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Welcome back to Food Crawls (or in this case, Booze Crawls), a series in which Eater Boston staffers guide you (virtually) on various food and booze crawls in the Boston area.
When we go out, we often find ourselves wanting to try more than one restaurant (or bar) at a time — a drink and a snack here, another drink and perhaps a dessert there — and want to share our favorite multi-stop combinations with you. These crawls are meant to be relatively walkable, and the amount of food and drink is meant to correspond roughly to a couple of average appetites (so bring a friend), although your mileage may vary. Email us if there’s a particular theme, specific dish or drink, or neighborhood you’d like to see covered in a future installment.
Baseball season is upon us, which means Bostonians will soon rush the gates of Fenway Park, that “lyric little bandbox of a ballpark,” for the chance to see Mookie Betts dart around the bases and Chris Sale mow down opposing batters. Watching baseball sober is fine, but watching baseball with a buzz on makes the proceedings a lot more entertaining.
Getting drunk at Fenway Park is expensive and not a great option (unless you’re a rich person, in which case, fine, drink as many $11 Miller Lites as you wish). Fortunately, the neighborhood surrounding the ballpark is packed with bars serving relatively affordable drinks. We’re including four bars on this crawl, but maybe only go to two or three of them per trip. It’s been rebranded as Friendly Fenway (not Drunken Disorderly Fenway), after all.
Stats for this booze crawl:
- Total stops: 4
- Total mileage: About an eighth of a mile
- Garciaparra jerseys spotted: Hopefully so, so many
- Light domestic lagers consumed: No more than three. We want to be allowed into the stadium.
- Bros per square foot: However many bros can fit in one square foot
Light Domestic Lager at the Baseball Tavern
1270 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02215
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The Baseball Tavern isn’t a place to spend too much time (it hosts events like this, so best to steer clear), but it’s close to the ballpark, and the light, domestic lagers are cheap. Pop in, stay for the two and a half minutes it takes to drink a Bud Light, and pop directly back out.
A Pretty Cocktail or a Local Brew at Citizen Public House & Oyster Bar
1310 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02215
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Citizen Public House & Oyster Bar opens at 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and at 11 a.m. for Sunday brunch, so it’s mostly going to be a stop before night games. The cocktails are good and pretty, and the beer list is vast and very local. If you opt for a cocktail or a heady IPA, maybe skip the next bar and head right to your seats.
A Beer at the Lower Depths
476 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215
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RIP the wide selection of hot dogs at the Lower Depths. The place is doing tacos now, and while they’re fine, they’re not hot dogs. (An eater can still at least get a Sonoran dog at the Lower Depths, and there are still tots on the menu. Not all is lost.) The Lower Depths has over 150 bottled beers from which to choose, and 16 taps, so a drinker will find something he likes here.
Another Light Domestic Lager at the Cask ’n Flagon
62 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215
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The Cask ’n Flagon is situated at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Landsdowne Street, which means it’s the perfect last stop before heading into the ballpark for some baseball (and at least three hot dogs, but only the ones from the vendors walking around the grandstand because they are steamed and not grilled, which is to say they are a far superior version of hot dog). One more Bud Light, and then it’s time to watch J.D. Martinez smash.