Philadelphia Weekly’s cover story this week is all about drinking.

PW comes up with its list of the top 15 drinks in the city, bartender likes and dislikes, absinthe based cocktails and even hangover cures.

Philly’s Top 15 Drinks [Philadelphia Weekly]
Bartenders Hate You [Philadelphia Weekly]
PW’s Guide to Hangover Cures [Philadelphia Weekly]

Thursday, November 12th sees a choice of festivals. The Union League is hosting the Philadelphia Whiskey Festival while Phiz Fest celebrates Champagne and sparkling wine at the Bellevue.

Which festival would you choose?

Philadelphia Whiskey Festival

Taste spirits from around the world including, premium Scotch, single malts, Bourbon, whiskey, Cognac, Canadian and Irish Whiskeys, tequila, gin, rum and vodka.

6:30pm to 9:30pm
Tickets are $85 in advance, $95 at the door

Phiz Fest

Taste Champagne and sparkling wines from around the world paired with cuisine from area restaurants.

6pm to 8:30pm
Tickets are $69.50 each, $59.50 when you purchase two or more.

Are you a Mad Men fanatic? Have your own Mad Men three martini lunch at The Palm.

The Palm is offering a three-course lunch plus a side dish and a classic drink for just $18.95.

The drinks included are:

• Classic Charmer Manhattan: Makers Mark Bourbon, Martini & Rossi Vermouth and a dash of bitters, served up with a cherry
• The Upper East Sidecar: Remy Martin V.S.O.P Cognac, Cointreau Orange Liqueur and a lemon splash served up with a slice of orange.
• Blonde Bombshell: Stoli Vanil Vodka and fresh, hand-squeezed lime juice, served up with lemon and lime. $13 per cocktail

Lunch like Don Draper would want you to.

The Palm [Official Site]

Rick Nichols celebrates the resurgence of the art of the cocktail at Village Whiskey and other purveyors of adult cocktails.

[T]his is a place, especially on a quieter weeknight evening, to reunite with the well-made cocktail. Bartender Keith Raimondi will be happy to oblige, fashioning a proper Old Fashioned (dousing the sugar cubes first with house-made bitters), a moody Vieux Carre (rye, cognac, sweet vermouth and two kinds of bitters), or for a sip of the city’s roots (and provided you are not about operate heavy machinery), a sneaks-up-on-you Philadelphia Fish House Punch, which involves peach brandy, cognac, dark rum, and other accents, peels and spices that mask those initial ingredients.

Please then, won’t you raise your glass. . .

Takes a Village to raise a glass [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Village Whiskey [Official Site]

Philadelphia Magazine’s Let’s Do Cocktails is an ultimate night out with a cocktail competition that also adds dancing and mingling.

It all happens Thursday, October 1st at 6:30 at the Loews Hotel. Tickets are $50 per person and get you access to all the vodka, gin, tequila and other boozy concoctions.

Foobooz’ Arthur Etchells will be among the judges.

Let’s Do Cocktails [Philadelphia Magazine]

Village Whiskey is a go. Jose Garces’ Whiskey bar will open at 11:30 Friday morning. We’ll be there!

Village Whiskey [Official Site]

Meal Ticket gets some photos from within Village Whiskey including lots of shots of pickled vegetables and just what Jose Garces means by cheese puffs.

Village Whiskey in pictures [Meal Ticket]

Jose Garces’ Village Whiskey opens next Thursday (11:30am if you’re particularly antsy) and the menus are now available for analysis.

The Whiskey King burger that Grub Street teased us with in July now has a price, a steep $24 for the 10oz  farm-raised Angus beef from Maine. It’s topped with foie gras, maple bourbon glazed cipolini, blue cheese and applewood bacon.There’s also a Village Burger for a more reasonable $9 that can be topped with a choice of Haystack Mountain Chevre, Jasper Hill Cheddar or Rogue Smokey Blue for $3 and bacon for $2.

There’s a lobster roll at an Oyster House matching $26 and a Kentucky Fried Quail with sweet potato, chanterelle and corn succotash, roast chicken gravy for $14.

The bar snacks intrigue with homemade cheese puffs, deviled eggs, tater tots and soft pretzels. But for decadent finger foods, we’re most intrigued by the duck fat french fries served with Sly Fox cheddar sauce. Go all out by adding shortrib to the fries. We’d like to think of this as some high-end version of Nick’s Cafe’s gravy and cheese fries.

Check out the complete food menu after the jump as well as the beer, wine, cocktails and whiskey menus.

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Can a restaurant reviewer review  a place with no food. Adam Erace does just that with his look at Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co., the inconspicuous subterranean bar just off Rittenhouse Square.

Air of mystery, consider yourself cultivated. Standing at that very door at 9 p.m. on a steamy Thursday, I was dreading what I guessed would be the single-malt mafia and a freezerful of douchesicles waiting on the other side. Instead, I found ad men and hipsters, lawyers and waiters on their night off, all reclining like Gatsby characters in a space as trim and chic as an Italian suit. Not a false eyelash of snobbery. Not a staff member anything less than welcoming.

Savor sophisticated cocktails under the sidewalk [Philadelphia Weekly]
Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. [Official Site]

Tuesday, August 25th Alfa is hosting a Root tasting dinner that will include cocktails from the Root Cocktail competition at Silk City. It’s 5 mini-courses for $35 and each will be paired with a cocktail.

Check out the menu after the jump.

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