It's 2-4-1 Wooden Nickel Wednesday. Buy a cocktail, receive a wooden nickel for the second cocktail - good any time, any day, even today. No flair, just good booze and good fun.

"Just pour my drink, Tom!"

Most bartenders will never forgive Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown for what they did for the profession in the 80s movie COCKTAIL.

It's a movie decked in 80s flair and excess; it's a ridiculous eternally obnoxious spectacle. From the vulgar desperation of Cruise's character (Brian) to climb Wall Street's greasy pole to then tortured witticisms and mysogynistic slurs, the movie is based in clichés and proudly flashes a lot of the loose morales of the 80s that were left be hind in the decades to come.

Gladly, the popularity in flair bartending that surged after this movie has faded. You still may witness the flash and juggling in some New York and Las Vegas haunts, but for the most part, it's dead.

Why?

Probably because bar managers and owners didn't like the broken bottles and injured customers that were the result of a Grey Goose bottle gone astray during a sexy, 'under the arm' juggle move. Or the complaints about the 5 minutes it took to stack 27 cocktail shakers and pour out one "Italian Wedding' shot as the other customers waited in frustration.