THE SIPS BLOG

Bourbon + Candy Canes = Holiday Goodness

2006-11-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

The good people at Woodford Reserve sent me the following recipe, noting that they know I'm a Knob Creek fan but figuring they might win me over with a holiday cocktail suggestion. Sounds simple and delicious and I'm going to have to try it. Will let you know how it works out.

Woodford Candy Cane

Ingredients:

1 Liter of Woodford Reserve

3 Candy Canes

Instructions:

Empty out bottle of Woodford Reserve into a clean container.

Place Candy Canes at the bottom of the bottle (break Candy Canes into smaller piece if need be).

Pour Woodford back into the bottle and allow the concoction to infuse for 24 hours.

Serving suggestions:

Serve 2 oz. Candy Cane infusion in cordial glass or chilled martini glass.

Combine 1 1/2 oz. Candy Cane infusion with 4 oz. hot chocolate. Garnish with whipped cream and a candy cane.

Pour 2 oz. Candy Cane infusion over ice in rocks glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Pour 1 1/2 oz. Candy Cane infusion over ice in rocks glass. Fill with eggnog and stir. Garnish with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

General Infusion Tips:

1. Select the freshest ingredients. In the case of seasonal fruits thoroughly wash, rinse and dry ingredients. Peel the skin off certain fruits like pears, as the skin can turn bitter.

2. Gently layer ingredients in the bottom of your container. Add the Woodford Reserve last.

3. Discard ingredients after 24 hours to avoid any flavors overwhelming the bourbon.

4. Taste the infusion. For a sweeter infusion add simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar boiled until the sugar dissolves).

5. Be creative with your choice of glassware and cocktail recipes. The infused bourbon offers a whole realm of possibilities to cocktail creation.

"The Vesper" martini deconstructed

2006-11-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

In the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale, Bond creates a drink he will come to call "The Vesper."

Esquire took on the drink in their November issue, essentially saying it hadn't aged well for reasons that have nothing to do with author Ian Fleming's initial invention and everything to do with the way booze has changed - lower proof, scarcity of some ingredients, a change in glass sizes, etc.

Here's the original passage from Ian Fleming's 1953 novel:

“A dry martini,” he said. “One. In a deep champagne goblet.”

“Oui, monsieur.”

“Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large, thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”

“Certainly, monsieur.” The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

“Gosh, that’s certainly a drink,” said Leiter.

Bond laughed.

“When I’m..er..concentrating,” he explained, “I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink’s my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I can think of a good name.”

Esquire's assessment?

Gordon's used to be 94 proof and is now 80. Russian Stoli (Bond's preferred Vodka) used to be 100 proof. You can still find the strong Russian stuff, but you have to look for it. As for the Gin- go with Tanqueray, which is still 94 proof (I couldn't agree more). Lillet was reformulated in the 1980s but you can still get quinine powder online (they suggest www.raintreenutrition.com) and that's a good substitute in addition to the Lillet.

While you're at it: your drink will almost always be stronger and colder if it's stirred rather than shaken.

So, the recommended modern recipe for "The Vesper" winds up being (courtesy of Esquire):

Shake (if you must) with plenty of cracked ice:

3 oz. Tanqueray gin

1 oz 100-proof Stolichnaya vodka (be sure to get the strong stuff)

1/2 oz Lillet Blanc

1/8 teaspoon (or less) quinine powder or two dashes of bitters

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and twist a large swatch of thin-cut lemon peel over the top. Shoot somebody evil.

As much as I love James Bond I've never been much for vodka martinis myself. Plenty of people hate gin, but if I'm going to drink a martini (and I'm not going to, often) it's going to be made with either Tanqueray or Hendrick's gin.

There's the idea (chiefly because of Roger Moore, I think) that James Bond is a bit of a snob. But in the original source material, Ian Fleming's novels, he's just a man who likes things a certain way. That way doesn't have to be luxurious or expensive (and frequently is not) but he does, as a product of boarding schools and the British Navy, believe that things are to be done a certain way - from the construction of drinks to driving a car, to his dress to the cooking of an egg.

This may not be my sort of drink, but I do think it's Bond through and through.

God, the Enabler

2006-04-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

“Give strong drink to them that are sad and wine to them that are grieved in mind, Let them drink, and forget their want, and remember their sorrow no more.”

-Proverbs 31:06-07

Red Stripe at the Green Bean

2006-04-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

Joe Killian
Staff Writer
Go Triad
4/12/06

The Green Bean
341 South Elm Street
691-9990

The Drink: Red Stripe Lager

Rating: Three swizzle sticks

Hours: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday

The Drink: If you're serious about your beer there are going to be plenty of moments in your life when you walk into a bar and they're not serving anything that interests you. Nothing but domestic and light domestic swill at the tap. It's unavoidable and, if only because there may be interesting women at the bar, you have to break through your snobbery to form a contingency plan more sophisticated than heading for the door.

Luckily places like this will usually have one or two decent bottled beers as a sort of acknowledgement that their selection otherwise sucks. Though good (and even mediocre) beer is always better from the tap, there are a few bottled brews that are always safe and even delicious - well worth ordering when your options are limited or even keeping in the fridge at home.

My favorite of these is Red Stripe - the Jamaican Lager you can usually find even in bars where the only other bottled import is Heineken. I have no idea why you can find these stout little bottles just about everywhere - I'm just glad that, when it's a beer night, I can usually be sure they'll be there for me wherever I go.

Red Stripe is a lager - a beer that's traditionally cold-stored for a few months before being bottled and served for a fresher, crisper taste. Though modern brewing methods cut this time down to usually just a few weeks the highly carbonated, hops-forward taste often appeals even to people who don't really like beer. This may explain why the world's best-selling beer, Budweiser, is also a lager.

The Spot: The Green Bean has an excuse for a limited beer selection - it isn't really a bar. More of a laid-back cafe known for its flavored teas, coffees and pastries it none-the-less has the wisdom to stock a number of good bottles - among them Guinness, Hoegaarden and Red Stripe.

