Top Ten Alcohol Facts

1. cocktails were actually first made to disguise the flavour of spirits and liquors that were of inferior quality
2. the world’s most expensive cocktail is worth 175,000 pesos and is a mixture of champagne and cognac poured over a sugar cube and a diamond.
3. the most ordered cocktail in the world is the gin and tonic.
4. coffee can worsen a hangover because it dehydrates you more.
5. bottled tequila does not contain worms. Mezcal is the drink wherein one may find worms. And they aren’t even worms, they are caterpillars.
6. the highest alcohol content for beer is 41%, which is a little higher than most commercial brands of Vodka and Tequila. The beer is named “sink the Bismarck” and is brewed by Brewdog.
7. The word “toast,” which means wishing good health originated in ancient Rome. A piece of toasted bread was literally dropped into wine back then.
8. Champagne may only be called champagne if the grapes used for the wine came from the Champagne region in France. Otherwise, the drink is simply a Sparkling White Wine.
9. all fruits contain a small amount of alcohol in them. More importantly, people produce alcohol as well.
10. In some European countries McDonald’s serves alcohol. Some parents like to drink alcohol while kids munch on fries and chicken nuggets.

Drink of the Week: Dry Martini

Since we are celebrating trivia day, I want to ask you:

What is the most popular cocktail in the world?

It is the Dry Martini -- shaken, not stirred. Thanks to James Bond.

The correct ingredients are three measures gin, half a measure dry martini, ice to strain it all over and an olive.

The New (Year) Truth

So the New Year has finally dawned on us. Horoscopes are starting to fill our Twitter timelines, fortune tellers finally land guesting stints on television talk shows, and somehow, worrying about one’s luck is now “in”. We always think that somehow, our luck changes with the change of the year. Somehow, everybody is convinced that the new year lives up to its name; we always see it as a fresh new start, a wonderful beginning; a much-needed change from the monotony that is our lives. But no. This article is not about that. I am pretty sure that you have read a gazillion and one articles about “fresh beginnings” and “brand spankin’ new trends for the new year”; so I won’t dish out another article with that topic just because it seems too overdone, even though it is usually given a fresh new coat of sarcasm, to make it seem like it is as fresh as the new year.

A lot of people say that Christmas is nothing but a marketing ploy; heck, even the priest during Christmas Day homily suggested that it is becoming that for many people. The same is true for the next holiday that we are bound to face: Valentine’s. But nobody seems to really think the same for New Year’s. How come? Well, because people think it actually happens. People think that because they buy a new calendar and jot down a different number when writing dates, that automatically means that the New Year is real. But is it? Is it real enough for us to change the way we look at our lives, at least for a year? Or is it just a marketing ploy to get us to spend on fruits and food? It is there to give us just another reason to celebrate, or does a New Year actually affect our lives, in a real sense? Think about it. Has your luck really depended on the year?

What irks me about the way people treat the New Year is that they often think the rest of the year would be dictated by what they know during the first month of it. Horoscopes are dished out and Facebook statuses start claiming that this year would definitely be theirs; but when did it cease to be?

If you really think about; we have always been the masters of our own ships. We have always dictated our luck. In fact, I strongly believe that luck is simply the acknowledgment of the number of fortunate events one experiences, and blessings one receives. Therefore, “your year” should never be based on the switching of the calendar; it must always be based by the switching of one’s perception.

And there is a lot of reason to do just that. Even the simple privilege to party is enough reason to look at life on the sunny side of things. Because the truth is, the New Year is, for some people, still the same old monotonous routine. While for the lucky ones who have started believing that life is as beautiful as how you see it, the New Year is, the same old gorgeous journey. So never claim that 2011 will be your year just because your horoscope says so. Claim it, because you actually believe it with every fiber of your being. Because we all know you have so much to be thankful for. So this 2011, do not think about your luck because we all know you are bound to experience little triumphs and failures this year. And what is important is that you know you can celebrate with the rest of the partyphile world when you succeed, and party with a vengence, when you fail.

Confession 11:

So its a new year… But you still look the same, smell the same, act the same, and feel the same. Why do we still look forward to a new year? Because it gives us a sliver of hope that maybe this time we'll truly be happy... maybe this year, will be OUR year. But you have to realize dear partyphile, it has always been YOUR year, you just choose not to own it.

January 4 is Trivia Day

Today is Trivia Day! So gather all of your friends, and play a Trivia game, or learn new things about how your friends are when they are drunk.

Drink up, partphiles!

Davao's Ultimate Partyphile,

Zhaun Ortega