Philadelphia Weekly

ARTS AND CULTURE > LUSH LIFE

Drink to Your Health

By Sharon Margolis

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Dec. 29, 2010

It’s a new year, and that means shaming yourself into becoming yet another NEW YOU. Your conscience might be telling you to drink less, but your deeper self is already mourning the lost comforts of Jim Beam and self-therapy. Meet yourself halfway, and swap the shots for something with a goddamn vegetable in it. Here are some vitamin and antioxidant-loaded drinks to get loaded on.

Add a Tomato

Ten Stone’s (2063 South St.) homemade Bloody Mary brunch special comes with a skewer of olives, celery and shrimp, serving up protein and a dose of the cancer-fighting antioxidant—lycopene—that’s found in tomatoes. Plus, it’s two cocktails in one!

Eat Your Oats

Drinking an oatmeal stout isn’t so different from eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. “You’re cooking oatmeal the same way you would normally cook it,” explains Hawthorne’s (738 S. 11th St.) beer guru, Daniel Berlin. “It gets more concentrated as it boils.” Sip the creamy River Horse Oatmeal and Milk Stout by the genuine fireplace in the IKEA-esque “living room” of this quirky beer cafe.

An Apple a Day

Anyone on a new gluten-free kick can pat themselves on the back for being predictable, and then order a scrumptious J.K. Scrumpy’s Solstice Hard Cider from the POPE (1501 E. Passyunk Ave.). The seasonal organic cider tastes exactly like apple pie, using fresh apple juice and maple syrup with light caramel notes.

Make It Bleed

The dramatically named blood orange finally lives up to expectations when mixed with face-reddening tequila. The pleasantly tart Blood Orange Margarita at North 3rd (801 N. Third St.), El Vez (121 S. 13th St.) and Cantina Los Caballitos (1651 E. Passyunk Ave.) offers a boost of Vitamin C and folic acid, which prevents heart disease. Keep your heart healthy, happy and light: Go for blood.

The Real Deal

Guinness can save your life! Well, not really. But it can reduce your risk of getting a heart attack. The dark classic’s flavanoid antioxidants help inhibit blood clotting at a rate three times higher than other lighter beers. Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) always pours it right.