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Well, no more Tequila Reports.

Lifestyle change for me has made those "days in the past."  Hereafter, I will still enthrall you with favorite hideaways and drink bargains.

I guess we could call it "Nels' Days of Wines and Roses."  It is only red wine for me, but I can still cut loose with a good tale or two.

So, on the way back from a mediocre Naples National Show, it got me thinking about the Florida Keys, which then got me thinking about my favorite bars in the state.  

Most of them happen to be on, or near, water.  Imagine that!

So here they come with no particular order of importance.  They are all great places to visit, at least in my mind.

NUMBER ONE-- BERNINIS IN YBOR CITY, RIGHT ON SEVENTH AVENUE (the main drag) AND 17TH STREET.

This is an important one, especially if you are in Tampa this week doing Gasparilla Art Festival.

They do any cocktail made with Finlandia Vodka for only $2 from 11am-7pm.  Been that way for three years now--talk about a recession-fighter.  You can have a martini up, dirty, with grapefruit or orange.  You name it with Finlandia, they do it.  It is the best deal going anywhere right now.

Also,any day from 4:30-7pm, all entrees are 50% off.  Filets are $14 instead of $28 (just one example.)

NUMBER TWO--ALSO IN YBOR, THE COLUMBIA RESTAURANT on seventh avenue at 22ND STREET.

Go there to have some Sangria or maybe an after dinner Spanish Brandy like Cardinal Mendoza.

Breathe in the atmosphere.  The original bar is still there, built in 1907.  Check out the old mosaic tiles with paintings and ogle the various stained glass panels.  Check out the Flamenco dancers.  There is a lot to see and do in this place.  Walk to it after doing Berninis.

NUMBER THREE--THE AFTERDECK BAR AT LOUIE'S BACKYARD RESTAURANT, KEY WEST.

We are now in the Florida Keys where many of my favorites are located.

Louies' sits in an old neighborhood right on the Atlantic Ocean in Key West. It was an old sea captains house two stories high.  The afterdeck bar sits behind the restaurant on a large deck over the water.  It has a great L-shaped bar covered with a neat overhang canopy, so even in a passing storm, one can drink and stay dry.

In my humble opinion, on a full moon night, on the Atlantic Coast, there is no place better to tipple one than Louie's.  Breathe in the salt air.  Feel the ocean breezes  caress every pore. Know that life doesn't get much better than this.  Have any drink, try to do it with a friend.  They are not cheap, but they are worth every penny you spend there.  Live like a millionaire for the moment.

NUMBER FOUR--PEPES ELDEST BAR IN KEY WEST, ON CAROLINE AND ELIZABETH STREET (approximately).

The restaurant is in a narrow building with a high shaped roof.  Thru side doors, you will enter a bougainvillea-covered courtyard with another intimate L-shaped bar, with a narrow canopy around.

Pepes is the oldest bar in Key West.  They make one of the best "Top-shelf Margaritas."

They use an old fruit-squeezer and juice one Keylime and one lemon.  They add appropriate Tequila (say, Sauza Tres Generaciones) and top with a circle of Grand Marnier, and salt the rim if you wish.

This is a great place for lunch or breakfast.  I have eaten, and drank here, for 40 years.  It is one of my all-time favorites.

When I first land in Key West, I park my van in the lot across, and trot right into the bar.  Now my Key West adventure starts.  I have began many a photo-shoot, or art show, over the years this way.  None have let me down yet.  It must be Pepe's magic.

NUMBER FIVE--THE GREEN PARROT BAR,ON WHITEHEAD STREET IN KEY WEST (not far from Hemingway's house)

What I am going to say about the Parrot could easily be said about Blue Heaven Bar also ( it is on Petronia and Johnson Street in Key West).  I give the nod to the Green Parrot, because it is cheaper to drink there, and frankly, most people have more fun there.

We are talking about drinking, not eating, (there, I would give Blue Heaven the nod).  The Parrot is one of the most reasonable places to drink at, and it oozes that "End of the Road Charm" that everybody seeks in Key West.

The place rocks with live music, it rolls with a great pool table, and look out for "Flying Darts."

Many a fine conversation has been tuned here over a shot of  "Jack Black"  chased by a cold Corona.

If you can't have fun here, you can't have fun anywhere.  You might as well jump off the Island and start swimming for Cuba.

