Gin Weekend 10 Year Anniversary!
Now in its 10th year of existence, I feel a deep sense of pride to have been privy to the very first Gin Weekend back in 1997. This year promises to be the most robustly and widely celebrated Gin Weekend yet, as the word continues to proliferate across the globe. If you’re unfamiliar with the holiday, it began as a simple idea amongst a group of like-minded friends, still in high school and just coming into their own as drinkers, made the vow to drink only gin for an entire weekend. The result was an epic weekend of such dramatically drunken proportions that the echos of their revelry still haunt the corridors of the Crested Butte Academy to this day. It soon became obvious that, if the holiday was to spread to the masses at large, the requirements of participation would have to be slightly relaxed. Not everyone can handle an entire weekend of only gin, and the purpose was to spread the ideals, if not the strict practices, of appreciation, fellowship, and, ultimately, inebriation. Orthodox followers still stick to the idea of consuming only gin-based cocktails during this time, but consumption of at least one gin-based cocktail during the weekend is all that is required for proper observance by the lay person. This year, I have concocted a gin drink that should warm the rookies out there up to the holiday pretty quickly– I’m calling it the “Gin-Pure”– it consists of equal parts Hendrick’s Scottish Gin and G Pure Energy Drink, shaken and served martini style. Both are amazing by themselves, and should prove to be even more formidable as a pair. I hope you will join us in next weekend’s festivities– the 2007 Gin Weekend Document of Notification is after the jump…
The time has come, friends and believers. Our hour draws nigh. Saturday, March 17th, 2007 is St. Patrick’s Day, which means that next weekend, March 10-12, is Gin Weekend 2007. The earth will tremble, the trees will sigh, the streets will be filled with jubilant masses extolling the proof of a higher power’s love, bequeathed to us in clear liquid form. On this, the tenth annual celebration of our beloved holiday, we will raise our voices, raise our glasses, raise our very spirits in defiance of a world that would take our joy away from us. We will imbibe the most divine of spirits, whether mixed with the fruit of the earth or the fruits of man’s scientific electrolytic drink creation labors. We will shout to the heavens with harsh, slurred voices, in praise of a creator who saw fit to leave his very essence encased inside small blue berries, awaiting the addition of distilled grain to be released and digested, fueling our reveries. Yes, the time has come once again, my friends, Gin Weekend is almost upon us.
Last year’s festivities were yet again the most widely spread and deeply felt in memory. Admittedly, the memory is less and less reliable as the celebratory intensity grows, but knowledge of our accomplishments pales in comparison to the feeling of nausea, regret and pride that tells us that yes, we did celebrate Gin Weekend. The observance spread exponentially yet again last year, garnering international media attention and an ever widening circle of true believers. I know the idea has caught hold of a willing audience because this year, I was reminded by multiple celebrants months in advance that they were already planning their festivities and recruiting new believers into the fold. From Alberta to Baghdad, from Tora Bora to Seoul, Gin Weekend is spreading, and soon our numbers will eclipse those of the uninitiated. International Governmental recognition by 2010 is not only possible, it is inevitable. I feel great joy and pride knowing that, should I fall in battle against sobriety in the course of my duties during this year’s celebration, I can rest easily upon my burning, gin soaked pyre knowing that my duties as sacred reminder have been done, that the celebration will never die.
I’ve created a place online where we can keep in contact with each other, trade tales of reverie, recipes, and photos of our joyous, sacred rites.
http://groups.myspace.com/GinWeekend
This is Gin Weekend’s new and permanent home on the web. It makes sharing the past, present, and future of our hallowed practices easy. It’s open to all, and is a place where we can carry on this blessed time year round.
Keep lifting your glasses, keep lifting your voices, keep lifting your spirits, and remember these two things: 1) Gin Weekend exists wherever you find yourself drinking Gin and 2) your duty as a celebrant doesn’t end with your last drink; spreading the word is imperative to ensuring our survival and securing our rightful place among all holidays on the calendar.
I’ll leave you with a song composed to that very end, one designed to remind us of the ecstatic joy and solemn duty that we hold so dear each March. It is sung to the tune of the Christmas song “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”, and reminds all who hear it of the true meaning of that phrase.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
All the gin I’ll be swilling
My liver it’s killing
I won’t switch to beer
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
It’s the drunk-drunkenest season of all
All the drinking and fighting
And riot inciting
On my face I’ll fall
It’s the drunk-drunkenest season of all
There’ll be cocktails for pounding
Alarm bells for sounding
And some might pass out in the snow
There’ll be yelling and juking
And tales of the puking
Of Gin Weekends long, long ago
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
Well I can’t stop from grinning
The room won’t stop spinning
There’s blood in my ears
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
Have fun, spread the word, and say it loud:
“Gin! It makes a man mean.”
Salud
-Jackson