With frequent movie nights, live music on the weekends and access to their wi-fi network the place can be something of a hipster magnet but in the best possible way.

SIPS: Scotch at the Tap Room

2006-03-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
3/30/06

Tap Room Grill
1740 Battleground Ave., Greensboro
274-4439

Drink Specials: Half-price martinis on Mondays, dollar off all drafts on Tuesdays

Drink: Glenfiddich Ancient Reserve single malt Scotch, aged 18 years Glenlivet 18-year-old single malt Scotch

Rating: Four swizzle sticks

The Drink: There are few spirits more bitterly divisive than Scotch whisky (no "e" when you're talking Scotch). Worshipped by some and derided as wood-polish by others, Scotch is a liquor whose mystique is deep and long lived, whose history is colorful and unique and whose devotees are frighteningly, almost erotically intense in their affection.

This is what your grandfather drank, and with good reason.

As Dennis Leary once ranted, there was a time before chocolate liqueurs and candy flavored schnapps, when you had to love the taste of liquor to want a drink. Martinis were made with Gin, not vodka. Cocktails did not come pre-mixed in cute bottles. Sugary syrups and sour mixes had not yet invaded and taken over the whiskey kingdom. There's an argument to be made that most whiskey has since fallen -- Irish, American sour mash (like Jack Daniels) and even America's only native spirit, Bourbon. If you ask for these in any but the most traditional of bars, they'll wait for you to add a qualifier… "Whiskey sour? Bourbon and Coke? Jameson with a twist?"

But Scotch? The sweet stuff never had a chance against Scotch. A little history may be instructive.

The Scots have been making whisky since at least the 1400s. It was made, in much smaller scale, much the way it is today by malting barley over a peat fire, creating mash with fresh water, letting it ferment and running it twice through simple pot stills.

When this method caught on all over Scotland and Ireland, the English (never shy about exploiting the hell out of its far-flung and disenfranchised citizenry) began heavily taxing the hooch. The Scottish went to the hills, and by the early 1800s there were hundreds of illegal stills in Scottish glens that provided fresh spring water.

The most famous of these was the Glenlivet. The illegal whisky produced there was so famous that when King George IV made a fence-mending state visit in 1822 he asked for a glass. His hosts, who had been drinking it illegally for years, obliged. The king loved the dram so much he had another. One year later, the Excise Act was passed, making it possible for distillers to actually make money on legal whisky. Distiller George Smith legally founded The Glenlivet Distillery (which he'd been operating illicitly for years) in 1824. Other distillers used and abused the Glenlivet name until George's son legally secured the name in 1884. If you're drinking Glenlivet these days, it's George Smith's famous whisky.

The Glenlivet's 18-Year-Old single malt is a prime example of why Scotch has survived in the face of cheaper, easier-to-produce whiskeys from all over the world. The malted barley's interaction with the oak as it ages produces a powerful dram with a strong but not overpowering smoky taste and hints of ginger and fruit.

Cut with a little fresh water or served over ice it becomes a little warmer and spicier, and the strange organic transformation of the warm, velvety whisky from glass to lips to tongue is part of the experience. Sip slowly and hold it in your mouth for a moment, warming it. It's strong stuff. Go easy. At $8 a glass you want to enjoy this.

Another sure thing is Glenfiddich Ancient Reserve single malt, aged 18 years. Like a lot of single malts, it's aged in barrels previously used for sherry and bourbon, which adds to its character and gives the bourbon industry something to do with its white oak barrels, which by law cannot be used to hold bourbon more than once. This one's a bit more mellow and well-rounded than The Glenlivet, which may be why it won the Best in Class Gold Medal at last year's International Wine and Spirit competition - a category Glenlivet has had locked up since 2002.

The Spot: The Tap Room is Natty Green's smaller, more upscale sister bar. While Natty's has become an area beer Mecca, the Tap Room with its "Wall of Scotch" and extensive specialty martini menu, draws the sort of crowd that appreciates the best of the hard stuff. The place is delicately lit with no garish neon - old school, but wonderfully so. The seating is at the bar or at a number of four person tables with wooden barstools. The juke box leans heavily toward jazz, soul and funk. The food ranges from simple sandwiches to gourmet pizza, and it's worth a try.

Server: Adrienne Lester, 22.

Adrienne is the owner's niece. And no matter how drunk and annoying you become, she'll call you "sweetie." She's looking to get into UNCG's school of interior design soon. So Natty's and the Tap Room may become a bit swanker if possible.

WHAT MAKES SCOTCH SCOTCH?

All liquor made from any sort of grain is technically whiskey. To legally qualify as Scotch it has to meet a few standards:

1) First, it has to come from Scotland and be aged in oak barrels there for no less than three years.

2) It has to be made from water and malted barley, to which nothing but other whole grains and caramel color can be added. It can also only be fermented in yeast.

3) It has to have an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8 percent by volume. The best Scotch is single malt created at one distillery and distilled only from barley.

Don't let them hear you say that in Kentucky...

2006-03-21T09:46:00.000-08:00

There's a piece called "Bourbon 101" in this week's Village Voice that, as far as I can tell, misses the mark and just plain misinforms people at several turns. The writer, who I'm not sure did much independent research, went to a "bourbon expert" who owns a liquor store in Red Hook.

The "expert" blurs a lot of the lines between bourbon and sour mash whiskey and, I'm pretty sure, just gets a lot of things wrong.

When I interviewed Fred Booker Noe, great-grandson of Jim Beam and creator of the world's #1 Premium Bourbon, Knob Creek, he gave me the run down on what bourbon makers and bourbon enthusiasts consider real bourbon. It doesn't have to come from Kentucky - but it does have to be composed of 51% corn and aged for at least two years in white oak barrels.

