It's the Holiday Season, Have a Drink

Another year gone so fast, don't waste the rest of it thirsty. Knoxville.com has listed a few places to consider for NYE or sooner. Don't forget the DK listings right here, starting below the Drunkards and glass of whiskey.

Cheers

Memorial Morning Bender

On a similar premise as Drunk Breakfast, behold Memorial Morning Bender. The idea is basically the same except for the fact that everyone already has the day off so there is no satisfaction of getting loaded and having excessive breakfast while the nine to fivers go to work. In this case we salute fallen service men and women on their holiday and raise a glass in their honor.

Round 1...the drinks

 

Round 2...the meal

Round 3...pics/comments from the drunkards

Halloween 2011

(Halloween news freshly copied and pasted here FYI)

Downtown Wine + Spirits
Costumes Welcome

Get your weekend started right at our free tasting this Friday from 5:30 - 7:30. We'll be sampling the De Loach Pinot Noir. This outstanding value is naturally farmed and has great flavors of ripe raspberry with subtle herbal aromas. The Evodia Grenache is fruit foward and juicy with ripe blueberry aromas. Finally the Herrick Red is a Napa Valley meritage blend that's fleshy with ripe plum and cherry aromas. It's free and it's fun, bring a friend.

If you're looking for spirits this Halloween we've got them, got some great wines too!/ Ranger IPA dressed up in a can for Halloween - yes they're (finally) back/ Drinking tequila makes some people pretty scary - Espolon Reposado on sale/ Adult treats - Mouton Cadet Red & White/ BOO!

 

Rooster’s

Rooster's Halloween Party is this Friday night, October 27th at 10 PM. There will be $2 Witches Brew, $2 Bud Light Cans, some seriously crazy games, and a costume contest that features three categories (most creative, sexiest, and best duo or group). Winners will receive a $50 Roosters gift card and some amazing prizes from our prize closet. Oh, and did I mention that there would be music, the Bud Light Girls, and a FREE PIZZA BUFFET at 1 AM!? Be sure to make plans to join us and don't forget your costume!

Rooster's Bar and Grill

Phone: 865-691-3938

Email: roostersrocks@gmail.com

The Roaming Gnome

Happy Haunting Gnomies! Our Annual Dudes N Dolls Halloween Bash is here and we just wanted to let everygnome know we have Halloween Parties happening at all three of our locations from Friday October 28th on until Monday October 31st on Halloween! Whether it be a DJ, Live Band, we've got you covered! Specials, Costume Contest, Prizes, Promos, Trivia, we've got it all! Log onto http://www.gnomepub.com/ to check out what's going on this weekend at The Roaming Gnome Pub & Eatery! This weekend is going to be spoooooooooktacular!! – The Roaming Gnome Pub & Eatery. 2010 All Rights Reserved.

Fish man, fish

This is how I spent the holiday weekend - cooking, frying and eating a bunch of food. Catfish, chicken, shrimp, low country boil, pork shoulder, etc. Yeah, lots of delicious food. The downside - lack of booze. That's what happens when you visit family who no longer partakes of the nectar. Oh well, doesn't stop a person from sneaking in some of that beer and having some cold ones on the sly. I feel like I'm underage again.

5 Mayo

Cinco de Mayo
1862 Battle
For Margaritas

Knoxville Christmas Spirits

O Whisky Season

There I was completely wasting, out of work and down

Wasting? Yes. Out of work and down? No sir, although I am duly grateful during this foul oconomy. Thus with another Drinking for Vengeance in the books with the usual ceremonial JP lyric, we move into Whiskey Season right and proper on the first of December. During the holiday period with your exhaustive shopping and nauseating office parties, we remind you to hit the Makers, Jamesons, or Glenlivet early and often. Even if you only have a few minutes...and especially if you are at your wit's end with the droning shoppers and the hell of holiday traffic then its time to get stinko. You can find refuge nearly anywhere if you don't give in like a dandy.

Warm, inviting, non-judging...is there anything it can't do?

