Use this thread to post where to find the best watering holes / microbreweries in each city.
Use this thread to post where to find the best watering holes / microbreweries in each city.
Dale
"All I want to know is who's the player on second base?"
Brisbane...
If it's bourbon you want, head to Byblos Bar, the best selection you would see in Australia! The food is great too
Scott
"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day" - Frank Sinatra
Riverside is not exactly Prime Time...but if you should find yourself here, and you don't have the good sense to PM me, here are your choices.
Yard House, Just opened here in December. 116 beers on tap and a menu that will keep your interest.
Kilarney's Irish Pub, 21 on tap, eat before you go. Great Scotch, Irish and Bourbon Selection.
Mario's. Great Bar...Pappy 20 and still had WTRR 101 over the holidays.
That's all Folks!
Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.
Bob Marley.
My recommendations for Chicago are here.
Col. Charles K. "Crotchety" Cowdery
"Whiskey Don't Keep."
I totally agree with Scott.
These guys have gone out of their way to bring in great bourbons not available in Australia.
Here's their site -
http://www.byblosbar.com.au/
Great food and a fantastic bar, all on the Brisbane River.
I'm not sure how useful these will be to most of the members, but most of the expansion of my bourbon-drinking palette has taken place in Japan. A combination of small market size, relatively high disposable income, and preference for aged whisk(e)ys makes this the perfect place to send limited release bourbons that simply aren't sold in the US.
All of my recommendations are relative to Shibuya station -- specifically the Hachiko exit (which I'm told is the busiest crossing in the country!)
If you're buying, go to Kawachiya -- I think I've counted over 70 varieties for sale, of which half aren't available in the States. (The link -- unfortunately in Japanese -- shows what's available.) Directions in Tokyo are particularly tricky -- I always find it at the corner of "the first left after the Udagawacho (robot) police box." Ask around.
If you're drinking, get on the Tokyu Den-en-Toshi line towards Chuo-Rinkan to Saginuma (take the express even though it's crowded!) A 20 minute ride into the suburbs and you will find Sal's Cafe, with a ridiculously comprehensive selection of both bourbon and microbrews. The owner Koji is known to many on this board (even if he doesn't post in these forums as frequently as he used to!) and his English (and taste in music and computers) is impeccable. From the front of the station, turn left, cross over the tracks, then turn left again at the 2nd(?) alley -- Sal's is at the end on the right.
If you can't make it out of town (but you should) then I found a smaller bar in Shibuya called Boylston. Follow the directions in this link. Not as great a bourbon selection as Koji's place, and the owner only speaks Japanese, but you'll still find a bunch of bottles you can't taste back home!
Last edited by StraightBoston; 01-25-2008 at 14:54.
Kevin
"Clears up her head with bourbon/Cause beer is so suburban/And declasse for what it's worth"
I remembered two more places to drink in Tokyo. These are near Shinagawa station, the east (Konan) exit.
Strings Intercontinental Hotel: Go out the Konan exit skyway, turn right, and duck into the hallway just before the 7-11. Blanton's Gold, Four Roses Single Barrel and Evan Williams 23yo in the lobby bar on the 26th floor.
T.Y. Harbor Brewing Co.: Picture a California brewpub (specifically the Tied House in Mountain View) dropped at the edge of a funky mix of old warehouses and new office buildings in Tennozu Isle. Probably easiest to take a cab. (No bourbon that I recall.)
Kevin
"Clears up her head with bourbon/Cause beer is so suburban/And declasse for what it's worth"
New York City
Well, I'm sure there are others in NYC, but I fell upon Blue Smoke last fall when I was there for a meeting. They have their own van Winkle bourbon and that's where I first had Four Roses. As a bonus, the food (bbq) was excellent. Double bonus: a jazz club, too.
Here's the link: http://www.bluesmoke.com/
"A man can take a little bourbon without getting drunk, but if you hold his mouth open and pour in a quart, he's going to get sick on it."
LBJ
Louisville!
Two of my favorites...
Bourbons Bistro: http://www.bourbonsbistro.com/
AND
Maker's Mark Lounge: http://www.makerslounge.com/site/index.php
Both have an amazing selection of Bourbon!
Hondo
I can't call this the best place to drink in Music City, TN. But, the last time I stayed at the Marriott in Nashville (By the Airport) a week or so ago, they had just brought on Four Roses Single Barrel to the bar, that day. BTW, half of the first bottle they opened...is mysteriously missing......Burp...
JOE
Wag more.
Bark less.
"Every bottle is its own learning experience." -- Sensei Ox-sama