The next few months are loaded with holidays and occasions - graduations, bachelor parties, weddings, Father's Day, even Mother's Day - that are perfect for giving the gift that brings joy to so many: a bottle of booze.

And to set your bottle apart from the half dozen or so the groom-to-be or graduate will likely receive, present the lucky recipient with one personalized just for them.

As a service to loyal, registered "regulars", thebar.com, will let you order up to 5 personalized labels of your favorite spirits (as long as those favorites are Crown Royal, Johnnie Walker Black, Buchanan's, Bushmills, or Don Julio tequila), each month, for free.

Once you register (which is also free), you select the brand, the bottle size, and enter a 3-line custom message of up to 22 characters each. (You can see what the finished label will look like as you type.) In about two weeks your custom labels will arrive at your door, ready to stick on the bottle.

Now you can give dad a bottle of Johnnie Black with a label that reads "For Everything I Put You Through Growing Up Happy Fathers Day 2008", or give the groom a bottle of Don Julio that let's him know "In Case of Marital Emergency Break Out a Glass".

www.thebar.com

If you have a young lass headed to your place tonight to shake her shamrocks, here's a quick, simple cocktail with couple of ingredients, a quick shake, and a cleverly carved garnish that'll get her kissing your Blarney Stone faster than a Leprechaun's little feet during a St. Patty's Day jig.

HERRADURA GREEN AGAVE
1 1/2 oz Tequila Herradura silver
3/4 oz Melon liqueur
Squeeze of lime

Fill a shaker with ice and add the tequila, melon liquor and lime. Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a shamrock carved lime.

Monday may be the official date of St. Patrick's Day, but celebrations will be going on all weekend. And to get yours going, I'll be posting some drinks to help you get your Irish up.

Here are three from thebar.com, that include traditional ingredients straight from the Emerald Isle. Sláinte!
(For more recipes go to www.thebar.com)

Guinness Shandy
3/4 pint Guinness Draught
1/4 pint Lemon-lime soda

Add Guinness Draught beer to a pint glass and ...More

Mixologist Bobby G set a Guinness World Record last week by shaking up 253 cocktails in 60 minutes.

How come this guy is never behind the bar when it's six drunks deep and I've got a couple of honeys craving Cosmos to unleash their inhibitions?

Click to see the video.