Holiday Leftovers

Thanksgiving is a time for gathering with family and friends to celebrate all the things you're thankful for over a heaping feast of food and football.

Drinksgiving is the time you gather with fellow drunkards and drink like there's no tomorrow. We usually throw in a Deep Fried Food Feast for good measure. After several years of doing this we have become pretty good at frying a bunch of favorites without much hassle. The 2010 menu featured the usual suspects including a whole turkey, turkey breast, fresh cut fries, English style fish & chips, Southern style catfish, hush puppies, hand-dipped corn dogs and two kinds of onion rings. All of it was pretty damn awesome. We skipped the fried sweets this year but there were plenty of pies and cookies to make up for it, along with plenty of other sides thanks to hosts Atlas & MC, Tag and MB. Of course booze, beer and wine were plentiful as well. In fact I'm looking forward to a return trip to tackle the leftovers - wine and IPA, that is.

UT Homecoming may as well be a holiday - people come in from out of town, lots of food and drink, spending money, football, good times. Not all of our alumni friends were able to make the trip in this year but we did have representation from Texas and Colorado, so that was nice. Our group behaved very well this year, mainly staying downtown for dinner and drinks. A little bit of front loading at the urban bunker didn't hurt either. It's nice to avoid jail time whenever possible.

2010 Homecoming Day vs. Ole Miss

Drunken Jukebox 3

In what may (or may not) become a regular DK feature, behold the Drunken Jukebox: Music to Motivate Your Liver. A little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n roll, punk, rap and pop crap, old or new– all musical genres and periods are open for exploitation. Quarters and crisp dollar bills not required.

This installment features a resurgent spirit near and dear to our Eastern Tennessee hearts (and livers): Moonshine. Once illicit and considered dangerous in many ways it is now a legitimate enterprise taking off in the alcohol world. Newspapers and websites have been filled with recent success stories and even cocktail recipes coming out of Gatlinburg. UT football season is upon us and everybody knows the Volunteer fight song lyrics:

“Once two strangers climbed on Rocky Top, looking for a moonshine still. Strangers ain’t come back from Rocky Top, reckon they never will. Corn won’t grow at all on Rocky Top, dirt’s too rocky by far. That’s why all the folks on Rocky Top get their corn from a jar”

It’s football time in Tennessee. It’s also Labor Day weekend meaning it’s Boomsday weekend too. And let’s not forget that it’s Lord von Lord’s birthday weekend. Now, please enjoy the musical styling of George Jones aka The Possum.

Sláinte

That’s about all I’ve got for you today. Enjoy your Guinness, Harp, Smithwicks and Irish whiskeys. I’m sure there will be a few Irish Car Bombs served up too. I’m hoping for a fine plate of American-Irish corned beef and cabbage along with a few drinks out on the town.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The Ballad of Doh Da Thone

Boh Da Thone was a warrior bold:

His sword and his rifle were bossed with gold,

And the Peacock Banner his henchmen bore

Was stiff with bullion, but stiffer with gore.

He shot at the strong and he slashed at the weak

From the Salween scrub to the Chindwin teak:

He crucified noble, he sacrificed mean,

He filled old ladies with kerosene:

While over the water the papers cried,

"The patriot fights for his countryside!"

But little they cared for the Native Press,

The worn white soldiers in Khaki dress,

Who tramped through the jungle and camped in the byre,

Who died in the swamp and were tombed in the mire,

Who gave up their lives, at the Queen's Command,

For the Pride of their Race and the Peace of the Land.

Now, first of the foemen of Boh Da Thone

Was Captain O'Neil of the Black Tyrone,

And his was a Company, seventy strong,

Who hustled that dissolute Chief along.

-Kipling

http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_bohdathone.htm

In a few hours, go make the most of it. Get out your Boru Harp, and drink like Wolf the Quarrelsome.

If you need us we'll be roaming downtown and carrying it on to the Old City.
For Heaven's sake though, please don't need us.

