Classic Cocktails: A Thirsty Throwback

by Christine Liu - Citysearch Editor - 63 Reviews - 102 Lists

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Updated: August 07, 2009

There’s no time like the recent cocktail-geek resurgence to dive nose-first into Boston’s best cocktail lounges. The city’s upcropping of retro cocktails and barkeeps of the old-school persuasion would do your gin-swilling grandparents proud. We’re talking properly stirred martinis, from-scratch ingredients and a healthy penchant for bitters. Close your eyes and sip for a potent taste of history.

(Photo: Highland Kitchen by Christine Liu)

The Curious Power of Fine Drink

  1. 1 5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended Deep Ellum Bar
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    477 Cambridge St, Allston, MA 02134 (map)

    At last count, there were nine historically-accurate versions of the Manhattan on the cocktail menu of this diamond-in-the-rough Allston gastropub. Are you in the mood for it 1930s style, mixed with rye and Peychaud's bitters, or prefer a Red Hook in its inclusion of Punt e Mes? The decisions! Or pander to a Tom Collins, sloe gin fizz or Frisco, the latter sure to grow a couple more hairs on any strappingly old-school chest.

  2. 2 3 Star Rating: Average Drink
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    348 Congress St, Boston, MA 02210 (map)

    The collective knowledge of the ever-efficient barkeeps here could shred any skepticism that this is one of Boston’s real deals. With a vibe that's part speakeasy, part mad scientist's lair and part den of ice fetishism (there's a cracking, crushing, cubing obsession), Drink revives the cut-your-teeth classics, including the Ramos Gin Fizz, Fernet-laced Hanky Panky or the Ward 8 (originating in Boston, circa 1898).

  3. 3 4.5 Star Rating: Recommended Green Street
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    280 Green St, Cambridge, MA 02139 (map)

    Step 1: Request for the "A to Z" cocktail compendium. Step 2: Hold onto your hat. Step 3: Receive one of the more well-prepared cocktails in the city for less than a sawbuck. Green Street is no bark and all bite, a libationary powerhouse at the ready with all the vintage drink you desire, including a pisco sour, Gin Flip, Tailspin, Toronto, Scofflaw and ever-as-good Zombie. The age of discovery at this well-hidden neighborhood nook never ends.

  4. 4 5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended Highland Kitchen
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    150 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02143 (map)

    It's the bar that makes this Somerville neighborhood staple hum, a handsome wooden behemoth that keeps the from-Louisiana-with-love menu company with pre-Prohibition classics from down south--sazeracs, bourbon smashes, Periodistas. A pressed tin ceiling, the game on the telly and a handsomely shelved liquor collection make it too easy to give another round a go.

  5. 5 3.5 Star Rating: Average Eastern Standard
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    528 Commonwealth Ave (Hotel Commonwealth), Boston, MA 02215 (map)

    Drawing cocktail fiends to its bar like moths to a flaming orange peel, Eastern Standard cleverly pulls out all the stops when it comes to giving patrons an easy-to-swallow cocktail history lesson. The menu continually evolves to revive or reinterpret the oldie-but-goodies--drinks made with Genever gin, savory cocktails, variations on the Alaska. Vest-donning bartenders are always happy to explain a drink's provenance, or merely to crack wit all night long.

  6. 6 4.5 Star Rating: Recommended Oak Bar
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    138 St James Ave, Boston, MA 02116 (map)

    This historical institution of a bar, located within the lushly ornate Fairmont Copley Hotel, exudes the polish of Boston Brahmins urbanely nursing their first--or possibly ninth--drink with equal aplomb. You bet your cufflinks there's a gilt-taxidermy-mahagony thing going on, all the better to match your stirred, smooth, olive-adorned martini or strong finger of Scotch.