I'm Parched Az Bro

No, before you ask, it's not another clichéd sobriety month, in fact, Parched March is quite the opposite. That's right, Sydney's only month long celebration of bars and drinks is back and this year it's shaping up to be bigger than ever.

This hair brained scheme was dreamed up Amy Cooper a couple of weeks before March 2010. The idea was to create some positive press for bars in a media landscape that was otherwise pretty negative - after all Sydney has a dynamic and colourful bar scene that should be celebrated not deplored. Copper approached Bartender magazine and 4bars and the idea to visit 30 bars in 30 days was born.

In 2010, I joined Amy in her charity bar odyssey and found the task of visiting bars day after day enlightening. 30 bars within the time frame is totally achievable - even with a full time job to hold down. And whilst even the most sensible of drinkers is prone to over indulge in beverage alcohol upon occasion we found that for the most part the month could be tackled responsibly. The key was to enjoy a venue's bar food offerings, meet up with people and converse instead of antisocially imbibing and visit bars during the quieter periods week. If you haven't indulged in social drinking during the earlier part of the week it's definitely to be encouraged - I've long be a proponent of the fact that going out of Friday and Saturday night is quite possibly the worst time you could choose.

Last year we raised money for our two animal charities using a sponsorship like scheme. Whilst this was effective we did realise that it was a bit rich to ask for money from people to  donate to charity when we were spending our own money in bars. This year we came up with an eloquent solution that spread the burden over as many people as possible. Participating venues have agreed to offer special drinks for the month (often with the help of suppliers in terms of bonus stock) from which a percentage of their profits for that drink will be donated to our charities - SDCH and AWL Queensland.

If you haven't done so already head along to www.parchedmarch.com to check out all the cool bars we've got signed-up and perhaps even consider setting up your own team to participate in this year's cause. At the very least come and join me over the month - I'm already feeling a little parched az and so will be kicking the month off in a couple of bars tonight!