It doesn’t matter whether your beverage of the moment is beer, wine or spirits; this weekend is shaping up to be a drinker’s dream.
For oenophiles, oeno-wannabes and Type-A personalities who want to get a jump start stocking up on hostess gifts for the holidays, the Super Wine Tasting at Vom Fass is calling your name. Tonight, from 5 to 8 p.m., you can sample, for free, some 25 different wines from around the world, courtesy of Vom Fass and Ionia Atlantic Imports. Still searching for the perfect bottle? Plunk down $10, and you can taste an additional number of high-end wines, including some by Venge of Napa Valley and acclaimed Luigi Pira of Piedmont, Italy.
Beer bubs, the place you’ll want to be this Saturday is the Edwardsville Fall Beer Festival held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Edwardsville City Park in Edwardsville, Ill. Sponsored by Global Brew Tap House & Lounge, the festival features more than a dozen different beers, including brews by Schlafly, Boulevard Brewing Co., 4 Hands Brewing Co., Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. and Goose Island. Sample food from Cleveland-Heath, Herzog’s Kitchen, Wang Gang, Papa Murphy’s and The Cup as you enjoy live music and watch brewing demos by East Side Brewers. A portion of the proceeds will support the Glen Carbon/Edwardsville chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Considering that this weekend marks the release of the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, anyone who prefers his martini shaken, not stirred, ought to head across the river to Bossanova. I wish I could call it The East Side, but alas, the restaurant and lounge is located in Alton, Ill. The martini menu at Bossanova (boasting 20 different martinis) is entirely 007-driven, from movie-inspired sippers like The Goldfinger, The Thunderball and The Dr. No to Bond girl cocktails such as Foxy Cleopatra, Ivana Humpalot, Pussy Galore, and if I keep on going, I’m going to have to go to confession. Bossanova’s menu isn’t a one-weekend-only marketing ploy to get you in the door. It’s all the time. Get you some. (Great, now I have to go to confession twice.)
This article appears in November 2012.