The Brandy Bar + Cocktails

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Wed 12/7 – 4-9 PM $5 brandy pours & Thurs 12/8 – 4-9 PM NASA cocktails

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Wed. 12/7 – 4-9 PM – $5 brandy pours: Wild Cherry – Notes of rich cherry, marzipan, crushed almonds and a floral edge complemented by nutmeg and cinnamon spiciness with a finish that is unctuous and thick with that allspice and damson alongside dark cherries and fresh tanic grip. OR Do Ferreiro Orujo De Galicia Brandy from Portugal -Notes of flowers, fennel & black pepper, dry and light-bodied with smooth fresh, mentholated fruit flavors on the palate and a long finish. Come on in and learn a little about brandy – you might be surprised!

Thurs 12/8 – 4-9 PM NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration) cocktails:   “World’s smallest photon achieved in dielectric nanocavity”…producing oil from duckweed…. These technologies sound sci-fi but are in fact the product of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration’s (NASA) technology labs. NASA is required by its charter to report to industry any new, commercially significant technologies developed during its research & development. Since the early 1960s, this has been accomplished primarily through the publication of NASA Tech Briefs. Many of us have subscribed to this magazine since the 1960s. I, for one, do not have a clue what I am reading, but if you have a curious mind, you will be intrigued by these amazing advances in science & technology. Maybe I think I will absorb it through osmosis, don’t know, but the stuff sounds futuristic & something we should know at least a tad about. One of NASA/s latest projects delves into that equally high-tech world of “biomimicry” that popped up out of nowhere years ago. Biomimicry learns from & mimics the strategies found in nature to solve human design challenges. It is about valuing nature for what we can learn, not what we can extract, harvest, or domesticate. In the process, we learn about ourselves, our purpose, & our connection to each other & our home on earth. Biomimicry believes that the widespread adoption of nature-inspired solutions will catalyze a new era in design & business that benefits both people & the planet. Evidently NASA agrees since one of its last projects is inspired by the Pacific Mole Crab in which they created a unique robot inspired by this burrowing crustacean that may someday help evaluate the soil of agricultural sites, collect marine data and study soil & rock conditions at construction sites.

   “Generative design” offers a solution to patient specific knee implants…. additive manufacturing…. creating the next generation of orthopedic implants…. These and more research papers are being developed by the sister organization & magazine to the Tech Briefs of NASA and appropriately named NASA’s Medical Design Briefs. These papers feature exclusive coverage of the latest medical & bio medical innovations from NASA, its industry partners, and other major players in medical research and development worldwide. From heart pumps and defibrillators to surgical robots, NASA has developed thousands of medical breakthroughs on the way to space.  A latest example is a wearable vest system designed to monitor heart failure patients in their home & detect when their condition is worsening. Such early detection of acute decompensated heart failure could lead to treatment changes & other interventions that prevent hospitalizations. These publications are free to those interested. WOW!

We live in such an amazing time in technological advances so how does “Brandy” play out in the wild scheme of things? Some famous quotes on consumption “Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking.” ~ Dave Barry: “I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning that’s as good as they going to feel all day.” – Frank Sinatra. “The problem with some people is that when they aren’t drunk, they’re sober.” ~ William Butler Yeats. “What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch?” ~ W.C. Fields. 

Animal inspired cocktails: Barking Spider – CB Frost, Cointreau, rum, sour mix, fresh squeezed orange juice; Bees Knees – Douglas Fir, honey, fresh squeezed lemon juice;  The Crow – Korbel Brandy, fresh squeezed lemon juice, grenadine; Grasshopper – CB Frost Brandy, Crème de menthe, white crème de cacao, light cream;  Monkey Gland – CB Frost Brandy, gin, fresh orange juice, absinthe, grenadine, simple syrup; 1/2 price flight on US Flight 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wed. 12/ 14 – 7 – 9  PM NC Writers Network presents new authors 

Wed 12/21 – 7-9 PM Songwriters Sessions presents new songwriters 

 

Wed 11/30 – 4-9 PM – $5 Plum or Honey brandy and Thurs 12/1 – 4-9 PM American football cocktails

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Wed. 11/30 – 4-9 PM $5 specials: Plum brandy from Oregon – Viewed as the gold standard for slivovitz (plum brandy) in the world. The eau-de-vie is pure and transparent with the ripe fruit and ends with a slight bitter orange taste and Christian Brothers Honey brandy – Strong honey flavor, but also citrus flavor on the front. Smooth without much bite. Long citrus after taste, almost like orange juice. Great drinks for these cooler evenings!

