Dethroner » Booze

Bill Bumgarner on Tequila

Joel — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:35:52 +0000

Bill Bumgarner explains tequila in more detail than you probably ever thought necessary:

First, Cuervo Gold is not good tequila. It is actually a really terrible product, quality wise, backed by some brilliant market. Sadly, most of the tequila consumed in the United States is Cuervo Gold or something equally as bad. And by “bad”, I mean bad taste and vicious hangover.

Good tequila is almost always a tequila that is made from alcohol distilled from 100% blue agave. Specifically, the species Agave Weber Tequilana. This plant of the class Liliopsida (Lilies) has nothing to do with cactus. Blue agave is grown primarily in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

More specifically, Cuervo gold is a Tequila Mixto, Joven Abocado or, more precisely, young and adulterated tequila.

By Mexican law, adulterated tequilas are at least 51% blue agave. The other 49% is generally comprised of the absolute cheapest, nastiest, sugar cane based liquor. If you are familiar with big city corner bodegas, the cheap rum in the plastic bottle on the bottom shelf behind the counter. “Bum rum” we called it in NYC.

What is good tequila? [Friday.com]

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Trav-L-Bar Case: The Drinking Man’s Best Friend

Mark — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:41:38 +0000

Whether you’re looking to liven up a dull business meeting or trying to make that road trip a bit more exciting, the Trav-L-Bar lets the alcoholic in you feel right at home.

A classic way to keep your booze by your side at all times. Only $55, shipped. (Booze not included.)

DrinkoftheWeek.com
Amazon.com

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Video – Booze Babes

Jonas — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:16:47 +0000

This montage features some of the nice young ladies I met last month at the Nightclub & Bar Trade Show in Las Vegas.

watch the video: Booze Babes

read more about the Nightclub & Bar Show

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Rattle Snake Vodka

Jonas — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:52:08 +0000

This will put some hair on your chest. Forget the worm, this bottle of vodka has a 10 inch rattler stewing. Earlier this week Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents seized 411 bottles of Rattle Snake infused vodka at Bayou Bob’s Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch in Texas. Apparently, Bob didn’t have a license to sell booze. Oooops.

TABC officials said alcohol containing snakes or scorpions is popular in Asian cultures. An Internet search found operations selling Thai scorpion vodka, cobra whiskey, giant centipede whiskey, herbal gecko lizard wine and Mekong River eel wine.

Read the whole story: Ft. Worth Star Telegram (via)

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Havana Club Rum – Not for US

Jason — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:29:16 +0000

I was recently introduced to the boozy splendor that is premium dark rum. I’ve primarily been drinking Ron Zacapa Centenario 23, a Guatemalan rum. It’s wonderful, smokey, syrupy and sweet. When I spent a week on a dive boat last summer, a fifth of this rum kept me fine company.

I have only heard of the fantastical experience that is Havana Club. A premium dark rum that unless I remember sometime when I’m ex-US to ask for, I will likely never taste. Why? It seems most of the world can have Havana Club — but not we Americans.

Announcing the results, the joint venture company, Havana Club International, says that the authentic Cuban rum is on course to make five million cases by 2013. The Havana-based company exports to 124 countries, excluding the US where Cuban-made products are banned.

Oh well.

Havana Club breaks three million cases [Drinks International]

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Super Bowl XLII Drinking Game

Jonas — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:32:22 +0000

I was already to sit down and write my own drinking game for the Super Bowl, but I ran across this on le basketbawl an NBA blog of all things, but this guy nailed it. So why recreate the wheel? I got drinking to do!

Here ’s my favorites.
Chug your beer ( or take a shot ) every time:

– You see Peyton Manning in a commercial.
- The camera finds its way onto the Manning Family.
- An announcer makes reference to Gisele Bundchen!
- Randy Moss is noted as now being a hard worker or mature.
- Bill Parcells is brought up.
- You hear a player is giving it “110%”!
- You hear the word “Dynasty.”
- The Miami Dolphins or Don Shula or champagne are mentioned.
- “American Idol” is mentioned.
- Vince Lombardi’s name is brought up.

and one of my own:
Joe Buck forgets that Eli Manning isn’t Payton and calls him Payton.

read the whole list:
This Year’s Super Bowl XLII Drinking Game

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Whiskipedia: Exactly What It Sounds Like

Joel — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:20:40 +0000

While I generally think that genre-specific Wikipedia replacements are sort of pointless—why not just create more Wikipedia entries?—I can’t help but be entertained by the newly-launched “Whiskipedia,” which aims to become the “definitive online resource for all things Whisk(e)y.”

The initial content is drawn from Gavin Smith’s Whisky: A Book of Words (with permission).

Main Page [Whiskipedia.org]

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Canadian Club: Your Mom Wasn’t Your Dad’s First

Joel — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:10:27 +0000

“Damn right your dad drank it” is probably the best alcohol tag line I’ve ever seen.

