On the Rocks: Tipples to Toast in 2021
TLF Travel Consultant Jordy Lievers-Eaton is always up for happy hour. On the Rocks is her ode to all things shaken, stirred, and sipped.
If you wanted to imbibe in 2020, there was no shortage of reasons - and, thanks to changing regulations, a wealth of people who would deliver them to you door, housed in containers originally meant for wonton soup or massaman curry. My local Chinese takeout place has added an “adult soda” to its Seamless menu, which means a beer. Just any beer. You do not choose the beer (though I always hope it’s Tiger, the superior Asian lager. No, I will not be taking questions at this time.)
But just as the novelty of cooking every day and Zoom reunions with increasingly esoteric groups of friends has waned, so too has ye olde couch cocktail lost its luster. Happy hour is as much about the company and the destination as what’s filling your glass. In 2021, I want to be toasting friends old and new outside of the four walls of my apartment, whether we’re sipping a superlative martini at the Connaught or a frosty Tusker on the Maasai Mara.
Bia hơi
Hanoi, Vietnam
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve set foot on Asian soil, and I am itching to return. Until the late 19th century, the most popular drink in Vietnam was rice wine. But by 60 years later, beer was the drink du jour, and the suds of choice were bia hoi - literally “gas beer” but colloquially “fast beer” - an unbranded everybeer that’s made in a hurry and consumed even quicker. It’s unstuffy, clocks in at about 3% abv, and costs around 25 cents a glass (or pitcher or disposable cup). A keg will come in in the morning and be dry by the evening - I want to sit in a plastic chair that’s too small for my six-foot frame, sweating in the southeast Asian heat, and help drain it.
Dream dates: My Whatsapp group of beer-geeks with whom I usually share an annual winter long weekend in snowy Vermont tasting chewy New England IPAs (that clock in significantly higher than 3%).
Where we’re staying: The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, as part of an itinerary that includes Ho Chi Minh City and some beach time at the gorgeous Amanoi or the impossibly idyllic Six Senses Côn Đảo.
Dunkelweizen
Berlin, Germany
There’s an unfettered joy to summer evenings in Berlin. It’s a city with long, dark, brutal winters, so Berliners know something about celebrating - and coming out of a long, dark, brutal winter of a year, we could all take a lesson from their lebensfreude (which means joie de vivre, but auf Deutsch.) The city is vast in its sprawl, and it’s dotted with beer gardens of nearly Platonic perfection. There’s Café am Neuen See, with its sandboxes and lazy rowboats, which attracts tourists but for a reason, and Prater Beer Garden in Prenzlauer Berg, with its footlong sausages served on comically tiny buns. But my forever favorite is Schleusenkrug, on the edge of the Tiergarten near the famed zoo. Its neon sign may be nearly obscured by ambitious ivy, but follow your nose to huge plates of spätzle and wash them down with a towering dunkelweizen.
Dream dates: Anyone who wants to come along, as I am an evangelist for Berlin.
Where we’re staying: The SO/ Berlin Das Stue, the former Danish Royal Embassy-turned boutique hotel with serious art chops. And while I’m celebrating the northern summer, maybe I’ll pair it with the colorful culture of Copenhagen (and a visit to the ever-dreamy Hotel Sanders.)
Pimm’s Cup
London, England
One of my happiest places in the world are the stalls at Shakespeare’s Globe, on the banks of the Thames, at the close of intermission during a weekend matinee. The summer performances at the Globe are unmatched in their joyfulness and sense of fun; even the tragedians, Iagos, and anonymous soldiers numbers V-XII are having a blast, spitting tripping iambs on the groundlings in the cheap seats (where there are no seats to be found, as it’s standing room only.) Before the show, the pro move is to pre-order a halftime Pimm’s cup from the hawkers out front, so when the rest of the crowd queues for a quaff, you just grab your cocktail from a side window and you’re back to your seat before you can say Peaseblossom.
Dream dates: Members of my 2011 MFA Acting Class, reunited for a ten-year reunion.
Where we’re staying: The newly-refreshed Beaumont, which is already one of my favorite hotels anywhere, with its crisp, warm service and sly sense of humor. It’s currently having some work done, and when the doors reopen in late spring, I expect great things, tastefully accomplished.
Tamarind Margarita
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
I left a planned March 2020 trip to San Miguel de Allende on the books until the very last minute, finally cancelling in denial and paying penance with a 4-hour phone hold listening to the Muzak of AeroMexico. But how can you blame me for holding out hope for a return to La Sirena Gorda, a colorful spot with live music housed behind an orange plaster facade off a cobbled street just south of the main plaza? On a recent girls’ trip, we all ordered dinner, finished it with relish, and then ordered another round - of the same dinner. Tamarind margaritas (the best flavor of margarita, this will not be debated) are a must before, during, and after.
Dream dates: Have to go with the same group of girls, since after all we already know our orders.
Where we’re staying: It will be a fight, as our allegiances are split between the discreet and homey Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada and the center-of-the-action Rosewood San Miguel de Allende. The free standing bronze tubs at the Belmond give it the edge for me.
Tinto de Verano
Madrid, Spain
At 9pm in the summer in Madrid, the sun is still blazing and the cafe scene looks like the West Village at peak brunch o’clock, packed with friends enjoying happy hour before a reasonable 10:30 dinner. On every table, you’ll see glasses with dark red liquid and slices of orange or lemon, and you’d be forgiven for assuming everyone was enjoying sangria. But the signature sip is actually Tinto de Verano - 1 part red wine to 1 part lemon Fanta. Put your snobbery aside and join the masses.
Dream date: My grandmother, a painter who loves the deep, expressive colors of Goya and Velasquez. We’ll balance our tinto tasting with long days ogling masterworkds in the Prado and the Reina Sofía.
Where we’re staying: The eagerly-anticipated Mandarin Oriental Ritz Madrid, finally slated to reopen in all its belle-epoque finery following a half-decade of renovations, in the spring of 2021.
Aperol Spritz
Venice, Italy
I want to drink an Aperol Spritz in Venice. I don’t need to explain this.
Dream date: My mom, whose Instagram feed has been known to feature its fair share of Italy-themed #tbts. We’ll easily hit our 10,000 steps, because we’ll probably get lost hourly. Fortunately, knowing where you are is not a requirement for enjoying a spritz canal-side.
Where we’re staying: The Aman Venice makes manifest the study in contrasts that defines its surroundings - opulence only sometimes hides the bones of the building, highlighting the improbability of this city on stilts.
Spruce Tip Ale
Vancouver Island, Canada
Another adventure that got shelved for me this year was an escape to the great and grand Pacific Northwest - but not just any corner of the coast. I was headed to Clayoquot, the mystical, magnificent tented camp that seems to float on the emerald fingers of Vancouver Island and makes travel pros speak in hushed tones. I may have to time my 2021 stay with the tapping of local kegs of Spruce Tip Ale, which appear in the region in the spring and should hang around until mid-May, when Clayoquot opens for the season. The citrusy, resin-y flavor of the baby spruce shoots is a natural match for hoppy West Coast IPA profiles - plus, gold miners used to eat the tips to stave off scurvy, so a couple of pints are basically like a juice cleanse.
Dream dates: My brothers, who know their way around a wilderness, and around a beer.
Where we’re staying: Well Clayoquot is the reason for the season, but while I’m in the region, I’ll start with a couple nights in the surf town of Tofino at the Wickaninnish Inn, since the area is also home to a very respectable craft beer scene.