Bar 19 - Pugs Bar and Grill

On this nice October afternoon I had to make a trip to the dreaded Cambridge Galleria to get a dress shirt. After going to do an unpleasant task I treated myself to a beer at Pugs Bar and Grill. It is a nice little neighborhood stop on this fine afternoon. Locals were the only ones in there everyone seemed to know each other but didn't make me feel unwelcome. The place smelled like smoked meats because of a Rib contest that was going on the next day with all the Cambridge Street restaurants. For the beer I had the OPA OPA Pumpkin Ale which was very underwhelming. It was very light with not much beer taste or pumpkin taste. I was upset because I have liked what I have had from the OPA OPA Brewery.

Here is a little history of Pug from their website pugsbarandgrill.com
Pugliese's Bar and Grill has roots in Cambridge. In 1933, Prohibition had come to a close, Oreste Farina had a dream. A barber by trade, he envisioned a trattoria reminiscent of those he loved in his homeland, the province of Puglia, Italy. The foundation of his dream included a warm, rustic envioronment where neighbors and friends could gather over a drink and a meal. His dream became a reality when he was able to purchase the property at 635 Cambridge St. called the Madden Shoe Building. Farina worked hard to model his restaurant, Pugliese's, after those located in the heel of the Italian boot. His homemade wine and parmagiana brought Puglia to a city whose populaltion yearned for the food and beverage of its roots.

In 1979, Farina retired, passing his business on to his son. The building and the business remained a gathering place for many.

In 1989, Farnina's grandson, Robert Salines, purchased the restaurant from his uncle. Salines, who had always shared his grandfather's passion and entrepreneurial spirit, made it a new and modern reality.

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BAr 18 of 52 - River Gods

Bar 18 takes me to this little bar in Central Square Cambridge called River Gods. We got there after work and it was pretty empty but within a half hour the place was packed. For tiny place they get a lot of tables in there. The place is decorated with old church pews and crosses. So if am going to go somewhere to worship it will be a bar so I fit right in here. At night they have DJs, there is a little loft above the bar where they play their records. The food here is really good but I found it to be a little over priced. Beer section wasn't anything all that great just your typical draft and bottle selection. A first for 52 bars am going to review my beer and my friend Abby's beer! I went with the Belhaven. Nothing too fancy just a nice Scottish Ale. Abby had they Ithaca Apricot Wheat which was very apricoty more so than the Magic Hat #9. Our waitress wasn't the best in the world she had really ordered the Irish Apricot which was this and Guinness. This is defiantly worth a stop in if you are in the area.

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Bar 17 of 52

OK after a WAY too long hiatus am going to try and keep this going again. Actually I went to the bar over a month ago and never put it up here. So without wasting anymore precious Boston area bar hop time I bring to you the Littlest Bar. Well it ain't so little anymore. This place used to be the littlest bar ever it had like 5 stools but Boston thought there was a need for more condos so the old Littlest Bar is no more. So the charm of the old place didn't transfer to the new one. Looks like your average Financial District after work spot. Not the best of beer selections so I went with a pilsner urquell which you can't really go wrong with when on tap. Nice clean tasting pilsner. So now on to the next bar which hopefully won't take me months to post.

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Bar 16 of 52 - Precinct

Stop 16 is the Precinct in Union Square in Somerville. I stop in her the day after Union Square was flooded. Thankful they got all the water out of the bar because I like this place. I have only been here a couple times which I am not sure why. They have live music in the back room but i have yet to see a show here. They have a pretty good beer selection here and some good food. Tonight I went with the Gritty McDuff's Vacationland. This is my favorite summer beer.

Bar 15 of 52 - McFaddens

I have been going to too many places in my new hood and I don't want to burn out the new digs too quickly I had to visit a bar somewhere else in the area. Since I had to go to the bank and cash a check (I know who has to do that these days? Well this gal does) and since I also belong to the world most inconvenient bank I figured good time to kill to birds with one beer. McFadden's is a bar right next to my bank I have avoided this place for years. It is in the financial district and I used to walk by the place everyday when I work on State St. After going in now I know why. I order a beer and as soon as the bartender put it down she is like WAIT! A bug just flew in you r beer. OK normally I wouldn't think too much about this BUT then as I am noticing the bar is actually an ad for blackberry it is also so dirty. BBQ sauce that looks days old the bottom of the tops is filthy. I felt gross just sitting at the bar. So when the bartender asked if I would like food I just said NO. I can't remember what this place was before this bar but the inside is actually pretty nice. There is some awesome moldings along the top of the bar. The beer I had was Goose Island IPA. The tap handle is real cute (a goose head!). The beer an OK IPA nothing I would sing home about but I would drink that beer again going to McFadden's again HELL NO.

