Sorry for the endless stream of food & drink posts this week. But hey, it’s not like its about to be swimsuit season or anything. Yesterday we linked back to a story on a hot new drinking trend called ‘pickle back.’ That is, a shot of Jameson or other Irish Whiskey chased with a shot of pickle juice. Seriously, the tartness of the pickle brine is actually the perfect palate cleanser following the burning sweetness of the booze. (FYI Midwesterners will recognize the name as a play off of the ‘beer back,’ or an ale chaser served with a shot of jägermeister or any other hideous-tasting liquor. Try one today at The Lodge in Scottsdale; it’s $6 and the beer is free.)

Originally popularized in, you guessed it, NYC hipster hangouts such as The Breslin and The Bushwick Country Club, we challenged our readers to tell us any place in the Valley serving up this pickled pucker. And, moral of the story, don’t ever doubt our readers’ booze brawn. Within minutes they’d pointed us to not one but two local watering holes where you can get pleasantly pickled.

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In news that will mean very little to anyone over the age of 25, the hispter-riffic Railroad Revival Tour has been bumped from its original location in Chandler to a larger venue in Tempe. In case you don’t fall into that age range (or don’t work in an office full of fresh-faced interns), the RRT is a kitschy-cool concert series featuring several up-and-coming acts traveling from city-to-city via a vintage passenger train. (Learn more here.)

However, AZ Central is now reporting that the AZ show on April 23, featuring Mumford & Sons (pictured), Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show, has been moved  from a field overlooking Chandler’s charming Arizona Railroad Museum. Instead, the show will now be held in parking lot in Downtown Tempe. Much to the chagrin of everybody’s fav musical curmudgeon,the Phx New Times‘ Martin Cizmar. (Howdy, Martin.)

Classic comfort foods and a ‘home-made’ vibe are huge food trends for 2011, and this has even extended to the lowly pickle. Popping up in boutique restaurants nationwide, these handmade pickled foods range from the traditional cucumber to more exotic jalapeños and trendy heirloom tomatoes. However, the zaniest pickle trend isn’t found in farmers markets or restaurants, but in bars! That’s right, the “pickle back” is growing in both popularity and availability. A shot of Jameson Whiskey followed by a shot of, you guessed it, pickle juice. The advocates of this quirky chaser claim the smooth taste of whiskey is balanced by the bitterness of the pickle juice. So, next time you have a big night out, impress your friends and the bartender by ordering yourself a ‘pickle back’ with that!

Provided you can find a bar offering said shot. Have any of you hipsters out there spotted one here in Greater Phoenix?

-Brad Wulff