There’s more free booze out there than you might think. Here’s a few tips on how to stay sauced-up on the cheap.

1) GO TO WINE TASTINGS! If your local liquor store has a wraparound pane of bulletproof glass, there won’t be any tastings going on. You need to get out of the hood first. Follow the white people (from a safe distance) until you arrive in a place where dreams come true. A rich(er) area will have MULTIPLE wine stores with weekly or bi-weekly tastings! If you plan ahead, you can even go to several in the same evening! Taste all the wines, then walk around the store a bit. Let those notes of sea-moss and honeysuckle settle on you palate, then head back to the table for another go ’round.

2) GO TO ART OPENINGS! If you live in a city, there’s got to be art openings going on somewhere! Despite the rich-kids-club vibe that many art scenes exude, art gallery doors are usually wide open to the public. In today’s economy, most artists don’t expect to sell much anyway, so the best they can hope for is for lots of people to see their shit. Now here’s where the booze comes in… most artists are full-blown alcoholics! There’s ALWAYS booze at gallery openings, and it’s almost always free! And here’s the best part… They’ve already provided something for you to do while you’re drinking: there’s paintings and stuff all over the walls!

3) DON’T BE SHY! DON’T BE FASHIONABLY LATE! Neither of these tips will get you tipsy UNLESS you follow rule #3, which is coincidentally a universal rule for all free food and drink situations. Get it while it’s hot! If an art opening starts at 7, you can be sure that the free drinks will still be there at 7:05. That’s when YOU and your homies get there. Lenny Kravitz can get there fashionably late because his limo is stocked with refreshments and yours isn’t.

Until next time, good hunting,

= baje