worms”. Sure beats getting felt up by a stranger at the Village Parade.

Check out the recipe. Make it at home if you’re too embarrassed to go to Southern Hospitality and order one of these puppies all for yourself.

The Creek Water Bucket

Served at Southern Hospitality

2.5 oz Bacardi Limon Rum

4.5 oz Sweetened Ice Tea

15 Gummy Worms

Serve: Mix ingredients into a plastic bucket and garnish with 5-6 straws, gummy worms, assorted candy and lime wedges.

Bartenders, Choose Your Weapon

The Brooklyn Paper has an interesting look at what bartenders keep behind the bar in case they have to defend themselves. Even though we think a good bartender can disarm anyone with a few free drinks, these weapons are a little more hardcore. They include a baseball bat, mace, and some, um, medieval weaponry.

We really like the description of the good old days, when bars would blow your face off if you tried to cheat them. Check it out:

Beer lovers in Bay Ridge still tell the story of a 1970s Fifth Avenue tavern that kept a golf bag behind the bar stuffed with a driver — and a shotgun.

Yowza. It’s nice that things are a bit tamer these days. The article reports that, at many places, it’s the regulars that keep the peace. We knew you derelicts were good for something!

A Bloody Bite for Halloween

Ugh – still looking for Halloween plans? The lines at Ricky’s are going to be down the block, so you better get your butt in gear. By the time you get there, all the balloon boy costumes will be sold out! It won’t be a hoax when you have to go in a last year’s Sarah Palin outfit because it’s the only thing left.

If you’re looking for some spooky tipples, check out the Los Dados Halloween Party (73 Gansevoort Street). Once you get that costume together, head over to the bar for one of their Tanteo Blood Bites. The spot is featuring a one hour open bar from 8 to 9 PM, so luckily this tequila concoction won’t take a bite out of your wallet.

What does this evil cocktail feed on? Your sobriety. Good thing, as you’ll need to get tipsy to walk around dressed as Madame Governor all night. You could have at least been creative and gone as Bristol.  

The Blood Bite

2 oz. Tanteo Jalapeno Tequila

1.5 oz. fresh lime juice

0.75 oz. orange liqueur

0.5 oz. simple syrup

0.75 oz. blood-orange purée

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice; shake vigorously and strain into cocktail glass rimmed with a mixture of smoked sea salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar.

Wine and Cheese at Ardesia

The other night, we popped into Ardesia. The newly opened wine bar is manning the far western front of Manhattan, along with Taboon. The Middle Eastern restaurant alone was worth the trip over to 10^th Avenue. At this stage in the game, it’s hard to tell if Ardesia will become a similar drinking destination, or if it will just serve as a pleasant spot to pass the time while you wait for your table at the restaurant down the block.

Their wine list is focused, with plenty of options in the $9 - $12 range. Fun bar snacks dot the menu. On our visit they were offering an Oktoberfest special. The New York style pretzels dabbed with spicy mustard went swimmingly with a Pinot Bianco chaser. Our problem with the space may have just been a symptom of its newness.

Hell’s Kitchen actually has a few stellar wine bars. Xai Xai and Karavas Place are comfy vino dens, and you don’t have to trek to tenth to enjoy a nip. If Casellula down the block on 52^nd is like drinking in the neighborhood’s cozy living room, then Ardesia feels like sipping a glass in the entryway. There is an unfinished vibe to the place; the gigantic ceilings and marble bar make it feel like a strange lobby rather than the main event of the night. This coldness will hopefully be washed away as more and more Cotes du Rhone is poured.

We’ll visit again in a few weeks, if only because we thought the eponymous slate style stone that is used as a cheese board was quite a creative touch. While we wait for the neighborhood's new wine bar to get its vibe going, you can find us at the bar at Taboon.

Photo courtesy of eater.com.

Handy-dandy Alternative Uses for Vodka

The Daily Green offers an illuminating list on the other uses for vodka. While it may seem like a tragedy to do anything other than drink the spirit, why not get drunk and clean with it at the same time?

It’s surprising that the sauce has so many uses. Looks like we can stop buying cleaning materials and laundry soap. The Daily Green points out that Vodka can freshen up dirty clothes or clean bathroom fixtures. With all the money you can save, well, you can buy more vodka.

Here are some other interesting uses:

- A few drops into a vase, and your flowers will last longer. They may come on to you every time you walk past, but that’s just because they’re so happy.

- If you come in contact with poison ivy, wash the affected area with vodka to avoid a rash. If you get a rash anyway, start taking shots while moaning ‘why does this always happen to me’.

