Sorry for the long time away from the NYCBP news blog. Really no excuse, except that the job got in the way. We are still drinking. Still going out (just not enough). We are going to be updating the site a lot more over the coming weeks and months. So stay tuned.

So this will function as my Cinco de Mayo post for the day. I had heard of “kosher” tequila and it sounded made up. And it is. As the Times finds out:

“It’s a marketing gimmick, but it’s legitimate,” said Martin Silver, 70, whose father started the company after the end of Prohibition.

Agave 99 is the brand, and surprise, it is from the same people that put out my favorite taxi and bus ads, for Georgi vodka.

Would you drink it? Mazel tov!

Tommy with Megan at The Patriot.

Could Tommy McNeill have us drinking again at 457 West 17th Street, the former home of Red Rock West? Our “reliable sources” tell us that Tommy, the fleshy proprietor of The Patriot and The Duck, is about to take over the old Red Rock, which closed amid lawsuits, acrimony and much bad karma in May 2008 after a 13-year run.

This is good news for dive bar fans, as it comes on the heels of word that Tommy is busy with carpenters and electricians to ready his third bar—so far unnamed—on East 92nd and Second Avenue (which coincidently, also held the defunct Red Rock Roadhouse, which shuttered two years ago).

Tommy has been the pied piper of dive bars in Manhattan for 20 years. Without him, there would be none of the early 1990s dives that exist today: Coyote Ugly (he gave founder Liliana Lovell her start in the bar game), Hogs ‘n’ Heifers (he was the brains of the original operation) nor Doc Holliday’s (Tommy was an original investor and co-owner, and came up with the name). When he closed the original Village Idiot on First Avenue and 9th Street in 1994, and moved across town to 14th and Tenth, we rejoiced. That place closed in 2004 and his Upper West Side operation, Yogi’s, closed in October 2008. He has been running The Patriot (Chambers and Church) for five years and The Duck (West 112th and Second Ave) for less than six months. With Tommy, it is cheap beer and Johnny Cash tunes at all times. He has done more for the bottom line of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Jack Daniels in New York than any other person.

Could he pull this off in the shadow of the High Line? Of course. We saw him mobilize the bartenders from The Patriot and Yogi’s and move into The Duck in a matter of hours. He has been hiring new girls like crazy for the past several weeks. As soon as the Upper East Side bar opens—which could be in a matter of weeks—he will have his hands full getting the old Red Rock West in shape to open.

Could we see Dara of The Patriot/The Duck at the old Red Rock? We hope so!

What can we expect? When Red Rock West folded, the staff of about a dozen bartenders scattered to the four corners of the city. A couple found spots at Coyote Ugly (where they had to tone down their antics, sad to say). Others moved to the outer boroughs. In the world of Tommy, he will staff the bar with the same girls that work for him at The Patriot and The Duck. Could it open by Memorial Day for Fleet Week? We hope so.

One big change that separates Tommy’s bars from the now-defunct Red Rock is that he never needs hulking bouncers or doormen, who stood around and intimidated the customers. Tommy hires bartenders that run the bars, do the stocking, and handle all the chores at the bar. So we do not think he will even think about re-hiring any of the bouncers or support staff that worked at Red Rock (and this includes the poor soul who had to guard the motorcycles). I can think of only one male face I want to see Tommy bring back: BOB. That dude was the BBQ master, and his hog roasts were legendary. If Bob is grilling, it will be happy days on West 17th Street again.

Tommy is a smart businessman, and savvy where he picks his bars: his new Second Avenue bar is in a prime spot for the Second Avenue Subway when it opens in six years, and even better, when the High Line park opens, his new bar will be in it’s shadow. It looks like 2009 is going to be a great year for dive bar patrons!

Did you watch the president’s speech last night? There was one topic he did not mention, in all that talk about banks, schools, the war in Afghanistan:

Alcohol sales are down.

I was shocked by that. Particularly since movie ticket sales are up. It seems to me, if the economy sucks, you’d either go to see something like Transformers 2, or else buy a 12-pack and go home and watch porn.

According to Bloomberg News:

Beer sales fell the most, 14 percent, in last year’s fourth quarter. They accounted for 61 percent of the $111.9 billion in alcohol sold to drink at home. Wine sales retreated 1.6 percent and sales of liquor slid 0.9 percent.

There is more here about the startling statistics. Let’s just hope we get over this recession soon.

The idiots who run the Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Times Square are alleged to have discriminated against a knockout Latin girl because she is too Latin. I mean, come on! The Daily News has the whole story about Melody Morales, who is suing the place because they told her she was too ghetto to work there. The ex-Hooters waitress, who was born in New York to parents from the D.R. and P.R., is a 35-D stunner who works at a bikini bar in Westchester (we wish we knew the name). She filed the suit after she kept applying to work at Hawaiian Tropic, and kept being turned down.