Thurs 12/1 – 4-9 PM – American Football Specials -What do you call 20 Vikings’ fans in a basement? A whine cellar.  (photo – World’s First Football team – Sheffield Football Club 1890 (est. 1857)Why do ducks fly over Ford field upside down? There’s nothing worth crapping on.  That’s all I know about football, my apologies. But who invented football, that iconoclastic macho game that glues over 100 million Americans to their TV screens each year?  When/where did the game of football begin? Several versions of ballgames similar to football evolved with versions appearing as early as 1400 BC by the pre-Columbian people of Ancient Mesoamerica; and in Ancient Greek with painting references as early as 400-375 BC. A Song dynasty painting in 1130-1160 BC depicts Chinese children playing a form of football and Australian football can be traced back to 1858 in Yara Park, Melbourne. But the very first football game with rules goes to the English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, founded in 1857.  It is the oldest existing club now playing football in the world and still continuing to compete. However, the first American football match was played on November 6, 1869,between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the “Father of American Football,” that established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game (although their rules were developed independently (from that of Camp’s). Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.

Red Zone – Brandy, Peach brandy, cranberry juice & sour mix; Sideline Sipper – Brandy, sour apple brandy, & Sprite; Black and Gold – Hennessey Black, peach brandy, sour mix, & ginger ale; Touchdown – Brandy, lemonade, unsweetened iced tea; Incomplete Pass – Brandy, pineapple juice (with or without ice); 1/2 price fruit or infused brandy flight 

We will be closed Fri. 12/2 from 4 until 7:00 PM for a private party.  

Don’t forget to order on line or come in- in person for those gift certificates for special friends.  

Wed 11/23 – 4-9 PM $8 homemade eggnog specials and Fri 11/25 – 4 -9 PM 1/2 price Cognac flight

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Wed 11/23 – 4-9:00 PM – Eggnog specials – $8 – Join us for your introduction to the holiday season with homemade eggnog with brandy. The “nog” is prepared as a thin cooked pudding with the addition of Courvoiseur – topped with fresh ground nutmeg and/or cinnamon. Brings back memories of holidays’ past.

Sorry, we will be closed Thurs November 24th to celebrate Thanksgiving but come on in Friday for that after “turkey day” celebration with your holiday guests! We will offer a one-half price on our outstanding cognac flight that features those “extra old” brandies that are sooooo smooth and complex that it is a perfect way to end a “thanksgiving” holiday!

Time to think about giving a gift card for that special Christmas gift to The Brandy Bar + Cocktails – $100, $50, $25, $10 or as high as you want to go! 

Wed 11/16 – 4-9 PM $5 brandy pours & Songwriters Sessions; Thurs 11/17 – 4-9 PM Woolly worm cocktails

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Wed 11/16 – 4-9 PM $5 specials: Kvint – a Moldova smoky brandy, or Korbel – a grape brandy from California, both will warm your throats, ease into the tummy, and awaken that warm and cozy embrace for a cold evening in November. A perfect finish for a cold evening in WNC!!

Also on Wed  7- 9 PM – Welcome return of Songwriters Sessions: The Songwriter Sessions at The Brandy Bar + Cocktails performs Wednesday, November 16, 2022, 7:00 – 9:00 PM with an evening of original songs in the natural acoustics and listening room atmosphere of the historic Brandy Bar, 504 Seventh Ave. East, Hendersonville, NC 28792.  This month features: The Greybirds, Patrick Lockett, and John Longbottom

