Belly up to a bar in Dallas these days (especially one that’s an industry hangout) and chances are high you’ll see shots of Fernet tossed back by the customers or staff. The Italian amaro has become an industry favorite, loved for its bitter, almost painful bite; it’s a bartender’s handshake…
Liquor stores are the grown-up equivalent of toy stores. These are the places that lushes are more excited to go to than anywhere else, and will happily plunk down a huge chunk of money on barrel-aged, triple-distilled ways to make our heads hurt really, really bad the next morning. We’ve…
I’ve found it. For sure. Casa Rubia’s Pintxo Social Hour is the greatest happy hour to ever happen ever. I’ll preface this entire blog post by noting I’m incredibly late to the game — the early evening bar special has been going on for some time now. But it’s better…
Since 2006, a Father-Son duo has helped give the suburbs north of Dallas a true beer-nerd clubhouse in the form of Lonestar Beverages in Carrollton. But as of the past week, Sam and Rick Ali have added a seductive new element to craft-beer loving here in the Dallas-area as Lonestar…
Editor’s note: Derek Beaton is a PhD student in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas. He also loves beer, so recently he set out to scientifically prove which local beer is Dallas’ favorite. Here are his results. Have you ever wondered what…
I have an almost magnetic attraction to dishes and drinks that are fussy. Call it a natural predisposition toward being high-maintenance. If it requires some kind of complicated technique or a bunch of painstaking work to make it happen, I want to try it. Unfortunately, because the things that are…
When I was in college, moonshine was hardly a trendy thing; the backwoods spirit distilled from a corn mash was an all out ass-kicker that could quickly put you down. One of my friends returned to classes each fall with a gallon jar of maraschino cherries whose red liquid had…
I know nothing about sherry, except that it got that guy in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado in some serious trouble. As such, I don’t make a habit of ordering it on its own, or choosing a cocktail with sherry as the main ingredient. But thanks to the…
After a couple of sips of Lakewood Brewery’s Holiday Bonus, I started wondering if a cocao aficionado could identify the chocolate that was used to flavor the brew. Dark, rich chocolate is the first and most prominent flavor to present itself when you taste the brewery’s new porter. There’s some…
Nestled between Crush Craft Thai and a liquor store, and across the street from Dee Lincoln Steak and Burger Bar, is the newly opened TnT Tacos and Tequila. The Austin-based restaurant comes from the same group that birthed the Blue Mesa chain. The polished industrial style of the interior delivers…
November in Dallas: You never know what you’re gonna get. One day, you’re leaving the house in cut-offs and flip-flops, wondering if the FOE pool is still open. A day later, warm weather seems a dim memory, as you trudge outside with a spatula to scrape frost off your windshield…
After outgrowing it’s original facility in Rowlett, FireWheel Brewing has announced a grand opening event for a new, expanded brewery. Owner Brad Perkinson says he has reached the point where demand has outpaced his ability to fill kegs with beer with his first facility. The expansion was the only next…
After Dallas’ usual two weeks of beautiful fall weather the cold arrived with a vengeance and we skipped straight to an actual snowfall, in November. This means it’s time to do away with those wimpy summer beers you’ve been slurping on for the six straight months of Texas summer, run…
Recently, my esteemed colleague wrote about the lack of available and palatable session beers, those beers that can be drunk during a long hot summer’s day. Do you know what I say? The lack of session beers is simply a sign that we’re all going in the right direction. I…
This time of year (and all others), there is great joy in drinking alone. The holidays are stressful, and there’s nothing better than kicking back a few hot toddies while you figure out just exactly how you’re supposed to afford Christmas gifts for everyone you know and rent at the…
Craft cocktails are like foie gras or caviar in that they inevitably make us feel fancier than we actually are. Every time you order that top-shelf gin or that herb-infused vodka, you’re essentially making a statement that you, unlike the plebes who swill well spirits and cheap beer, actually know…
The Design District is on its way to becoming known for its beer culture as much as it is high end furniture and art galleries. The folks behind Noble Ray Brewery have announced they’ll be setting up shop as the fourth beer maker in the neighborhood. Meddlesome Moth’s seemingly endless…
This month, Deep Ellum Brewing Co. re-released their Oak Cliff Coffee Ale in cans and on tap. Oak Cliff Coffee Ale made its first appearance last winter and was generally well received, but here at the Observer we were too busy falling all over ourselves to drink as much of…
How much would you pay today in order to have three beers a day for the rest of your life? It probably depends on how long you plan to live (and how much beer might shorten said life expectancy), but a brewer in Garland is hoping that a few type-A…
I am generally skeptical of any cocktail that a bartender describes as “savory.” Drinks should not taste like dinner. That kind of sensory dissonance is fine for trying weird new foods, but getting drunk should be a much more pure pursuit. Even if I’m being interesting, the drinks that I’m…
The folks behind Fireball whiskey are in damage-control mode after European countries issued a recall. Food-grade propylene glycol is safe for consumption, according to the FDA. But that didn’t stop Norway, Sweden and Finland from pulling their product from the shelves, as false rumors spread that Fireball is actually made…
I am a relative newcomer to the world of fancy dranks. Up until about three years ago, I considered a good cocktail to be a girly and syrupy cosmopolitan or lemon drop. I had no problem swilling a now-undrinkable combination of budget vodka and Minute Maid lemonade. It got the…
