Surviving December: Whiskey Before Breakfast (& Pittsburgh Boozes)

Let's be honest. A lot of drinking happens in December. There are holiday parties with friends and for work. There are holiday dinners with family. There is New Year's Eve.

As I write this, I'm recovering from my work holiday party. Well, a work holiday party preceded by a day of whiskey drinking, which started before breakfast thanks to Pittsburgh's Wigle Whiskey.

Wigle Whiskey

2401 Smallman Street (in the Strip)

I never used to be a whiskey drinker. It's been a semi-new development over the past year. See, when your main mode of transportation is a bicycle, it's not terribly easy to get a case of beer from the distributor to your fridge. It's a whole lot easier to transport a bottle of whiskey, and thus I have become a whiskey drinker.

Yesterday morning Wigle released their first bottles of aged whiskey. I arrived with friends a little before 9 a.m. and got in a line that was already wrapping around the building. While waiting, we placed our orders for the whiskeys we wanted to take home. We were also served a delicious drink called the Bees Knees (Wigle White Wheat + cream + honey). I picked up one of each of the aged whiskeys (one regular, one cherry wood, and one maple wood). Anyone who, like us, got out of bed early enough on a Saturday to get their hands on these limited bottles was welcome to sign one of the small casks used in the aging process. It's nice thinking our names will be on that cask and that the cask will be a part of Wigle's history for (hopefully) many, many years to come.

My aged Wigle whiskeys, at home atop my fridge.

Now, if whiskey's not your thing, Pittsburgh has other options for local alcohol. Fortunately for me, two of those options (as well as Wigle!) are located along my route home from work. 

East End Brewing Company

147 Julius Street (Larimer)

East End Brewing may be located in Larimer (they've recently moved into their newer, bigger building on Julius Street), but they have a very convenient growler station at the Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip. They stay open til 6 p.m. on Fridays, which is the perfect for a quick stop after work to bring home a growler of one of my favorites (Pedal Pale Ale, Big Hop, Fat Gary...).

Arsenal Cider House & Wine Cellar

300 39th Street (Lawrenceville)

Arsenal Cider House is such a treat to have in the neighborhood. Really. The ciders are tasty and the fun of sampling and choosing which growler to take home with you is made even more fun when your growler is labeled with your name and a ranking. Last time, I received my growler with "Admiral Allison" on it. 

December is a long month. Thankfully, we've already survived half of it. As the rest of the month goes into the books, make an effort to drink locally. Wigle, East End, and Arsenal are only a few of the many ways to do so. With so many hardworking local businesses serving up homemade and homegrown brews and libations, there's good reason we've been described as a football town with a drinking problem. 

Surviving December: Larrimor's Windows

I'm one of the only people in my group of friends who works downtown. That seems odd to me, especially because in Boston it was unusual if someone did not work downtown. I've been downtown nearly every day for two and a half years now, and something I've truly enjoyed during my walks around town at lunch are the Larrimor's window displays. I've actually never thought to photograph these and document them, but they are normally truly bizarre. Their holiday offering, "It's Christmas in Pittsburgh and My True Love Gave to Me..." is a great example of why you should venture downtown more often. Goofiness abounds.

One view of a great city.

Two steep inclines.

Three Stanley Cups.

Four parking chairs.

Five golden rings (plus one).

Six Penguins Skatin.

Seven pickles picklin'.

Eight perogies fryin.' [sic]

Nine heads by Andy.

Ten gunbands snappin'.

Eleven Steelers chargin'.

Twelve I.C.'s chillin'. [sic]

Make Some Cookies: The Lawrenceville Cookie Tour

Warning: there are pictures of baked goods in this post, but they are not of cookies. Don't worry. There will be cookies.

The first weekend of December brings things. If you're like me and try to avoid the holidays as much as possible, those things aren't great. For example, Christmas music: unavoidable. It can also bring cold cold weather to town, but fortunately this weekend was incredibly mild (continuing into today; I wore just a t-shirt and leggings home from work). But it will always bring cookies. Up and down Butler street and other nearby locales in Lawrenceville.

