VARIETY IS the spice of your night. Who wants to stick with one boring same-old when enthusiastic bartenders all over the city are mixing up adventurous, delicious drinks? But it's easy to get overwhelmed when faced with a novella-length cocktail menu. What should you order when everything looks good? Something fruity? Something sour? Vodka? Gin? Tequila? Your head's spinning before you've even had a sip.
Lucky for wishy-washy you, there's a solution. Taking a page from sommeliers and their wine flights, local bars are offering cocktail flights, samplers of miniature drinks that allow partakers to try several different tastes. With cocktail flights, you can experience an array of flavors, thanks in part to a broad spectrum of ingredients that mingle with and highlight a particular spirit.
The house specialty cocktails at No. 9 Park (9 Park Street, Boston, 617.742.9991) are the pride and joy of fine-dining bartender/sophisticate/rock star John Gertsen. But throwing back three full-sized cocktails will distract you from enjoying what will likely be one of the best meals you've had in quite some time. Instead, sample the miniature versions of these note-perfect concoctions so that you can try everything without passing out, face first, into your exquisite entrée. The House Specialty Flight ($15) is a trio of the Palmyra (Rain vodka, fresh mint, fresh lime juice), the No. 10 (Tanqueray 10 gin, Campari, fresh grapefruit juice) and the pear martini (Grey Goose vodka, Belle De Brillet pear cognac, pear nectar) that will complement your dinner perfectly. Not there to dine? Who cares? Try them anyway.
Drinking can sometimes make you sleepy. Not at Gargoyles on the Square (219 Elm Street, Somerville, 617.776.5300), where their flight of espresso martinis ($12) will keep you bright-eyed until the wee hours of the morning. Each of the three mini martinis is made with a different espresso, something java aficionados will appreciate. With a café espresso, an Italian espresso, and a French espresso to jolt your taste buds, this flight is a classier, tastier, boozier alternative to a plain old cup of joe.
Purists who prefer their liquor straight up will adore Gargoyles's scotch flight ($20), featuring Laphroaig 10 (a personal favorite, beloved for its smoke and smoothness), Glenlivet 12, and Glenmorangie 18. How about a taste from the other side of the globe? While a neighborhood bistro in Somerville seems like an odd place to drink sake, the Japanese rice spirit goes nicely with Gargoyles's menu, inspired by flavors East and West. The sake flight ($12) is an ever-changing array of sakes of all classifications and varieties; staff favorites include junmai ginjo, hakkaisan, and kikkisui.
Speaking of Japan, Oishii (1116 Washington Street, Boston, 617.482.8868) is lauded as serving some of the best sushi in town, but it also serves a unique Japanese liquor called shochu. While its distant cousin, sake, is distilled from rice, shochu can be made from a variety of grains and starches, making for a drier, stronger spirit. For $10, you can sample three varieties of shochu with your sashimi: kusu, distilled from barley; kaikouzo, a 100-percent-sweet-potato version; and shonen-jidai, made with rice and similar to sake, but heartier.
Tequila is the spirit of the moment. No longer relegated to sticky-sweet frozen margaritas, or to a nose-pinching shot that follows licking salt from a stranger, the pride of Mexico is finally being touted for its complexity and smoothness. Bonfire (50 Park Plaza, Boston, 617.262.3473) offers Don Julio tequila flights that vary from season to season. Whatever the selection, these flights always offer a one-two-three punch.
We've hailed Salvatore's (225 Northern Avenue, South Boston, 617.737.5454) for their Monday Flight Nights before, but we just can't get over them. For a mere $15, try four house infusions, in flavors such as cherry bomb, starfruit, pineapple, grape crush . . . it's like a candy store for grown-ups. Surprisingly, these sweet treats go well with pizza, so don't skip dinner.
Now, one teensy exception. Beer is decidedly not a cocktail, but the paddles at the Monk's Cell (1648 Beacon Street, Brookline, 617.277.2880) simply can't be overlooked. Belgian beer paddles ($6 to $8), to be exact. Create your own four-beer sampler paddle by choosing from any of the beers on tap at the Publick House's brewhaus counterpart. It's a comprehensive selection that ranges from fruity, wheaty Belgian whites to krieks, lambics, and dark, bitter brews. The décor is gothic and homey, replete with huge wooden tables and candles, and reminiscent of the cozy pubs of Belgium. Indecision has never been this delicious. @
[Photo by Melissa Ostrow]
