Aloha!

So everyone says the past decade kind of sucked. People cannot even agree on what to call it! The zeros? The oughts? The noughties? Heck, people are even arguing about whether the decade is actually over yet since the millennium actually started on January 1, 2001.

Now here in the islands we have a more optimistic view. First, the decade began with no F.O.M. at all and has ended (or will end) with the F.O.M. on the scene. That's pretty awesome.

Second, as a number of bloggers and columnists have noted it was a great decade for drinking! Classic cocktails made a huge comeback and we witnessed milestone events like the funeral of the Appletini. With some luck we can kick dirt in the face of her evil cousin, Bottle Service, soon.

This wasn't just about expensive bar tabs in trendy watering holes. The Internet has connected a vast community of cocktail/mixology enthusiasts and taken things like hand assembled photocopied pamphlets like the first Grog Log to full color books with a serious following (and we would like to buy our copy of Beachbum Berry Remixed now please!).

In 2000 you were lucky to find one lonely bottle of Angostura bitters behind a bar and now some people have an entire shelf of bitters in their bar. Plus they may make their own.

Craft distilleries have also come on strong in the last decade, often with involvement from some of the pioneers in the microbrewing industry, and now we can buy artisan rye whiskey, pot distilled rum and other nearly extinct spirits. Someone is even trying to revive Hawaiian Okolehao!

So sit back, throw a Three Sheets DVD in, and relax with a nice cocktail.

Because you can.

Keep the torches burning,

—Tagata Maori Rogorogo