Latest update October 7th, 2026 10:30 AM
Feb 18, 2026 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists
(Kaieteur News) – Cocktails in Guyana used to be a polite, two-hour exercise in smiling till yuh cheek hurt and pretending yuh full. You would eat before you went, sip something that look expensive but taste like cough syrup, nibble one pholourie, and glide home feeling sophisticated.
Now? Cocktails done turn into National Feeding Programme with background music.
Dem boys seh cocktails ain’t cocktails no more — is cultural festivals with a side of rum. You reach expecting light jazz and soft conversation, and next thing you know somebody beating steel pan, a poet reading three chapters of an autobiography, and a dance group performing an interpretive piece. All before the cheese cubes even circulate.
And speaking of circulation — that is now a competitive sport. Food and drinks more lavish than ever before. In the old days, when the server pass with a tray, you would take one little pastry, nod graciously, and whisper, “Thank you.” Now people stalking the waiters like is wildlife documentary. One hand grab a chicken skewer, the next hand balancing mini quiche, and somehow a napkin holding spring rolls tucked under the elbow. People stacking dem plate higher than mount Roraima.
Dem boys seh it reach the stage where people no longer eat before they attend cocktails. Why waste groceries at home when you could strategize? Some people arrive early with empty stomach and strong intention. You could see it in dem eyes — focus, determination, a small prayer. And cocktails used to run from seven to nine. Now nine o’clock is when the real operation begin. Nobody moving till the liquor done. When the bartender start packing up, you see panic spread faster than pepper sauce. Men going in sober and coming out drunk.
It ain’t networking again. It is endurance.
Dem boys seh we done redefine elegance. Cocktails in Guyana now is less about mingling and more about managing resources. Freeness no longer hiding. It strutting round in blazer and high heels, smiling politely, and asking, “Is there any more coming out from the kitchen?”
Classy? Maybe. But efficient? Absolutely.
Talk half. Leff half.
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