A drink a day keeps the blues at bay. 

Celebrate National Tequila Day

We know you don't need an excuse to drink tequila, but here's one anyway. National Tequila Day is this Thursday, July 24, and a few Bay Area bars will be celebrating with drink specials. Starting at 8 pm, The Alchemist (679 Third Street) will be serving $6 specialty cocktails made with Suerte Tequila and showing vintage Mexican movies. At La Urbana (661 Divisadero), bartender Trent Simpson will be mixing up the Summer Hacienda, made with Don Julio Blanco, fresh basil, spiced watermelon, agua fresca, lemon juice, and velvet falernum. If you're willing to travel to Sausalito, you'll find a three-stage cocktail competition at Copita Tequileria y Comida (739 Bridgeway), featuring drinks made from Herradura Blanco, Reposado, and Anejo. You can sample each of the cocktails before deciding which one(s) to order. The bartenders will even tell you how to recreate their cocktail and send you home with a recipe card.

Sip & Eat Merlot

Tequila gets a National Day, but ice cream gets the entire month of July. Before National Ice Cream Month comes to a close, we recommend a trip to Santa Rosa on Saturday, July 26 to try a special batch of Merlot Ice Cream made with wine from St. Francis Winery & Vineyards. The tasting is part of the winery's popular Sonoma Tastemaker program launched in January to promote wine and food pairings celebrating the bounty of Sonoma County. Drop by St. Francis' Mission-style tasting room between 1 and 3 pm to find out if you can get an ice cream headache from Merlot. 100 N. Pythian Road, Santa Rosa

Lemonade Press Cocktails at Hard Rock Café

If you thought your French Press was only good for making coffee, think again. Hard Rock Café has repurposed the coffee plunger to make a variety of fruit-infused sweet lemonade cocktails. The Tropical Pineapple Press features fresh pineapple chunks and lemon pressed together with Bacardi Mango Fusion Rum, mango puree, and made-from-scratch lemonade. The Watermelon Wave Press combines Bacardi Dragonberry Rum, Cointreau, watermelon puree, lemonade, fresh lemon and strawberries. And the Blues Berry Press marries Bacardi Wolfberry Rum with homemade lemonade, fresh blueberries, blueberry puree, and lemons. The new cocktails will be available through the end of summer. 39 Pier #256

Hops and History at The Mint

Further your beer education on Thursday, July 24 at FlipSide's second annual Hops and History event at the historic 1874 San Francisco Mint. Learn about the history of brewing, watch home brewing demos, and taste craft beer from a dozen Bay Area brewers while grazing on bavarian pretzels from Bavarian Brez'n, grass-fed beef hot dogs from Let's Be Frank, and gourmet organic "paletas" from Bliss Pops. The 3-hour event starts at 6:30 pm, and tickets are available online for $30 each, or $10 if you're a member of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. 88 5th Street

Free BBQ for Drinkers at Lucky 13

Unless you're a regular at Lucky 13, you may not know that they host a free BBQ every weekend from June to October. From 4 to 7 pm on Saturdays, you'll find burgers and hot dogs with the regular condiments, plus potato chips and cookies, outside on the patio. The food is free with the purchase of beer, and you'll find an impressive selection of that. In fact, BeerAdvocate gave this punk rockabilly bar a rating of 90 out of 100. Check out the giant overhead chalkboards to see what they're currently pouring from 26 taps and 30 bottles. Lucky you. 2140 Market Street

Send drinking suggestions to renee@grassrootspr.com.