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New Addition
Cafe ArtScience
The region’s Mr. Wizard of mixology, Todd Maul, plies the cocktail craft with greater creativity than ever at this new Kendall Square venture, brainchild of food innovator and Harvard engineer David Edwards…...
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Beer Selection
Row 34
The Island Creek team’s Fort Point seafood slinger (which just spawned a twin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire) has billed itself as a “workingman’s oyster bar,” but it’s beer director Megan Parker-Gray who does a bang-up job with the ambitious beer program…...
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Best-Kept Secret
MAST’s Bottle-Locker Program
Who needs BYOB when you can LYOB? L for “leave,” that is: This downtown trattoria has 27 liquor lockers where regulars can store unfinished spirits or wines until their next visit…...
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Breakthrough
More Liquor Licenses in Boston
Bostonians love to complain about the red tape that reins in our nightlife scene…...
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Dance Club
Whisky Saigon
Turn down for what? In an era and city where big-room nightclubs are scarce, this downtown destination keeps alive the halcyon heyday of fog machines and laser lights…...
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Dive Bar
Silhouette Lounge
There are plenty of college bro bars one might stumble into in Allston—and some fine beer bars, too—but for our money, one of the best watering holes in Rock City is the Sil’…...
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Drinks with a View
Pier 6
Tavern on the Water had its divey Charlestown charm. But the boxy tri-level building’s new inhabitant retains the killer harborside views while offering a much sexier look throughout…...
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Gay Scene
Hot Mess! Sundays at Candibar
If your Saturday night wasn’t wild enough, come to this recently revamped club for sloppy weekend seconds, courtesy of a weekly party hosted by New England’s longtime LGBT nightlife kingpin Chris Harris…...
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Hotel Bar
Highball Lounge
No longer your grandparents’ lame, lamé-covered special-occasion joints, hotel bars have become some of Boston’s best spots to find top-shelf beverage programs and equally intoxicating vibes…...
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Lesbian Scene
Flannel Takeover Company
The Welcoming Committee (née Guerrilla Queer Bar) has been taking over traditionally “straight” bars in this city for almost a decade, gathering LGBTQ revelers to flash mob, say, some Fenway sports bar and make it more fabulous for one night…...
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Neighborhoods: Allston/Brighton
Lone Star Taco Bar
Lone Star has done for taquerias in this town what sister restaurant and next-door neighbor Deep Ellum did for beer bars: Upped the ante…...
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Neighborhoods: Back Bay
Post 390
After quitting time, area offices empty a cast of suits, ties and pencil skirts into the bar at this city-sleek tavern…...
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Neighborhoods: Bay Village
Jacques Cabaret
A deliciously seedy dive where you can also catch a professional drag show? Done and done…...
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Neighborhoods: Beacon Hill
Carrie Nation
The matriarch of the 19th-century temperance movement would have a fit if she knew her name was appropriated by this den of sin—a title intended, from our liquor-loving lips, as a huge compliment…...
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Neighborhoods: Brookline
The Publick House
Brookline has really enhanced its food and drink game during the past few years, but when it comes to bars, nothing comes close to old standby the Publick House…...
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Neighborhoods: Central Square
Brick & Mortar
Behind an unmarked door waits Central’s go-to spot for an expertly crafted, wittily named cocktail…...
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Neighborhoods: Charlestown
Warren Tavern
Bostonians get blasé about our history—must we genuflect whenever we enter someplace one of the Founding Fathers picked his nose?…...
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Neighborhoods: Davis Square
Spoke
It’s owned by a former wine buyer, so no wonder we find wondrous sips at Spoke: Old World-skewing lists of painstakingly handpicked bottles, listed from light- to full-bodied for oenophiles on their training wheels…...
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Neighborhoods: Dorchester
Ashmont Grill
Dot’s got some grade-A dives, but classy-yet-comfortable watering holes are harder to find…...
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Neighborhoods: Downtown Crossing
Stoddard’s
This gastropub’s handsome wooden bar is big: The hand-carved UK import stretches 30 feet…...
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Neighborhoods: Fenway/Kenmore
Citizen Public House & Oyster Bar
Bourbon nerds congregate at this classy little cocktail joint, where barkeeps pour more than 200 whiskeys as full servings and flights…...
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Neighborhoods: Financial District
Granary Tavern
When spreadsheet-sorting days are done, Financial District denizens descend on this two-floor tavern housed in, yes, a former granary…...
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Neighborhoods: Fort Point
Lucky’s Lounge
The Rat Pack era is alive and well at Lucky’s, a speakeasy-style bar that hosts weekly Sinatra Saturdays and Sundays and maintains a decidedly retro vibe…...
