happy summer zodiacal intoxicants! intoxicated zodiac’s taking a little vaca, poolside. see you in august tipsy tipplers! cheers, gwen

picked up one of these little guys at the NEW YORK BAR SHOW a while back. perfect for any outside event in the hot north american summers! there are little holes in the bottom of the scoop to allow for seapage. available for a five note at DRAINSCOOP.COM.

some interesting events to attend if you happen to reside in or nearby the big apple. i just found out about this neat little place while i was at the BAR SHOW a few weekends ago… ASTOR CENTER NYC is offering some pretty cool events:

this tuesday, the The 2008 Indy Spirits Expo is being held… $25 will get you in for tastings, demonstations and discussions on sorts of new and offbeat intoxicating liquids.

VISIT THE ASTOR CENTER HERE for their upcoming classes which include:

Elements of Mixology: The Cocktail Lab

Slow U: Slow Spirits - Greenmarket Inspired Mixology

Blend Your Own Whisky

PDT Presents: Home Bar Basics

honor. remember. celebrate. those three words serve as the new BRAVE SPIRITS” tagline and their weight is heavy. as is the $2 donation that is donated from the sale of each bottle of AT EASE RUM, FIRST IN WHISKEY, VALOR VODKA and STANDING GUARD GIN.

an american company, with the exception of some of the gin’s juniper berries, every single ingredient and component is also american made. happy 4th of july!

at the moment, BRAVE SPIRITS is available in a handful of states (PA, NJ and DE). but the concept behind this brand is so creative, novel and generous that it’s only a matter of time until it’s available everywhere. my brother in law is vice president of his construction union. he’s very pro-american labor, obviously. he visited me for a fourth of july bbq and fell in love with the complete set of four soldier bottles. he has asked me to find out when he will be able to purchase them online because wants to buy all four asap. he was beyond impressed with this product!

i especially love the bottle design. the shape cleverly emulates the silhouette of a soldier and the label poses as his uniform arm patch. the names are quite ingenious as well.

the brainchild of David and Jennifer Fox, BRAVE SPIRITS or 20% of it’s $20 retail cost to the Brave Spirits Foundation. Composed of retired members of America’s services, the foundation chooses how to properly distribute the funds among charities and organizations that support America’s servicemen and women and their families.

check them out today, sign up for the newsletter, maybe they’ll be holding a tasting near you… BRAVE SPIRITS

Another five star martini month is coming your way dear Aries. Lucky you! Adopt Capricorn’s mantra: work hard, play hard, drink hard. The goat won’t steer you wrong. Make sure and hit all the happy hours you can with work buddies to boot.


This is a feel good month. It fact, it may be too feel good a month. Everything will be wonderful… your sex life, your career, your grandest dreams and your most creative cocktailian concoctions… just remember that moderation is key!

Sweep off Mercury retrograde’s cobwebs dear Gemini and get that analytical mind cracking. you’ve got things to think and tipples to drink, and remember thinking and drinking alone is not a bad thing. This month, it could be just what the dr. ordered.

New beginnings, new culinary libations, new just about anything, are all possible this month. Face the music and it will tell you which way to turn dear Cancer. You’ll be dancing those cute little cancerian buns off before you know it. Good times are a comin!

Dear Leo, I do hate being the one to tell you this, but you won’t be getting your money mojo on until the end of the month. Then you can act like the ridiculously generous lion you really are. So go ahead, buy the whole bar a round… just wait until July’s last days.

Strap on your party shoes… this is set to be a wild month… in your cubicle. Looks like you’ll be clocking in quite the hours, but at least you’ll have the support of some serious celestial energy to help. Pyourself, with the job and the drinks.

This won’t be a month of high highs or low lows, but one of a steady nature… not unlike yourself dear Libra. Be a steady drinker, while life’s latest turns you thinker. You’re mind is subconsciously readying itself for the path not taken.

The universe is treating you to an open bar all month long dear Scorpio! Enjoy it, but don’t go running around drinking it’s most expensive and exotic liqueur. Even you are capable of getting a hangover. You’re not immortal–don’t overestimate yourself.

As you well know dear Sagittarius, you are the sign of too much. But in a good way of course! Too much spending, too much eating, too much working, too much drinking… This month you’re especially prone to your expansive tendencies. Be careful.

There’s a paaaarty in the Capricorn’s pants. And if you’re exceptionally attractive, socially connected or monetarily loaded you’re welcome to attend. Stock the bar, invite your friend’s friend’s friends in for a drink. Move over work, this month, you’ll be scaling a mountain of fun.

Dear Aquarius, like your eccentric but endearing personality traits drive the rest of us wild, this month will drive you wild. As in wild ride… fun and frustrating. So get your cocktail on and don’t be afraid to hit the bottle. Alcohol really does relax the nerves.

