Ok, so the new year hasn’t been entirely full of piss and vinegar. I have discovered a new favorite beer, Dogfish’s Raison D’Etre, and a new favorite place to drink it, Barcade in Williamsburg (though The Lighthouse in Park Slope also deserves an honorable mention).

There is also the bright spot that is the Trail Mix Bar at the new Whole Foods on the Bowery. Between that and their beer room, plus considerably shorter lines than the other WF’s in the city, I find myself drawn there week after week. Plus they have this creepy, 1984-ish type monitoring system for the custodial staff, where they have to press oddly located buttons whenever they sweep a certain location.