
Note: As
absurd as some of them may seem,
we did not make any of
these holidays up.
Key: Holiday. Pithy
comment. Suggested holiday
libation. (Recipes
included for the odd ones.)
April
1 April Fool’s Day. AKA The Day
of Abject Cruelty Posing as Good Natured Hijinks. Zima.
(Gotcha!)
2 Anniversary
of Battle of the Flowers (French). Only the French
would fight over flowers. Fernet Branca.
3 Festival
of Min (Egyptian). Min was the god of wheat and
sex. Wheat beer in a sexy glass.
4 First home
phone installed (1877). Making it ridiculously
easy for the hungover masses to call in sick. Bloody
Mary.
5 Tomb Sweeping
Day (Chinese). Because, you know, those tombs
can get awfully dusty. Tombstone Whiskey.
6 Merle Haggard’s
Birthday (1937). Songs included “Whiskey
Bent and Hellbound”
and “The Whiskey Ain’t Working.” Hope
he was right. George Dickel Whiskey.
7 Robert Peary
reaches the North Pole (1909). His provisions
included a case of Guinness. Ice cold Guinness.
8 International
Feng Shui Awareness Day. Just think how much
your personal energy would improve if you moved the beer
in your fridge to your stomach. A refrigerator of
beer.
9
Hugh Hefner’s Birthday. Wear a smoking
jacket to the bar. Champagne.
10 National
Alcohol Screening Day. If you don’t have
a cocktail strainer, you can screen it through your fingers.
Butterfinger
1 1/2 oz butterscotch schnapps
1 1/2 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream
2 oz milk
Pour butterscotch schnapps and Bailey’s over ice, top with milk,
shake it up, screen into glass.
11 Barbershop
Quartet Day. Hooch away the horror. Old Fashioned.
12 Walk on
Your Wild Side Day. Visit a bar that doesn’t
care for your type. Wild Turkey 101.
13 Thomas
Jefferson’s Birthday (1743). Ran up $100,000
wine tab while in the White House. American wine.
14 Anniversary
of the Titanic Striking an Iceberg. Actual quote
by one of the chaps at the ship’s main lounge: “I
ordered ice with my drink, but this is ridiculous.” Scotch
and soda, hold the ice.
15 Tax Day. If
you ever needed a reason to drink, here it is. Whatever
you can afford.
16 Kingsley
Amis’ Birthday (1922). Writer’s epitaph
saluted him as a “supreme clubman, boozer and blimp.” Fat
Bastard Chardonnay.
17 Daffy Duck
makes his debut (1937). Do you best imitation. Cold
Duck (burgundy and champagne).
18 Paul Revere
makes his midnight ride (1775). Make your own
ride before the liquor stores close. White Horse Scotch.
19
Homer Simpson makes his first appearance on television. Woo-hoo! Sweet,
sweet beer.
20 National
Karaoke Week begins. Ever notice how getting
drunk makes you sound like Sinatra and everyone else sound
like retards? Shot of courage.
21 Alferd
G. Packer Day. University of Colorado’s
cafeteria is named after the famous cannibal. Dead
Guy Ale.
22 Jack Nicholson’s
Birthday (1937). Heeeeeere’s Johnny! Johnny
Walker Black.
23 The Reinheitsgebot
is adopted (1516). German purity law demands
that beer only be made of malt, yeast, hops and water. Good
German beer.
24 National
Remembrance of Man’s Inhumanity To Man Day. Atone
for your barroom behavior. Solemn shots of tequila.
25 Cuckoo
Day (English). Get cuckoo for cocoa shots!
Cocoa Shot
1 1/2 oz cognac
1/2 oz white chocolate liqueur
1/2 oz amaretto
1/2 oz cream
1 Maraschino cherry
Shake with ice, strain, garnish with a maraschino cherry, shoot.
26 Richter
Scale Day. Shake it, baby, shake it!
Earthquake
1/3 gin
1/3 whisky
1/3 Pernod (Absinthe if you got it)
Shake with ice, strain.
27 Ulysses
S. Grant’s Birthday (1822). When informed
that Grant was a drunkard, Lincoln retorted: “Find
out what brand of whiskey Grant drinks, because I want
to send a barrel of it to each one of my generals.” Whiskey.
28 Crew of
the HMS Bounty mutinied (1789). Among other outrages,
the Captain cut off their grog. Rum.
29 Casse Canarie
(Haitian Voodoo). AKA Breaking the Jugs, so as
to free lost souls from purgatory. Makes sure you empty
them first. Jug of rum.
30 Willie
Nelson’s Birthday (1933). Talk about follow
through: He not only sings about whiskey, he distills
the stuff. Whiskey River Whiskey.