Space Nerds Cocktail Week: May the Dork Be with You
Mai-TAI Fighter at Backbar. Photo courtesy of Nick Korn
Your favorite hipster mixologist might be sporting the prerequisite facial hair, suspenders, and derby cap, but at one point he was just another nerd grumbling about the indigenous inhabitants of Endor. To celebrate this collective acknowledgment, several of Boston’s top bartenders have joined forces and formed Space Nerds Cocktail Week. From May 4-11, area bars like Franklin Cafe, Sycamore, Drink, JM Curley, Trade, Sarma, and Shojo will all be sharing their corresponding love of Star Wars and pun-laden cocktails with concoctions like a Mai TAI-Fighter and the Dark and Stormy Troopers.
The brainchild of Silvertone bartender Nick Korn and Backbar’s Sam Treadway, the third annual installment is its biggest yet with several new participating bars, a series of organized get-togethers, and a final ticketed event at Backbar pairing snacks and a four-course cocktail menu with specific scenes from Return of the Jedi.
“The same people that are cocktail nerds are also Star Wars nerds,” Korn says. “There’s a 95 percent overlap in population. It’s just a fun way to promote the Boston cocktail community and to cross-pollinate. It amplifies everyone’s voice because we’re all part of the same project at the same time.
Space Nerds Cocktail Week kicks off with the “May the Fourth Be With You” launch party at Backbar on May 4. Rechristened Ackbar (in honor of Admiral Ackbar) for the week, Treadway will be serving high-concept drinks like his Obi-Wan Negroni served over blue ice and a Lando Cal-Fizzian with Colt 45 foam. Backbar will also be welcoming guest bartender Steva Casey of Veranda on Highland in Birmingham, Alabama. Casey is a renowned bartender and inventor of the Death Star Old Fashion, essentially a classic Old Fashion served in a hollowed-out Death Star ice mold.
Next up will be the “Mayo the Fiesta Be With You” at Savvor on May 5. Executive chef Carey Dobies will be serving complimentary small plates and local bar legend Brother Cleve will be spinning space-age lounge music as an homage to George Lucas’ famous cantina scene from Star Wars Episode IV.
Finally, comes “Space Flight” on May 11, an immersive cocktail experience and screening that starts at 9 p.m. at Backbar. Only 40 tickets will be available, all of which will go on sale on May 1 through getoffsite.com.
Backbar, 7 Sanborn Court, Somerville, 617-718-0249 or getoffsite.com/spacenerds. Follow @getoffsite on Twitter for updates on the growing number of bars participating in Space Nerds Cocktail Week.
