NAMED AFTER THE 19th-century metal workers who made it famous, a boilermaker is that legendary pairing of beer and whiskey. Back then, the dependable duo would help wash away the sorrows of an interminable day of grueling labor, but even after working conditions improved beyond the Victorian era, the boilermaker persisted as a budget-friendly standby.
Now, however, beer and whiskey have been refashioned in the craft image, consequently elevating the stature of the boilermaker. These days you’re as likely to see the combo on the menu at an upscale speakeasy as you are at the local dive, and, thanks to a new crop of skilled bartenders, we have an infinite array of higher-shelf variations of it at our disposal.
Matthew Landan runs the Haymarket (HaymarketWhiskeyBar.com), the destination dive bar in…