Why do we go to Bars and Pubs?

I was sitting in one of my favorite bars the other day, The Classic Cup on the Plaza and made a remark to Central Patti about how good of time we were having. This made me think, “Why do we go to bars to drink?” After all we can drink for free at home, or so some tell me. If you Google the term you can find many humorous WebPages on topic so I thought I would try to list my top five reasons we go to bars or pubs.

5. Happy Hour Appetizer Specials – If you do your homework and shop around you can find many places that offer terrific happy hour specials on food (as well as drinks) and today most even carry a health menu.

4. The Atmosphere – Who does not like sitting in a bar enjoying all the sights and sounds going on around you as you imbibe your favorite cocktail. There is something very relaxing and yes even somewhat therapeutic.

3. The Music – I love going to lounges to hear the lounge singers and performers. Some of my favorite places in K.C. are the Copa Room, Odowd’s and Jardines.

2. The Drinks – I love to chat with baristas on their style and choice of alcohol in different drinks. After all how is there a better way to learn? I have leaned to mix my two favorites, the Vodka Dirty Martini and the Manhattan, not to mention the Hemingway Highball from different bartenders.

1. People Watching - Most of the faithful who read this Blog will find it hard to believe that drinks did not make number one, however without the people the drinks would just not be the same. We have always loved to simply sit and enjoy a cocktail while watching people. The way the dress, the way the walk, the drinks they order are all very interesting.

So what are the reasons you enjoy going out to have a cocktail?

Cheers

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Riding the Rails, Clickety Clack

Image
A few weeks back we took the Amtrak from K.C. to Naperville Ill. and as usual we had a great time. If you have never taken the opportunity to travel by train you do not know what you are missing. I recommend for your first trip nothing over four hours just in case you may not enjoy train travel. Also this will keep the price at a minimum and I recommend choosing your travel dates that are not during the peek seasons. (From around June 15th to August 15th.) to avoid high ticket prices You will be pleasantly surprised by the size of the train cars and the size of the seats. The cars are two levels with the lower level where you put your luggage when boarding, handicap seating and the rest room/changing rooms. We generally sit in the club car (now called the observation car) where they have many booths and seats and then entire care is plexieglass so you can see the beautiful sites as you travel. You can even carry on your own food and drinks and yes this means you can carry on your own
Read more

Cigar Infusion

Image
For those of you who follow MySideOfTheBar, you undoubtedly remember some posts on infusing Alcohol (See Jan 10 – Infused Vodka Part I and August 23 – Infused Vodka Part 2 ). So it seemed logical for us to attempt infusing cigars. Now infused cigars are no strangers here as Central Patti enjoys them often. One of her favorites is CAO’s Moontrance as well as a Hazel Nut/Coffee cigar. I started by fresh roasting some coffee beans from Ethiopia. The reason I choose those particular beans is that when roasted properly they are very, very oily and I believe they would be just right for infusing cigars. I took an empty cigar box and placed two cigars ( Graycliff Avelino Lara ) the fresh roasted and ground coffee beans and a small bowl of water. The cigars were a light tobacco which I hoped would absorb more flavor than a darker cigar might. The water was to not only assist with humidity, but to also aide in the infusing process. I left the cigars in the box for about 3 weeks checking ev
Read more

The Key West Cocktail Challenge

Image
Recently we were on the road with MySideOfTheBar in Key West with a couple of "Unusual Suspect" friends of ours. As you might expect we were in a bar when A.S. found a brochure for the Key West Cocktail Challenge. Also as you might expect we took up the challenge. The premise was easy, visit 6 participating bars, enjoy their signature cocktail and you get a T-Shirt. You can visit them in any order and take as long as you need to. (you could even do it in 6 days, but...) I am not going to try to describe each bar as you can follow the links to see and learn more. The first stop was The Green Parrot Bar . The Green Parrot is an open air old school bar that I absolutely loved. Their signature drink was Root Beer Barrel and at least two of us liked it ;) Stop two took us to Charlie Mac's and beside the great Signature Drink, it is also a BBQ joint. We only had the chicken wings, however they were awesome. The drink here was the Huckleberry Lemonade and I have to
Read more