The liquor store owner argues that straight bourbon whiskey doesn't need to be aged at all and is simply corn whiskey distilled differently than sour mash. Even the people at the Jack Daniels distillery (which I toured last year and who have a long running professional rivalry with Jim Beam and bourbon makers in general) will tell you that's crap. Sour mash has its ingredients, traditions, distilling and aging methods and Bourbon has its own. They're ALL important and play into the character of the spirit. That's what makes them different, sets them apart from other spirits (almost all of which are technically whiskey).

The liquor store owner also doesn't seem to really understand what is meant by "single barrel." The term does not(at least according to the Jack Daniels and Jim Beam people, who are responsible for creating the country's most celebrated whiskeys) just mean that the whiskey in the bottle all came from a single barrel. Most whiskey is blended, coming from several barrels. "Single barrel" almost always denotes a whiskey that has been singled out as extraordinary and has, in its single barrel, been aged and/or distilled separately. There are people who are employed specifically to taste the whiskey and designate certain barrels worthy of single barrel treatment. The whiskey (or bourbon) this produces should (and almost always does) have a taste distinct enough to be identified not just by experts but by just about anyone who's reasonably experienced in tasting different whiskeys.

The guy interviewed by the voice is right that there are some younger, cheaper bourbons that are good - which is one reason why I miss New England and giant, privately owned liquor stores. The ABC store model does do you in a bit when it comes to variety. If you want to experiment you really need just aisles and aisles of things in which you might run into something you've never had and can take home and experiment with. At a bar the whole thing isn't in your hands, you have to trust that the bartenders know what they're doing (unless you're drinking it straight, which is how I prefer it) and it's going to cost you at least twice as much anyway.

The Drunkard's D-Day

2006-03-16T07:51:00.000-08:00

The Village Voice has a quick word with a bartender at McSorley's - arguably NYC's oldest bar - on the St. Patrick's Day rush, which at this place means drinkers lining up before 8 a.m., lots of stout, the occasional vomiting incident and lots and lots of sawdust on the floor.

Where are you guys drinking on St. Patrick's Day?

Sips: Chocolate Chip Mint Fancy Shake at Cook Out

2006-03-16T07:32:00.000-08:00

Cook Out

Address: 2411 Battleground Ave., Greensboro

Telephone: 336-288-8643

Website: Nope.

Drink: Chocolate Chip Mint Fancy Shake

Rating: Three swizzle sticks

The Drink: The problem with the shakes at Cook Out isn't that they're too thick.

It's that they're too cold. Until you let them melt a bit you have two choices — vainly suck on the straw, getting nothing, until you pass out, or eat it with a spoon. But, as my mom always told me: the longer you wait, the better it tastes. Let it melt a little and you've got one of the best shakes in Greensboro. This one's refreshingly minty with real chocolate chips — rich, but not so rich you'll leave half of it in the cup.

How do you know they made it just for you? Because they only have vanilla ice cream. Take a look at the inside of your lid and you'll sometimes see the ingredients that just went into it. Miles removed from most pre-mixed shakes you can get at a drive-through, and each one just $1.99.

The Spot: Cook Out is a Greensboro institution beloved of the drunk people in the back of your car, insisting at the top of their lungs that you, as their designated driver, take them to get a shake. Luckily there's a double drive-through, because at 1 a.m., you're likely to be waiting in line.

The barbecue, chicken and 1/4 lb. burgers are great — particularly after a long night of war with your liver — but the real attraction is the shakes, of which there are more than two dozen (including the seasonal watermelon and egg nog varieties).

Hemingway wins - bar to change its name after suit brought by author's heirs

2006-03-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

From the News & Record story by Eric Collins:

GREENSBORO -- No longer will the name Hemingway's evoke martini sipping and cigar smoke wafting in downtown Greensboro.

The owner of the swanky martini bar Hemingway's Downtown confirmed Tuesday that he is changing the name rather than fight a lawsuit filed by heirs of literary legend Ernest Hemingway.

"It's strictly a name change," said owner Jeff Schleuning, whose bar debuted in June. "Hopefully, it'll be the same great place."

The suit was filed in U.S. Middle District Court in Greensboro in December by Hemingway Ltd. and the Pilar Trading Co. for trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Schleuning has claimed he named the South Elm Street establishment after an English bulldog he had as a boy -- not after the novelist. But Hemingway Ltd., a corporation owned by the author's heirs, believes the name is synonymous with the famous author. The corporation, along with Pilar, promote restaurant and bar services under the Hemingway's trademark.

Schleuning declined Tuesday to say why he chose not to fight the suit, referring questions to his lawyers, who did not return calls.

Both sides reached a settlement this month that requires Schleuning to pay an undisclosed amount of the corporation's attorney fees and change the martini bar's name during a "phase out period," according to a consent judgment filed Friday.

Schleuning declined to disclose the bar's new name Tuesday because state Alcohol Beverage Control permits hadn't yet been finalized.

"I didn't name it after a dog this time," he said.

---

Have been to Hemingway's twice. Nice place - if a little swank for my taste. Not the kind of place Papa himself would have enjoyed. Great booze and cigars, though.

Here's hoping they don't re-christen themselves "Steinbeck's."

Buttery Nipple at M'Coul's

2006-03-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

M'Coul's Public House

Address: 110 W. McGee St., Greensboro

Telephone: 378-0204

Hours: 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. - midnight Sunday

Web site: www.mcoulspub.com

Drink: Buttery Nipple

Rating: Four swizzle sticks

The Drink: My friend Kitty Campbell swears this drink got its name because bartenders like to hear women say it out loud, but, come on, what else are you going to call a concoction of Butterscotch Schnapps and Bailey's Irish Cream? This drink is the Barry White of the cream liqueur universe. Sweet, smooth, with a warmth and fullness that helps you understand how it got the risqué name.

The Spot: M'Coul's is one of my favorite places downtown. Great traditional Irish pub food (try the ploughman's lunch or Irish Lamb Stew), a laid back atmosphere of soft lighting and dark wood with throwback '60s pub signs for British brews like Guinness and John Courage.