NUMBER SIX--ROBBIES HUNGRY TARPON BAR, ISLAMORADA

Yep, we are finally leaving Key West and heading up North.

At Robbies, you can buy a handful of cat-pellets and feed hungry tarpon by the hundreds.  The water is just full of the critters.

Afterwards sit back with a nice iced-rum drink in a great old weathered chair, right on the water.  Inhale the whole place, let out a deep sigh.  Now isn't life just precious?  The food isn't too shabby there either.  But I go for the view and the rum.

NUMBER SEVEN--THE JACK LONDON BAR AT WORLDWIDE SPORTSMAN MARINA, ISLAMORADA.

This sits upstairs in the main Wordwide Store.  They did it way before Bass Pro figured it out.

Sit there at this comfortable bar, or sink down deep in one of the leather divans.  Savor an aged rum, or maybe a great anejo tequila.  Sip a fine cognac.  Again, you are going to feel like a millionaire again, for just the price of a drink.  The view over the back bay Gulf is "Killer" here.

Check out all the old pictures of the author, Jack London, here. They have one taken of him in Tahiti back in the 40-ies.  He is standing beside an old tribal chief and behind them, strung up on a huge tripod, is a world-class Marlin that London battled all day, and then successfully reeled in.

There are journals of his there, signed first editions, and a lot of his various reels and rods.  He was a hell of an adventurer and you get to spend some quality time with his heritage.  A sunset at this bar is to "To Die For."

NUMBER EIGHT--THE LORLILIE BAR IN ISLAMORADA, RIGHT ON A1A--LOOK FOR SEQUINED MERMAID.

This famous bar sits right on the water facing a word-class sunset view.  It is always packed for Happy Hour.

Drinks are cheap and hundreds are being downed.  You can rub shoulders with all the old-time fishing guides here--you will know them by their smell.

This is a large place with multiple bars, one can always find a stool or a table.  In the back, by a tiki hut, a live musician always plays.  I think they bring in a "stuffed one" on halloween.

Lou Garofalo and I (Terry Causey's hubby) always have rollicking good time here)  Some mornings we wake up, buried in sand up to our necks , and wonder "How in the Hell did we get here?"

If you only have time for one stop in the keys, especially at sunset, this is the place.  BTW a "Lorlilie" is the Indian's name for a mermaid.  Or so I have been told.

NUMBER NINE--JB'S FISHCAMP RESTAURANT, NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FLORIDA

Well, I have reluctantly, left the Keys for places north, this time on the East Coast.

Of course, I am a little prejudiced about JBs because I lived in NSB back in the 80-ies.

What makes this place so unique and memorable, is the fact that view across from JBs has been that way  forever and it will never change.

It is on the water facing west at almost the end of the road, A1A, before you get to Canaveral Seashore Park.  It faces virgin wetlands and estuaries that can never be developed.  No condos to spoil the view.

Just have a nice cold beer, maybe eat some steamed blue crabs, and chill out.  Time stops here--enjoy the journey, and be thankful that there are still a handful of places like this left in Florida.

I never tire of the view, nor should you.

NUMBER TEN--THE HURRICANE BAR, PASS-A-GRILLE BEACH (ST. PETE BEACH)

WELL, THIS ONE IS IN MY HOME TOWN, I GOTTA INCLUDE IT.

The Hurricane used to be a one-story, almost fortress-like, bar on the beach when I was kid in high school and college.  It sat right across from the Gulf at the very tip of the Pinellas County peninsula.

In the old days, there was an old house that was a bar that sat right across from it, on the water.  But a latter-day hurricane blew it away.

So the Hurricane Bar got smart and rebuilt.  It turned the place into six-story restaurant-bar complex.  The crown is the Roof-Top Bar with 360-degree view of everything.

Again, have cold one, maybe a legendary daiquiri or a frozen rum concoction.

Take in the view, smell the salt air, savor the breezes and know life is good on the water--as long as there aren't any hurricanes brewing.

JEEZ!  I ALREADY HIT 10, AND I HAD AT LEAST 10 MORE IN MIND.

WELL, MY FINGERTIPS ARE FULLY NUMB NOW (I am a hunt and peck typist) SO I GOTTA GO NOW.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY VERY FIRST "WINE-O REPORT."  Nels.