Holiday Booze, Beers, and Butts: This Week’s Boston Events

Throwing a holiday party this year? Sure, you could just throw out a couple bottles of wine and a mix pack of holiday beers. Or, if you want to take the party to the next level — and obviously you do, the only reason to have a party is to make people jealous of how awesome you are at throwing parties — then learn how to spice up your favorite cocktails at Art of the Cocktail: A Winter’s Toast at the Boston Center for the Arts. Booze Époque founders Meaghan Q. Sinclair and Harmony Dawn Kelly teach you how to transform local fresh ingredients into holiday cheer. The evening includes tastings, interactive demonstration, conversation, snacks and a private exhibition viewing of the Mills Gallery. (6 p.m., $25-35, 21+)

Boston might never let bars stay open until 4 a.m. or let the T run all night, so we need a solid arts and culture scene to throw out in arguments about why we’re better than worthless cities like, say, Indianapolis. In charge of making that happen? Julie Burros, the new City of Boston Chief of Arts and Culture. ArtsEmerson welcomes Burros with a conversation about Boston’s art, culture, and creativity, featuring Burros, Chief of Policy Joyce Linehan, and ArtsEmerson artistic director David Dower. A reception will follow the discussion. (6:30 p.m., FREE, all ages)

Then again even if the arts scene fizzles out, we’ll always have that “we invented America” thing to fall back on (don’t EVEN start with us, Philadelphia). The Old South Meeting House and the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum bring together reenactors from across New England for the Boston Tea Party Reenactment celebrating the single most important event leading up to the American Revolution. Tickets to the debate at the Old South Meeting House are sold out, but you can join in the fife and drum-led march to the former location of Griffin’s Wharf. Then watch as the Sons of Liberty board the Brig Beaver (lol), hoist tea chests on deck, then break them open and spill the contents into the harbor. Here’s the best part: Every time they dump a new chest into the harbor, you get to yell “Huzzah!” When was the last time you yelled “Huzzah!” with a huge crowd? If I was on the fence about having a revolution, that probably would have swung me. (7:30 p.m., FREE, all ages)

Cookbooks make a pretty solid gift for the home chefs in your life — sure, there are plenty of recipes on the Internet, but you can’t put those on a shelf in your kitchen surrounded by some cute decorative knick-knacks and feel like a real grown-up. Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” is always a solid choice, or you can bring a taste of home to your out-of-state friends with “The New England Kitchen” by Jeremy Sewall. The chef at Brookline’s Lineage stops by Trident Books to talk about the book and demonstrate his recipe for crab cakes and roasted cauliflower soup. Fun fact: When I was in college someone told me they had a dream that I ate crab cakes and died. So yeah, I don’t mess with crab cakes. (7 p.m., FREE, all ages)

If the Boston Ballet performance of “The Nutcracker” is too classy for you, and you missed out on tickets to “The Slutcracker” again, consider “The Buttcracker” at Oberon. The holiday “clASSic” from Johnny Blazes and Madge of Honor celebrates its third “analversary” with a lineup that features drag, burlesque, spoken word, games, booty shaking, and butt puns sure to get your cheeks rosy and your ass clapping. (8 p.m., $20, 21+)

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s monthly party — and #BestInBoston winner for Best Museum/Gallery Event — Third Thursdays: Winter Solstice kicks off the season in style with a night of pagan revelry. OK, so by pagan revelry they mean laid-back jazz grooves, fireside chats in the Tapestry Room, a gold leaf art project, and a cash bar with beer, wine, and themed cocktails. I’m sure ancient pagan celebrations started out pretty chill, too, it’s not like everyone just showed up and started dancing naked around a bonfire. You gotta start with a couple drinks, catching up with friends, “Oh, have you seen the new Stonehenge? It really lives up to the hype,” you know, ease into it a little. (5:30 p.m., $5-15, 21+)

An epic beer event and collaborative fundraising effort, 12 Brewers of Christmas returns to Kendall Square’s Meadhall for the third consecutive year. The beer geek paradise turns over 110 taps to 12 brewers (Allagash, Boulevard/Ommegang, Dogfish Head, Founders Green Flash, Jack’s Abby, Lagunitas, Left Hand, Oskar Blues, Sierra Nevada, Smuttynose, and Tröegs) in addition to silent auction items and extremely rare tastings, with all proceeds going to Toys for Tots. You can stop by Meadhall in the days leading up to the event as they’ll be tapping one keg a day from participating brewers. Just don’t spend so much time drinking that you forget to buy presents for your own kids. Learning the true meaning of irony is not something they can brag about to their friends at school. (5 p.m., $10, 21+)

Photo credit: Jeff Hester/Creative Commons

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This article was provided by our content partner, The Boston Calendar.