Check out this mess

A little pre-St. Paddy's day discord, if you will. Personally I like it when St. Patrick's Day falls midweek since it forces some uncomfortable decisions regarding work attendance. The last time it fell during the weekend, I felt curiously unfulfilled. Not that we here in the south are quite as enthusiastic like some larger cities to the north are about the holiday, but there is just something more emotionally rewarding about being 'jobsick but barwell.'

I've not really called in to work for March 17 in a long time. It seemed necessary when I was younger, but now I admit to a few flaws in the plan. If you choose to rook your work and not go on the 17th, you will greatly enjoy the holiday proper. It will be fun, and you will get wasted and possibly comatose. While you knock back car bombs though, know that the bell will soon toll for thee. Work looms, and it looms with baleful glares from co-workers...it looms with your overwrought cologne(the cheaper the better) to stave off the booze smell that you noticed when you kicked that prostitute out of your hovel on the short side of 4AM. How much did you spend? Why is your phone lit up with text messages and voicemails in which you remember jack shit of?

Hurry fuckface, because you've got only a few hours before your perfidy is exposed by the hangover. It will go something like this:

Indeed. Not a pretty sight. Better to take the next day off...sure, if you call in sick you will be somewhat accused of sleeping one off, but that will only be a rumor...a nasty bit of shit that you, being a paragon of office virtue, can refute(by a duel if necessary). What's more is that your co-workers themselves usually have some weak sauce of their own that will manifest itself, so your situation is not likely to last for long. Trust me, I've noticed a pattern. In one of my earliest jobs out of college, the office prude all but accused me of calling in sick the day after the Super Bowl. I didn't have to remain stoic for long, because later in the day she farted at the copier. Not a squeaker mind you, but a fullbore olfactory holocaust. World War One type stuff. My point is that you can get past that one, at least once or twice. Don't abuse it, and your own experience may differ(almost assuredly). Some people believe the hardest part of this exercise is waiting out the clock on St. Paddy's proper, but once work is done you can jump in with both feet.

Anyway. Try this possibly terrible drink, courtesy of Asylum.com.

http://www.asylum.com/2010/03/03/corned-beef-and-cabbage-tom-collins/

Last Minute New Year's Eve

If you’re anything like the rest of us around here you already know what doing on New Year’s Eve: Drinking. That doesn’t mean you know Where you’re drinking, just that you’ll be drinking somewhere. There are many ways to drink away the last night of the year, and below is a variety of last minute ideas to get you into 2010. (Sorry north, south and east Knoxville) Who knows, maybe we can all get together for that drink we’ve been talking about? Uh, no, I’ll be staying home watching the Vols and drinking bourbon. Feel free to comment on your plans or other options. Thanks to everyone for stopping by to check us out throughout the year. Here’s to more fun in 2010, cheers!

Downtown/Market Sq.
Club Le Conte – Society Only
Downtown Grill & Brewery – The rest of us
Le Parigo - Wonder if the duck was shipped in from Alsace?
Preservation Pub – Tiki party
Valarium & Cider House – VooDoo NY10 with downtown Hilton hotel package

The Old City
Barley’s Taproom – The usual, live music and good beer selection
Patrick Sullivan’s – Live music and the bar is open
The Crown & Goose – The Old City’s fanciest gastropub!
The Melting Pot – Someone tell Tony there’s a reservation on line 2.

The Strip
BAR Knoxville – Er, maybe not?
Tin Roof – UT Basketball, UT Football. Let’s face it, there’s no way you’re sober at midnight.
Level 10 – Short West

West Knoxville
Baker Peters Jazz Club – Damn that chicken entrée sounds delicious
Northshore Brasserie – Everything looks delicious
Paul’s Oasis – WTF
Ray’s ESG – Scarlett O’Harlot, where are you?

Monday Hangover

Ugh. It’s been rough the past couple of weeks. Holidays, work, and illness have me down but not out. Only a few more weeks remain in 2009 and if I’m going to make any kind of “go” at enjoying this stressful time of year you can bet that I’m going to drink my way through it. Therefore any unsecured booze, beer and wine that I encounter will have to deal with my liver. Those half-drank bottles of bourbon and vodka at my place: gone by tomorrow (starting tonight). The upcoming company work party: I will perform the “hat trick”, perhaps get fired. House parties and friends’ gatherings: I will cadge your party booze! Plus there will be trips to the liquor store and brewery. I’ve been in a fugue of sobriety for too long and it must stop now.

