Poolhall Negronis: Always Be Closing

L to R: Robert Simonson, yours truly, Lincoln Chinnery, Robin Robinson, at Amsterdam Billiards (pic by Robin).

Drinks writers, like most writers in general, don’t get paid a ton, but the perks — the dinners, the events, the bottles and various tchotchkes constantly arriving in the mail, the press trips — are pretty terrific, even if they don’t pay the bills. That said, it’s usually the other events, the hangouts organized by us, for us, without any brands sponsoring them or publicists present, that are the most fun. So when the great Robin Robinson, author of the seminal The Complete Whisky Course and one of the great personalities in the booze world, invited me for an evening of pool at Amsterdam Billiards, along with old friends/writers extraordinaire Robert Simonson and Lincoln Chinnery, I was (even) more jazzed than if I’d been invited to taste a gajillion dollar whisky alongside a steak dinner. And a memorable and delightful time was indeed had, even though we were all closer to pigeon than shark on the pool-hustler scale. The drinks, while not particularly memorable, went down easy and didn’t take center stage.

I found it weird that Negronis were available in a pool hall, which I suppose shows you how much time had elapsed since I’d been to one. Regardless, it inspired one of the great band names of all time, with an album title, Always Be Closing, dreamed up by Lincoln. Poolhall Negronis is a much better band name than the one I came up with — Robinson, Simonson, Chinnery and Sachs, which sounds more like a law firm, to be honest. Anyway, you can read all about it, along with my usual variety of boozy exploits, in the latest What’s Tony Drinking? over at Alcohol Professor, the link for which is right -> HERE <-. And stay tuned for the album!… assuming we ever record it.