Grab a booth inside on a cold and windy night and head onto the patio on a warm evening. If it's a bit crowded downstairs, head upstairs where things are a little less subdued, but the bartenders still know what they're doing with a drink.

Raspberry Kamikaze Shots at the Speakeasy

2006-03-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

Speakeasy Tavern

Address: 1706 Battleground Ave., Greensboro

Telephone: 378-0006

Drink Specials: Any of their 10 specialty martinis are half-off on Thursdays. On Mondays, buckets of domestic beers (six bottles) are $12 and wings are 24 cents.

Drink: Raspberry Kamikaze shots

Rating: Three swizzle sticks

The Drink: When nursing a drink just won't do the job, turn to shots. When straight whiskey, vodka or tequila is a bit much for you, turn to the novelty shot. This one -raspberry vodka, Triple Sec and raspberry liqueur - goes down like candy. But don't let it fool you; it's still a shot, a rather large shot. Handle accordingly.

The Spot: The Speakeasy is the sort of schizophrenic bar whose high-end food and nearly a dozen martinis might make you think it's a cool, laid back, hipster joint. But then you go there on a weekend and find the place choked with pudgy, aging ex-fraternity types buying Jager bombs by the dozen. And then you go the next night and the place is crawling with young women in halter tops with sparkly messages like "Define Boyfriend." You never know what you're going to find there, but the drinks are always good.

Server: Jennifer Last, bartender at Speakeasy for the last year. You've got to see Jennifer at work on a Friday night when the bar, tables and back room are so crowded that the glass-clinking isn't always intentional. Talk about grace under pressure.

RJC Martini at Renaissance Jazz Cafe

2006-02-23T18:08:00.000-08:00

Renaissance Jazz Café

Address: 117 North Greene Street, Greensboro
Telephone: 230-7420

Web site: www.rjctriad.com

The Drink: RJC Martini

Rating: Three swizzle sticks

The Drink: The RJC Martini is really a martini in name only. It's vodka rather than gin, sweetened with fresh fruit juice, pineapple and sour mix. It's more like a very lovely glass of Kool-Aid in a conical glass, but that's exactly why it sneaks up on you. It is an undeniably cool drink for an undeniably cool club, and on nights when there's live jazz it would be easy to put away quite a few of these.

The Spot: The Renaissance Jazz Café is one of the few spots in Greensboro where you can regularly see great live jazz and blues and also get a nice stiff drink. The downstairs is small and intimate with a large upstairs dance club. The downside? It'll cost you $10 to become a member and a $5 cover thereafter for every guest you bring. Not exactly in step with most downtown bars, but it does keep the casual stumble-in and stay a while drinkers away and preserves an atmosphere in which the crowd is composed.

Server: Al Sanders, bartender at RJC for almost three years.

If you want to see a bartender with flair and style, you've got to drop into Renaissance and see Al do his thing with a martini shaker.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Sippable Sundae at Steak n Shake

2006-02-16T02:01:00.000-08:00

Not everyone drinks and not everyone should. So, occasionally, I do a non-alcoholic sips column. Here's this week's - and you've gotta have one of these.

Joe Killian
Go Triad
2/16/06

Steak 'n Shake

Address: 2647 Lawndale Dr., Greensboro

Telephone: 286-8567

Hours: 24-hours, seven days a week

Web site: www.steaknshake.com

The Drink: Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Sippable Sundae Shake

Rating: Four Swizzle Sticks

The Drink: The words "Sippable Sundae" are a little intimidating especially coming from Steak 'n Shake, where the shakes are always old-school soda fountain thick rather than fast-food soy concoction thin. But it turns out, this is the best and most accurate name for this drink. The chocolate, peanut butter, whipped cream and cherry are present in ice cream sundae proportions, but it's still as sippable as any of the other shakes on the menu. The big surprise is in the finish when the chocolate and peanut butter collect impressively at the bottom and amp up the taste.

The Spot: Steak 'n Shake is an institution among area college students. Burgers, fries, shakes and hot coffee - 24 hours a day. If this place had wi-fi, students would be bringing their pillows and tooth brushes. They'd have to take them out into the parking lot and hose them down every few days.

There's something transcendently beautiful about simple food done well, and Steak 'n Shake's famous steakburgers, fries and diner-style sides exemplify that. For about what you'd pay for a burger and fries at McDonald's or Hardee's you get the kind of quality and service that made the American diner great - and still make it vastly superior to the mass-produced junk you can now get on every corner and in every truck stop. Steak 'n Shake now has 430 locations in 20 states - so people obviously still appreciate a good thing. And for a bonus: oldies playing all the time and servers in crisp white shirts, red bow ties and black aprons. Why aren't you having a shake there right now?

Happy Birthday, Chris. Now hand over your liver...

2006-02-14T06:29:00.000-08:00

Today is my buddy Chris Lowrance's 21st birthday.

Chris is the Executive Editor of UNCG's Carolinian newspaper and the cartoonist behind "Framed" - the 2 page feature story-as-comic appearing monthly in Yes! Weekly.

Tonight I'm taking Chris out for his first legal drink and then, this weekend, we're going to take him bar-crawling downtown - a trip that's going to inspire the next "Framed" for Yes! and a number of "Sips" columns for Go Triad.

"You guys are so lucky," my girlfriend said tonight. "You both have jobs where going out drinking is considered work."

We are, indeed, lucky.

SIPS: Miller Light at J.P. Looney's

2006-02-12T15:32:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
2/9/06

J.P. Looney's
3021 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro
852-1331

Drink Specials: Daily. $1.25 domestic longnecks and $2 House Hi Balls on Wednesdays

Website: www.jplooneys.com

Drink: Miller Lite

Rating: One swizzle stick

The Skinny: The Superbowl has come and gone, and with the Panthers bowing out before the big day, I found that most of the sports nuts I knew were just watching in the hopes that the Steelers would give it to the team that gave it to us. Human nature being what it is, that's no surprise.

