ALCOHOL
For all you cigar aficionados out there, New York City provides an overabundance of high-end cigar bars and lounges that offer an extensive selection of fine cigars, state-of-the art humidors, and private membership clubs. Many of the cigar bars on our list also offer live music, serve premium alcoholic beverages and host special “theme” events. For a look at Manhattan’s best cigar bars catering to the elite, check out our list of the top five below.
Club Macanudon
Nestled in the heart of New York’s Upper East side, Club Macanudon bills itself as an “exclusive club that is the ideal place to conduct business, enjoy a romantic evening for two, or catch up during a stylishly casual night out with friends.” Equipped with a state-of-the-art ventilation system, the club caters to both smokers and non-smokers and serves an array of fine foods and drinks. Please note there is a strict dress code that the club adheres to.
As the years seem to slip through our fingers, with the world feeling a little crazier at every moment, it seems we have yet to lose our interest in looking back toward the crafty days of yore. Maybe it’s our desire to appear perfect—with our jobs, relationships, homes, culinary abilities, the list goes on and on—just like our mothers and fathers before us. It’s an “I can do it all, all by myself!” attitude that can get us in trouble. Until we find the tricks.
It’s common knowledge that any amount of money can spin scientific results into desired conclusions. When it comes to studies about drugs or alcohol, readers perk up; because aren’t most Americans waiting for that magic pill that will allow us to eat or drink anything we want and never gain weight or let those recessive genes prevent our goals?
Yes, every week there seems to be some new study telling us that something ridiculous is actually good for you, or there’s been a cure for something and the news never really seems to stick. A couple months ago we reported on a study that claims vodka increases creativity and verbal skills.
We all know one: the fabled, mythic acquaintance that flips the switch once the happy juice hits their lips. Your typical Jekyll and Hyde case: one second they're helping groom your newborn, cuddly kitten; the next they're tossing haymakers at your dome with hellacious ferocity—ah, alcohol!
Let us disregard the silly notions of alcohol tolerance—after a year or so of general debauchery, one should know their true limits. Rather, let us turn our attention to the underlying ideology behind such irascible creatures. What is it that turns alcohol into liquid dynamite (of the self-immolating variety)?
If you forgot your smuggling supplies, and you don't know how you're going to survive the newest Bradley Cooper rom-com, fear no more. You might just be able to numb the pain by tossing back a beer.
A new state law will allow movie theaters to serve alcohol -- as long they "have table seating and a full restaurant menu selection."
The law will allow more venues to offer dinner and a movie with a legitimate alcohol license, and will allow theaters like Williamsburg's Nitehawk Cinema and Greenwich Village's Angelika Film Center to add alcohol to their cafe menus. But big name cinemas like AMC are also tapping the keg -- they already serve alcohol in New Jersey, and are quickly readying themselves to make their New York locations booze-friendly.
Merlots and Rieslings and Shiraz, oh my!
September 23-25 marks the 10th anniversary of the Miami International Wine Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Last year, nearly 7,000 industry professionals and aficionados savored more than 1,700 wines from 18 countries.
This year’s event is open only to wine industry professionals, including distributors, brokers, retailers, restaurants, catering companies, cruise ships, airlines, and wine clubs. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.miamiwinefair.com/ for $20 in advance and $35 the day of the event.
With Easter arriving in just a few weeks, Joonbug looks forward to the annual return of the Peeps. Without Peeps would Easter even be Easter?
Peeps came alive in 1953. They start as a mixer called “slurry” and then are whipped into their familiar marshmallow texture. Colored sugar is added. The marshmallow is then shaped into the many varieties they now create—from the classic Peep to the snowman for the winter holidays. After they receive their final decorations, they're packed and sent off to our homes via the Easter Bunny.
If you're spending the holidays with your family and need a stronger kick with your Peeps, try this adult-friendly Peep-tini.
Traditionally, vodka is distilled from grains such as corn, rye, or wheat, or potatoes. But the new COMB Vodka, made in Port Chester, New York is distilled from honey.
So why choose honey? Honey has just as many different flavor characteristics as grapes; it can be floral and fruity and has a natural sweetness that lends itself to a smooth finish when in alcohol form.
Despite being made from honey, Comb Vodka doesn't have an overwhelming or cloying honey flavor. The nose is full and has more of a secondary honey aroma, while the flavor is smoother and rounder, yet still light and infused with hints of citrus blossoms. Surprisingly, the vodka is not nearly as sweet as expected, making it perfect to drink alone or in a cocktail.
To drink or not to drink? To eat cake or not to eat cake?
For an evening, have it all! When you're craving something intoxicatingly sweet, look no further than these places for a boozy dessert or drink pairing.
Sweet Revenge: For some of the best cupcakes in the city, head here. Featured on the Today Show, The Martha Stewart Show and a Time Out New York's "Critic's Pick" award winner, this West Village spot is in a league of it's own as New York's foremost cupcake, wine and beer shop. Unlike most frilly, kid-friendly cupcake places, Sweet Revenge takes the adult route, outfitting it's savory and sweet cupcakes with "mohawk" slashes of frosting and offering customers the choice of beer or wine pairings designed to bring out the taste of each individually flavored cupcake.
It’s Saturday morning. You had a lot of plans today. You were supposed to clean the apartment, do the laundry, tinker around with your resume so you can start applying for a new job. The weather is gorgeous, bright and sunny—the warmest it’s been in months. After a little work around the house, you were planning on exploring the city on your new bicycle, then maybe going out for dinner and drinks with your best friend a little later. Drinks? You start to gag at the thought.
Nope, none of those things are going to happen today. You feel like you’ve been pummeled with a frying pan while riding a rollercoaster all night long...before crashing face first into the bottom of a birdcage. Your mouth is dry and your tongue, toxic. Nausea makes every little noise and ray of light feel like utter torture. You moan and clamp a pillow over your head, but that’s not before you realize that you don’t see your purse anywhere near your bed, where you usually dump it before climbing into bed after a late night. It must be near the front door, right? You bolt out of bed to check. Nowhere in sight. You must have lost it last night. Scheisse.
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