According to this article in today’s NYTimes, there are eight, count ’em (8!), schools of philosophical cocktail thought presently in vogue in America. Some adherents to certain schools, like the minimalist Violet Hour in Chicago, use eight, count ’em (8!) different types of ice in their concoctions.

And ELV thought there were only two kinds of drinks: a good one or a bad one.

But then we got to thinking…not thinking in a navel-gazing, Kierkegaardian kocktail sense, but more like a John Stuart Mill empiricist; and realized that the pragmatism of drink mixing, and structuralism involved in deconstructing the elements of a potent potable, simply gives them a humanistic bent that we think Fromm (not to mention Perls) would’ve approved of.

If, like Martin Heidegger, either of those two had taken a different cocktail fork in the road, they might’ve become phenomenologist ontological mixologists. Or something like that.

ELV’s favorite cocktail bars in LV (in no particular order*):

Downtown Cocktail Room

Sensi (in the Bellagio)

Bourbon Bar (at Twin Creeks in the Silverton)

Nora’s (the original on W. Flamingo)

Restaurant Charlie (The Palazzo)

Picasso (in the Bellagio)

Fleur de Lys (Mandalay Bay)

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

* We’re always open for suggestions** and recommendations….but don’t send us anywhere with bouncers, a velvet rope (Bar Noir), or attitude (most nightclubs).

** Speaking of suggestions***…how ’bouts we head out tonight for a Blue Blazer?  Or maybe just join us for Vodka-Time.

*** And we just heard about Frankie’s Tiki Room at 1712 W. Charleston, and will probably check it out tonight (or perhaps in a few minutes — since it’s open 24/7).