I met a college friend yesterday for coffee, and with weather like this the conversation quickly turned to gin and tonics. Which lead us a little further down memory lane to a now defunct bar in Davis, California, called The Paragon. On Friday afternoons, our friend Matt would load up his pockets with Susan B Anthonies—he preferred coin to bills—and head down to the Paragon. The dive’s selling point was its outdoor patio, and when the weather was fine, Matt would order pitchers of gin and tonics and dig deep into his pockets for a fistful of Susie Bs to pay the bartender. I haven’t seen Matt in over a decade, and my stomach turns just a little thinking about what kind of turpentine gin we were drinking back then. (I guess the upside to emerging crows feet and a mortgage means now being able to afford decent gin.) But then—and now—there are few better ways to enjoy a warm spring night than with a gin and tonic, surrounded by friends.
