Hottest clubs in NYC

If you're like most people who enjoy visiting new cities but don't always know where the best nightspots are located, Nightclub & Bar magazine can be of assistance.

Here, in alphabetical order, are the New York City clubs that made it into the magazine's Top 100 Clubs:

Copacabana
Manitoba's
Marquee
Polly Esthers (The Danceplex)
Rudy's Bar and Grill
The Cafe Wha?
The Potion Lounge
Village Vanguard

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ON THE WEB
• New York Magazine's Nightlife
• New York Club Scene
• Dowd's Guides

Run Four (the) Roses in New York City

Long, long ago, in a market not so far away from where I now live, Four Roses was a commonplace whiskey brand. I can still recall seeing it on the bar shelves at the homes of family friends, and pictures of it in magazines and on bulletin boards.

Even today, Four Roses ads, such as the 1954 version shown here, are popular with ephemera collectors and auction house regulars.

This particular Kentucky bourbon wasn't of interest in my household, where Dad was a strict Jim Beam and I.W. Harper man, but it was available in enough places for me to sample a sip or two in my maturing years.

But Four Roses, although made in Lawrenceburg, KY, had not been sold domestically in decades and wasn't re-introduced to Kentucky's limited retail market until five years ago. Its primary market was Japan -- fittingly enough since it is owned by Japan's Kirin Brewery Co., which bought it in October 2001-- and Europe.

This week, Four Roses came back in New York City, where I first encountered it lo those many years ago.

It will be available in small-batch and single-barrel versions at a limited number of restaurants, bars and liquor stores as part of an expansion campaign.

Jim Rutledge, master distiller, said today in a statement, "The relevance of New York is important as we re-establish Four Roses in the U.S. Our barrel inventories have increased to the level that can now support the introduction of Four Roses bourbon into other select markets.”

New York's longest-running beer and food event will mark its 10th anniversary later this month.

The annual TAP New York extravaganza, sponsored by the Hudson Valley Beer and Food Festival, is scheduled for the weekend of April 28-29 in the base lodge at Hunter Mountain in the Catskill Mountains.

Although the organizers stress this is a food and beer event, the craft brewers bringing in their beers to compete for the Matthew Vassar Cup and the F.X. Matt Memorial Cup are the main drawing card.

The list of confirmed brewery participants (LI denotes Long Island):

• Black Forest Brew Haus & Restaurant, Farmingdale, LI
• Blue Point Brewing Co., Patchogue, LI
• Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown
• Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn
• Brown's Brewing Co., Troy
• Butternuts Beer & Ale Co., Garrattsville
• Chatham Brewing Co., Chatham
• Cooperstown Brewing Co., Cooperstown
• The Defiant Brewery, Pearl River
• Gilded Otter, New Paltz
• Great Adirondack Brewing, Lake Placid
• John Harvard's Brew House, Lake Grove, LI
• Heartland Brewery, Manhattan
• High Point Wheat Beer Co., Butler, NJ
• Ithaca Beer Co., Ithaca
• Keegan Ales, Kingston
• Kelso of Brooklyn
• Roosterfish Brewing Co., Watkins Glen
• Saranac/Matt Brewing Co., Utica
• Six Point Brewery, Brooklyn
• Southampton Publick House, Southampton
• Southern Tier Brewing, Lakewood
• Unibroue, Chambly, Quebec

The event began in 1997 as the Hudson Valley Beer and Food Festival, originally hosted at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. As it outgrew that venue, it was moved in 1999 to Hunter Mountain.

The food theme this year will be the best of the past decade.

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ON THE WEB
• Town of Hunter
• Guide to the Catskill Mountains