What did surprise me was what everyone seemed to be drinking: light beer. Not just my mom and dad - for whom the never ending battle against age and jiggling flesh have become a way of life - but people my age; people who love beer. I guess it shouldn't shock me.The holiday season is over. February has brought the dream of spring. So just about everyone seems to be counting carbs and calories in a race to trim inches for summer.

Light beer isn't that bad, they all told me. In fact, as they dipped carrot sticks in light ranch dressing and tried to remember if Dr. Atkins said they could have peanuts, they said I should do a column about light beer. I should find one I actually like and a bar that serves it. Unfortunately I struck out. Every light beer suggested to me I found bloody awful.

Budweiser Select? I was waiting tables when this stuff came on the market, and it was all the rage among the diet conscious. But to me it seems like the beer equivalent of Pepsi One. Not as satisfying as the inherently unsatisfying original and not even as good as the diet model.

Sam Adams Light? This was just good enough to make me want a "REAL" Sam Adams. And while that may be a great marketing strategy, it gives you the creepy, soul crushing feeling of kissing one girl while thinking of another.

But the worst I saved for last, and it's this on which I want to concentrate. I drank a Miller Lite - on tap - at J.P. Looney's. Even good food and a congenial atmosphere couldn't save this beer. It is, unequivocally, the worst of the majors on the market. Which I suppose, explains why I confiscated more of this than any other beer when I was an RA at UNCG trying to keep 18-year-olds sober enough to consciously skip their classes.

This beer is a perfect storm of lousiness: pale, sickly yellow rather than brilliant gold, barely recognizable as beer when it hits your tongue with a pathetic, mocking aftertaste that just magnifies the poor first impression. This is the best argument for disallowing the term "light" in beer altogether. This is Diet Beer. Let's call it what it is. If you're on a diet here's a little quality of life tip from me to you: skip the meal altogether and just have a real beer.

Etc: Looney's should not be judged solely on its decision to stock Miller Lite. It happens in the best places. Concentrate on this: the burgers are a thing of beauty, the wings are terrific, and if you're a sports bar type, it's a great alternative to the kind of dozen screen chain-bar-on-steroids that's taking over the country. It's slow at lunch during the week, so you don't have to fight the busy lunch crowd.

Server: Megan Lee, a sports fan who's been working at Looney's for three years.

"The atmosphere is great here," Lee said. "You definitely want to stop in on Tuesday for the Duke/Carolina game."

Which is a little like popping in on a war zone for a few hours, except, you know, with beer.

SIPS: Red Nose Ale at Natty Greene's Pub & Brewing Company

2006-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
1/19/06

Natty Greene's Pub & Brewing Company

Address: 345 South Elm St., Greensboro

Telephone: 274-1373

Hours: Grill: Monday - Saturday 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Bar: Monday - Saturday 11 a.m.-2 a.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-12 a.m.

Drink Specials: Any of Natty's house brews are $3 a pint, with $3 "pours on the patio" after 10:30 p.m. Also, ask about the "growler" - a refillable two-litre carry out version of your favorite Natty Greene's ale that allows you to take Natty's home with you.

Website: Nope.

Drink: Red Nose Ale

Rating: Three swizzle sticks

The Skinny: One of the seasonal brews at Natty Greene's, the Red Nose Ale has a bit of ginger and spice to it that's nice on a night when you're coming in from the cold.

Slightly sweet - but not as overpoweringly as some of the popular theme ales of the season (pumpkin, ginger bread, etc), it's decidedly still a beer. Natty's has a number of seasonal brews, each unique and worth sampling before winter truly turns to spring. This may be my favorite.

Etc: Natty Greene's opened in summer 2004, and since then, it's become a downtown staple.

Now, it's not as hip as Much or Hemingway's, but Natty Greene's commitment to quality shows in their food and beer. Most of the better bars in the Triad now carry Natty Greene's brews - but it's worth going to the home-base for the fun, laid-back atmosphere in the dining room and downstairs bar or, on a game day, to gather around the big-screen upstairs.

This is how a good pub distinguishes itself from a tragically hip martini joint or the sort of dive bar that, in Greensboro, line the street like potholes.

Servers: Jill Barrett and Adrian Ackerman. Originally from New York and Massachusetts respectively, they both now call Greensboro home.

Adrianne has been with Natty's since they opened two summers ago and says it's a refreshingly different bar.

"Right from the time we all started here it's been great," she says. "It's very non-corporate, like a family. We get a great mix of people here, and people who really love beer. They come here because they're excited about what we're doing, so it's a good place to work."

SIPS: Gin Martinis at Much

2006-01-29T00:29:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
12/29/06

Much Restaurant & Martini Bar

Address: 113 South Elm Street, Greensboro NC

Telephone: (336) 370-1311

Drink Specials: Nightly

Hours: Bar Wednesday - Friday, 4 p.m. - 2 p.m., Restaurant 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Website: www.muchrestaurant.com

Drink: Gin Martini

Rating: Four swizzle sticks

The Skinny: All Martinis are not created equal. In fact, as any bartender worth his salt will tell you, there is only one true Martini: Gin, a splash of vermouth, shaken in ice and served in a conical glass, take or leave the olive.

Despite the popularity of the Vodka Martini, Appletini, Chocolate Martini, etc., they are all pretenders to the throne. Trendy though they may be (and despite James Bond's predilection for Vodka - shaken, not stirred) they aren't true Martinis. Of course, time marches on, to the victor go the spoils and, these days, if you want a Gin Martini you're going to have to order it that way. But it's worth it.

In an age before Sex & The City, when grown heterosexual men ordered Martinis without feeling foolish, it was the solid punch of gin (usually mixed four to one or higher with vermouth) that made the drink legendary. Vodka will mix with anything and, unless they slip you Aristocrat from a plastic jug, it's hard to tell until the next morning whether you're drinking the good stuff. You have to like gin - preferably good gin - to enjoy a real martini.