The Greybirds are a band from Asheville, NC. What started as a songwriting partnership began to take on different forms: duo to five-piece, acoustic and/or electric, but the songs are the core of everything. The band formed in early 2022 after escaping to the mountains from big cities such as New York, Seattle, & Atlanta. Pat Lockett has been writing songs since high school, when he and his best friend formed a band. Now he makes Asheville home after living in the Caribbean for 20 years, where he captained his boat “Kalina” by day and played music in the bars at night. John Longbottom says, “thrilled to be included in this month’s line up.” With hosts Mare Carmody, John Longbottom, and Charlie Wilkinson. For more information, please contact Songwriter Sessions at: WNCsongwritersessions@gmail.com

Thurs 11/17 – 4-9  PM – Woolly worm cocktails specials: Woolly bear worm, known locally as the “woolly worm,” is legendary for predicting coming winter weather. If their rusty band is wide, then it will be a mild winter and the more black there is, the more severe the winter. First, the “woolly worm” is not a worm but a caterpillar; specifically, the larva of the Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella). the caterpillar has 13 distinct segments of either rusty brown or black. Often, it is black on both ends with rust-colored segments in the middle, although it may sometimes be mostly black or mostly rust. Not all-black, all-white, or yellow caterpillars are woolly bears but different species and are not part of the woolly bears. So, if you spot an entirely black caterpillar, it isn’t forecasting an apocalyptic winter! But who is responsible for this legend?

The woolly worm was the subject of a research project in 1948 by Dr. C.H. Curran, curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.  He took his wife 40 miles north of the city to Bear Mtn. State Park to study woolly bear caterpillars. They collected as many as they could in a day, determined the average number of reddish-brown segments, and forecast the coming winter weather through a reporter friend at The New York Herald Tribune. Dr. Curran continued the experiment for 8 years and attempted to prove scientifically a weather rule of thumb that was as old as the hills around Bear Mn. The resulting publicity made the woolly worm one of the most recognizable caterpillars in North America (alongside the monarch caterpillar and tomato hornworm. The caterpillar is the larval form of Pyrrharctia Isabella, the Isabella tiger moth. This beautiful, winged creature is yellowish-orange and cream-colored wings spotted with black and common from Mexico throughout the US and the southern third of Canada. Typically, the bands at the ends of the caterpillar are black, and the one in the middle is brown or orange, giving the woolly bear its distinctive striped appearance.

Between 1948 and 1956, Dr. Curran’s average brown-segment counts ranged from 5.3 to 5.6 out of the 13-segment total, meaning that the brown band took up more than a good third of the woolly bear’s body. The corresponding winters were milder than average, and Dr. Curran concluded that the folklore has some merit and might be true. For over 40 years, Banner Elk, NC, has held an annual Woolly Worm Festival in October, highlighted by a caterpillar race. Retired mayor Charles Von Canon inspects the champion woolly bear and announces his winter forecast. Similarly, there is a Woolly Bear Festival that takes place in Vermilion, Ohio, each October. Most scientists discount the woolly worm’s ability to predict the severity of winter but what do they know??

Woolly bear cocktails:  Warm woolly worm – C & K brandy, Drambuie, milk heated;  Pyrrharctia Isabella – Kvint Moldova brandy, Drambuie, lemon; Dr. Curran – C & K brandy, maple syrup, heavy cream, fresh grated nutmeg; Woolly Bear – Coffee brandy, rye, heavy cream, choice fresh grated nutmeg/cinnamon; Brandy Bar woolly bear – Keeper apple brandy, 2% milk, half/half, vanilla, powered sugar, nutmeg; 1/2 price Worldly brandy flight 

Wed 11/7 – 4-9 PM – NC Writers Network & $5 specials and Thurs 11/8 – 4-9 PM Natural Resources Cocktails

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Wed 11/7 – 4-9 PM – $5 straight pour specials: Bols strawberry brandy – slightly sweet but with a definite strawberry flavor, and Christian Brothers honey brandy – a great honey finish but the alcohol count prevents it being syrupy.

