Modern Drunkard

Modern Drunkard

You don’t get many literary recommendations from me, but this is one publication that no one should be without – The Modern Drunkard by Frank Kelly Rich is a collection of the best bits from his bi-monthly periodical of the same name. Together they form a comprehensive and instructive manual on how to drink-and how to do it well.

Check out the Modern Drunkard site to get a feel for what you can expect from the book. Be sure to read 40 things everything a drunkard should do, as Frank puts it –a man is, ultimately, the sum of his accomplishments. And or course the 86 Rules of Boozing, with such gems as “If there is ever any confusion, the fuller beer is yours” and “If you have been roommates with someone more than six months, you may drink all their beer, even if it’s hidden, as long as you leave them one”. Good work Frank.

Moustache Pint Glass

Moustache Pint Glass

Now that I’ve shaved mine off, I could re-live my former hirsute glories by drinking out of this moustache engraved pint glass ($15). I’m really liking the idea of augmenting someones face while they’re drinking a pint. If I worked for Guinness, I’d be designing a whole range of foamy moustache and beard variations to put on their branded glasses, maybe even some speech bubbles – ‘who’s round is next? I’m almost empty’ type thing.

Via: Uncrate | Cheers for the heads up Rafa.

Abelha Cachaça

Abelha Cachaça

There’s nothing better than a free drink and on Saturday I had plenty :) Courtesy of my friends Ant & Hal, who are launching a new brand of Cachaça in the UK – Abelha. For those who don’t know, Cachaça is a sugar cane based spirit (a little bit like rum, but not rum) from Brasil. It’s the main ingredient of the world famous Caipirinha cocktail. I’m so jealous, wish I had my own brand of booze.

It was a fancy dress do and we took the Brazilian theme to it’s logical conclusion by going in pubeless naked suits… Check out the photos of the event here »

The Brazilian crew in our naked outfits

Check out the stop motion how to make a caipirinha cocktail animation Hal made:

Last night in comfy California

Cookie & Paul on the bubbly

So we got a bit pissed to celebrate! We head to New Mexico today, not sure if we’ll be able post any pictures from the start, by the looks of the network coverage maps we might only get reception twice in the whole state! So if you don’t hear from us after today, don’t panic, we’ll be slowly heading northwards.

Who’s the Drunkest?

Who's the Drunkest? drinking game scorecard

Tomorrow is my last day at Poke and my last evening in England for the next 6 months or so… I like to leave in style, so I’ve planned a bit of a farewell drinking competition for tomorrow evening :)

Basically I’ve stripped down the much loved pastime of drinking into it’s 5 main skill groups – Buying booze, carrying booze, drinking booze, being pissed & getting the Drunkest. When all the scores are added up at the end of the evening, we’ll find out – Who’s the drunkest?

If the prospect of that wasn’t thrilling enough, the prize for the winner is custodial care of my personal pint mug which Pete keeps behind the bar of the Owl & Pussycat for me. It generates much envy from fellow patrons each week, and could almost certainly ‘get you laid’ ;)

If you want to see me off, I’ll be at the Owl & Pussycat on Redchurch Street from about 6pm. If you want to compete for the prize, or just for fun – download the score sheet here, print it out and bring it along with you. If you want to rehash the game for yourself, feel free to download the original Illustrator file here.

Admiral Edward Russell’s Legendary Pissup

Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford - pissed

Idoth my cap to this guy, this is one of the best pissup stories I’ve ever heard – Edward Russell (1653–1727) was the First Lord of the Admiralty and decided to throw a party for his fellow officers in 1694. Presumably wanting to put on a bit of a show, he filled up his garden’s fountain with 250 gallons of brandy, 125 gallons of Malaga wine, 1,400 pounds of sugar, 2,500 lemons, 20 gallons of lime juice, and 5 pounds of nutmeg, thus setting the world record for history’s largest ever cocktail.

Apparently bartenders actually paddled around in a small wooden canoes, filling up guests cups. The party continued nonstop until they drank the fountain dry, took them a full week, pausing only briefly during rainstorms to erect a silk canopy over the punch to keep it from getting watered down.

Good work!

Via Mental Floss.

Robopoly

Homemade drinking monopoly board

Iwish I was in Swansea tomorrow to join Tim & Rob drinking their way round this custom monopoly board. I made something along these lines while at University, and have done the classic London pub crawl one. There can never be too much monopoly/drinking crossovers, brilliant fun. Good luck boys, send us some pics!

Cooking with Booze

cooking with booze book

For a long time I have genuinely wondered why a book all about cooking with booze didn’t exisit? At one point I even toyed with the idea of writing one myself, no need to bother now because James Bridle has written Cooking with Booze. It isn’t just a random anthology of boozey dishes collected by an editor, he’s actually got a long family tradition of gathering and archiving these dishes that’s been going on for generations.

“My maternal grandfather was well known in the County for his extraordinary home-brews. The release of his Attic Stout No 4 upon an unsuspecting village fête led directly to the defrocking of a bishop and the loss of an entire scout troop”.

All the main booze groups are covered, there’s Wine, Forified Wine, Beer, Cider, Vodka, Whisky, Rum, Brandy & Tequila. You can see the recipes online, but this book is so damn good I think you need a hard copy in your kitchen at all times – buy it now!

All I need now to complete my dream cookery book collection is one on Recipes you can drink too. What I mean by that is dishes that all the preparation is in advance and the cooking time is very very long, so you have plenty of spare time to get hammered with your guests before dinner – James, sequel?