THE RULES

The Complete World Bartender Guide: The Standard Reference to More than 2,400 Drinks, copyright 1977, will be our road map, our Bible, our pole star, our Everything. No glossier, newer, better publication will come before this one.

All drinks in the “A” section, from the dubious A-1 Pick Me Up to the formidable Aztec Punch, will be made and consumed, like it or not.

Drinks must be made in sequence – NO EXCEPTIONS.

All variations of each cocktail must be slogged through (e.g. Apple Brandy Cocktail and Apple Brandy Sour) – by the way, what’s up with all of the fruit brandy?

Drinks that require fermentation (like Acadian Mead, which takes between two weeks and, uh, a full year to mature) must be made following the alphabetical sequence but can be consumed when ready and appropriate. Pretending to forget about this stuff in the back of the closet is not allowed.

Skipping ahead in sequence is only permitted to make ingredients for ‘A’ section cocktails (e.g. crème de menthe).

No deviating from the recipes will be tolerated, especially with hefty large-batch recipes (there are nine punches in the ‘A’s, hoo boy).

Substitutions are only allowed for extinct or impossible-to-find items, and must be copped to.

Organic (preferably homemade) ingredients must be used when possible.

The designated glassware must be employed for each cocktail.

After each Session, Brian and Eric must each declare one cocktail the winner. One more of this drink will be made and consumed.

In the event of no Session winner (Total Failure), a better cocktail will be made and consumed using selected spirits and mixers from the evening.

One year to do this. No excuses.