The suit says Morales went with her mother to the restaurant last March in search of a job. It claims a manager told her to get lost, saying, “I am not going to ruin my business with your Latin accent.”

Who does not love a girl who takes her mom on a job interview?

Message to Melody: I think you will be getting a ton on interview requests today.

The Bear is back.

After hibernating for less than four months (real bears don’t hibernate that long), the iconic bear from Yogi’s has moved to his new home on Second Avenue. When Yogi’s famously closed on Oct. 5, owner Tommy McNeil refused to part with the 8-foot tall carved mascot. He stashed it in storage, and now he has a place to put it: Yogi’s 2.

The new bar, located at 1754 2nd Avenue (between 91st and 92nd), is in the former Red Rock Roadhouse space, which went tits up more than a year ago. All that is left of the former bar is the “USE” on the signage. The talk is that Tommy is in the process of getting his liquor license, and the bar could be open in time for St. Patrick’s Day.

This will be Tommy’s third bar in his empire, he of course also owns The Patriot (110 Chambers St) and The Duck (2171 Second Avenue, between 111th & 112th St.). This gives Tommy two bars that are exactly 20 blocks apart; but as any regular of his bars knows, there is no way in hell to stumble 20 blocks in a straight line from one of his establishments. However, there is a nice city bus line that goes between the two…

When opening night draws closer, we’ll have more news about the newest dive bar on the Upper East Side. It is only one block south of The Big Easy, which will make for a nice one-two punch.

OK, I am pretty dumb. I got this press release the other day about Calvados, and I didn’t know what the hell it was. So I learned from Wikipedia:

Calvados is an apple brandy from the French region of Basse-Normandie or Lower Normandy.

Alright? And the thing is, I WAS IN NORMANDY in July, for 4 days, and I never came across any Calvados!! (But I did have a hell of a lot of reds and whites, trust me). Anyway, here is the press release in all its glory, it seems like a cool competition:

Boulard Calvados, the number one selling Calvados worldwide, is pleased to announce the BOULARD CALVADOS BARTENDER COMPETITION, scheduled to take place on Monday, October 20, 2008 at Club 230 Fifth in New York City. Bartenders are cordially invited to come out, test their skills and vie for the title of NUMBER ONE RATED CALVADOS MIXOLOGIST!

The Grand Prize winner will receive a Caribbean trip for two, and $500 cash prizes will be awarded to the first and second place winners. The winning bartenders and their cocktails will be announced to the press and incorporated into a future Boulard promotional campaign.

Calling all bartenders and mixologists! RSVP to BoulardContest@palmbay.com to secure your spot in the competition!

Date: Monday, October 20, 2008
Time: 3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Location: Club 230 Fifth, 230 Fifth Avenue, New York City
The expert judging panel will consist of:

VINCENT BOULARD – Managing Director, Boulard Calvados
CHRISTOPHE CLAVE – Chairman of the Board, Boulard Calvados
ALLEN KATZ – Director of Mixology, Southern Wine & Spirits New York
OUMY DIAW – Boulard Brand Ambassador, Palm Bay International

Among connoisseurs of Calvados, the famed apple brandy from the orchards of Normandy in northwest France, no other name commands greater recognition than that of Calvados Boulard. Known for its output of super-premium Calvados, this family-owned producer in the Normandy town of Coquainvilliers accounts for almost a third of all Calvados sold in the United States.

Founded in the late 1820s by Pierre-Auguste Boulard, Boulard Calvados is headed by Managing Director Vincent Boulard, the fifth generation of his family to oversee this family-run concern.

Boulard’s time-honored reputation begins in the firm’s 150 acres of orchards and 35,000 apple trees in the Pays d’Auge district of Normandy. This area is the officially designated source of the finest crop of apples in the entire region. The designation Calvados Pays d’Auge is the Calvados equivalent of a fine Grande Champagne Cognac.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHmYnsjQi_E]
Here you go. I am not claiming to be John Ford, but here is a view inside The Duck early on opening night on Thursday.

If you like the food at the Hog Pit, this is your last summer to enjoy it. Since the place is closing in January, make tracks now. No word on Hogs yet, but it is hanging in there. Will it be the only bar left in the neighborhood?

When I saw this story in the news, it made me think of some of the NYCBP crew:

A convenience store became an unwilling drive-in when a 74-year-old woman plowed her car through the front window and then tried to buy a six-pack of Budweiser, police and the owner said.