A Date with Dollar Drinks at The Chesterfield

This week’s drinking dispatch is brought to you courtesy of my complete inability to pass up dollar drinks, particularly when said bargain drinks involve the words “gimlet” or “Collins” rather than “McCormicks” or “Bud.” While performing my morning ritual of catching up on the latest in Food Blog-Land over coffee,…

How to Make the Chesterfield Dallas’ Best Bar

I visited the Chesterfield when the bar first opened, and have been back a handful of times. Downtown’s newest bar promises great drinks and a stylish space. And I want to love the place, I really do. But it’s too crowded and too noisy at times, and I often feel…

120 Minute IPA at BlackFriar: If Only It Actually Lasted That Long

Nick Rallo and I have both written before about how deliciously hoppy, caramelly and boozy Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA is, so no need to regale you once again with tasting notes that border on erotic fiction for hopophiliacs. Instead, just enjoy his beer-porn snapshot that shows how this 18-percent…

My Favorite Beers of 2011

Here’s what passes for my year-end list, 10 of the beers that really impressed me this year, listed in no particular order other than roughly reverse-chronological. It’s late because I tend to do my heaviest drinking during the holidays. I wanted to be sure to include anything I tried up…

2011: The Year in North Texas Beer

Has there been a better year for beer drinkers in North Texas, and particularly Dallas, than 2011? Not one that I can think of, for reasons enumerated in the awards below. My year’s wrap-up isn’t over. Coming soon are my favorite beers of the year and a run-down of the…

Three Holiday Drink Recipes for the Festive Boozehound in You

Whitney Filloon, our resident pastry chef/booze correspondent, took the week off from drinking to bring you these winter cocktail ideas. We have her assurances that she was sober when she wrote them. I enjoy a $12 cocktail as much as the next Dallas girl, but I decided I better trim…

Has Anyone Seen My Toddy?

‘Tis the season for cliche. I could do with fewer references to chilly weather and the warming bowls of soup I’m reading on food blogs lately. How about booze? How about hot booze? That’s the stuff to warm up with. Observer bar-and-clubs guru Daniel Hopkins came to my office this…

Lakewood Brewing Company Finds Home

It’s a good week in Dallas beer real-estate news. Not only is Deep Ellum Brewing Co. opening its brewery doors to the public for the first time this weekend, but yesterday Lakewood Brewing Company announced via its Facebook page that it is ready to move into its home.”It’s been a…

The Winter Cocktails of Dallas

The holidays are here, and restaurants and bars around town have broken out their seasonal boozing menus. So I went on a pub crawl and explored some of Dallas’ best wintry concoctions over the past couple of weeks, stopping at The Library Bar, Windmill Lounge, Bolsa, Meddlesome Moth, Marquee Grill,…