Etc: Much is the jewel of a cluster of related downtown nightspots that include its upper-level disco Heaven and its next-door neighbors The N Club and The Red Room. But, while you'll find yourself struggling through entire fraternities and sororities of scantily clad kids text messaging each other while drinking light beer at the N Club, you might see Mayor Keith Holliday descending the stairs at Much (which, in fact, I did).

The atmosphere is almost self-consciously luxe and strenuously decadent - belly dancers and fire shows on the weekends, torches providing the principle light at the bar. In a town with a series of cookie cutter pseudo-sports bars lining every corner, it can feel like an oasis where you're sure to discover a new drink or just get your favorite just the way it should be.

Server: Mike Duquette, bar manager at Much. Mike's been bartending for 15 years and has made the bar at Much what it is over the two years since it opened its doors. Ask him what's good and he's as likely to mix you one of his own concoctions as one of the Martinis.

SIPS: Highland Mocha Stout at Lager Haus

2006-01-12T00:29:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
1/12/06

Lager Haus

Address: 338 Tate St., Greensboro

Telephone: 273-0973

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.. Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday

Web site: Not yet.

Regular drink specials: An "Around the World Beer Club" is on the way. Thirsty customers with Lager Haus mugs can participate in a beer-race around the world with beers from every continent for a fifty cent discount. Those completing the journey will get a T-shirt, free mug and their name on a plaque over the bar.

Drink: Highland Mocha Stout

Rating: Four swizzle sticks.

The skinny: Yes, you heard me correctly: Mocha Stout.

One of the great things about a place that takes beer seriously is that you never know what new brew is going to be waiting for you when you belly up to the bar. The Lager Haus is that sort of place, and this week they're having trouble keeping enough of the Mocha Stout in stock.

"I don't even like beer," my girlfriend said. "But that is delicious."

That's a dubious standard, but beer lovers will want another round as well. The mocha flavor isn't overpowering as in so many novelty or theme brews. It just sort of blends into what is already a hell of a stout. It would be easy to drink two or three of these in a sitting, and it's probably good for your soul, if not your waistline. Like everything on tap it's just $3 a pint.

Etc.: Having just opened in October, Lager Haus has already established a reputation as the place for people who are serious about their beer - something Tate Street has been desperately lacking for years. Young professors and older students drink side by side there, and after a series of rave reviews, the word has gotten out about the food.

Owner Todd Jones of downtown's Renaissance Chef Caterers set out to create just this sort of place - a worthy successor to The Exchange, the bar and restaurant that occupied the space for years. The full bar has opened since last I was there. So if beer isn't your thing, enjoy the food and order your favorite cocktail.

Server: General Manager Daniel Petit, who knows and loves his beer. Ask him what’s good this week and he’ll not only pour you something delicious – he’ll tell you all about their beer’s origins, its brewery and what else they do well.

SIPS: Champagne at Harper's Restaurant

2006-01-04T00:29:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
1/4/06

Harper's Restaurant

Address: 601 Friendly Center Road, Greensboro

Telephone: 299-8850

Drink Specials: None.

Hours: Mon - Thurs., 10:15 a.m. - 10 p.m.; weekends 10:15 - 11 p.m.

Website: None.

Drink: Don Conde Brut Champagne

Rating: Three swizzle sticks

The Skinny: With Christmas and New Year's even fading behind us, maybe we can finally put an end to the perennial "Champagne is only from France" screaming both from the French (who launched an international ad campaign this year) and wine snobs (who should leave the rest of us alone).

Technically, they're right. The sparkling white wine known as Champagne is only produced in the Champagne region of France. And, as you know if you've seen "Wayne's World," everything else is sparkling white wine. But don't let the name game fool you. There are bad and middlingly good French Champagnes that will cost you twice as much as better wines from Italy, Spain, Australia and California.

The $30 bottle I bought for New Year's Eve was French - and, a bit surprisingly, just all right. Just as surprisingly, it wasn't as good as the by-the-glass Spanish Don Conde Brut I had at Harper's - or the various other domestic varieties I had in local bars throughout the weekend.

Etc: Harper's already has a solid reputation as a great private restaurant - where they'll gladly stack their food up against any steakhouse franchise where you'll wait an hour for a table holding a tiny buzzer and dangling your screaming kid on your knee. Its bar - all gorgeous dark wood, soft leather and glass - definitely holds its own against the dining room. It's relaxed but elegant and stocked for whatever sort of night you're having. No more expensive than any of the lesser bars with themes and wings-nights, it's well worth putting on your hit list.

Server: Scott Riffee is a West Virginia native who's been living and bartending in Greensboro about six months. Funny, outgoing, and a bar connoisseur himself, Riffee is the sort of bartender you wished you had at every bar where they're happy to serve you a drink but find a decent conversation a challenge.

"I love this place," Riffee says. "The architecture's beautiful, the restaurant's great, it's on the edge of a shopping center - what more could you ask for? We get all sorts of people in here - and when there's a younger crowd we get some disco going on the satellite radio, switch over from the jazz."

Riffee's beginning to get a bit of a following - and it's easy to see why.

SIPS: Hurricane Relief at Giovanni's

2005-12-21T00:29:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
12/21/05

Giovanni's

Address: 5831 High Point Road, Greensboro

Hours: Restaurant 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., bar 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Telephone: (336) 852-8890

Drinks Specials: Nothing posted, but try the extensive wine selection or ask any of the friendly bartenders to surprise you. You won't regret it.

Website: Nope

Drink: Hurricane Relief

Rating: Four swizzle sticks

The ingredients: Malibu coconut rum, Midori melon liqueur, pineapple juice, and a splash of Chambord raspberry liqueur served with a cherry in a cold Martini glass.

The Skinny: The Hurricane Relief is one New Orleans bartender's answer to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. It's an oddly festive drink to have come out of such tragedy. But, then again, finding this sort of light in darkness is very New Orleans.

Etc: Giovanni's already has a reputation as one of Greensboro's best restaurants. It's received the Silver Spoon Award from the Gourmet Diners Club of America and the Mobile Three Star Award every year since 1984. It's also a favorite of News & Record food critic John Batchelor, who can't stop raving about the place.

