As I'm writing this post, I'm listening to the new record by the Black Keys, El Camino. It's midday and I'm somewhat thirsty. Normally I'd just go refill my water glass. Now, thanks to a group of music hacker nerds in Boston and a complex algorithm that I'll never understand, there's Drinkify. I go to the site, type in the band's name and out comes my drink:

"The Black Keys"
8 oz. Canadian Club Whiskey
8 oz. Rose's lime juice
10 oz. Rum, Fucking Rum
Combine in shaker and strain into cocktail glass. Serve.

With yoga just 90 minutes away, I'm not sure whiskey and rum would go over well. There are plenty of other options, most suggesting some type of alcohol. I start to type in friends to see what sort of concoctions Drinkify conjures. Karsh Kale merits one bottle of vodka, one bottle of egg whites (um, bottle?) and four ounces of metaxa, aged Greek brandy. Si*Se calls for combining vodka, coffee and fassionola. Yes, I had to Google that too. It's a type of syrup that has been used in tropical drinks since the 1920s. It used to double as fruit punch concentrate.

Nickodemus also calls for vodka and egg whites, only his third ingredient is ouzo, an anise aperitif. When I told him this, he laughed and said it had to be rum. So maybe music nerds don't get it right all the time. Yet when I punch in my wife's favorite singer, Stevie Nicks, the recipe calls for an entire bottle of apricot brandy, along with tonic and Coco Lopez. Having recently seen the woman perform live, I'd say I'd be the one who would need that drink.

Switching gears after having recently watched the new documentary on A Tribe Called Quest, I find out that I should have mixed six ounces of gin with the same amount of lime juice, before pouring in an entire bottle of Worcestershire sauce. I don't know how garnishing that with an umbrella would help get the taste out of my mouth, but evidently it does.

I've recently written about very functional websites and apps that tell me where to find unique street food trucks and ones that tell me what area chefs are using local ingredients. I even tried one in which you take a photograph of your food, upload it and wait to find out how many calories you're eating (failing miserably in the process). Drinkify has no functional value at all, but I visit the site much more often than others. Before signing off, I type in my own music project, EarthRise SoundSystem, to find out what our music calls for. An ounce of Hennessy, neat. Sans the sauce, I'll take the vote of confidence and run with it.

Keep in touch with Derek: @derekberes

Image: Cocktail