I’ve surprisingly had a lot of friends visit me. That’s not only a sly compliment to myself, but also a legitimate surprise considering how few I had expected. In truth, I’m one of the few people of my college friends who stayed in the midwest (where my college was), so when someone’s in the area, I’m their go-to guy. Anyway, it’s awesome being a spokesperson for Detroit, and every time I show someone around it reminds me why I love this place.

A few weeks ago, my brothers visited me for the weekend. They are a couple of Brooklyn boys through and through, born and raised, like me, except unlike me they both moved home after college. One of them (I won’t say who…but it wasn’t John) made a couple off color jokes about blight and crime in Detroit before he came. I wasn’t too worried though, because I had a bomb weekend planned (that’s how we talk in Brooklyn).

We did all the normal stuff, DIA, Heidelberg, but we also went off the beaten path a little bit. We drove around some outer neighborhoods like Sherwood Forest, and Boston Edison, went Fowling, and to some cool bars that really can’t exist in a place like New York. Ben in particular was impressed with the fire pit at the Old Miami. But the biggest hit? The Detroit City Distillery. Ben, who is a budding cocktail artist himself, said those cocktails were made by guys who “really knew what they were doing.” And the prices, my god! Can’t be beat. Anyway, feels good to have proved myself to them, all littlest brothers should understand that sentiment.