Bar Signs. Modern Drunkard has posted a handy guide for the alcoholic in us all, a set of gestures to communicate your needs when it's too loud to hear, or just because, as the site says, "when words come out, whiskey can't get in."
posted by jonson
on Dec 16, 2002 -
21 comments
Ever Try Getting Wine Shipped in the U.S.? Looks like Montana had set up a "wine connoisseur" rule that allowed for some shipping into the state if you filled out some paperwork, blah blah blah. PAIN!
As someone who enjoys a good wine and wanted to order a bunch of it earlier in '02 when I was in Sonoma, CA and have it shipped home, only to be crushed when I couldn't have it done, I'm looking for a way to get this to work.
Anyone else come across these various laws? Anyone else live in a state where they CAN get wine shipped in to them? 13 states allow reciprocal shipping from other partner states, and 14 others have some strict rules about it. Will opening these rules up allow minors an easy way to get alcohol?
Some great links at the bottom of the article, too.
posted by djspicerack
on Nov 26, 2002 -
30 comments
Water for thought. Is 8ouncesx8glasses a day a myth at best or a beverage industry conspiracy at worst?
"I did 43 years of research on that system -- the osmoregulatory system. That system is so precise and so fast that I find it impossible to believe that evolution left us with a chronic water deficit" ..just drink enough to slake thirst -- and this includes coffee, tea, and even
beer!
posted by stbalbach
on Aug 10, 2002 -
31 comments
Man and his family booted off airplane after asking if pilots were sober. Hans von Schweinitz, on his way to go fishing in Canada, asked one of the flight crew whether the pilots had taken a sobriety test. They hadn't. A blood alcohol test kit was sent for. Two and a half hours later, with the plane sitting there on the tarmac, the pilots were found to be clean. Then they ordered von Schweinitz and his family to get off the plane, while the other passengers cheered.
posted by RylandDotNet
on Jul 16, 2002 -
43 comments
Try Saying Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Tea And Mint Julep Without Smiling: it can't be done. Coz June is busting out all over in Bourbon country and the mint is as high as an elephant's eye. For this we all rejoice. But - wait - did you know that, for that most perfect Summer drink, the thirst-quenching
nec plus ultra they call the
Julep, "
the most important ingredient is a T-shirt for the mint juice extraction"? Oh yes! The time has come. Here comes the sun. Mmmm...
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Jun 5, 2002 -
23 comments
Beer makes me smart...Beer, me make art.
After trying to make little "Golden Child" men out of Bud Lite cans Saturday, I checked the web for other beer inspired artforms. The results are range from the folky-
Beer Label art to cozy
beer bottle homes and dangerous
beer can guns. Even cash can be made...for hilarious
rent woes... to Big $$$ as with David Hockney's
Pearl Blossom Highway currently at the Getty Museum. Anyone else inspired by beer?
posted by hellinskira
on Apr 8, 2002 -
4 comments
The Philadelphia Daily News has
recently covered a
series of articles on "Malternatives," those hard liquor laced beverages like hard lemonades and vodka based alterna-beers that have sprung up in the last year. Even though they contain 100% distilled alcohol,
they are taxed as beer, saving Smirnoff over $80 million in taxes last year alone. Among their other advantages for manufacturers, they get to advertise on TV and be placed for sale next to milder forms of alcohol, dodging laws against hard liquor. Is this a boon for the industry or deceptive practices?
posted by mathowie
on Mar 29, 2002 -
27 comments
"The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS)" is the Trade Association for "America's favorite brands of distilled spirits." They try to promote pro-liquor causes such as
reducing tariffs on alcohol and increasing the number of
states selling it Sunday. Here is where it gets interesting: their site is at:
www.discus.health.org/ which is (obviously) a subdomain of
health.org. If you go to health.org there is no mention of DISCUS involvement. The health.org '
about' page implies that the site is jointly run by several
Federal Agencies. Health.org itself seems devoted to stopping drugs in their seedy illegal tracks. Take a look at:
"Marijuana: Weeding out the hype" or this
"Prevention Alert" which suggests "Skewed articles can be used in the classroom to provide 'teachable moments' in seeking the facts about... ecstasy." Is it troubling that "the trade association for... America's favorite brands of distilled spirits" is operating behind the scenes of the 'government sponsored' anti-drug site with no disclosure? Would it be too jaded to conclude that when health.org commands teens:
"If you're smoking marijuana--stop!" that the puppet master is more worried about the fierce competition presented by non-alcoholic drugs than they are genuinely concerned about the health.org of young people?
posted by limitedpie
on Mar 8, 2002 -
22 comments
Slim Shady sees the light! "Eminem has given up alcohol and purple pills...He is 'trading in his hardcore hip-hop MO and going the gospel rap route.'" Furthermore, he's opening a church. Is this all a marketing scam? Something seems shady.
posted by Werd7
on Mar 4, 2002 -
27 comments
"Children Drink 25% of Alcohol Consumed in the U.S." At least according to the attention-grabbing headline of a press release recently issued by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. The only problem is that
it wasn't true. The organization had miscalculated the data, and the figure was actually closer to 11%.
It was also misleading, since the word "children" included 18, 19, and 20 year-olds (who presumably do most of the drinking). Aside from yet another lesson in the inherent malleability of statistics, what conclusions should we draw from this study? Should we accept that teenagers are going to drink, and teach moderation? Or is stricter enforcement of the 21 age-limit the way to go? I'm also interested in the views of those living in (more enlightened?) countries with a lower drinking age.
posted by pardonyou?
on Mar 1, 2002 -
22 comments
For Lent, I'm Giving Up Not Drinking Cocktails - What About You? I collect cocktail books but there are two web sites* that are just as good as the best bartender's bible. The first is
Dale DeGroff's. The second, sadly discontinued but still invaluable, is
Paul Harrington's. Both are very personal and reveal a deep knowledge and love of this quintessentially American and civilized art form.
