The other day I became a graduate of the Budweiser Beer School. I am now a certified Beer Master. Diploma and everything. Let me tell you, that alone was worth the price of admission to Busch Gardens. (The subsequent loopy ride on the Gwazi roller coaster was just a drunken perk.) I wear this graduate status with pride. I haven't derived such honor from drinking since receiving my college diploma.My college years, like those of everyone who didn't attend Brigham Young, were marked by massive, ritualistic consumption of alcohol. Most people would argue that I didn't attend a party school, but until you've gone to a fancy restaurant whose main draw is the opportunity to chug more than a gallon of alcohol out of a giant silver trophy cup — then rub the cup dry with the top of your head — you don't know the meaning of party.
For less chic events, however, we did what any self-sufficient college student would do when faced with a random conglomeration of alcohol and a group of kids clamoring to get wasted — we went straight to the World Wide Web. There, we discovered Webtender.com, a boon to college students anywhere. With more than 4,000 drink recipes, lists of drinking games, toasts from around the world, hangover hints and more, it's one-stop shopping for the party-planner in a bind. One of my favorite features on this site is "In My Bar," a drink generating machine in which the user lists the ingredients he/she has on hand (and practically everything is up for grabs here, folks, from allspice and Absinthe to Wild Turkey and Wortcestershire sauce) and the site scans the database for a drink that can be made from those items. "In My Bar" has saved me countless times when I wondered what the hell I could make from half a bottle of vodka, a smidgen of rum, the amaretto my roommate gave me for Christmas and all the 7-Up I could swipe from the dining hall. Boy, those .357 Magnums were good.
As they say in Esperanto, "Sanon." To your health.—Diana 'Hair of the Dog" Peterfreund
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2003.