Aspen, Aspen, and more Aspen==liver replacment

Seriously, what are all these folks doing in Aspen? Every single liqour company, every single wine company positioning themselves to hump the legs of every Chain Account Buyer in the country. And yes, they were all there too. Parties after parties, some on top of each other, all involving "Sampling" ( one MUST! ) some high end: Remy Martin having their party to Louis Vutton (Know a buyer NOT going to that one?) some of them on decks, some white water rafting, and people actually skied. Yes, it was cold in Aspen. Companies were over the top spending: Skyy must of spent over $200,000 on events. Heineken hosted a 70's party that was the talk of the weekend. Hysterical. Great Band from L.A. that played everything from KC and the Sunshine band to Earth, Wind and Fire. Speaking of those "Elements' Zodiac (you know by now my favorite) had people lurking all over the damn place. Southern Wine and Spirits had a house they rented that must of been worth millions. Right on the flowing river, it was quite a site to see. Oh yea, the Tents. Well there were there, but not a ton of people went into them, the action was outside the tents and well into the late evenings. Aspen, you never fail to amaze me.

The True Magic of Vodka

I witnessed the power of Vodka last night. In Chicago, for the Restaurant Show, one of the biggest conventions in the world. 100,000 new people in town for one show. Anyway, it becomes a "Hump Fest" to see which company can outspend the other company to try and get the most Buyers out on the town. And what a town it is. Fishbowl, an online marketing company, started off the weekend right: they rented out the House of Blues. Shut it down and invited 300 VIP guests. So, while it's no Red Carpet, in the restaurant business, it's the Who's Who.

Now...feed the masses vodka.

Next thing you know, you have the CEO of this company locked in a showdown with the Food Manager of a competing company in a Battle of Geriatric Guitar Hero. And let me tell you, both are into it. Gray hair flying, somehow CEO boy has rediscovered his youth and is competely rocking out to "Hit you like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions. One look at this guy rolling back and forth and suddenly I need a drink myself. Martini please!

As I get to the bar, of course it's sponsored by one of the giant vodka companies and they have this contraption: at the top of a giant ice sculpture, there are two very nice looking young ladies, one has a litre size bottle of Skyy Vodka, the other has either Pomegranate or Prickly Pear "Finest Call" mixes. You get to choose. I pick Pomegranate, well of course, it's the Healthy Shot. They both begin pouring, in different holes, the product runs thru this very cool path on the inside of the sculpture and they have this mid-ice collision and then out comes your shot, red of course, chilled perfectly. A few of those and suddenly I want to talk politics.

Everywhere I turn, people are playing trivia games (What's the name of Maddonna's first book?) eating pretzels with rock and roll pepper on them, and just laughing. It's the bar. the bar made them do it. And what is one out of every 4 drinks made from: Vodka. Vodka made them do it