But, as I learned recently, the food's only half the story.

After the restaurant clears out, the bar is still very much alive - warm, friendly, well stocked with a classic feel and veterans behind the bar that would put most Triad mixers to shame.

The bar has a strange timeless quality - not contrived or consciously retro, but certainly of another era. There's definitely something to be said for being greeted with a handshake and smile by a bartender in a sharp tie who you know would never hand you a drink in a plastic cup. The place's regulars know where to come and those lucking into the bar after straying from the beaten path are sure to come back.

Server: New Orleans native Atom Scott, 34, who finds himself in Greensboro after Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing looting wrecked his apartment and The Half Moon Bar and Restaurant, the famous St. Mary's street bar where he'd been working for more than a decade.

The Big Easy's loss was Greensboro's gain. Atom knows his way around a bar and is already a favorite with the regulars who beg him to tell celebrity stories, like Oscar winner Jude Law coming into his bar to shoot pool throughout the shooting for "All The King's Men," his soon-to-be infamous nanny on his arm.

Greensboro's a slower pace than he's used to. But Atom said he feels he's found his niche for now. Word of mouth has brought him plenty of fans at Giovanni's and his girlfriend, Nathalie , is starting school at UNCG in the new semester after transferring from the sidelined University of New Orleans.

SIPS: La Dolce Vita Martini at Speakeasy Tavern

2005-12-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
12/15/05

Speakeasy Tavern

Address: 1706 Battleground Ave., Greensboro

Telephone: 336-378-0006

Drink Specials: Any of their 10 specialty martinis are half off on Thursdays. On Mondays buckets of domestic beers (6 bottles) are $12 and the wings are 24 cents.

Website: Nope.

Drink: La Dolce Vita Martini

Rating: Three swizzle sticks

The Skinny: I'm not a big fan of the martini - and, in fact, prefer mine with gin. But this sweet, vanilla martini is like sipping a delicious, alcoholic ice cream cone.

It's composed of Godiva, Stoli Vanilla and cream, a little Kaluha and a cherry.

Martinis -- like those on the specialty board at Speakeasy -- beg the question: how far can you take a martini before it ceases to be a martini? Vanilla? Fruit juice? Sour mix? But more than one La Dolce Vita and you'll be enjoying yourself too much to argue booze semantics.

Etc: The Speakeasy is a clean, well-lit place that's equally conducive to football night with the boys or sipping specialty martinis with the girls. A scantily clad pin-up girl lounging across the bar's logo greets you as you walk through the front door and there's a large, artful nude in the men's bathroom - which pretty well sums up the aesthetic at this relaxed and slyly sexy bar that hints at hipster leanings without being obnoxious about it.
T
he food is also well above average pub fare. Try the spicy shrimp wrap or the Ahi tuna sandwich.

Server: Case Hill, 23. Case is a junior majoring in Fine Arts at UNCG. He's been bartending at Speakeasy for about a year and a half.

"It's a pretty laid back place, with a good number of regulars," Case said. "On Martini nights it's a pretty good mix of people mostly in their twenties - real relaxed."

Ask Case about the drinks he dreams up when he gets together with other area bartenders - especially one made with root beer schnapps that, he swears, tastes exactly like a root beer float.

Liquid Kryptonite at Club Kryptonite

2005-12-08T23:01:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
12/8/05

Club Kryptonite

Address: 2437 Corporation Pkwy, Burlington

Telephone: 229-4699

Hours: Open Wed - Saturday nights until 2 a.m., women free all night Wed & Thurs., until 11 p.m. on the weekend.

Drink Specials: Tons. Thursday Night Jump Off is the winner with 25 cent drafts and $3 LITs.

Web site: http://www.clubkryptoniteburlington.com/

Drink: Liquid Kryptonite

Rating: Four swizzle sticks

The Skinny: "Liquid Kryptonite" is a tangy green concoction of vodka, peach, Midori, sour mix and Sprite. The result: a potent and sinisterly sippable mixture that not unlike the comic book mineral from which it takes its name, seems to rob you of any super power. One is good. Two is better. Three is an awkward morning-after waiting to happen. You've been warned.

Etc: I'm not a club guy. It's just not in my blood. But Club Kryptonite is, I'm a little ashamed to say, not at all what I was expecting. I was anticipating the sort of heavily white, popped-collared frat/sorority crowd you'd see on any Saturday night in downtown Greensboro. But, shockingly, the club had a great mixture of black, white and Latino revelers and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

The pictures on the club's Web site - largely of bleached-blonde white girls in mid-riff tops - is not really indicative of the regular Saturday night crowd I saw. The diversity is half the fun. There is a strict dress code - so if you're going don't wear a hat, baggy pants, athletic wear, t-shirts or Timberlands.

I'm not sure if the club's secret is the light-hearted mixture of modern top 40 and old school hip-hop or its strange green meteor-like glow beneath the black lights or if everyone was full of Liquid Kryptonite. But in just four months, the club has created a buzz that's brought back plenty of regulars and creates a line around the building on the weekends.

The good mood is infectious, and I got the distinct impression a lot of people were going to wake up with strangers the next morning, which is, I guess, what you'd expect from a good night club. Overall, it's even worth the pat down you'll get from the bouncers at the door.

Server: Co-owner and bartender Steven Harvalias. Steve, 21, created the club with his father, Manolis Harvalias, who has been in the restaurant and hospitality business since he came over from Athens, Greece at the age of 18. Steve's a hulking, good natured guy with a Superman tattoo on his right arm who's ready to suggest a drink and show off his skills behind the bar.

One look at him might make you wonder if he ever leaves the gym long enough to learn the art of the drink, but worry not - the man knows his business.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I: Drank Moonshine

2005-11-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
The Carolinian
10/25/05

There's no way to explain, exactly, what possesses someone to stare down at a glass of moonshine - pure corn liquor made in an illegal still - and decide to put it in his body. But, two years ago, I did just that for the first time.

