Martini Groove

Just the other day I was thinking to myself, "Self!  Wouldn't it be great if we could get good and pickled without all that nasty drinking?  The effort is just getting to be too much!"  Well, not one to sit idly by while a great idea comes through my head, I went on the Internet Service and found this! Alcoholic Architecture is a bar in central London that promises to leave you "feeling slightly merry" after just 45 minutes of inhaling their specially blended gin & tonic.  No, not inhaling like your sister-in-law with a pound cake and a Hershey's bar in front of her.  Inhaling like literally breathing IN.  Though breathing out is also recommended, you may not want to as your lungs will be filled with vaporized gin and tonic.  Here's a nice part:  You get to stay in there for an hour for ~US$7.25!!  That's a cheap drink.  No, not cheap like your sister-in-law's taste in fine cutlery which compels her to buy Ginsu, but cheap like "...

Belvedere Vodka has partnered with buyyourfriendadrink.com to get you to buy your friend a Belvedere. The site works pretty simply, just pay for the drink on their site, your pal gets an e-mail or text that has a redemption code on it, then they can go to a participating bar and redeem their drink coupon. You also have an option to send them a reusable drink card so that others can buy them drinks too. Participating bars are mostly in NY but there are a smattering of others throughout the country so you can be part of the fun if you live in, say, Biloxi, MS. The card has no set value, so you can give what you want, though there's a 99 cent transaction fee for doing the dirty work. Now you can buy that girl a drink and go home alone, just as if it was any other night, but without all of the actual embarrassment of getting rejected. Buy Your Friend A Belvedere

One of the age-old questions is almost always "What wine goes with Mexican food?" The answer is always complicated but without much cause, the Good People of Mexico have already solved the problem for us. Not only are Mexican restaurants starting to stock hundreds of tequilas but tequila bars are popping up all over that allow you to sample hundreds of tequilas. The tequilas are much like wine and always have a story about their production and their taste ranges from burn-your-throat to sipping-smooth. When you walk in to a bar and it has 96 blanco tequilas, 130 reposados, 121 añejos, some snacks to help you not fall over, then you know you've found the right tequila place. Tequila has changed significantly since the time you made that "Girls Gone Wild" video on Spring Break in Cancun (Wow, did your kids feel awkward). The good stuff has no burn, is great for sipping (shooting is ridiculous), and costs enough that you'll be glad that The Fed lowered inter...

Eyecandy lounge at Mandalay Bay not only has the finest in fresh cocktails and signature drinks, but has interactive touch tables with iPod docks. The table allows you to plug in your iPod, see your playlists, then the DJ can select from it and play it over the main sound system. Finally! You can show the world how "hip" you are by making sure that Tokyo Rose and Massive Attack are at the top of the list. Just be sure to hide your Captain and Tennille: The Early Years from prying eyes. The dance floor itself is interactive so when you dance on it, it will light up and bring attention to how light on your feet you are when you show the world how you can Smurf and Cabbage Patch. Here's my favorite part of the whole deal: It's one of Vegas' only non-smoking nightclubs. Table service costs around US$200 an hour (fairly average) and drinks are an inexpensive US$6-10. Here's some video of it. via BornRich

Maybe all you need is a decent vodka, a twist of lemon, and a shaker for your bar because a crisp vodka martini suits you just fine as your drink of choice at home. But what happens when you have people over and they want a gin martini? Or a Tequila Sunrise? Or, if they're a 22 year old girl and just started drinking, a Hurricane? The San Francisco Chronicle has your solution: the bottles and brands that every basic bar needs to contain. You may not know your gins from your tequilas but they can help with some great recommendations. Must-have bottles for a liquor cabinet

It was bound to happen. I've had such wonderful experiences at San Francisco bars and clubs that they all couldn't be great. Sure, some have always been better than others, but I've never been to one that I'd call "bad." Enter Crash at 34 Mason, San Francisco, CA. I was invited to be on the VIP List for a special night they were having to have tryouts for the show "American Stripper," some new reality show that will detail the rise of a stripper to become...I have no idea. I arrived to be told rudely by a bouncer who seemed to think that he worked somewhere that didn't suck that there was no VIP list and that'll be $15 to get in. Okay. I'm here, there's no line, so I'm not going to let a cover charge kill my night. I walk in to a floor that is completely empty and I think the place is completely dead. I am then yelled at and told that all the action is on the 2nd and 3rd floor. As I go through the night I learn that getting y...

It would seem that when I recommend a bar to the fearless faithful of The Martini Lounge, that I do not steer you wrong! MSN CityGuides has come out with the Top 10 New Bars of 2006 and my favorite watering hole in all the world, Bourbon and Branch , is sitting pretty at #1. My slogan for these guys is "The French Laundry of alcohol." The bartenders are friendly, smart as hell, and seem to remember everyone that comes in there. When I'm in there, it seems that they have a following of near cultish proportions. Last night, Plymouth Gin sponsored the alcohol and there was quite a crowd that turned it from subtle Speakeasy in to a lively bar crowd. This place is a destination bar. If you're in San Francisco, there's no reason you can think of that should stop you from visiting this place. Remember, reservations only, via the website. Tell them you heard about it here, it helps my street cred. Top 10 New Bars of 2006