Let’s Raise a Glass to Mad Men

This Sunday, April 13, is the big day. AMC will air the first episode of the final season of Mad Men. I don’t know what will happen this season, but one thing is for sure – there will be drinking, and plenty of it.

WHAT WOULD DON DRAPER DO?

For almost every occasion, he’d pour a glass of amber-colored spirits and throw it straight down the hatch. If you played a drinking game while watching the show and matched Don drink for drink, I’d bet you’d be calling in sick to work the next morning. Which would be a Monday. Life can be so cruel.

WAIT, WHO’S DON DRAPER?

I suppose it’s possible that some people don’t watch Mad Men. While I don’t know many people like that, I’m not here to judge, so here’s a handy video from AMC that will bring you up to speed on the last 6 & 1/2 seasons of the show. This will be equally handy for those of you that played the aforementioned drinking game last season. Memory a little fuzzy? Go ahead and watch the video. It’s only 2 minutes long. I’ll wait.

WHAT’S DON DRINKING?

Don likes an Old Fashioned. Honestly, who doesn’t? In Season 3 he even jumps behind the bar to mix a couple himself. Poor Don, he has to substitute Rye because there’s no Bourbon. I’m not sure where Don picked up his bartending skills, but I’ve never seen an Old Fashioned made the way he does.

Truth is Don drinks a lot of Canadian Club. So much that the folks at Beam Inc. had to recreate a case of ’60s-style bottles for the show. Yeah, I like to imagine that it’s bourbon, too.

SO, WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE?

Manhattans, Martinis, Mai Tais? They were drinking old-school cocktails and plenty of them. AMC has a handy guide for mixing up cocktails à la Peggy, Joan, Roger and the gang. You can use it to mix up some classic cocktails to drink while watching the final season. As for me, I’ll be sipping on an Old Fashioned – made with bourbon, of course!