Boston sometimes gets a bad rap. The combination of an oppressive sports culture, that, er, unique accent, and ubiquitous backward-hat-wearing bros often leads outsiders to dismiss the historic American city as a cultural backwater where a pleasant trip to the ballpark might result in a surprise vomit shower.
If Boston had gotten the 2024 Olympics, this dude would have been its mascot.
And while Bean Town will never beat New York in a contest of cosmopolitanism, there is culture to be found there. (I mean, there has to be, right?)
For instance, did you know Boston has a signature cocktail? No, it’s not a Solo cup full of Jägermeister downed on the way into Fenway. It’s the Ward 8, a smooth, refined sipper born in the Gilded Age, but long since forgotten to history.
Naturally, the origins of the Ward 8 are a bit spotty. The official story holds that bartender Tom Hussion created the cocktail at the Locke-Ober restaurant on election night in 1898. According to the story, a patron requested a special drink to celebrate the election of Martin M. Lomasney, a local democratic boss from Boston’s eighth ward who had just won a seat in the Massachusetts General Court (state legislature).
Interestingly, Lomasney was a teetotaler, making the cocktail’s dedication more tongue-in-cheek than genuine. It’s a twist that likely was not lost on the Locke-Ober patrons, who, like all good Bostonians, likely regarded nondrinkers with a healthy dose of skepticism.