"bars" news and stories

Photo: theporterbeerbar.com

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

When Molly Gunn and her husband, Nick Rutherford, served their first pint at The Porter fifteen months ago, they had done more than just open a new beer bar and restaurant: They were opening up a new part of Atlanta, GA, to delights of craft beer and microbrews.

"We're very lucky there is another bar near here called The Brick Store that is super committed to craft beer and small beers," says Gunn. "They paved the way for us, but they are in a totally different neighborhood."

Realizing the growing demand for great beer throughout the Atlanta area, The Porter seemed to fit a niche in their part of town. A number of local bars featured a few crafts on tap, but none offered a selection as robust as theirs, featuring over 30 taps and 300 bottles.

The response has fit their expectations: "It's been great. We've definitely found that beer is recession proof. People still want to drink and it's a less expensive option than wine." Then, with a laugh she adds, "You still want to drown your sorrows."

If you're growing weary of rolling and cutting out batch after batch of holiday cookie, the blogger at A Dash of Sass has the perfect solution with these festive Cranberry Pistachio Blondies. The mix of cranberries and pistachios not only give the blondies colorful punches of red and green, they pack these blondies with tart and nutty flavors plus a great mingling of sweet and salty.

The blogger promises that these bars are "crazy simple" to make. A look at the recipe backs up the promise down to the foolproof frosting. Zigzagging icing across the top is infinitely easier than piping and flooding Santa hats and snowflakes onto sugar cookies.

Set out a plate for Santa -- I'm sure you'll be the only ones on your block tempting him with this creative take on classic holiday cookies.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

The Good Beer Seal of approval. Photo: goodbeerseal.com.

Earlier today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg officially proclaimed July to be "Good Beer Month." The declaration came at the request of a local collective known as "the Good Beer Seal."

Founded earlier this year by bar owners Garry Gillis (Burp Castle and Standings), Ray Deter (d.b.a.) and Jimmy Carbone (Jimmy's No. 43), the group strives to "recognize establishments that pride themselves on serving quality, craft beers." With only 15 recognized bars in a city of more than 8 million people, the Seal has yet to become the definitive icon for the city's best spots for suds, but Carbone admits things are still getting off the ground. "We really didn't expect the mayor to make the proclamation," he humbly admits.

For a nascent organization, receiving a mayoral decree after simply writing him a "nice letter" is quite a feat. Carbone believes GBS's support of programs for sustainable food and insistence that members have an "active community presence" was an important factor. "A lot of bars don't make such a good community impact," he told us.

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

A giant thanks to all the Slashfood readers who responded to last week's call for shoutouts of favorite beer-friendly bars. We received a whopping 43 comments naming almost 50 watering holes in 19 states.

Beyond giving Slashfoodies a chance to chime in, What's On Tap's goal was to compile a list of new bars to draw upon for future WOT posts. We've already featured places like Chicago's The Map Room, Houston's The Ginger Man and San Diego's O'Brien's Pub (though they are always worth revisiting). It's also worth noting that WOT strives to vary metropolitan areas as much as possible. For example, San Francisco's Toronado received by far the most comments, but we visited SF suds relatively recently, so don't expect a Toronado post anytime soon. (For those who cry foul, remember, WOT isn't a list of the best beer bars in each city -- just an interesting choice. Sometimes it's more adventurous to go off the beaten path.)

Using that criteria, a lot of great pubs may be bumped towards the back of the queue, such as those in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Cambridge, Mass., and Santa Monica, Calif. After the jump, a list of bars you're likely to see in future WOT posts based on your comments.

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

For 20 weeks now, What's On Tap has taken a peek at some amazing beer-friendly bars from all across the country (and once, even beyond). Problem is, the US of A is massive and new brew-based establishments are opening all the time. So this week, What's On Tap is asking you, our readers, for your favorites.

The only restriction? The locales must serve draft beer of noteworthy quality. Sure, a lot of great bars serve pitchers of PBR and nothing else, but save those joints for a list of Best Places For Boys' Night Out [Or Girls! -- Ed]. Extensive local selections and rare abbey imports are the kinds of things that make a bar WOT-worthy. (Also, though brewpubs are awesome for unique finds, for this post, let's try to stick to bars.)

Leave your favorite spots for sipping suds in the comments and check back later for a compiled list of our readers' top beer-centric watering holes. You may even see your suggestion featured in an upcoming edition of What's On Tap!