Most business travelers would likely say the main benefit of taking a red-eye flight is simultaneously knocking out a night’s sleep and the trek, thus maximizing efficiency and minimizing lost work time. Being that I’m in the business of drinking for a living, however, I look at a red-eye as a sterling opportunity to get a really big head start on my business trip duties.

Piarco International Airport in Trinidad is a long way from the Imbiber’s West Coast headquarters, and by the time I arrived there, after nearly 10 hours in Complimentary Booze Class, I was in prime form. I’m talking Rat Pack on New Years Eve-level blotto.

“What do you mean I’m cut off, you thug? I’ve only just gotten here,” I barked at the bartender, a portly dreadlocked fellow named Dmitri who kept yammering on about the open container laws in Port of Spain. This, of course, struck me as quite rude and irrelevant until it dawned on me that I was in the backseat of a taxicab and not in the world’s smallest, hottest and most malodorous rum bar.

So I apologized to Dmitri, we split the rest of my mojito, and away we went. The 2012 Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge was underway, and this professional spirits scribe was raring to get to work. And after a 14-hour power nap, that’s precisely what I did.

Click here to read the rest on FoodRepublic.com

Just returned from a two-week hiatus and am clearly in no condition to write. So I asked Stan (pictured), the homeless guy who picks through my dumpster every morning, what he feels will be the hottest trends and most exciting new developments in the adult beverage world in the coming year. Here's what Stan came up with:

Boone's Strawberry Hill will become the #1-selling wine in cash-strapped America (see video)

A Kardashian will endorse Watermelon Jell-O Shots made by some company that will be out of business by July

More and more people will be handing out change to the less fortunate outside of bars (Stan's an eternal optimist)

There will be a noticeably diminished interest in speakeasies and pricey craft cocktail bars

Real dive joints are BACK

Stan's liver will fail (again)

People will finally wise up and stop ordering Stella. Because Stella sucks

Pilsner Urquell gets trendy again... and with good reason

Aged rums will be all the rage

Aged tequilas will not

Look for a reality show about bar fights hosted by Snookie

Dispatch from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic:

I’d like to impart a vital travel tip when visiting the Dominican Republic: while some sections are tourist-friendly, for the most part it’s a desperately poor Third World country with roaming flocks of ultra-violent bandits who would much rather cut out your tongue than sell you a puka-shell necklace. Inadvertently stray too far from your cozy Punta Cana resort after sucking down a couple-twelve Mai Tais, and you could easily find yourself bound and gagged in the trunk of an ‘82 Celica praying someone back home gives enough of a shit about you to fork over ransom money.

Yet aside from the prospect of kidnapping, dismemberment by machete and finding out your family are dicks, the DR is a fabulous place to visit.

First off, about half the players in our National Pastime hail from this diminutive Caribbean island. That alone is reason enough to make the journey. Get an autographed baseball from every athletic-looking kid you meet down here, and odds are there’ll be a future Hall of Famer somewhere in the mix. We’re talking cash-money on eBay, my friends. Which reminds me—go get ‘em, Pepe Ortega! I’m pulling for ya, kid.

Plus, there’s legal prostitution everywhere, which is nothing to sneeze at. Side note: if you DO suddenly start sneezing after a roll with a Dominican hooker, see a doctor straight away. Trust me on this one. Haiti’s right next door, for chrissakes.

Great music, and tasty adult beverages to go along with it. Can't think of a much better way to wind down at the end of a long week. So here you have it:

“So I’ll get some Montecristo, and we can all go see the band. Well I may not be a looker, yeah, but I’ll help you any way I can.”
— “The Gutterati?” by The Fratellis

Montecristo Ginger Mojito
1.5 oz Montecristo Spiced Rum
1.5 oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz ginger ale
6 mint leaves
3 slivers fresh ginger
Muddle mint, lime juice, and ginger in tall glass. Add rum and crushed ice, then shake. Top with ginger ale. Garnish with mint sprig and candied ginger slice.


“I come home last night full a fifth of Old Crow. You said you goin' to your ma's, but where the hell did you go?”
— “Gin Soaked Boy” by Tom Waits

Old Crow Old-fashioned
3oz Old Crow bourbon
3 dashes bitters
1⁄2tsp sugar syrup
Splash water
Half an orange wheel
Maraschino cherry
Muddle the sugar, water, bitters, orange and cherry, lightly bruising the fruit. Fill a highball glass with ice cubes and add bourbon.

Some big news...