SssZzzz! For the cool fish, you’re hot this month dear Pisces. Get out there and reel in a new lover. You won’t even need to speak, they’ll fall for you hook, line and sinker. Who wouldn’t?

prince charles has become one of the world’s leading celebrity environmentalists, and the most wealthy too i might add. his natural foods company and distillery are both doing quite well.

charles instructed his mechanics to outfit his aston martin, a 21st birthday present from queen elizabeth, with a bioethanol engine which he’s taken to running on surplus wine. waste not, want not… even for the royal family, whose royal train runs on biodiesel. this is a great video to watch… especially the ending, where the reporter suggests a jet that runs on leftover champagne.

WATCH CHARLES’ VIDEO HERE.

VIA GREEN MSN

oh yes, after all of gemini’s birthday celebrations last month, she needs a good systematic cleansing. she might have had only one birthday last month, but you can bet she celebrated it at least twice. one for each twin and then some i’m sure. all those appletini’s can wreak havoc on your liver and be murder on the diet… lucky for gemini that mercury rules celerac!

hey, how do you like that glass? it’s INTOXICATED ZODIAC’S reusable candle votive!

CELERY SIPPER:
1 oz gin
1/2 oz limoncello
1 oz fresh squeezed green apple
1 oz fresh squeezed celery
handful of juiced parsley
1 oz lime juice
1 oz agave

stir all ingredients very well and pour into ice packed glass.

THANKS TO SIDEWALK SHOES FOR HOSTING WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING.

i know, i know, i blogged pammy pie for her birthday last year. the big one, where she proclaimed 40 to be the 20… but i can’t help but blog her again. she’s the bomb! this year she got one helluvah b’day gift… a meatless tommy lee. tommy—a typically attractive libra who just wants to go with the flow—had been rebuffed one too many times by pam. it was when lee’s thoughts flowed to vegetarianism, that he finally won her back. what better way to melt cancer’s heart than to make her personal crusade your own? she’s his. lock, stock and barrel.

ECORAZZI sums it up well, “Listen up chicks and dudes — if you wanna bag yourself a veggie you can try the typical flowers, candy and mushy love note route, but trust me, nothing says I want to jump your bones more than putting down the drumstick. ” so, now where’s my vegetarian prince? i’m waaaiting….

VIA ECORAZZI

oops… we’re in the constellation of cancer now but happy belated birthday to gemini! who is more gemini than angelini jolie? and now, her gemini twins? angelina apparently went about her business promoting two films during the last weeks of pregnancy as if she wasn’t preggars at all. typical gemini… more energy than god. impossible to tie down… just ask brad. i think she’s rejected his proposal for marriage at least twice now. she’s out there angie… the duplicity of her sun sign, the twins, was apparent long before she got pregnant with twins. one day she would be filming a blockbuster hollywood movie, and the next she’d be feeding starving babies in africa. what a dichotomous life. rags in africa to riches hollywood and back again in fast footed, lightning speed, geminian style. happy belated birthday to the ultimate gemini, angie

TAILOR NYC is the edgiest bar in new york without a doubt. and i’m certain it’s one of the edgiest in the world. the cocktail menu is magnificently creative, and in my books originality always scores high. i went there a weekend or two ago and ordered their MUSHROOM MARGARITA and LOVAGE SOUR. if you’re new to lovage, know that it’s one of the Medieval herbs now experiencing a rennaissance. it was very herby and woody and refreshing. pretty much what i expected it to taste like. the MUSHROOM MARG was earthy and also good. again, just what i would have expected, and now i know what to do with that portabella mushroom rum i’ve been infusing for a year! PORTABELLA DAQUIRUI coming right up…

the joint was cooly decorated with relecs from the past, not unlike the decor at DEATH & CO, another one of New York’s hip watering holes. our waiter sported an old fashioned waist coat with a 10 inch handlebar mustache to go with it.

while the pickins are slim for vegans, the kitchen did manage to scrounge me up some mustard gnocchi, which provided an interesting flavor, but not one that i would go back for seconds of.

perhaps the most interesting part or TAILOR’S interesting menu is their SOLIDS selection, on which MARTINI GROOVE recently raved. meaning, taking a liquid libation into solid form by adding gelatin. again, i couldn’t eat it. (i just want to know why none of these so-called highly creative chefs use a jelling agent other than gelatin. it is completely possible to use seaweed based gelling agent, so stop being lazy and get to it foodies! geez, enough with the cow hooves all ready).

anyway, below are some of the wilder concoctions off the menu, and i’ll be going back soon to taste the BAZOOKA which i’m bummed i didn’t get to. sometimes having wheels isn’t so cool.

BEET SANGRIA: red wine, brandy, triple sec, oj, beet juice, orange salt

PAPRIKA PUNCH: rum, bell pepper lemonade

BAZOOKA: vodka, bubble gum cordial, house sour

LOVAGE SOUR: gin, lemon, lovage aquavit

THE WAYLON: bourbon, smoked coke

PASTIS FRAICHE: vodka, anise hyssop (another medieval herb), lemon, absinthe

KUMQUAT CAIPIRINHA:cachaca, kumquats, turbinado, soy caramel

HOUSE SPECIALS: pumpernickel raisin scotch, cedar bourbon, grapenut shochu

VISIT TAILORNYC.COM

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