I just picked up a copy of Eric Felten’s How’s Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well and began reading it yesterday. I ran across a passage in the Forward (or Aperitif) that I thought I’d share in advance of Monday’s soirée at Stevi’s, revolving around Guilty Pleasures.

It is possible to be serious about drinking without being a serious drinker, especially without taking oneself too seriously. It’s never been clear to me what it is about liquor that brings out the mandarins in people. Perhaps it is a nagging social insecurity that makes for diffident drinkers. We cling defensively to uninspired, socially safe glasses. We find ourselves not unlike Phillip Carey in Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, disparaging even things we enjoy out of fear that our tastes might be suspect.

I think Eric’s words are particularly applicable to those of us who blog about cocktails. That’s why I’m glad for Stevi’s choice of theme. If you cocktailblog, how many times have you hesitated to write about something because it seemed silly, or looked down upon by others. surely we have all thought at least once, Wait, I have a reputation to maintain! I’ll admit this is particularly bootless for those of us without much of a reputation….
Still, I’ve thought on how many things could make up a guilty pleasure in our environment. I’ve chosen a McTini with three elements that would get me kicked out of polite cocktailosphere society on other days:

• Stupid name
• Shooter lineage
• Made with Poser Fluid

What elements makes your Guilty such a Pleasure?