Here's how.

Another blogger going on and on about cocktails, drinking and booze is exactly what the world needs. That's what I'm telling myself anyway. If you found your way here via a link or a web search maybe you agree.

If you're like me you have dozens of cocktail-centric blogs bookmarked even though only a handful of the blogs update frequently enough or offer enough knowledge or insight to be worth your time. You also have several booze-centric online forums bookmarked but the activity at the forums ebbs and flows too so, if you’re like me, you get a little frustrated when you check in and there's nothing new (or if a post is something you already know or know is wrong or simply disagree with....). Not to mention that the discussions at a couple of those forums are almost always unsatisfying (though I'll admit some of the ignorance and lunacy can be entertaining).

If that sounds familiar I welcome you to The Handy Snake. I hope that at the very least you’ll find this nape of the woods/neck of the wape to be an agreeable stop-gap when Paul at Cocktail Chronicles or Rick at Kaiser Penguin or Darcy at The Art of Drink are between updates and things are slow at eGullet’s cocktail forum and MSN’s DrinkBoy forums. If I can provide more than a stop-gap, well, I’ll drink to that.

As for the rest of you, I can only assume that you’re an indulgent friend or family-member checking in out of kindness or a sense of obligation or maybe you’re a web-surfer who has lost his way while searching for the easiest way to fix a clogged drain. Regardless, I hope you’ll take a look around and that maybe you’ll find something of interest. If not, thanks for stopping by. You have my word that I will not put you on the spot by asking your opinion on my latest blog entry.

Nope, I understand completely that my interest in booze and cocktails is not for everyone. I even understand that the extent of my interest might strike even those similarly inclined to be somewhat obssessive. So, don't sweat it. You go on back to your daily life and feel free to shake your head at the thought of my ridiculously over-stuffed liquor cabinet and my ever-increasing collection of books on drink, drinking and the stuff what gets drunk. That's more than okay by me. On the off-chance, though, that you find yourself in the mood to see what's up in one man's world of drink, well, this is where you'll find me.

And, so, with no further ado, if you’ll be so kind as to join me in a cyber-toast to the launching of this silly enterprise, “Here’s how!”