by journeyman

Catherine Owens is incredible! She’s the resident chalkboard artist at backbar. If you haven’t seen this video you yet, you should. It’s a time lapse video of her drawing up the backbar menu on our chalkboards!  http://vimeo.com/40684546

Also checkout her other work at her website  http://www.chalkandink.com/

backbar’s been taken over!!

While our fabulous bartenders are off learning and partying hard at the annual Tales of the Cocktail event, we here at Journeyman are having our own fun. Every night this weekend we’re hosting a pop-up wine bar at backbar.
This is your chance to try a wide variety of rarely-see glasses of wine, or maybe just get introduced to your new favorite! Here are all the details:

Friday July 27: Pinot Envy
Burgundy and its Emulators
with Len Rothenberg

The Pinot Noir grape is as high strung as an opera diva, and always ready to steal the show, no matter the show. This enigmatic and artistic red grape and its white cousins Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris are the stars of the night’s wine bar. Pinot Noir, as it is practiced in Burgundy has become the benchmark for a style of wine that can be as complex as it is sensuous. Burgundy has become the model and target for a host of wannabe wineries all over the world. Tonight, you can be the judge, and taste a dozen examples to see how well they measure up.

Few people in Boston could even claim to know as much about Pinot Noir as Len Rothenberg, and few palates are better honed to the nuances, intricacies, and sulty beauties of Burgundy than his. Tonight is a rare chance to meet the man behind Federal WIne & Spirits unbuttoned and free. He’ll be pouring wine, talking, and trying to seduce each and every one of you with the wonders of Pinot. During the day, Len can be found at his revolutionary shop, Federal Wine & Spirits, and astute readers may recognize his name from some of our prior wine events, as well.

Saturday July 28: Bubble Bath
Tiny bubbles in the wine…
with Meg Grady-Troia

We all pop corks on special occassions, drinking down glasses of bubbly at weddings, graduations, and anniversaries, but bubbles can brighten any day and any meal. From well-known bubblers like Cava, Prosecco, and Champagne, to stranger beasts like petillant-naturel Pineau d’Aunis and oxidative cider-like sparkling Malvasia Dolce, the world of sparkling wine is grand and beautiful. Let’s change what we pop corks for & do it for fun — for the noise, for the froth, and for the taste!

Sunday July 29: Roll in the Field
A tour of Field Blend Wines
with Stephen Meuse

We’ve all oohed and aahed over single-grape, single-vineyard wines, often letting a grand tradition that celebrates both the culture and terroir of a place — the amazing field blend, wines made from a variety of grapes all grown within a single vineyard — lay fallow as we run toward the next grape. The night is dedicated to those blends, and the harmony possible with blended wines. Many of us are familiar with assemblage-style blends, grapes harvested (& sometimes fermented and aged) separately and blended into the final wine, but some winemakers let the blending happen in the vineyard, celebrating the diversity of a region, and the breadth of its flavors. We’ll pour field blends from all over the world, celebrating and tasting the full potential of some of the world’s best vineyards and winemakers.

Stephen Meuse has worn many hats in the wine world; he currently hosts wine tastings at Central Bottle in Cambridge and blogs at A Table in Time, but he has also written extensively for the Boston Globe and other publications. His wine knowledge is deep, his knowledge is wide, and his raconteurship is unparalleled.

backbar will be closed today (sunday the 22nd) and tomorrow (monday the 23rd) for renovations! We apologize for the inconvenience.

Journeyman restaurant and backbar will be closed Wednesday, July 4th, in observance of the holiday. Sorry for the inconvenience. Hope you have a great day with friends and family!

Watch out Union Sq!  Late night food is coming to backbar! On the weekends from 10pm to 12:30am backbar will be serving up awesome sandwiches and bites! Come in have a cocktail and enjoy a bite to eat at the end of your night!