The Watering Hole

December 24 is the busiest day of the year for bars.  While I’ll be with my family feasting on tamales, many travelers and folks without celebrations to attend will retire to a bar at home or on the road.  If you’re drinking on Christmas Eve, drink to enjoy the liquor, not get drunk.  Tipsiness is fine - especially if you're catching up with old friends - but coming to Christmas morning hungover is a bad idea.

The key to drinking in this manner on Christmas Eve is finding a good bar.  Swanky cocktail lounges and craft distilleries are now a dime a dozen in the North.  Their newfangled creations are delicious and strong, but there’s something to be said for a bartender who mixes classic drinks well.

The bartenders at Eat Street Social are among the rare breed who do both with aplomb.  Newer establishments receive more press than this Nicollet Avenue stronghold, but they're one of the grandfathers of the cocktail movement in Minneapolis.  The bar program was conceived by the owners of bitters company Bittercube (who also started Lawless Distilling in Seward this year), and local luminaries like Marco Zappia and Adam Gorski (now at Young Joni) have helmed the countertop.  Their influence shows on the inventive drink menu, which features dressed-up takes on classics, like an Old Fashioned with four different barrels of rye whiskey and gingery muscovado sugar.

Don’t be afraid, however, to order a classic cocktail off-menu - it will be a sublime affair.  I polished off two Negronis at Eat Street Social earlier this week, and theirs was one of the few renditions better than the version I make at home.  Perhaps it’s the top-shelf liquors used, but their Negroni went down smooth with subtle sweetness (with Campari, it’s easy to overdo it).  The small cocktail glass it’s served in is charming, a welcome change from the large-glassed trend that encourages overindulgence.  Cocktails were smaller once upon a time, and Eat Street Social gets both the proportions and flavors right.

Wherever you drink and wherever you eat, do so with gusto and for the taste and sensation.  The holidays are a time of indulgence, yet the flavors of the season are best when slow and savored.  Slow down, spend some time with friends and family and enjoy whichever wintry holiday you celebrate.