Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine's Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl brings her extensive knowledge of the Midwest dining scene to Eating and Drinking.

Just what is a cocktail room? It's a place for a distillery to give out samples of their products.

"As a taproom is to a brewery, a cocktail room is to a distillery," Dara says.

Some of the rooms are very basic and others have extensive menus, create all their own ingredients and are "the best bars now in the Twin Cities," she says.

But you can't have just any drink at a cocktail room. "You will have only the liquor they make there," Dara says. "That is the end of the story."

The distilleries Dara mentioned:

Tattersall in NE Minneapolis

Wander North in Minneapolis

Du Nord in Minneapolis

Norseman in NE Minneapolis

J Carver in Waconia

Loon Liquors in Northfield

Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl, veteran Twin Cities food and dining authority, is a five-time James Beard Award-Winning food writer who is also at Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine and author of Drink This: Wine Made Simple.