FLYING BACK from Chikkiville (trademark Mad Mike Magee 2008), we chanced on the secondmost top story on the front page of today’s Times of India. Now this is Masala News. It is about “taverns”. The top story is about Congress and politics. The news editor obviously decided to spice up the front page.
It appears that for only Rs 5,000 you can open a “tavern” in Bengaluru which serves not beer, not spirits but wine. The journo writes that “tavern culture” is quite common in the West. Indeed, according to the newspaper, the “tavern” held a proud place in the culture of the United States in the 18th century.
In the 20th century we called them “wine bars” and they sold food along with wine. One of the more famous was a bar in Covent Garden called “Brahms and Liszt”. No one was so vulgar as to deck a pint of wine there, or ask for a “breezer”. Yet numerous bottles of wine were consumed, while creative subjects were discussed, a bit like the “coffee bars” of the antecedent centuries.
But plenty of bottles of the finest wine were consumed, along with food. And you could smoke. Yes, wine bars are coming to Bangalore, it appears. ♣