Cocktails may very well be the only truly democratic and universally accessible pastime. They can be made at home quite cheaply by anyone and be just as delicious as the very best served in the very best bar to the richest imbiber in the world. Not to mention their incredible
Valentine's Day potential... so what's it to be, pal? *
Webtender, Drinkboy and Esquire's cocktail guides pale by comparison
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Feb 13, 2002 -
53 comments
So When Can The Boy Start Drinking Then? From February 1 you'll have to be 16 to order an alcoholic drink in Portugal. We Portuguese were the last bastion in Europe - with no age limit at all - but have finally given in the to pressures from the European Union. Yet young people here enjoy drinking but rarely get drunk.
Age limits
vary wildly all over the world and the debate on
the ideal drinking age rages on. The U.S. is still the strictest country of all. And yet public displays(and tacit approval)of drunkenness seem to be far more prevalent in the stricter countries than in those who have more liberal legislation. So what should be the
minimum drinking age? [
The main link, in Portuguese, refers to the political battles that preceded the new law. Interestingly, it reports the Portuguese government resisted EU pressure to limit 16-year-olds to beer and wine, more or less saying "alcohol is alcohol - you can get drunk on anything - so it would be silly to limit young people's choices." ]
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Jan 25, 2002 -
40 comments
Pee on a plane and get 20......years. After consuming alcohol, prescription sleeping tablets and cocaine, Rodrigo Deambrosio urinated on seats and threatened to bring the plane down. He may now face 20 years if convicted. Mr. Deambrosio insists it was the drugs he consumed but we all know it was the United Airlines service that drove him to his fit of rage.
posted by lostbyanecho
on Jan 6, 2002 -
10 comments
NBC to begin broadcasting hard liquor ads - so it seems that in a depressed advertising environment, priorities begin to shift. Smirnoff vodka is set to go first. The rules: Ads are to be broadcast only after 9 pm, only after the advertiser spends four months broadcasting a "responsible drinking" campaign, and "no consumption of alcohol can be depicted in the ads and that no active professional athletes may used in the ads either". Also "85% of the audience for any show must be at least 21-years old and the actors in the ads must be at least 30 years old."
posted by kokogiak
on Dec 14, 2001 -
15 comments
Only in Utah -- with a twist. Check out the
beer list of Wasatch Beers of Park City, Utah. Their copywriters do OK -- but the real genius is in the last beer on the list:
Polygamy Porter. "Why have just one" -- indeed!
posted by mattpfeff
on Oct 30, 2001 -
10 comments
Are you drinking too much? Daniel Lieberman is a psychiatrist at George Washington University who has posted a clinically-tested questionnaire which measures personal relationships with the demon drink. Unlike the usual amateur "are you an alcoholic?" tests on the Net it seems methodologically sound and non-judgemental. I don't know about scientific - but it may actually be useful in a Socratic, "know yourself" sort of way.
It does take about 10 minutes to fill out - enough for half a gin and tonic - but it's free, well set out, and will probably leave you feeling slightly less guilty about your drinking habits than before.
So...chin-chin!
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Sep 11, 2001 -
9 comments
Senator wants two-drink limit on planes Air lines and flight attendants opposed even if it might slow down air rage. I guess that, like sporting events and the movies, this is a great was to pull in big bucks. If thiws bill passes in congress, Iwill never fly again!
posted by Postroad
on Jul 25, 2001 -
23 comments
"We’re not behaving, sometimes we’re pretty wild." The buggy’s interior is upholstered in royal blue velour. A triangular swatch of the same material is attached to the dash. Silver key chains with colorful emblems - Guns and Roses, Cleveland Browns, and a miniature baseball bat - hang from battery-operated light switches.
Five stereo speakers - including a 12-inch sub-woofer - line the inside of the covered buggy.
On the seat is a selection of old cassette tapes: "The Outfield," "Vixen," and "Hooters."
"This thing will rock, I’m telling you," one of the boys says.
posted by quonsar
on May 8, 2001 -
21 comments
Big Brother Bothering Boozehounds! This Wired story combines two of my greatest fears: Big Brother and weak drinks. What's going on in this great land when your local barkeep can't give you a little lagniappe without incurring the wrath of the State (or at least his/her boss)? I'm moving to Russia, where at least they know how to pour stiff drinks.
posted by estopped
on May 2, 2001 -
8 comments
Happy New Year! It's not too early to think about your safety and well-being at the New Year's bash you're planning on attending (or hosting).
posted by ethmar
on Dec 28, 2000 -
7 comments
Higher beer taxes = lower STD rates? Apparently our government thinks so. I thought the first thing they taught you in statistics class was that correlation does not always equal causation. And if cheap beer equals high STD rates, then this college town I'm in must be in big need of antibiotics.
posted by UWliberal
on Apr 27, 2000 -
2 comments
The
Shmaltz Brewing Company out of San Francisco is the brewer of He'brew, the Chosen Beer. Be sure to try the Sammy Davis, Jr., which is a cocktail of Guinness floating atop He'brew Genesis Ale. L'Chaim!
posted by tdecius
on Oct 10, 1999 -
0 comments