Also on Wed 11/7 – 7-9 PM “In the Company of Writers” series returns with special guest author Kenneth Chamblee. In the Company of Writers presents a series of personal and conversational dialogues featuring guest writers/poets followed by an open mic forum. The Chicago blues music of “Mr. Jimmy,” welcomes you, continues during intermission and closes the evening. The next in the series features Kenneth Chamblee,  a published writer and poet. . In-person sign-ups for open-mic are 6:30 – 7:00 pm and guest authors begin at 7:00 – 8:00 pm with open-mic readings from 8:15 – 9:00 pm.  These inspirational gatherings will elucidate and entertain those attending. If interested in reading your work, you may sign up at the door or online at https://thebrandybar.com/writers-open-mic/    5 min presentation limits.  Kenneth Chamlee’s newest collection of poems, If Not These Things (Kelsay Books, 2022), discovers new insights with fresh language in the familiar experiences of life. His poems have appeared in The North Carolina Literary Review, Tar River Poetry, and Cold Mountain Review, and in two contest-winning chapbooks, Absolute Faith (ByLine Press) and Logic of the Lost (Longleaf Press). His poetic biography of 19th century American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt, The Best Material for the Artist in the World, is due out in 2023. A Professor Emeritus of English at Brevard College in North Carolina, Kenneth Chamblee holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He is a 2022-23 Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the North Carolina Poetry Society. Chamblee says, “Writing and reading poetry helps me appreciate our natural world, better understand our social world, and accept the constancy of change in both.” Learn more at www.kennethchamlee.com.  This event occurs the 2nd Wednesday of each month and is co-sponsored by The Brandy Bar + Cocktails and the North Carolina Writers’ Network. 

Thurs 11/8 – 4-9 PM Natural Resources Cocktail specials – WNC’s decline of natural resources – By the end of the mid 1800’s, the mountain economy had begun to experience a decline in the abundance of wildlife, as well as a significant dwindling of its other natural resources. The virgin timber stands and magnificent giants in the forest that early families had encountered on their move into the backwoods – the massive chestnuts, hickories, poplars, red-black-white oaks, and the lofty white pine trees, were now indiscriminately chopped down to provide materials for homes, barns, and other construction. The wildlife, like the natural environment, had become over-hunted and several species, such as the Mountain Bison, Passenger pigeon, Carolina parakeet, beaver and Eastern Elk were now on the verge of extinction. English merchants in 1747 had boasted of shipping 720 hogsheads (48” x 30” diameter) or casks containing 8-900 deer skins with each hogshead weighing over 4 tons, together with 200 pounds of beaver skins. A few years later in the 1750s, Daniel Boone bragged he had killed 91 bears in one winter while living in the Yadkin Valley, and he and a friend had slaughtered 30 deer in one day. Devastatingly, this era of abundant wild game was drawing to its conclusion so by the end of the 1800s WNC descendants will never experience these riches. Legendary hunters like Daniel Boone had moved on to Missouri Territories for their next trophies. Mountain soil had become depleted through heavy timbering and indiscriminate clearing, and this too left its mark on the mountain people and their environment as WNC also became increasingly populated. These factors brought about an exit of some of the population who searched for new territories. The free or cheap lands opening in the early 1800s appealed to the pioneer spirits and in 1803, after President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, millions of acres were made available for the taking. So many of our local population’s ancestors followed the trail there – later moving on to Texas and California.  It is with great happiness and relief that we now have locals and new residents who are committed and willing to work towards preserving these resources, recognizing the beauty of the area and its specialness.  Thanks to all of you for your care and concerns! Natural Resources Cocktails: Green Tea Highball Cocktail – Courvoisier, green tea, club soda; Carrot-Orange Brandy Sour – Korbel brandy, orange juice, carrot juice, simple syrup; Orange You Glaad – Brandy, Cointreau, carrot juice, orange juice, orange bitters; Pink Derby – Brandy, kiwi-watermelon juice, lime, honey; and WNC Resource Special – CB Frost, gin, elderflower liqueur, dry vermouth, lemon juice, muddled cucumbers, egg white. 1/2 price  on US Flight

Wed 11/2 – 4-9 PM single pour specials and Thurs 11/3 – 4-9 PM Halloween specials

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Wed 11/2 – 4-9 PM – $5 special on single pour of ginger brandy or wild cherry – both a pleasant blend of not too sweet nor syrupy with the ginger being delicate and full of ginger flavor and the wild cherry having a nice cherry flavor while not having that “cough syrup” after taste. You will not be disappointed with either selection. 

jack o lantern

Thurs 11/3 – 4-9 PM – Halloween specials – wear your “after halloween” suit and share our “ghoulish” dry-ice-stirrer that conjures up visions of a witches’ brew. Best costume wins a free cocktail!  Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (sow-in) celebrated on their new year of November 1st. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.  To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, & gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins. The celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems; although it was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. Borrowing from European traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft. Halloween parties that focused on games, foods and festive costumes for children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide Halloween parties as the featured entertainment. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. Thus, a new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday after Christmas.

