Drinking Made Easy

Do you know who Zane Lamprey is?

I'll be honest, I didn't know who he was and I had never seen his television show "Three Sheets". My first contact with Zane was a phone call from the producer of his new show "Drinking Made Easy" last June. He wanted to bring in a film crew and shoot part of his new show at Bryant's. The answer? Of course- sounds great- of course I know who Zane Lamprey is! I was excited for Bryant's to be featured, but I was most excited that another national television show would be featuring Milwaukee.

The television crew showed up on a Saturday afternoon after filming at the Bomb Shelter down the street. There were four crew members, a producer, some guy named Steve McKenna, and Zane Lamprey. I was impressed with Zane Lamprey. He was funny, easy going, and obviously very smart. He took control of the entire filming, which lasted a few hours- he was consistently calm, funny, and seemed quite sober (which is impossible, given they had been drinking at the bomb shelter for quite a while before visiting us).

We made them several drinks, including a Pink Squirrel (an almond like ice cream drink that was invented at Bryant's back in the 1940s), a Wisconsin Old Fashioned, a Mai Tai, a Brain Buster, a Frank's Drink, and a drink created for Zane called, appropriately, a Zane Lamprey. Of the drinks, I watched Steve McKenna drink a Mai Tai, a Brain Buster, and a Pink Squirrel. Plus, he finished the last half of all the other drinks I made for the crew. Even though this was over a couple hours, I have no idea how he was standing after the filming.

Six months later, in December, I finally got an opportunity to watch the Milwaukee edition of Drinking Made Easy. I have to say, Zane and his crew highlighted some really great Milwaukee institutions. Places that are often overlooked by travel writers and even local journalists. Great Lakes Distillery, the Bomb Shelter, the Safe House, Bad Genie, and Wolski's were all featured and all looked great.

For the Bryant's segment, they distilled several hours of footage down to around 5 minutes, which featured the Pink Squirrel and the Zane Lamprey cocktail. Unfortunately, they didn't show much of the interior of Bryant's and they didn't get in to the history, but this isn't really the point of the show.

If you are a fan of Three Sheets or Drinking Made Easy, you know that they build in a lot of drinking games in to the show. Here are the main drinking games (from the Drinking Made Easy web site):

1. The first person to see Pleepleus, gets to make someone else drink.

2. The first person to see a CONTINUITY ERROR in the show gets to make someone else drink.

3. Before Zane and Steve engage in the 6 SIX-pack challenge, pick a side. If the person you picked to win loses the challenge, you have to drink.

4. When Zane burps, the last person to make the “Good Burp” sign (putting your thumb to your forehead) has to drink.

5. When Marc touches someone (by putting his hand on their shoulder, arm, etc),the first person to say "touché" gets to make someone drink!

We propose a sixth game that would just apply to the Milwaukee episode. When watching with your friends, everyone has to take a drink whenever John (the owner of Bryant's and the nervous bartender in the episode) says "right". Trust me, you and your friends will be thoroughly drunk in no time!

Seriously, we had a great time meeting Zane and his crew and being a part of this fun show. If you get a chance, watch Drinking Made Easy on HD Net and visit the great Milwaukee establishments that were featured on the Milwaukee episode.

Cheers!