Category: Sips & Shots

  • 50 Shots of America–Louisiana

    матрациYes, I know, I’m skipping over 4 states in the whole date-of-statehood-order but I have a really good reason: First, today is my birthday and if you can’t bend (your own) rules on your birthday, what’s the point? Second… Find out the rest of the story over at Sips & Shots!

  • 50 Shots of America–Rhode Island

    Seems to like all Rhode Island ever wanted was to be left alone and they just never stood a chance. An early haven for seekers of religious tolerance it was later the Switzerland of New England during the American Indian wars of 17th Century (even though no one really honored their wish to remain neutral.…

  • 50 Shots of America: New York

    Oh, man, New York, the Cocktail Capital of the World (okay, so the Web tells me that Tokyo is actually the cocktail capital of the world, but Hudson, NY, was the first place that the word cocktail can be c0nfirmed in use, so :P) comes in as the 11th state of the Union having ratified…

  • 50 Shots of America–Virginia

    Looking over the information available on our 10th state, Virginia, I stumbled upon the list of Food & Wine Festivals that happen throughout the year in the Old Dominion State. There are a LOT of them. But, you know, with a considerable agricultural industry and 130 wineries in the state, I suppose that should be…

  • A Well-Stocked Bar

    Cheers! This week I’m at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida, and am away from my home bar. 50 Shots of America will resume next week. Until then, I hope you’ll find the following enlightening–it’s long, but for good reason. The Basic Spirits To make a wide variety of drinks, a bar stocked with a bottle each…

  • 50 Shots of America–New Hampshire

    We’re already up to our ninth state, New Hampshire, which ratified the Constitution on June, 21, 1788. (So much for coincidental dates, I suppose we can save that lotto ticket!) The Granite State was, of course, one of the original 13 colonies to rise up against British rule and I’m a bit confused as my…

  • 50 Shots of America: South Carolina

    Ah, South Carolina, home of Charleston, the grand lady of the South. All sorts of antebellum thoughts start running through my head when I think of the coastal cities of the 8th state of the Union. But first, some history. The Carolina colony was one of the original 13, settled in 1670 by English colonists…

  • 50 Shots of America–Maryland

    You know, if Maryland was a person, I think they’d be pretty confused. Take, for example, this scattering of facts: Founded as a haven for English Catholics, Catholicism has been banned at least twice within it’s borders! Still, it boasts the first cathedral in the United States (the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed…

  • 50 Shots of America: Massachusetts

    In 2005 I took my first plane ride ever up to Plymouth, Mass., to learn the new accounting system my company purchased. (Actually, we flew into Boston–late–and drove to Plymouth by way of Rhode Island… whoops!) At any rate, we didn’t get a chance to do much sight-seeing (one of these days I *will* visit…

  • 50 Shots of America: Connecticut

    Our fifth state, the Constitution State (so-named because they had the very first one), ratified the big Constitution on January 9, 1788, and gets it’s name from the Mohegan word for “place of long tidal river.” As I researched the state I got the impression that they really aren’t into the wild and wacky, up…