Jack O-lantern – Camus Cognac, Cointreau, orange juice, ginger ale topper; Blood and Sand – Calvados, Cherry brandy, sweet vermouth, orange juice; Vampire Kiss – CB Frost, Chambord, Champagne topper;  Skeleton Key – C & K Brandy, St Germaine elderberry liqueur, lemon juice, ginger beer, bitters; Ghost Buster Martini – Peach brandy, Melon liqueur, kalua; 1/2 worldly flight. 

 

 

All specials                                                

Wed 10/26 -4-9 PM $5 pour of Vanilla or Cranberry & Thurs 10/27 – 4-9 PM UAP (a/k/a UFO) cocktails

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Wed. 10/26 – 4-9 PM – sweet or tart?  $5 pour of Meukow vanilla cognac or Clear Creek cranberry? They are both fantastic in their own way!

Thurs 10/26 – 4-9 PM UAP (a/k/a UFO) cocktail specials: Congress is finally taking UFOs, now called UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena), seriously, 50 years after Its last hearing on the mysterious subject. Both terms mean the same, but the UAP designation carries less the taint of tin foil hat conspiracies than the old UFO did.  Whatever, Congress is now taking them seriously, making the statement “UAP reports have been around for decades and yet we haven’t had an orderly way for them to be reported –without stigma—and to be investigated.”  Overseen by the House Intelligence Committee’s on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation, there is an acceptance that there are objects seen to be flying in the skies that are not recognizable and need to be studied. Monday’s session was a follow up on the June 2021’s declassification of 144 different observations, including video evidence, by Naval and other military aviators of objects. According to TIME they were flying in inexplicable ways – bobbing, weaving, changing directions with a speed & nimbleness no existing technology could manage. None produced any detectable exhaust. Some turned with a head-snapping suddenness that would have produced potentially deadly g-forces to any human who might be aboard while others appeared to dive into the ocean. The committee explored 4 possible explanations for the objects. They could be nothing at all—just errors in sensors or other instruments, though some of those sensors are human pilots themselves, who swear by what they’ve seen. They could be new weapons systems or other technology being tested by foreign adversaries such as Russia or China, both of which are known to be working on hypersonic systems capable of flying at five times the speed of sound or faster. It’s also possible the phenomena are so-called blue-on-blue sightings—American pilots spotting classified American technology. And, of course, they could, in theory, be of extraterrestrial origin.

Not to be outdone, NASA is now in the picture announcing it has selected 16 researchers to spend the next nine months studying UAP/UFO. The selected research group includes professors, scientists, an oceanographer, and others who study space – Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Nadia Drake, a science journalist for National Geographic. The study, which begins today will “lay the groundwork for future study on the nature of UAPs for NASA and other organizations,” according to their press release. The organization maintains that there is no evidence yet that connects UAPs to extraterrestrial life.

UAP No. 1 – CB Frost, Campari, dry vermouth; UAP No. 2 – Courvoisier, coconut cream, Melon liqueur, pineapple juice; UAP No. 3 – CB Frost, gin, lemon soda over ice; UAP no. 4 – CB Frost, gin, orange juice, orange bitters; UAP No. 5 – Meukow vanilla cognac, lime juice, heavy cream; 1/2 price on fruit/infused flight

Wed 4-9 PM – Songwriters Session returns and Thurs 4-9 PM Dog Tails cocktail specials

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Wed 10/19 – 4-9:00 PM. Since we have now moved from warm to cold weather, we are switching our drink specials accordingly, and will be offering a straight pour of Clear Creek apple brandy or Korbel brandy for $5. A great warmer for these cooler evenings!