Drinking for Vengeance Preview

Ah yes, this is more like it...the mini-season DfV set squarely between Drinksgiving and Whiskey Season. Consumption at a brisk and unrelenting pace, wielding the heavy hand at local bars, and resulting in a great deal of pain the next morning.

A big word of thanks to Preservation Pub, Back Room BBQ, and Urban Bar. You saved our asses on Thanksgiving proper simply by opening your doors. My sour ass found refuge in your Lowenbraus, Newcastles, and Yuenglings. Mackey and the Royalty put on a clinic in Jager and Jamesons.

Most places close down so that their weary employees can enjoy the holiday with family and loved ones. These few joints buck the establishment and provide a necessary outlet for those of us that desperately need a ennui-killing mini pub crawl. Thanks folks, you came through in a pinch. So with that, let DfV begin...

Monday Hangover

4OJ Weekend – Independence Day came and went this year without so much as a hiccup, which is nice once in a while. Holiday parties can sometimes be overproduced and I was glad that no one in our group decided to make elaborate plans. Well, not entirely true - there were midweek and weekend birthday celebrations, but both were very simple and low key affairs. Friday night was probably the biggest “night out” when we descended upon the local Red Lobster and consumed a frightfully large seafood feast and numerous adult beverages. Against the outrageous suggestions from everybody at the table I did NOT have the Blue Whale. Assholes. Saturday the 4th was overcast with a sprinkle of sun here and there, just enough to relax at the pool and drink the half the day away. The 2nd half of the day was spent watching the entire first season of HBO’s Eastbound and Down and more drinking. If you like crude humor and idiotic sports figures (who doesn’t) then this is the comedy series for you, check it out on YouTube.

Wimbledon – The Championships ended yesterday with a classic, hard fought 5 set final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. Any tennis fan already knows that Federer won the match for his all-time record 15 grand slam titles. Yeah, I got up early with a hangover to watch the match from start to finish and was completely sober when it ended at 1:30 pm. I was disappointed for Roddick but enjoyed the awesome match for what it was and got up from my meast-like couch to start the day. Somehow I found the energy to put in a grueling hour + workout before going downtown to ruin it with another huge dinner and drinks – Downtown Grill & Brewery for dinner and beer, then Preservation Pub for more drinks and trivia with Brock and Brock.

Happy Independence Day

Make the most of it.

Do tell

Well, another long weekend in the books.

--Knoxville still standing? Yep.

--No warrants taken? We're cool.

--No pending hospitalization? Check.

--No strange tattoos. Okay.

--No Eastern European or South Asian bride? None.

Whew. Bring summer the fuck on.

Checklist

Another wonderful holiday weekend is here and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’m looking forward to a 3 day weekend of pure nothingness – except drinking and eating. And maybe some social interaction but I’m debating that part. Anyway I thought it would be selfish not to share my top secret holiday planning list with everyone. Adjust yours accordingly.

Beer, Booze, & Wine, then Water, Soft Drinks, Mixers, Mace, Grill, Charcoal/Gas, Meats, Dirty Yellow Man, Marinade/Seasonings, Guile, Snacks, Chips, Dips, Sides/Veggies, Cups, Plates, Napkins, Crabs, Silverware, Rumors/Half-truths, Bug Spray, Music, Games, Posca, Sports, Rabbit Ears, Boating/Swimming Pool, Kitty Kaga, Frozen Drinks, Friends/Family, Sharpie, Aspirin, Buns, Ladies Tampuns, Sunglasses, Comfortable Shoes, Cash Money, Lighter, Lounge Chair, Towels, Double Shots, Sunscreen, Wisecracks, Tennis Racquet, Balls, Grocer, Frisbee®, Jibbry Style Oinkery.

And ice.