{You know what every good game night needs? A brewery. Civil Life Brewing Co., has a way to entertain everyone, from the stack of New Yorker magazines and books to the dartboard and ring tossing games. My friends and I dive straight for the shelf of board games. School your friends in Bananagrams, show off your arcane knowledge of 1980s trivia during Trivial Pursuit, or play the fanciest game of Connect Four you’ve ever seen. Loser buys the next round of Northern English Browns.}
{I fell in love with bourbon this year, and I fell hard. Starting last October, you couldn’t get me to order anything but a Manhattan, Old-Fashioned or Sazerac. But the new year has ushered in a craving for a lighter, clean-tasting spirit that would still hold up in the dead of winter. Enter Thyming Is Everything by Cielo bartender Michael Cook. This sweet pink sipper of raspberry- and thyme-infused vodka, lemon juice and ginger syrup is light and refreshing but still strong enough to suit my happy hour needs.}
{No trip to visit my family in Traverse City, Mich., is complete without a stop at Cherry Republic. This shop celebrates the state’s signature crop in every way imaginable. Jams, jellies and chocolate-covered cherries are just the tip of the iceberg. It also sells cherry wine, cherry-spiked sausages, cherry coffee and much more. But my favorite is the cherry salsa, which holds the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. I love serving it with corn chips and having people guess exactly what it is.}
This article appears in January 2014.