How Drunk were you last night? Use the DOW Index to find out! A handy tool for determining how drunk you want to be, and what you should do to get there and no further.

I’m not afraid to say it. The Martini is a pretentious drink. A lot of pretentious people have been drinking them for a long time. They have very specific ways they want the drink made and they’ve come up with names for each one. That means that you have to figure out which one you’re looking for.

In practical terms, we use the word “hangover” to describe a series of symptoms. Thirst, nausea, headaches, body aches, dizziness, sensitivity to loud noises and bright lights… If you have one or more of these after a night of drinking, that’s a hangover. It can be light (and solved by a few aspirin) or it can be severe and take hours to recover.

Because Martinis have a lot of options, bartenders will need to know the answer to quite a few questions… Vodka or Gin? Vermouth? Sweet or Dry? Shaken or Stirred? Up or Down? Bitters? Garnishes? It seems like a lot, but don’t worry. We’ll have you sounding like a spy in no time.

Just getting into bartending? Or maybe you just want to have the best house around for throwing a party. Either way, you’ll be looking for a bar kit. My advice? Don’t bother with any pre-made kits. Unless it’s really expensive, the quality is garbage and you have extra tools you will never, ever use. Instead, for less than $50 you can get everything you need and they be the same equipment the restaurants are actually using…

So, you’ve decided you want to know more about martinis... that elusive, complicated, contentious martini.  Maybe you’re new to drinking and you’ve decided you’re going to be a classier kind of booze hound than your plebeian friends with their long islands and vodka red bulls.  Perhaps you’ve just started bartending and realized that hell hath no fury like a martini drinker who didn’t get exactly what they wanted (even though you made it like your bar book said!).  Or maybe you just love spirits and want to know more about this drink people rave about.   No matter what your reason, you’ve opened a whole new can of worms with this one…

Why is “Cures” in quotes? Because there is no cure for the hangover. It’s just a collection of symptoms you get after drinking alcohol. What you can do is help yourself feel better and give your poor body the time and fuel it needs to get better…

If you haven’t drank much before, it can be a little intimidating getting started. Trust me, I had one single drink before I turned 21 and I was totally at sea. You hear a lot of different stories and claims about alcohol before you even get started. People say “I can drink 4 shots and not feel a thing!” or maybe you watch your mom get totally silly after 2 margaritas. It’s hard to know what to expect…

So you’ve had too much to drink? It’s okay, it happens. Let’s talk about how to fix it. What should you eat? When should you eat it? What should you drink? Is there a faster way? Lets see what we can do to get you back up and ready to go…

If you've been drinking at all before, you've had a sour before. If you've had a Margarita, a Daiquiri, a Mojito, or a Gimlet... then you've had a Cocktail Sour. If you've had any cocktails at all, it's very likely that it's base was a sour. It's the simplest recipe in the world, it makes incredible drinks, and it's easy to add a little pizzazz to create a really impressive (but easy) cocktail…

Fundamentally, there are only a few ‘types’ of bars. Sometimes there is a little cross-over, like a dive bar that’s also a sports bar… but it will primarily be one or the other. This list is in order of ‘niceness’, not as a measurement of how much I’d like to go there, just as a measurement of the cost and kinds of drinks you can get. I love a good dive bar, but I won’t be getting mezcal old fashions there…

Whenever you are playing with a drink and you want to make something new, you have to identify the key factors that make it what it is. The Long Island Iced tea is defined by the use of four different liquors. That leaves for interpretation and boy have people run with it. AMF, Tokyo Tea, Grateful Dead and more have come from this basic idea. Let’s see how they did it…

The Long Island Iced Tea is a victim. A victim of it's own fans... people who had no idea what to order at a bar so they got this and then they never ever changed their order again. Okay, it's not quite so bad. It is a good drink, or rather, it can be a good drink, if your bartender actually takes the time to make it…

Nobody ever sits down and teaches you how to order drinks or what to order or even what is in the drinks that they are ordering for you. For most people, they are lucky to have one bartender friend who might tell them what is in a lemon drop or green tea shot. Otherwise, it pretty much comes down to watching and listening to other people and praying to god you can figure it out.

I think we can do better. Let’s get into it.