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Neighborhoods: Harvard Square
Russell House Tavern
Look, little shaver: When you’ve graduated from cheap scorpion bowls and karaoke at the Hong Kong, we’ll see you at this smart but still-fun cocktail den where two bars’ worth of masterful vest- and tie-wearing mixologists can school you on spirits one second and chat indie rock the next…...
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Neighborhoods: Inman Square
Trina’s Starlite Lounge
There was plenty of rejoicing in March when Trina’s announced it would start serving brunch on Sundays, an indulgence previously offered only on Industry Mondays, which have a packed house of revelers throwing back killer bloodies while old-school hip-hop jams pump out of speakers…...
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Neighborhoods: Jamaica Plain
The Haven
Boston’s only Scottish bar has a vibe so warm, you can practically smell the burning peat…...
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Neighborhoods: Kendall Square
State Park
Decked in retro paneling and studied kitsch, this subterranean dive is one of the few joints in town where boozy cocktail pitchers are available alongside diverse beer and cocktail lists, offering plenty of options to wash down the high-concept takes on lowbrow comfort- and junk foods…...
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Neighborhoods: Mission Hill
Flann O’Brien’s
Irish accents abound at this authentic pub near Brigham Circle, which wouldn’t feel out of place in downtown Dublin…...
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Neighborhoods: North End
Lucca
We adore its Back Bay spinoff, but nothing in the North End beats the original Lucca, a classic spot of which Little Italy dreams are made…...
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Neighborhoods: Porter Square
Lizard Lounge
With bars offering live music dwindling, we’re happy we can still slither over to this intimate, subterranean performance haven in Porter…...
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Neighborhoods: South Boston
Local 149
It’s fitting that a former union office is now home to Southie’s best post-work boozing scene…...
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Neighborhoods: South End
The Gallows
Now five years old and lively as ever, this loud and hip South End gastropub serves some deadly serious cocktails, from the tea-and-vodka-based Grave Robber to the vanilla rum-centric Velvet Voodoo…...
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Neighborhoods: Theate District
Jacob Wirth
The glittering marquees fail to mention one of the neighborhood’s choice sources of entertainment: this dark-wooded 19th-century piano bar, where ivories are tickled and stein-swinging guests belt gloriously off-key tunes…...
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Neighborhoods: Union Square
Brass Union
Taking up residence in the old Precinct space, Brass Union has maintained its predecessor’s laid-back vibe but kicked up the beverage program with craft brews and cocktails like the Rum & Smoke, made with Bully Boy rum, house-smoked lime juice, housemade orgeat and ginjinha berry liqueur…...
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Neighborhoods: West Roxbury
Porter Cafe
Stouts, pilsners and ciders, oh my! This cute little pub lays claim to its neighborhood’s largest selection of craft beers (keep an eye on the blackboard specials), though the well-prepared cocktails are nothing to shake a stemmed glass at…...
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Pre-/Post-Fenway Park
Audubon
This rechristened cocktail joint (formerly Audubon Circle) offers Fenway crowds an alternative to sticky-floored sports bars serving watery beer and frozen buffalo wings…...
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Pre-/Post-TD Garden
Ward 8
There are sports bars aplenty by the Garden, but gameday drinkers and concertgoers used to have to travel far to find a well-made cocktail served with a lively scene…...
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Singles Scene—Over 30
The Liberty Hotel
Years after “hot nightspot” status typically wanes, we remain arrested by the former Charles Street Jail, where multiple bars spill the nightly overflow of pretty people into the luxury hotel’s rotunda…...
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Singles Scene—Under 30
Lincoln
For upwardly mobile, fresh-faced South Boston transplants (the kind that make grizzled old townies shake a Guinness-grasping fist), there’s no better place to drop early-career paychecks and trade digits than at Lincoln’s two big, buzzing bars…...
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Spectacle
Stage American Vaudeville
Variety is the spice of nightlife at this downtown club with rotating entertainers, including joint-jerking b boys, hoop-swinging aerialists, burlesque dancers twirling ta-ta tassels and graffiti artists swirling spray cans…...
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Trend
Cider Programs and Taprooms
Maybe it’s the gluten-free appeal, but suddenly cider is everywhere…...
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Watering Hole for the Well-Heeled
The Langham
Housed in Boston’s former Federal Reserve Bank, the Langham hotel is a fitting host for a moneyed crowd on the prowl…...
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Wine Bar
Belly
At this Cambridge boîte from the Central Bottle and Blue Room crew, co-owner Liz Vilardi shows a way with words as well as wine, infusing wit and poetry into a list that’s almost as fun to read as it is to imbibe…...