The Coalition of the Swilling

...providing education in mixology...

Now that's an 'ology' I am a believer in.

Whatever possessed anyone to ruin perfectly good booze with non-alcoholic contaminants?

I dunno, Ken, I'm partial to rum and Coke myself. Or a Screwdriver (but not a "Phillips Screwdriver", thankyouverymuch). But, yeah, I do prefer my bourbon and whiskey neat.

Well, I understand that rum and Coke thing, since you had that unfortunate Carmen Miranda trauma.

Why put non-alcoholic "contaminants" in booze? Because something can be more than the sum of its parts? Because sometimes, cliches notwithstanding, you really can have two (or more) great tastes that go great together? Rum and Coke is probably my most commonly-ordered mixed drink, too: thanks to the Miami-Dade delegation, I'm always pleased to find if there's an added wedge of lime as well to turn it into a Cuba Libre.

What would a jazz brunch in New Orleans be without Bloody Marys and/or Mimosas, either? After all, that's not really adding juice to booze so much as it is adding booze to juice. And what would, ahem, last night, Cinco de Mayo, have been without Margaritas? (I don't know, I don't remember it all that well.)

Now, if you were saying some of us might have been better off without the invention of the Long Island Iced Tea, then maybe you'd have a point.