In completely unplanned fashion, my thirty-fourth birthday was also the occasion of my graduation to 'adult' cocktails - you know the ones: all alcohol, the merest mist of a mixer.

I like to think the Dirty Gibson is a cocktail that 65 put on their menu for a laugh, and that there's a klaxon in the back when one gets ordered, so that the staff can have an amused gawp at the poor sap when they take their first sip.

Imagine a martini glass, three quarters full of clear liquid, maybe a hint of cloudiness, and a plastic cocktail stick sitting in it, with a pickled onion at the end. Yup, vinegar and gin. But let me tell you, that pickled onion, after I'd drained the glass, was the BEST EVER.

Thanks to Mum and Dad for putting me on this earth, to A for encouraging me to be adventurous and to Gibson - wherever and whoever you are, you dirty and inspired bastard.