Best Literary Bartender

Whether you want to discuss the merits of various Lowland single malts, the pros and cons of the first person in contemporary fiction, or 18th-century rhetoricians, Alan Black's your man. As with all good bartenders, his mien is gruff at first; you might experience an overwhelming desire not to piss him off. But soon you'll realize that his meagerly doled-out and beautifully brogued remarks are cynical, witty, and belie a cosmopolitan left-wingedness. Stay too long and you'll feel a deep bond with the intense Glaswegian -- a bond he may or may not share. Black is also the pub's culture-wrangler, in large part responsible for hosting prose, poetry, drama, DJ, and live music nights; as such he was instrumental in bringing a little play called Trainspotting into the bar for its U.S. premiere. Try to be there the next time an Austrian is elected governor, because he'll probably Sieg Heilthe TV again.