🟢 WeHa's Biggest Playground Gets a Bar

Happy Thursday!

The weather has been absolutely amazing. Yesterday was 75 degrees in November… make it make sense!

Anyways, enjoy it now, the next few days will be a “wash” with all the rain predicted, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.

In today’s edition of The Hartford Pour, we’ll get into:

— Chris M.
Local Whiskey Nerd, Husband, Dad, Entrepreneur (Fun Tip: Spicy food makes me smile more than it should)

Missed Tuesday's question? It's still open, and I'd love to hear how you like to treat yourself.

Somebody finally built a playground for grown-ups, and it comes with a bar.

Win-Win.

Level99 opens Friday, November 20 at The Corbin Collection in West Hartford (1427 New Britain Ave), up on the second floor of the old Sears. Yes, that Sears (yikes, I’m getting old). Where people once shopped for washing machines, you'll now be dodging axes and running obstacle courses.

It's 50 life-size games, mostly team challenge rooms for 2 to 6 people, with names like Axe Run and Ninja Swing. Think escape room meets American Ninja Warrior, minus the TV cameras catching you failing and falling.

Now, my part. Inside is Two Roads Kitchen & Tap, a 160-seat bar and restaurant run with Stratford's own Two Roads Brewing. Three-sided bar, Two Roads beer on tap, cocktails, and Detroit-style pizza (one is literally called the "Roni, Roni, Roni"). You don't need a game ticket to grab a stool, and happy hour runs weekdays 4 to 6 PM.

Can’t you tell I’m excited?

It’s really something that Hartford County has needed for a while and it’s good to see it coming.

It will be instantly and insanely packed for the first few weeks and months, I’m sure. (We went crazy when a Raising Cane’s popped up, remember?)

Tickets start at $29.99 and go on sale this Friday, Nov 6. The first 500 players on opening day get a free beanie, so set an alarm on your iPhone.

Okay, Wise Old Dog. I see you with the parentheses.

All week they've been calling it Whisk(e)y Week, which is a very polite way of not picking a side. I respect it. I really do.

But if you've been reading THP for any amount of time, you know where I stand. Here in America, it's whiskey. With an E. That's a hill I'm willing to sip on.

The easy rule of thumb: if the country has an E in its name, so does the whiskey. Ireland and the United States, whiskey. Scotland, Canada and Japan, whisky.

Now here's the fun part that broke my brain a little.

Some of the most famous American bottles skip the E entirely. Maker's Mark, Old Forester and George Dickel all print "whisky" right on the label. Maker's Mark says it's a nod to the Samuels family's Scottish-Irish roots.

And Uncle Sam? Federal labeling rules say either spelling is totally fine. So technically, nobody's wrong.

I'm still right though, lol, but who’s splitting hairs?

Here is some homework if you're at tonight's Brown Water Cocktails class at Wise Old Dog: check the Old Forester bottle.

There’s No ‘E’. Congrats, I’ve triggered your OCD and you can't unsee it.

Whisk(e)y Week goes out with a bang today.

The Wise Old Dog in West Hartford (612 Quaker Ln) is releasing its Willett Single Barrel with a free tasting from 4 to 7 PM. If you've been hunting a Willett, this is your shot. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Wine person? Just down the road, Fleming’s in West Hartford (44 S Main St) is hosting Orin Swift: One Night Only from 6:30 to 9:30 PM. Seven wines, five courses, and side-by-side pours of Abstract vs. Machete, plus two bottles you can't buy in stores. It's $149 a person, so yeah, this is a special occasion Friday.

If that's not in the budget (same), head to Elicit Brewing in Manchester (165 Adams St), where Peter Benson plays live at 9 PM. Get the Espresso Martini, made with Victus cold brew. Friday nights need a second wind.

Saturday is for shopping and snuggling. Bunnies, I mean.

Start at Hops on the Hill in South Glastonbury (275 Dug Rd) for its Fall Vendors Day Market from 11 AM to 4 PM. Local vendors on a hop farm, plus the Broadleaf Brown Ale, all bread and caramel. Holiday shopping with a beer in hand is the only way I'll do it.

Then head over to The Plourd Brewery in East Hartford (1277 Main St) for the Every Bunny Counts adoption event from 2 to 5 PM, with the La Cocina Cubana food truck out front all day.

Real talk: our family had a bunny for about a year. It was fun, but there is a LOT of maintenance. Still, if you've got a pet itch to scratch, definitely go check one out.

Order the Gartenbier, their Helles. It literally means "garden beer." Seems fitting for a bunny day.

Pop some bubbles, then pick your Sunday vibe.

Center Wine + Spirits in Glastonbury (41 Hebron Ave) is throwing its Annual Champagne Tasting from 2 to 4:30 PM. It's drop-in, $15, with grower Champagnes to taste and bottles at discounted pricing. Tickets are only sold through Friday, so don't sleep on it.

After that, it's jazz or bingo.

The Plourd Brewery in East Hartford (1277 Main St) has a Deep Groove jazz vinyl DJ set with a Sneaky Richards food pop-up. Jazz on vinyl calls for the Speed Demon, their nitro oatmeal stout. Smooth on smooth.

Or head to Witchdoctor Brewing in Southington (168 Center St) for Booster Club Music Bingo from 3 to 5 PM. It's a fundraiser and open to the public, so name that tune for a good cause.

Champagne, then jazz or bingo. Very fancy, very not. My kind of Sunday.

Do you know of an AWESOME restaurant or bar? Or something not included in this email you’d like to see?

REPLY to this email and let me know!