Wed 10/19 – 7-9:00 PM – An evening of original songs in the natural acoustics and listening room atmosphere of the historic Brandy Bar, featuring:

MR JIMMY is the solo project of guitarist/vocalist Jim “Ang” Anderson. Mr. Jimmy received his musical education on Chicago’s infamous South Side. He has released 10 albums of original music with the Chicago Kingsnakes, and is pleased to announce the debut of his new solo release, “All Alone With the Blues.” He was recently voted one of the Best Blues Performers by the readers of Asheville’s Mountain Xpress newspaper in the Best of WNC 2022 Awards. Mare Carmody is Virginia-born and raised, but has lived and made music in Memphis, Little Rock, and Western NC over the years. She believes a well-tuned ear and willingness to listen can make the best songs. North Carolina native Brian Hilligoss was singing on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville by the time he was twenty-one years old with Roy Acuff, Porter Wagoner, and performing stand-up comedy with Minnie Pearl.  A storyteller at heart, Brian looks forward to sharing his original songs with the Songwriter Sessions audience! For more information  WNCsongwritersessions@gmail.com

Thurs 10/20 – 4-9:00 PM –   Dog tails from The Brandy Bar: The best part of The Brandy Bar is its members & their stories.  We have selected 3 dog stories & to protect the innocent we may have changed their names. (1) T & B are from South Africa where they were childhood sweethearts, marrying & raising their family before they found their way to America & retirement in Hendersonville and also where they found happiness in gardening & volunteering. Sadly, B died rather suddenly last year, & T had to take some personal time to cope with a death that is never expected & never resolved. Coming in from a trip to visit relatives & friends to share & commensurate, T arrived late to the house from the airport. Lugging her baggage up the steps, she took keys & opened the door & thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Putting the cargo down she felt something brush up again her leg & looking down she saw a very sad looking small four-legged creature looking up at her with pleading eyes. He was dirty, shaking, emaciated, & in desperate need of medical attention & food. T looked into the soulful eyes of the small beagle & knew that B had returned to keep T company & be a new companion. T named the beagle after B & will love & cherish him forever believe me!

   (2) A wonderful couple (L & J) shared the story of their encounter on a well-traveled Hwy 25 as they returned to Greenville late one night. Frozen & shivering in their blinding headlights appeared an animal covered in cuts, blood, infected chest wounds, & unwilling to get out of the way. They stopped the car (a very nice convertible!) & got out to inspect the poor guy who appeared to be shell shocked. As they opened the car door the bloody mess jumped in, clamped jaws onto the seat belt, & with pleading defiant eyes told them he was staying with them! The smell was overwhelming as they headed south with windows wide open & wondering what to do with their injured guest. Arriving too late to find a vet, they bathed the poor guy, who was the perfect obedient pet, leaving bath towels stained with blood & yellow pus on the floor, they offered a warm bed for the night. The couple went to social media to find the parents, describing what appeared to be a very expensive English bulldog but had an odd purple paint mark on its side. They left contact info begging for someone to come forward.  Next morning before they had a chance to take the dog to the emergency clinic, they received a phone call from a woman asking if that was a purple paint mark on the dog’s side & they said yes it was. The caller told them it was a “bait dog.” They asked what was that, to which the answer was a dog that is marked so it can be used as bait in a dog fight with an audience betting on which dog will make the kill for the bait. Shocked the couple immediately took all info off the social media & took the dog to the emergency clinic where he received great medical care, & the rescuers were able to treat him until he had properly healed.  They then found a friend who really wanted a dog & fell in love with “purple paint.”  The adoptee friend now has a new best friend who she will love & protect him from anything like this happening again!

   (3) M was returning home late one light & something jumped in front of the car & M struck it hard. An animal lover, M was horrified & immediately jumped from the car & seeing what appeared to be a large German Shepherd lying in the road, she raced to her trunk & found a large blanket. She wrapped the blanket around the conscious animal, & gently placed it in the trunk of her car. She sped to the local emergency clinic & raced into the lobby, crying, shouting that she had struck a German Shepherd & they needed to get it from the trunk & save it at her expense because she had harmed it.  They ran to the car, took the animal out & in shock, told M that the dog was in fact a coyote.  Coyotes are not native to NC, never appearing east of the Mississippi River, until recently.  The NC variety has been inter-breeding with the wolves & domestic dogs & does not look like its counterpart in the mid-west, & indeed looks more like a dog then your image of a coyote…beware.  

