The best in drink for 2008

Like myself, the good people over at Esquire can appreciate a fine drink. They’ve recently compiled a series of articles highlighting the best in drink for 2008– from their favorite bars to their favorite cocktails to the perfect drink for today’s weather (tornado warning? Drink whatever’s in the basement).

In Esquire’s list of the best bars in the US, Gadling fave Chuck Thompson recommends Juneau’s Alaskan Hotel & Bar, the scene, if I recall, of some of the action in his book Smile When You’re Lying. Seeing Thompson’s name next to that recommendation brings to mind a favorite quote of mine from his book: “There are two things to do in Juneau: drink and get drunk.”

Thompson also pens a defense of smoky bars (from a nonsmoker!), writing that bans on smoking are destroying one of the few remaining places where adults can be treated as such. “By kowtowing to yet another milepost on the road to American pussification, we might be saving our lungs, but we’re killing our seditious hearts.”

Finally, Joe Oestrich wonders why the names of hotel bars are always so ridiculous. Fandangles? Whispers? Bowties? You just can’t tell someone, “Hey, meet me at Fandangles!” and keep your dignity.

More from Esquire here.