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Bar 14 of 52 - Michael's

You knew it wouldn't take me long to find a dive bar in my new neighborhood. For a week or so I have been walking by this place called Michael's and I thought it was a resturant. The outside has a feel of a fancy pizza joint in my hometown of Hazleton PA. Lucky one day they had the front door open and I saw the not only was this a bar but a DIVE. As I first walk in all I can notice is almost every TV is on the horse races, another one on KENO and just one TV on the news. I got carded when I ordered my Bud (I don't think they have anything other than Bud everyone at the bar was either drinking Bud or Light). The guy next to me and laughed and said "If I was working the bar I wouldn't of carded you because obviously you have to be of age if you walk into this place." I am sure I will be stopping in here again to watch a Sox game or if I have a hankering for some gambleing. I will leave this review with a joke the bartender told. Why did the Greeks give up sex? It was a real pain in the ass!

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Bar 13 of 52 - Charlies Kitchen

One of the staples of Harvard Square for me is Charlies Kitchen which is also lucky 13 for 2010. Where else can you get a old school grilled cheese? This bar has more of a dinner feel than of a bar but I really do enjoy stopping in here on my way home. I think the only times I have come here on purpose is to see a band on a MOnday night. Other than that it is to kill time waiting for a bus or to use the bathroom on my way home. They do have a really good selection of beer but yet I can't get passed the Ballantines. It is the best cheap beer outside of Northeastern PA since everyone knows the best is Yuengling but when you can't have Yuengling Ballantines is the go to beer for me.

Speaking of the Ballantines one of the best things about the bottles is you get a puzzle! This puzzle once caused great confusion at a BBQ.

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Bar 12 of 52 - Tavern at the End of the World

I have been slacking on the bar of the week because of my moving. No worries bar fans I am back and in a new neighborhood with new bars for me to investigate and drink at. I wasted no time on my second day in the area and stopped at the Tavern at the End of the World. No folks I didn't move to Jamicia Plain which is usually thought to be the end of the world. I moved to Somerville and this bar is across the street from the Sullivan Station T stop which is in Charlestown. This is a cute little bar with a good beer selection and nice bartender who gave me the option of listening to music or the TV so of course I chose music. GOod thing she had good taste in music. I even had some food while here and had the Spicy chicken curry which was awesome. The beer to wash it down was the Dogfish Head IPA and that is my favorite IPA. I look forward to coming back and enjoying more noms and beers.

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Bar 11 of 52 - O'Briens

This Saturday night my friends' band was playing O'Brien's. I don't go see bands very much anymore so it is a big deal to get me out of the house that late. O'Brien's had been renovated since my time of going there all the time. I miss the signing of the constitution that was behind the stage but the bathrooms are MUCH nicer. The club really is pretty much the same. Cheap beers and rock & roll. So of course I had to have a PBR. This seems to be the month of cheap beers. I think next month will have to be a month of higher end beers. I do love the cheap stuff but I also love good beers. So to put it simply I love beer.

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The Country Doctors!

Bar 10 of 52 Newtowne Grille

Once again I had time to kill before hockey and I need to get some food before hockey so this time I stopped in the dive The Newtowne Grille in Porter Square in Somerville. The place was filled with regular and I couldn't find a seat at the bar so I had to sit in a booth. The place was filled with nervous energy as the Bruins were just about to blow their 3-0 series lead. Lots of TVs and sports memorabilia around the place. I had a cheese steak and trust me it was no Philly cheese steak. I will say not the best choice of food before you go running around for an hour. Beer once again was the high life and that is the good choice of beer before running around!