The idea behind the Cookie Tour is great: encourage people to shop locally for the holidays by offering free cookies at each shop throughout an entire neighborhood. OMG. This is, like, way better than going to the mall. [hair flip] (Or shopping online. Unless I'm buying my dad tickets to an event, which is generally what I give him for the holidays now, a bunch of weird events in Pittsburgh he might not otherwise get to experience. Remember Strata?) 

The best way to start any holiday shopping venture (cause you can hit up Butler Street any weekend between now and the big day, there will just be fewer cookies along the way) is with a quick carbo-load from La Gourmandine. I picked up a cinnamon roll and a bit of brioche. 

I didn't go for the coffee option here, as I knew Espresso a Mano was down the road and in my future. We hit up a good number of stores on our trip down Butler: 720 Records, Pavement, Pageboy, and one of the furniture stores. At the new record store, Rather Ripped Records, I found what appeared to be an Allison-like heaven:

A corner of used CDs, prices $2 each or 3 for $5, all mostly from the 90s. 

I don't think I even have a working CD player, but I picked up the Spin Doctors, Starship, and an album by a band I don't even know, but the title of the album was Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! What? Don't act surprised.

At Divertido I bought myself a nice-smelling candle, as cold weather brings closed windows, and closed windows bring the constant fear that my apartment smells something terrible. One of my favorite shops in Pittsburgh, Wildcard, was crazynuts inside. Close to panic-inducing crowded. But I braved it and picked up a t-shirt for my brother (don't worry; I don't think he reads this), a bookmark for a faraway friend, and a set of letter stamps and an inkpad for myself! 

What?! Listen. I have to get through the holidays somehow. And, like last year, I'll do it by indulging myself in a new craft. Be prepared to be barraged with photos of stamped/stitched creations soon, friends.

So, where are the cookies? Well, as with the stamped/stitched creations, they are forthcoming all month. I've decided another way to survive December will be through baking cookies. I'm hoping to do two batches a week. Be prepared to be barraged with ooey-gooey cookies soon, friends.

(P.S. Shop local! A list of Lawrenceville's shops is here!)

Wingharts: Back in Business (EvBetPGH December Survival)

Confession: I kind of hate the holidays. I'm the grinch in my group of friends and in my family. Skipping over everything between Halloween and New Year's Eve would be all right in my book. But I realize that is impossible and that the months of November and December are bound to happen EVERY GOSHDARN YEAR. Fortunately, I spent a chuck of November in Australia, which made that month come and go quite quick. Now, there's the pesky month of December to survive. 

My first EvBetPGH December Survival tip: Wingharts. Burgers. Beers. Whiskeys. 

Wingharts in Market Square had been closed for what was waaaaaay too long in my book for renovations. There was a rumor they'd be reopen the afternoon of my flight to Sydney, but they ended up reopening the day after I left. Though every fiber of my being wanted to go there for lunch on my first Monday back after my vacation, I told myself that waiting until Friday after work would be just the "treat yo self" reward I needed to dangle in front of my face like a carrot to get through a full week back. 

The wait? Definitely worth it.

The new Wingharts has the same amazing burgers and fries. But now they have a slightly expanded menu (though I doubt I will ever stray from my empty with extra cheddar medium well), a few more beer selections, a second floor with a bar, outdoor seating on the balcony, and a jukebox. The new Wingharts also has the same fun staff I've come to look forward to interacting with whenever I'm there. This place, without a doubt, is my favorite Pittsburgh spot for food and drink. And so, for the rest of the month, I will treat myself to a Wingharts night one night each week after work. 

I ushered in December on the last night of November with a lager drink, a cider drink, and a whiskey drink. I might have missed out on that vodka drink, but I really did have my fill of those when I was a freshman at Pitt. 

Stay tuned for more EvBetPGH December Survival tips. One way or another, I'll get myself to the end of 2012 in one piece.