State of the Spirit Address

Story by Kate Verotsky

Next time you want to learn a thing or two about America's cocktail scene, arrange a chat with Lucy Brennan over one of her beet martinis - or perhaps an avocado daiquiri is more your style.  Without a doubt, Brennan is a bona fide celebrity bartender.  The proprietor of the much lauded restaurant Mint and adjacent 820lounge in Portland, Oregon, her list of big name kudos is approaching intimidating status.  Nightclub and Bar magazine recently named her one of America's most successful women in the industry.  She landed a coveted place of Playboy.com's 'A-List," as one of America's Top 10 bartenders.  The list goes on.  Food and Wine magazine named her one of the nation's top 5 mixologists in January 2006.  Of course by that time she was well-accustomed to the attention, given her November 2005 recognition in Spirit magazine as one of the best nine bartenders and her (now familiar) moniker as one of