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Bar 9 Razzy's

Joined a Friday night outdoor ball hockey league and got to the rink 40 mins early so what better to do than stop in a bar you have never been to? Razzy's a little dive bar from a hockey rink what could be better? A cute little bar that was really dead this Friday after work. There was only one other person there. They give you a bowl of popcorn with your beer score! Since I was going to play hockey right after this beer I didn't want anything too filling or high octane so I went with the watery go to Miller High Life. Since this wasn't my intention to do my bar at this time I only had my crappy blackberry camera so the photos suck. I have a feeling I will be stopping in this place a lot since not only am I playing hockey across the street but I am moving to that neighborhood.

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Bar 8 The Cambridge Commons

A nice Saturday afternoon enjoying the nature in Arlington and Lexington can make a gal thirsty. What better place to quench that thirst than the Cambridge Commons in where else Cambridge. The bar has 31 rotating taps so any beer snob can find something on tap. I didn't have any food today but I have in the past and it has always been good. The beer today was Troges Sunshine Pils a hoppy pilsner which am usually not a fan of a pilsner should be a crisp clean beer but the hop thing is very trendy these days. Troges is a brewery out of Central Pennsylvania. For the hop heads Troges does make a very taste beer called Nugget Nectar.

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Bar 7 The Druid

A "sick" day at work made a perfect day to go out and find bar 7. Unfortunately for me walking this fine Friday was a rainy one but the rain wasn't going to ruin my walk to Cambridge. All that walking made me thirsty so I stopped in The Druid in Inman Square. A cute little Irish bar in a section of Cambridge that has a good selections of bars and restaurants. This place can get packed at night but in the afternoon it was just a couple old timers and some hipster in for lunch. I didn't eat here but they have a tiny little kitchen in the back and the food look very good. The beer I had to go with something a little fancier than what I have been doing on my tour since the Crazy One hasn't been happy with my choices. So the beer of today was Rapscallion 1898 which is a lager with a bit of a hop bite. I enjoyed it very much. I am not a hop head so I thought it was a perfect amount of hops. According to their web site this brew goes back to 1898 and was brewed by the Harvard Brewing company. It has been brewed by 3 other breweries since including the Rapscallion.

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Bar 6 of 52 - Marker's Mark Crossing

If there is a bar I will find it. You can't hide a bar in North Station from me. Bar 6 is tucked away next to Track 1 in North Station called Marker's Mark Crossing. What else is one to do while waiting for your train to arrive than have a few beers? Most of the time you have to head outside the station where you aren't going to see that your train arrived. Not at Marker's Mark Crossing. Want to grab a quick drink before the Bruins game? You can do that at Marker's Mark Crossing. Atmosphere really isn't this bars thing it is a bar in a train station which does all it needs to do and that is to get you alcohol. Beer selection is really lacking just you basics Sams and Coronas so I went with something I haven't had since I was 21 Killian's Irish Red. There is a reason why I didn't drink this for 11 years. Basically a red colored Bud. I don't know how they could call this an Irish Red.

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Bar 5 of 52 - Punters Pub

A nice sunny Saturday afternoon had me talking a walk around the Fenway which brought me to Punter's Pub on Huntington Avenue across the street from the MFA. This dive bar is in the midst of a slew of colleges which I am sure weekend nights are beyond crazy. Cheap beer and college students are not my scene but in the afternoon it is nice and quite place to sit and watch the game. Along the bar they have lots of crazy crap on the wall mostly local college sports photos. The bar itself is pretty big with a pool room and a nice area for darts and plenty of tables. The beer selection is what you would expect at a dive bar so I went with my new go to cheap beer the Narragansett.

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Bar 4 - The Model

Bar 4 brought me to my old stomping grounds The Model because I got kick off my own TV so other could watch Lost. I needed to watch the Devils lose to the Bruins so the model it was because it was on my way to play hockey. Lord only knows how many hours I wasted and High Lifes I have drank in this place. The Model doesn't really pick up until about 1 when all the other bars have closed but my days of closing the model are long gone actually this visit was my only visit in over a year. The place has changed a bit well at least the furniture in the dinning room has and not quite sure what kind of look they are going for. They also have DJs some nights. Back in my day the bar didn't need nights of DJs to bring in the drunks getting drunk was a good enough reason to go to the Model. The drink of choice was High Life in a bottle I do not dare to drink from the taps here. Another thing that has changed is the prices a High life is now $3.50. When I started going there a High Life was only $1.75.


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