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March 14, 2013
Game On!

Monday nights are usually reserved for recovering from a big weekend or loathing the realities of a new week. At The Barn Light, however, Mondays take on a new meaning: game night. 

Sure, it’s nothing compared to the rowdiness of Eugene’s weekend bar scene, but that’s not the intention. On Monday nights, Barn Light is like the ultimate living room with a stocked bar, baristas and board games at the ready. Game night isn’t about whom you know or what you’re wearing, it’s about coming together and rolling the dice. 

March 14, 2013
Get Your Drink On

AMBROSIA RESTAURANT & BAR
174 E. Broadway. 342-4141. www.ambrosiarestaurant.com  [NEIGHBORHOOD] Ambrosia’s long, impressive bar just asks to be stopped at for cocktails, wine or beer and snacks to start out the night. This comfortable Italian restaurant is a longtime Eugene standard; its clientele ranges from young couples on prom night to groups of friends of all ages. 11:30 am-10 pm M-Th, 11:30 am-11 pm F-Sa, 4:30 pm-10 pm Su.

March 14, 2013
In Search of an Irish Cocktail

A guy named Kennedy walks into a bar two weeks before St. Patrick’s Day. That sounds like the start of a bad joke, and sometimes it is. Kennedy: a quintessentially Irish name. St. Paddy’s Day: America’s most Irish of holidays. Commemorating the Patron Saint of Ireland, St. Paddy’s has lost its religious meaning, particularly in the U.S., becoming instead an excuse to eat a lot, drink more and toast all things Eire. 

March 14, 2013
Listen for the Bell

It’s a minute before half past nine on a Saturday night in downtown Eugene’s Barmuda Triangle. Four bartenders dressed in sleek black stand at their posts behind the long, narrow bar at Starlight Lounge. The bar stools have been removed, the limes have been cut and the saltshakers are at the ready.

Ding! Ding! Ding! The clock strikes 9:30 and bartender Jonna Threlkeld taps the ceremonial brass bell with a stirring spoon. Patrón Hour has begun; crowds line up at the wooden bar and the cool blue agave nectar flows down rows of shot glasses.

March 14, 2013
Prohibition-era Booze is the Cat’s Pajamas

There are many bars and nightclubs where the ambiance and the pours can send us back a few decades in a woozy, boozy time travel machine — think ’80s night at John Henry’s — but the increased popularity of some cocktails take a century-deep plunge. Distilleries such as 4 Spirits Distillery in Corvallis have put a twist on alcohol and inspired bars to serve drinks from the Prohibition era of the ’20s and ’30s. Perhaps banning booze paves the road to revelation — these cocktails are the rage once more.

March 14, 2013
Sexiest Bartender: Summer McCarty

Born but not raised in Eugene, Jackalope bartender Summer McCarty returned to the Willamette Valley in ’93 from Southern Cali, bringing the sunshine with her. After graduating from high school a year early in Junction City, and living in a home that’s been in her father’s family for “over 100 years,” McCarty couch-surfed her way into Eugene residency. When she’s not helping customers down drinks, the yoga lover is doing downward dog, or spending time with her hubby and three kids.

What do you drink?

March 14, 2013
Sexiest Bartender: Teren Baker

A self-described “townie” (he graduated from South Eugene High School), Eirrin’s Bistro and Pub bartender Teren Baker began tending bar two years ago at Emerald Valley Golf & Resort, where he mastered a mean Tom Collins. He juggles slinging drinks with slaying the guitar in his punk-rock band, Pirate Radio, and doing “daddy duty” with his 6-month-old daughter. Ask him about his Guinness Irish bread (yes, that’s a thing). Don’t ask him to store your 12-pack from home in Eirrin’s fridge (yes, that’s happened).

March 14, 2013
The Johnny Appleseed Tradition

When Johnny Appleseed roamed the countryside planting apple seeds in the late 1700s, he wasn’t growing apples for food. His apples had higher standards, destined to become delicious hard apple cider. Back then, hard cider was the drink of choice, as it was easier to make and more accessible than beer.