Dovetailing off my food entry...

..I decided to write a bit about booze, and in particular, how they sell it to people.

A recent Advertising Age story spoke to the trends. I'm not writing about it because I like the stuff--anyone who knows me knows I'm a strict beer and wine girl, save for the rare appearance of a top-notch bloody mary.

I stay away from anything "up," "on the rocks," or "neat." I like my evening cocktail squeezed from grapes and chilled.

But I think it's so interesting how alcohol is being marketed these days. Apparently it's a backlash against the "Sex in the City" cosmos and other analogous girly umbrella-clad drinks out in the cocktailosphere.

Alcohol marketers are now appealing to the man's man, "timeless masculinity," in order to show that though the times are changing, manliness remains as it always has, and always will be.

It's all very Don Draper, Roger Sterling, and the Madmen three martini lunch.

Notable examples:

Canadian Club: "Damn right your dad drank it."
Jim Beam: "Guys never change."
Ketel One: "there was a time when men didn't drink their vodka from delicately-painted perfume bottles. ... There was a time when men were men."
1800 Tequila: "These days, it's all velvet ropes and posturing. I don't know about you, but when I drink it, I really like to kick back and be myself."

I'm not exactly the demographic.

But as Don Draper says, when it comes to marketing to women, focus on the men.

And that Don Draper is one smart, classy, and cool, albeit fictional, dude.

PS. when I waitressed and men ordered cosmos, they asked for them in rocks glasses rather than stemware. It definitely happened more than once.

And for the record, Don Draper wouldn't be caught dead drinking a cosmo from anything.