Al's Wine & Whiskey Lounge

Living on the West Coast means returns to the East are difficult, nay, traumatic things. I've often proclaimed, with complete seriousness and while surrounded by friends who surely thought I loved them more than that, that the thing I would miss most about California's Bay Area, if I ever were to leave it, would be the food. The social and intellectual scene that comes with a dining experience in San Francisco are appetizers and desserts that are hard to replicate, and as much as I adore my hometown, Syracuse, on the whole, lacks places comparable to my favorite bars and restaurants, replete with bare-brick walls, old wood furniture that looks like it belongs in your grandfather's sitting room, liquor bottles lined up like an audience behind the bar, and too-loud music that is only tolerable because it is good and I am happy.

Imagine my surprise, my delight in the midst of a slushy, snowy visit around Christmastime, at not-getting-lost on the way to (or from) Al's Wine & Whiskey Lounge. Imagine my smugness at being able to provide my friends with recommendations based on highfalutin drinks I'd sampled first on the West Coast. Imagine my glee at being able to sit at a couch, with a pint of beer and a game of Jenga, and have a shouting-match sort of conversation with the people I'd most like to fly across the country to visit me.

And then imagine my gratitude, my awe a year later upon returning with a friend on a much more subdued Saturday evening, ordering two whiskey sours, commandeering a table, pilfering a stack of napkins from the bar, and proceeding to outline an entire novel in the span of two hours. For that, if nothing else, I owe Al's a congratulatory pat on the back (and a nice bunch of organic kale - go on, you've earned it).

Sometimes I love this place and other times I'm like meh. When its mellow and not crowded with Syracuse douches it reminds me of cool little bars in the city. The drinks are priced okay, nothing amazing on tap and although the booze selection is pretty stellar its so overwhelming I just wind up ordering my standbys.

I love my beer, but I can appreciate a great liquor selection as well. Al's has a wall full of great vodka, whiskey, gin, you name it!

I ordered some Grey Goose and the bartender pointed me in the direction of something much better (and I think more expensive).

There is pool in the back. They had a wall size screen to watch the ball drop on New Year's.

Oh, and Breakfast Stout on tap too, so not bad in the beer department. Glad there is more than one good bar in Armory Square.