Where does a good German girl go for a Friday night with a friend? The Irish pub, of course
My local Irish pub is like Cheers—everyone knows my name, on the staff, I mean. I like that. It means I get great service with conversation, big-brotherly protection and great drinks. I’m especially well known here for my love of drinks that come with stories. It’s part of my charm. And the staff knows that about me too.
As my friend and I find a seat in the back corner, Eric shouts out from behind the bar “Darlin’, are we running drunken pony races tonight?”
“What are drunken pony races?” my friend immediately asks. Eric looks shocked that I would hang out with anyone who didn’t know about drunken ponies.
“It all started with a train in Florida…” I begin as the staff behind the bar begins laughing.
I participated in my first drunken pony race in an Irish pub in St. Augustine, Florida. The bartender, a charming, handsome young gent with “genuine” Irish accent kept me amused throughout the evening with stories of local ghosts as he mixed the local favorite drink – the drunken pony. I laughed and flirted along until he mentioned Henry Flagler.
Henry Flagler was a great industrialist and is one of my heroes. The few people who know his name remember him as the successful oil partner of J.D. Rockefeller. But Henry Flagler also built some of the earliest and most magnificent hotels along the southern Atlantic coast and is largely responsible for the development of Florida into a tourist state.
How? By building a train system. Not just any train system. A train system that developed the Everglades into the tourist haven it is today. A train system that connected Florida to the Keys.
I wasn’t able to ride the train to Key West, but thanks to Henry Flagler I can drive to Key West. And I have. Key West is where I learned to sail. Sailing requires hard work and intimate knowledge of both the boat and the sea. You must be in tune with the twists and turns of the weather, read the rise and fall of the waves, be able to tell what’s going on with your boat by the slightest know what your destination is and follow it diligently while being prepared to change course in an instant.
In all of that, it reminds me of the drunken ponies in Ireland that the charming bartender in St. Augustine told me about. Before the ponies are drunk, they are hardworking creatures with intimate knowledge of the earth. They must be in tune with the twists and turns of the weather, read the rise and fall of the fields, know their destination and follow it diligently while being prepared to change course in an instant.
And when you’re done sailing, nothing is better than breaking open a bottle of champagne and enjoying the simplicity of your work.
Ponies were also rewarded at the end of the day in Ireland as the farmers working in the field would set off for the local pub and a pint. While they were drinking, they would give their ponies some water. After a pint, they would check on their ponies and, noting that the poor animals still looked tired, they would give them a couple green apples…while they helped themselves to another pint. When it was time to go, to give their ponies a little pep, they’d feed them a sugar cube.
Science experiment 1: Drink some water, eat a couple green apples and then down a couple packets of sugar. Wait a bit and tell me how you feel. You should feel tipsy. That’s because your body (and a ponies) will turn those specific ingredients into natural alcohol. After a hard day’s work with little or no food, that tipsy won’t be insignificant.
So what is a drunken pony? A drunken pony is part Champagne, part Hard Apple Cider and a sugar packet.
Science experiment 2: Mix those ingredients in a cognac glass sometime and watch what happens. I suggest you have a straw ready because you lose the drunken pony race if any alcohol spills on the bar.
