“Buy the ticket, take the ride.” – Hunter S. Thompson
We have the perfect evening libation selection if your preferred method of waking up in the morning is a raging headache and a disorienting two-day hangover. This is the ultimate in anarchistic, hair-on- fire living, inspired by our favorite rebels without causes…
September signifies back to school, hitting the books, and learning something new. For DineGirl, that meant venturing into unknown territory and the typically all boys club world of artisanal beers and spirits. We recently attended the Boilermakers soirée at DBGB (rhymes with CBGB) on the Bowery, hosted by our good friend Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits and Manhattan Wine Company. Sort of an ‘haute cuisine-meets-skid row’, the theme was a twist on elevating the dive bar classic—the Boilermaker.
Having grown up on the “beer before liquor, never sicker” frat boy slogan,
mixing whisky and spirits with beer was initially frightening. But we threw all caution to the wind, pretended to be in the wild wild west and cowboy’d up. In the early morning haze, there were some clear favorites of the night. And surprisingly, we even remembered the interesting stories to match.
Here are our standouts, or of what we can remember:
Fernet Francisco + Finback IPA – served in boilermaker style together. On its own, the Finback had a more masculine finish, but combined with the Fernet the flavors mellowed out and would be the perfect pairing with DBGB’s famous artisanal sausages.
Vago Mezcal – hand crafted, small batch mezcal with a smoky, clean finish. Sure to put hair on your chest and perfect for sipping not shooting.
Auresan Armagnac – favorite of the night. Smooth, caramel and warm tones felt special and paired well with some of the hand crafted stouts.
DBGB has a little section on the mirrored wall at the bar titled “Beer and a buddy”. Three days later, having finally recovered from our crash course in boilermaker style drinking, we might actually try a few of those guys next time! And while there’s no magic cure for the ensuing hangover (a doozy at that), once in a while it’s fun to be an Easy Rider and break the rules. All in the name of adventure.