A friend of mine, a giant native Tennessean who never had much trouble drinking his own weight in the hard stuff, had turned 21 a few months earlier. A friend of ours - another Tennessean - brought him a large mason jar of clear liquid to mark the occasion.

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked.

"It's from my granddaddy's still," she said. "Don't worry - they test it."

"Test it?" he said.

"Yeah," she said. "They put a little bit in the lid there and set it on fire. If it turns green, it's fine. If it turns blue it'll kill you."

Now that's the kind of warning that would keep most anyone from ever opening the jar. Anyone but a giant, mischievous Tennessean, anyway. Still - his first taste was harsh and enough to keep the jar on a shelf for months afterward.

By the time he decided to open it again I was a CA and he a Head Resident in another dorm at UNCG. We were celebrating a giant victory at the paper - which wasn't uncommon. Sometimes just getting through the year at the paper feels like a triumph. But, as we sat in his on-campus apartment laughing at fate and deciding to toast our good fortune, he got that familiar glimmer in his eye. That glimmer that said clearly: "Oh, this is a terrible idea. It must be done."

"I know what we're doing!" he cried, leaping up and pulling the mason jar down from its hiding place. "We're going to take a shot of this!"

Even as I shook my head he placed two large shot glasses down in front of us, loosening the lid of the jar. The sharp stench of ethanol crawled into our nostrils, burning our eyes a bit. After turning 21 myself I'd broken with a long-standing, self-imposed abstinence from all alcohol - but a few beers now and then was still the general rule. How had it suddenly come to this?

"Um...I really don't know..." I whined.

"Oh come on," he said. "We're gonna do this. We've got to."

Sometimes, when two young men are celebrating life's small victories and feeling their own powers a bit too keenly, they find themselves giving over to recklessness without much of a fight. As champion drinker and borderline psychotic Ernest Hemingway once said: "Sometimes an intelligent man is forced to be drunk in order to be with his fools."

So we both took up our glasses.

We looked at each other as we lifted them slowly, the way amateur skydivers must steal a glance at the man next to them, trying to figure out why this guy in front of them would do something so wreckless so that they can answer the question for themselves.

And then, suddenly, we were throwing it back.

Thin, dry, inexplicably tasteless - you can barely feel it in your mouth as it slips down your throat. For a moment, after it's done, you wonder if you drank anything at all. And then, just as that false sense of security settles in the very stomach that moments earlier was alive with butterflies, your entire head catches fire. Your eyes, your nostrils, the very ends of your hair. Nothing so cold has ever burned you so incredibly - and though it lasts only a moment you're sure, while it's happening, that you'll never be sane and whole again.

"This is it," you think to yourself. "This is why there are so many men half-asleep on New York subway cars, their faces contorted into horrible masks of unimaginable agony as they gently piss themselves. This is how it happened - and I'm about to join them."

And then, as quickly as it began, it's over.

Until we took the next shot, of course.

Three shots later we were two very large, very stumbling young men for whom everything was hilarious and beautiful. It hadn't been pleasant going down - but it was the three-minute equivalent of a night of heavy drinking.

I made my way home very carefully, sliding down stairs that seemed stable on my way up but now seemed to slip from under me each time I let them out from under-foot. I had something of the same problem with the sidewalks - but when I hit my bed it did just what I wanted it to. Laying on top of my sheets in my street clothes I felt like I was in the womb again - one of the best nights of sleep I'd ever had.

Until the next time we opened that jar, anyway...

Editor's note: No matter what color it turns when you set fire to it, moonshine is incredibly dangerous and highly illegal. If you're underage avoid alcohol completely. If you're over 21 stick to the legal stuff and drink responsibly.

SIPS: Cape Cod at Buffalo Wild Wings

2005-11-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

Joe Killian
Go Triad
11/24/05

Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar

Address:5836 Samet Drive, High Point

Telephone: 760-9233

Drink Specials: They've just opened, but pop by to see what shakes out.

Website: www.buffalowildwings.com

Drink: Cape Cod

Rating: Three swizzle sticks

The Skinny: On Thanksgiving, there's no arguing with a drink with cranberry and a sports bar with six big screen TVs on which to watch the game. The Cape Cod may have a reputation as a sweet "vodka and..." concoction beloved by the off-the-clock business women during the Reagan era. But to my mind, it's time it was revived as a Thanksgiving tradition.

Think about it. The cranberry juice - when it's good - is a refreshing reminder of our country's native bounty. And the vodka - when it's good - is one of the world's oldest and friendliest spirits. It can mix with just about anything. Our plainly dressed, buckle-shoed, painfully pious forefathers might not have approved, but once you taste it, you will. Think of it as a proof-positive of our nation's cultural progress.

Incidentally, a few summers ago, I lived on Cape Cod, and I never saw anyone order one of these. The locals mostly drink beer and the tourists wine. But, if it will make you feel more like a Kennedy, order one this Thanksgiving and sip slowly while imagining yourself at the helm of a sailboat shoving off from the family compound with the crisp, New England breeze at your back.

Etc: While I'm not much of a sports bar kind of guy, even I can appreciate Buffalo Wild Wings, a chain bar whose High Point location just opened last week. This is largely because it isn't just a sports bar. It's a sports bar on steroids. With six big screens and several smaller TVs festooned all over the place, you can watch football, baseball, NASCAR and poker all at once while enjoying a impressive liquor stock or more than 20 beers they have on tap. The staff is overwhelmingly young, female and gorgeous and even the cocktails are served in large, sturdy glasses that are nearly the size of your head. Seems to me like the place to be for the Turkey Day game. Or any other game, for that matter.

Server: Helen Smith, 27, who hails from Oak Ridge and is working on a double major in both computer science and mathematics at Rockingham Community College. Greensboro residents may recognize Helen from her other gig at Harper's restaurant in Greensboro's Friendly Shopping Center. But she has plans to transfer to UNC-Chapel Hill before long, so go out and see her while you still can.