Philadelphia's Quaker City Mercantile, in a licensing deal with Converse, has created four Chuck Taylor designs under Quaker City Mercantile's Sailor Jerry fashion label.

"Pop Culturalist as CEO"

I don't know how someone as irreverent as Steven Grasse of Quaker City Mercantile (formerly known as Gyro Worldwide) got past my radar, but he did. Until now. Now, I know there is at least one kook running a major agency today. There may be hope for our kind yet.

Sail off to intoxication island with this spiced rum.

Unless you've got a battleship tattooed on your chest (and who doesn't?) you've probably never heard of Sailor Jerry-the most famous tattoo artist of all time and the inspiration for Sailor Jerry's Navy Rum ($7.99 for 375 ml, $4.99 for 200ml). Based on Jerry's own personal recipe, it's sweetened with a hint of cherry. It's also got a higher proof (92) than the average spiced rum, which may explain the cirrhosis that's tattooed to our liver. Hey, it looks like a swollen, bloated battleship!

Quaker City Mercantile (formerly known as Gyro Worldwide) boasts a funk new lifestyle campaign for their Sailor Jerry brand.

Among Quaker City Mercantile's many entrepreneurial activities is the Sailor Jerry clothing and liquor brand, which boasts a funky new lifestyle campaign. The photography-cum-logo, which will be seen as in-store signage and as ads in the Japanese and European markets, features what the agency calls the "borderline narrative/documentary style" of Michael Dwornik.

I spent this past weekend visiting my long-time friend in Nashville, TN. I can't really tell you too much about the place, because we spent most of Saturday on the high seas with Sailor Jerry. Sailor Jerry is a delicious spiced rum that comes in a bottle with one of the most unique and striking label designs I've seen (I did extensive research on alcohol labels in high school and college). The Sailor definitely treated us right even after we downed three bottles of his prized rum. After navigating my way back to DC, I did a little research into the story behind this mouth-watering (and 92 proof) rum. Yo ho ho.

Quaker City Mercantile (formerly known as Gyro Worldwide) has launched an extremely tasty 92-proof Sailor Jerry rum.

Spring is almost, almost here. It's finally warm enough to accept putting winter behind us and look forward to sweating. Why not fast-forward the season to summer? It's easy enough to do with one simple ingredient: Rum. What tastes more like summer in a glass than a mojito? The taste of fresh mint transports you forward to a welcome summer heat, which we all could use a dose of right now.