Some of our best friends, the dog, cocktails: Bloodhound – Douglas Fir brandy, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth; Dirty Dog – Hennessy cognac, CB Frost brandy, orange juice, cranberry juice; Greyhound – CB Frost brandy, Campari, grapefruit juice; Regal Beagle – Camus cognac, peach brandy, sour mix; Salty Dog – CB Frost, grapefruit juice, salt; Worldly Brandy Flight – ½ price

Wed 10/12 -4-9 PM – $5 sangrias and 7-9 PM NC Writers Network and Thurs 10/13 -4-9 PM Hurricane Cocktails

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Wed 10/12  -4-9 PM – $5 sangrias – Red sangria – Cabernet wine, brandy, plums, raspberries, apricots, sweetened with fig preserves – maybe this dry red sangria will be a good ending for a beautiful summer and a spectacular fall!

and Wed 10/12 – 7-9:00 NC Writers Network returns with the “In the Company of Writers series.” The guest author is R.R .Davis. (Bob) grew up in a small town in northeast Ohio where he spent his childhood climbing trees and getting lost in his imagination. He went on to earn his BFA in drawing and Masters in Early Childhood Education. Bob began writing as a result of encouragement from various college professors’ off-hand remarks concerning his out-of-the-box approach to essays, which mirrored his approach to life. His debut novel The Various Stages of a Garden Well-Kept was published in July of 2022 by Blackwater Press out of Charleston, WV. His second novel -Squid Boy and Raven Girl (working title) is currently under contract.

This evening’s event begins with the Chicago blues music of “Mr. Jimmy,” who welcomes you, continues during intermission and closes the evening. In-person sign-ups for open-mic are 6:30 – 7:00 pm and guest authors begin at 7:00 – 8:00 pm with open-mic readings from 8:15 – 9:00 pm. These inspirational gatherings will elucidate and entertain those attending. If interested in reading your work, you may sign up at the door or online at  https://thebrandybar.com/writers-open-mic/ Presentations are limited to five minutes.
 
Thurs – 10/13 – 4-9 PM – Hurricane Cocktail Specials: Hurricane themed cocktails – What is the difference between “deadliest” hurricanes & “biggest” (category 5) hurricanes?  We’ve decided that for us “deadliest” is literally “dead” or deaths from a hurricane & the “biggest” as Category 5 as NOAA defines it, based on the scientific Saffir-Simpson scale.  Actually we have only had 3 Category 5 hurricanes hit the US: (1) Andrew on August 16-28, 1992, (2) Camille August 14-22, 1969, (3) The “unnamed Labor Day Hurricane” August 29-September 10, & we wish to include (4) Michael, since he was only shy of Category 5 by 1 mph which is close enough for us. But the 5 “deadliest” has so many factors contributing to the destruction of lives & property that it becomes more complicated. But here goes: (1) Galveston, Texas Hurricane 1900. This killer weather system moved into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Sept 5th. By the time the storm reached the Texas coast south of Galveston late on September 8, it was a Category 4 hurricane.  Storm tides of 8 to 15 feet inundated the whole of Galveston Island. Death totals 8,000 (estimates range from 6,000 to 12,000). & property damage $30 million. (2) Okeechobee, Florida, Hurricane made landfall on September 16, 1928 & struck South Florida as a strong Category 4. It took over 4,078 lives. Damage $100 million. (3) Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, made landfall on August 29, 2005. An extraordinarily powerful & deadly storm it carved a wide swath of catastrophic damage, with at least 1,836 fatalities & property damage of $81 billion. Katrina first made landfall in southern Florida as a category 1, causing some damage & fatalities & increased to Category 5 after entering the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but weakened to Category 3 before making landfall on the Gulf Coast. (4) The Great New England Hurricane, a Category 3 struck Long Island & Connecticut on September 21, 1938. It arrived without warning at an extremely high tide, causing 12-25-foot surges throughout southern New England. Sustained winds of 121 mph were reported & traveled 425 miles in less than 8 hours. Due in part to the lack of warning, it caused 600-800 fatalities & $308 million in damages. (5) The Great Miami Hurricane made landfall on September 18, 1926 in Miami, Florida as a category 4 storm, virtually destroying the city. Storm tides in Miami ranged from 7.5 to 11.7 ft & at Miami Beach- tides ranged from 10.6 ft on the ocean side & 6.4 feet on the bay side. Deaths totaled 372 & damage estimated at $105 million. (5) Our latest –Hurricane Ian was a large & destructive Category 4 & the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. It caused at least 137 fatalities – 5 in Cuba, 126 in Florida, 5 in NC and 1 in Virginia. Damage is estimated to be between 28 and 63 billion.

