The “Admiral Benbow”, Penzance, Cornwall, U.K.
Admiral Benbow is remembered in pubs scattered throughout the English speaking world, and in literature in the opening scene of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. The Admiral Benbow Inn, Penzance, is one of the most interesting.
And, as you will learn from the very comprehensive Brave Benbow site, there are at least a half-dozen pubs and inns in the UK that commemerate the great sailor and sea-fighter. The Admiral is also the topic of a very stirring eponymous song, of which my favorite interpretation was done by Paul Clayton.
The Mermaid Tavern
London, England, 1599
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Souls of poets dead and gone,
What Elysium have ye known,
Happy field or mossy cavern,
Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?
—John Keats
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Young, famous, and increasingly wealthy, London’s professional playwrights and poets know how to have a good time. A later historian will separate six of them from the flock and name them the Roaring Boys—Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nash, John Webster, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe and perhaps the greatest scribe of all time, William Shakespeare. Each has his favorite tavern, but most days they congregate at the Mermaid.
Read on about The Mermaid and other great watering holes in history at Modern Drunkard Magazine.
via The Presurfer
TIKI MERMAID is LA’s newest and hippest party venue. Not just your ordinary harbor cruise yacht, this elegant “Trader Vic” style princess can carry up to 75 guests on two floors with two outdoor decks, full bar and dance floor. Second story lounge is complete with overstuffed sofas, sexy lanterns and tropical plants. Popular for theme parties, corporate mixers, weddings, birthday parties, bar mitzvah or holiday events.
Wow, a four-category post!
I only wish the pic were bigger.
Powerful thirst … the MV Lida passing under Tower Bridge in London carrying a pub
EX-PAT New Zealanders mourning the World Cup loss have been able to drown their sorrows patriotically after a pub with 75 kegs of a local brew arrived in London on a container ship.
The MV Lida arrived this week at Canary Wharf after 76 days at sea travelling from New Zealand as part of a promotion by Dunedin brewery Speight’s.
More than 2000 keen drinkers applied to be one of five punters making the voyage.
The boat travelled almost 25,000km, stopping in Western Samoa, Panama, New York and the Bahamas before arriving in London.
The pub was purpose-built in six weeks by Christchurch company 3 Bald Men inside two five-tonne containers and will stay moored at the wharf for two weeks before setting up in a central London site.
Link, via Fark
Because there are not enough pubs in Blighty? Gavin, help me out here!
Our mermaid today comes from a classic ’50s era cocktail menu from San Francisco’s legendary Tonga Room. Thanks to the uber-hipsters at Swankpad for the find! Note that the actual recipies are included on the menu, so you can mix them up for yourself.
Ahoy maties, all you serious drinkers will be wanting to put up your peg legs and have a pint or five the next time you are in LA, at The Redwood [Pirate] Bar and Grill.
316 W. 2nd St. ~ Downtown Los Angeles, CA 90012 ~ 213-680-2600
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Stock shot of riverside pub.
Evolution in action in the UK?
A man drowned as he tried to swim across the River Lune from one pub to another, an inquest heard.
Brian Woodcock, of Kelsey Street, Lancaster, had been drinking heavily when he decided to swim from the Wagon and Horses to the opposite bank on June 4.
link via Fark
Published at August 24, 2007
in Booze.
This one is for the ladies.
Into a large cocktail shaker add:
- ice
- 3 oz fresh squeezed lime or lemon/lime juice
- 3 oz Ron Zacapa Centenario rum
- 3 oz premium vodka (e.g. Skyy 90, for extra kick and suggestive packaging)
- 1 1/2 oz Cointreau
Makes two cocktails with some left over. Shake very vigourously for a minute, pour into chilled Martini glasses, garnish with fanciful lemon peel as shown, or a twist, or float a very thin slice of lime on the surface. Cheers!
The business name is Up Ship’s Creek, and that’s as far as the joke goes.
Owner Terri Mauriello and her boyfriend, Patrick Ruggiero, aren’t laughing over the treatment they’ve received from one state agency.
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation issued Mauriello a permit June 1 to sell tobacco and alcohol from her pontoon boat in Kings Bay after Mauriello incorporated her floating convenience store, Up Ship’s Creek.
A month later, Lt. Dean Pescia, with the DBPR’s Division of Alcohol Beverages and Tobacco, cited Mauriello and Ruggiero, saying the licenses were improper because the listed address was their warehouse in Crystal River and not the exact site of sale. Officers removed two $100 coolers, plus about 18 cases of beer, Ruggiero said.
[Link to full story, via Fark]
Hats off all, and a moment of silence to commemorate a black, black day in nautical history. For on this day in 1970 the Royal Navy stopped the 300-year-old practice of issuing noon spirts to crews around the world. After “Black Tot Day” things just haven’t been the same.
Grog tub for mixing rum
Black Tot Day - July 31st, 1970, when the last “tot was drawn in the fleet around the globe; a rather touchy subject with the old and bold!”
Half gill (2 oz) rum tot cup (replica)
Published at June 24, 2007
in Booze.
To be enjoyed after the ballgame, or any warm afternoon.
Stir 1 1/2 tsp sugar into 2 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice in a highball glass. Add ice, 1/2 to 1 oz. Cointreau, and fill with ~ 4 oz cachaça. Garnish with two lemon slices as shown.
Published at June 16, 2007
in Booze.
Annika pours the cachaça, off shore in Monterey Bay, with helmsman Char looking on. This one is for Joao, who has just graduated boatbuilding school. Saúde!
In a sturdy glass muddle 1 lime cut into eighths, along with a teaspoon of sugar (fine baker’s or ‘castor’ sugar preferred). Fill glass with ice, and fill to top with cachaça (Toucano is our house brand).
Arrrr…. keeps off the scurvy, and keeps UP morale.
In a large sturdy glass, muddle 1 lime cut into eighths. Add ice, and pour in 1 jigger of good quality dark rum. (Pusser’s would be an appropriate choice.) Fill to top with ginger beer.
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