- Add a shot of vodka to your shampoo for healthier, shinier hair. If you run out of alcohol in your apartment, this can also serve as your emergency stash.

All of this is a great excuse to head to the liquor store and stock up!

Libation Vacation: ACES Pour Tour

Mass transit operators take note: you should be following the liquefied example of ACES. We were already huge fans of the Atlantic City Express Service train, which is the only way to get to A.C. unless you enjoy being trapped on a bus full of compulsive gamblers. The train service, which already serves alcohol in its bar areas, just added a new Pour Tour to the schedule.

From Halloween to Thanksgiving, riders on the ACES Pour Tour (or the #7165 train departing New York City’s Penn Station at 8:21 PM) can purchase signature cocktails developed just for ACES at a 25-40% savings and recreate the drinks at home with a demonstration of how the cocktail was made in the bar area and receive unique recipe cards as a souvenir. Um, MTA, isn’t it time you considered something so fun for the subway?

Check out the schedule, because we all need another excuse to go to Atlantic City and gamble our rent money!

· October 30 – OktoberFast

Pour Tour kicks off with a tribute to Oktoberfest: beer enthusiasts will love sampling autumn’s best ales such as Stoudts Oktoberfest and Victory Festbier!

· November 6 – Autumn on the Rocks

ACES proves “on the rocks” can be a good thing with signature drinks made using Captain Morgan Spiced Rum and Parrot Bay liquors.

· November 13 – One Sweet Ride

With drinks shaken and stirred with Ciroc, Crown Royal, Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, and more, ACES offers riders a sweet reprieve from a long week.

· November 20 – Good Libations

Riders can treat themselves to drinks such as an ACES Bloody Mary or Arnold Palmer as they unwind on the way to Atlantic City.

You can get more information at the ACES Website: www.acestrain.com.

Killer Halloween Cocktails (cue evil laugh)

Something we like about Halloween? On this holiday, even the drinks get to dress up. Bartenders everywhere gussy up their cocktails by adding spooky sounding names. They’ll even throw in some little used bar ingredients to give their drinks a murderous hue. We all know what’s truly killer with drinks like these: the hangover.

The folks over at Sobieski Vodka came up with some creep-tastic libations for the holiday. These are the brainchild of Ray Foley, bestselling author of Bartending for Dummies (and friend of Barfly). Check it out:

SO-BOO-SKI

2 oz. Sobieski Vodka

1/2 oz. Marie Brizard Blackberry

Shake. Serve on the rocks or straight up in a sugar-rimmed glass.

SOBI SKELETON

2 oz. Sobieski Vanilla

1/2 oz. Marie Brizard White Cocoa Liqueur

3 oz. Club Soda

Shake Sobieski Vanilla and Marie Brizard White Cocoa Liqueur. Pour into tall glass. Top with club soda.

Nice to see that the inexpensive brand is branching out into flavored labels. Their quality sauce is the go to brand for vodka cocktails at our home bar. Come trick or treating, adult style, at our place. This year, we’ll be handing out these. Last year’s Three Musketeers / razors combo wasn’t quite the ironic hit we had hoped.

Chilean Wine Tasting Tonight!

Looking for plans this evening? Why not sip on some of the top wines coming out of Chile? Sounds like a real step up from your usual Tuesday evening. Yes, staring at the wall and wishing it was any day other than Tuesday can be fun, but we think you should go with the Vino.

The tasting will be led by the Chilean-based wine and culinary expert Liz Caskey. It will take place at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) at 50 W. 23^rd St. from 6-8pm and the tickets ($35) can be ordered here.

To get an idea of some wines that will be sampled, check out the list below the jump. Don’t worry, NCIS: Los Angeles will still be waiting for you next Tuesday.

Check out the Wines –

DC's Boom Boom Room / Moonshine Police Gutted

-The Styles Section takes a look at Washington D.C.’s newly owned Point of View. Is this lounge, in the penthouse of the W Hotel, the capitol city’s version of The Boom Boom Room? It’s missing one key aspect. In New York, the club lets Lindsay Lohan in. We doubt DC would admit Bo Obama to the club, so it’s left without a resident dog.

-Due to budget cuts, Virginia’s “Whiskey Unit” is now down to one part-time moonshine busting cop. It’s his job to go around and arrest people for distilling hooch in their back yards. Sadly, the police department’s band is now left with only a single part-time jug player.

-Last week saw bad news for Le Souk. The East Village spot had its liquor license canceled by a court ruling favoring the State Liquor Authority. To protest, we propose a candlelight vigil featuring rounds of shots instead of candles.