Halifax is brimming with trivia and quiz nights that’ll keep you on your toes until Jeopardy‘s back on the air. And yes, it will be hot in the bars, but hey, that’s what beer’s for. Sipping, chugging or dousing—the possibilities are endless. Rogue’s Roost 5435 Spring Garden, 492-BEER, Wednesdays, 10pm-12am Running on year seven, this […]
Drink
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Best Buskers’ Festival hangouts
Voted Best Free Event 2008 in our Best of Halifax readers’ poll, it’s a sure bet the waterfront’s going to be packed from August 6 to 11 for this year’s Halifax International Busker Festival. There’s only one restaurant in plain view of a busker stage (Stayner’s Wharf at Chebucto Landing), and the chances of seeing […]
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Cocktails to watch Mad Men by
Clicking around facebook recently, you may be wondering where the new 1960s-inspired caricature profile pictures are materializing. Fedoras, sheath dresses, slim suits, pocket squares and a martini or cocktail glass in hand—style aficionados are drooling, writers and ad execs are rushing after work to get home to watch it, and you shouldn’t miss it any […]
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Rush to nowhere: 4 places to drink in Dartmouth
We know you’re going. Nic, Nat, Tiff and Chrys are bringing their baby doll faces to Dartmouth for Summer Rush this Saturday, and you just can’t miss them. So instead of inundating Alderney Landing and leaving it lonely afterwards, why don’t you skip that first ferry back and have a drink at one of the […]
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Yo-ho-ho, a pirate cocktail for me!
Weathering a hurricane in the middle of the Caribbean, a pirate watches water rush through the cracks in the hull. A huge cargo of rum, some ginger beer and cases of lime, are crushed, and leak into the salty water. The pirate, resigned to his doom, cries out. The mixture splashes into his mouth. Rum. […]
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Tears for beers as the Midtown’s end nears
[Editor’s note: This story is one of a package of three of Andy Murdoch’s articles selected for Honourable Mention in the Food Writing category of the Association of Alternative Newsweekies’ 2010 awards. See all three here.] The original Midtown tavern is another icon of an important period in our drinking history that is about to […]
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Mo’ selecta
“Last year, during the Latvian Festival,” Dave Page, bar manager of the Economy Shoe Shop, told me, “we brought in Zelta, and we pretty much had to buy a pallet in two shipments.” One pallet of beer holds 72 two-fours. He just sold off his second shipment of Zelta last week. Importing beer is a […]
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Ultimate beer mash ups
At home: The best way to improve the taste of a cheap beer is to mix it with a quality beer. Take Fruli, the Belgian strawberry beer, and put a shot in a king can of Alpine Max. It becomes alcopop. Likewise, add strong ginger beer or a dash of lime cordial into some Wildcat, […]
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Dark Matters
Guinness The most famous. A dry, bitter, opaque stout from Ireland that is also low in alcohol. Murphy’s is very similar. It’s a Cork-Dublin thing. Dry Irish stouts are old-school beers, full bodied and far from wimpy. Where: every Irish bar in town. Rogue’s Roost Imperial Stout Big, powerful, stick to your tongue, gums & […]
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Brewing from field to glass
In England, they refer to a pub that has an exclusivity agreement with a brewery as a tied house. Although many breweries would dream of deals like this, it’s illegal in Nova Scotia to tie a bar to a brand of taps. The Port, a gastropub—a pub that serves high-quality food—on the red banks of […]
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House beers
For the diehard beer hunter always looking for a new taste, there is a decent selection of blended house beers poured out in bars and restaurants across the city. Propeller currently has the most specialty blends on tap in and out of the city. “It’s not practical to do a single batch of beer for […]
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Shing a shong
The bartender tells me Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest nights. People drink lots, ’cause they are doing the karaoke. Laurie the Guy hosts 300 karaoke shows a year; he’s done it for 18 years. His first time onstage, at Big Leagues, he was totally sober—a sure indication he was born to sing in front […]