Hurricane Cocktails: Katrina Hurricane – brandy, rum, passion fruit, orange juice, lime juice, grenadine; Great New England Hurricane – brandy, rum, grenadine, orange juice, lime juice ;Okeechobee Hurricane – brandy, rum, passion fruit syrup, lime, simple syrup; Hurricane Ian – brandy, rum, passion fruit, lemon juice; Galveston Hurricane – brandy, rum, amaretto, orange- pineapple- lemon juice, & Grenadine ; Cognac flight ½ price 

Wed 9/28 -4-9 PM – $5 sangrias and Thurs 9/29 – 4-9 PM – Asteroid Cocktails special

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Wed 9/28 – 4-9 PM – $5 sangria special – A red this week, made with a cabernet, Courvoisier, fresh blackberries and raspberries, , orange-lemon-lime fresh squeezed juices – no simple syrup. Fall is here and the end of sangrias is fast approaching, so better fill up!

Thurs 9/29 – 4-9 PM – Asteroid cocktail specials -NASA is just days away from slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid 7 million miles from Earth. The agency’s long-awaited Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will impact with the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos on Monday (Sept. 26) at 7:14 PM EST, if all goes according to plan. The DART mission launched on Nov. 23, 2021, on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and is now hurtling through deep space toward the binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos. 

The mission, managed by the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), is humanity’s first attempt to determine if we could alter the course of an asteroid, a feat that might one day be required to save human civilization. While changing the orbit of an asteroid 7 million miles away sounds daunting, DART team members feel confident that the years of planning will lead to success. The goal is to nudge the asteroid just enough to change the trajectory of its path, not to hit it and create more floating debris. The DART project will nudge the asteroid out of the way.

Asteroids are regular visitors to the Earth. Every year, a small asteroid passes through our atmosphere, yet they are generally so small that they completely burn up before reaching the surface. Asteroids that reach the surface and cause some damage generally only occur every 2,000 years or so. Large asteroids, such as the one that killed the dinosaurs, impact the Earth every 100-million years on average. Although there is no way of truly quantifying the number of asteroids that have hit the Earth over the course of its 4.5-billion-year history, scientists can now estimate how often these impacts occur. 

According to Michio Kaku (an American theoretical physicist), Russia has been hit by 2 large asteroids in the last 100 years. In 2013 the Chelyabinsk meteor in Russia was caused by a 66-foot near-Earth asteroid with a speed 42,690 mph and the light was brighter than the sun. 30,000 asteroids circle the earth (a part of the big bang theory) and it is predicted that in 2029 there will be 2 asteroids that will fly so close to earth, they will be beneath our satellite system. It will be the size of the Rose Bowl football field and will probably burn up in earth’s atmosphere.  

Asteroid cocktails: Van Gogh Starry Night Sparkler – CB Frost, peach puree, champagne topper; Halley’s Comet – Apple brandy, lemon juice, honey syrup, lemon liqueur; Shooting Star – C & K brandy, dry sherry, honey syrup, lemon juice, rosemary; Milky Way Martini – Vanilla cognac, white crème de cocoa, Baileys Irish crème, chocolate syrup; and Star Wars Cocktail – C & K brandy, Amaretto, lemonade, sour mix; and 1/2 price Fruit/infused flight