Our glorious and titlillating multi-year run at Playboy has come to an end, but fret not my fellow alcohol enthusiaists. One window may have closed, but a new, dare I say more contemporary one has opened. Beginning today, the Imbiber column has a new home at FoodRepublic.com, a website founded on the idea that guys everywhere are putting food at the center of their lives like never before. The site's chieftain is none other than famed chef Marcus Samuelsson, who you may remember from his work with ABBA. Oh, wait, I'm thinking of a different Swedish guy. But this Samuelsson kid, I hear he's quite the cook and personality. I'm pleased as spiked punch to be working with him.

My debut FoodRepublic post is live. Here's a teaser:

Food.

Republic.

Bit of an odd pairing, those two words. “Food” conjures images of gravlax with mustard sauce or foie gras ganache. When I think “republic” I can’t help but tack that pesky “–an” on the end of it. And then I think Mitch McConnell and Rush Limbaugh. Not very appetizing at all.

But, hey, nobody asked for my two cents when they were naming this site. So here we are at Food Republic instead of MeganFoxMakesMeSweat.com. And, yes, I have already registered that domain name, so don’t bother trying.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST AT FOODREPUBLIC.COM

According to a publicist for Bacardi, "Halloween is the spookiest time of year and is the perfect excuse for hosting your own haunted Halloween bash. Search for your scariest costume, stock up on seasonal candy and invite your friends over to join in on the eerie and ghoulish festivities. Impress your guests with one of these spooky and delicious Halloween themed cocktails from Bacardi, “rum of the bat."

I couldn't have said it better myself... didn't feel like trying either. The drink IS really good. I tried it. Several times. Here's how you make it...

BACARDI ZOMBIE

3 1/3 parts Bacardi Superior Rum

1 part grenadine

1 part triple sec

2 parts sweet and sour mix

2 parts orange juice

Shake all ingredients with ice and pour into tall glass.
Float small portion Bacardi 151° Rum. Garnish with fresh fruit.

Rolled into my favorite LA haunt, La Descarga, this week for a party hosted by Bacardi. Yes, a Bacardi party. And we partied hearty. A good, good times, yo. I mean, look how happy I am in the picture to the left, with Bacardi's global ambassador David Cordoba and brand attache Andrea Iturbe.

The cause for celebration was the U.S. release of Bacardi Reserva Limitada, which until now was available only in scarce quantities in Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Aruba.  This stuff is known as the “Founder’s Blend,” created by Maestro de Ron (Rum Master) Luis Planas as a personal blend for the Bacardí family in honor of the company's patriarch, Don Facundo Bacardí Massó.

Individually bottled, numbered and sealed by hand with a cork finish, Reserva Limitada consists of rums that spend between 10 to 16 years in lightly-charred American white oak barrels. The result is a potent golden-hued rum with spicy notes and a velvety finish. Smells of vanilla, oak and dried fruits.

“It was almost as if Don Facundo himself was telling me, ‘Luis, keep aside some of those barrels because from there something good will come,’” said Planas. “I began to blend the resulting liquids and the end product was something only a house pioneering in rum could develop.  That is what we now proudly bring to the United States.”

Couldn't have put it better myself, Luis.

Off the bat, only 1,000 cases (six 750ml bottles per case) of Reserva Limitada will be available in the States, with additional quantities expected to be released here in the future, based on availability.  Suggested retail price is $110.00.

How about a nice salad?

No, I didn't think so. Don't take this the wrong way, but people who read about about wines, spirits, cocktails and imbibery in general, aren't usually tripping over each other up trying to be first in line to the arugula.

And yet, there are all those farmers' markets, where you should probably buy something. And you do need roughage; everybody says so. So, herewith, a reason to buy cucumbers. And in bulk.

Heretofore, a great many people I happen to know in the spirits game have relied completely upon Hendrick's gin for their cucumber intake. Lovely stuff, Hendrick's. Made with actual roses as a botanical, too, but the cucumber is just a grace note, and can't really be counted as a vegetable item for your dinner.

On the other hand, the Lucky Jim is the perfect way to get some green into your system without resorting to parsley-soy shakes. Readers of a certain age will recognize the name Lucky Jim as the novel that made Kingsley Amis famous. Readers below a certain age will recognize the name Amis as belonging to Martin, Kingsley's son. Non-readers won't recognize anything, which is so often the case. You know who you are. Whom.

Muddle lime quarters and simple syrup. Add rum and crushed ice. Shake well. Pour the entire contents into a chilled rocks glass and serve. 
*Add different fruits, i.e., oranges, strawberries, cherries, to make a flavored Caipirissima.