Tales from the Adventurers Almanac

For a few years following the opening of Pleasure Island in 1989, honorary members of the Adventurers Club received by mail the Adventurers Almanac publication. In its premiere issue, club president Pamilia Perkins lamented the fact that the Permanent Members Board rejected her title suggestion of "Really Rugged Pen Pals." That first issue also featured the theme "Anniversary of Fine Feats in Aviation."

Since copies of the Adventurers Almanac have become somewhat scarce, we thought we would share with 2719 Hyperion readers some of the newsletter's colorful and enlightening articles.

Astute visitors to the Adventurers Club will likely have observed that all of the establishment's bartenders answer to the same moniker: Nash. This particular curiosity of the club relates specifically to historical figures associated with Pleasure Island. The article, "The Origin of Nash," from Adventurers Almanac Volume 54, Number 1, provides a detailed explanation:

In response to the tremendous number of requests from our members worldwide, we have traversed our files to provide an explanation of why our entire staff of mixologists bear the In early April of 1919, while probing the upper reaches of the Amazon, Merriweather Adam Pleasure, founder and original owner of Pleasure Island, came upon and befriended the well known yachtsman and adventurer Gilbert ("The Rambler") Nash. Gilbert, or "Gremlin," as he preferred to be called, had spent most of his adult life (and several fortunes) pursuing the formulas of the world's greatest elixirs.

Gilbert introduced Merriweather to several enticing mixtures, but none as wonderful or noteworthy as the native concoction which we now call simply Jungle Juice. After Merriweather returned to his beloved isle in Florida, he introduced the marvelous drink to his yachting cronies and fellow adventurers.

The original formula for Jungle Juice was quite potent and known only to Merriweather himself. Properly mixed, this elixir was widely accepted to increase strength and intelligence. However, improperly calibrated, the compound was known to become volatile, causing the recipient to become feeble-minded and clumsy. This side-effect was demonstrated by young Stewart Pleasure in the great Library fire of '29 which subsequently destroyed the only existing copy of the recipe and several of Merriweather's prized journals.

After surveying the damage to his beloved club and realizing that no man could ever hope to match the talents of Gilbert, Merriweather vowed that "from this day forth, no one but NASH will tend this bar." And so the tradition began; first with Ogden NASH, the bookish son of Gilbert, and later with Laurence NASH, credited with the first electric lemonade, to our present staff of mixologists, all descendants of the admirable Gilbert NASH himself.