Full-sized JPG [Dethroner] (Thanks, packphour!)

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F the TSA*: Man Chugs Liter of Vodka to Avoid Being Wasteful

travis — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:42:06 +0000

A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing a liter (two pints) of vodka at an airport security check instead of handing it over to comply with new carry-on rules, police said Wednesday.

The 64-year-old man was immediately rushed to the hopsital for alcohol poisoning, but still, way to damn the man old German guy.

Man chugs liter of vodka in airport security line [MSNBC]

*Technically it’s not the TSA since it happened in Germany, but you still get the idea.

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The Party

Joel — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:29:01 +0000

This collection of vintage snapshots, some mildly NSFW, reminds us that we need to work much, much harder to ensure this happens at our next party.

The Party [SquareAmerica.com] (Thanks, Alex!)

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Radegast Biergarten: Williamsburg’s New Beer Hall

Joel — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:00:52 +0000

Today’s Thrillist missive is about the Radegast Biergarten, a new Polish/Slovakian beer hall with rough-hewn tables, retractable roof panels, tons of beer and cordials, and lots of chewy Eastern European staples like schnitzel and braised rabbit. I’m sure it’ll be packed to the gills, but it sounds like a fun place to hang out without going all the way to Queens.

Radegast Biergarten is at 113 N. 3rd St at Berry and will be opening Thursday. I’ll give it a few weeks to settle in before visiting. (Going to Williamsburg is a pain in the ass for me anyway, so it’s reserved for special occasions.)

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HOWTO: Make Vodka Pills

Joel — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:16:27 +0000

“Chadzilla” documents the process used by the chefs at Adria to create “vodka pills,” alcoholic confections made from a booze reduction and cornstarch.

There are only 2 components to this process… the cornstarch (which serves as a casting mold and as a reactant to the liquid) and the alcohol flavored syrup (which will form a ’shell’ upon contact with the cornstarch surrounding it). How you make and treat the 2 components is what causes the magic.

making vodka pills in 24 hours [Chadzilla]

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Enema Reagents to Avoid: Sherry

Joel — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:29:01 +0000

From the surprisingly fantastic “Crime Scene KC” blog:

Authorities have dropped charges against a Texas woman who allegedly gave her husband enemas using sherry. (Insufficient evidence, they say.) The man died of alcohol poisoning and had a .47 BAC at time of death. The wife has told the local newspaper that her husband had an addiction for enemas. The alcohol? That was his way of getting drunk.

Dying by alcohol enema is now known as “The Lone Star.”

Sherry enema not as awesome as it sounds [Blogs.KansasCity.com]

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Well Drink: The Hot Toddy

Joel — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:10:28 +0000

Inspired by a post on Imbibe and the imminent flu season, my mind wandered today to the hot toddy, a cocktail most commonly used as a folk remedy. The variations abound, but the base is simple: brandy, rum, or whisky; something hot, typically black tea, but perhaps coffee or cocoa; a sweetener, traditionally honey—all served warm. Obviously certain permutations of the recipe have their own names—whisky and coffee is “Irish Coffee,” for example—but the basic brandy, tea, and honey mix, perhaps jazzed up with a few spices, seems to be the most traditional for addressing a cold-weather ailment.

For some reason I happen to have some brandy around. I can’t wait to get sick!

Imbibe has asked its readers to contribute their favorite variations.

The Japanese have a somewhat similar hot drink for colds called Tamagozake, made of heated sake, sugar, and a raw egg.

Toddy Time [Imbibe Unfiltered]

Image: Fabulous 0ne

Previously: Nalewka Babuni 2.0: Super Anti-Oxidant Health Booze [Dethroner]

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Lucid Absinthe Supérieure: Almost the Real Deal; Update: Perhaps the Real Deal!

Joel — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:39:40 +0000

The Times showcases “Lucid,” a new almost-nearly-but-not-quite absinthe clone made that omits thujone, the supposedly hallucinogenic ingredient that was the toehold used by prohibitionists to prevent the sale of the green tincture in 1912:

In May, Viridian Spirits of Manhasset, N.Y., introduced in New York a product called Lucid, which it says is the first legal and authentic absinthe in the country since the ban. Viridian was able to skirt the regulations by omitting (or almost omitting) thujone, the chemical compound cited in the law. Unlike the absinthe substitutes, Lucid is produced from the plant Artemesia absinthium, or grand wormwood, making it the genuine article. Or at least as genuine as the law allows.

A Dethroner serving suggestion: Drink as much absinthe as you like while not being a twat about it.

A Fond Hello [NYTimes.com]
Product Page [DrinkLucid.com]

Reviews: First Sip: Lucid Absinthe [FoodAndWine.com]
Lucid Absinthe, Taste Test [LouchedLounge.com]
Absinthe Arrives in New York, and We Start Drinking It Immediately [Grub Street]

Bonus Link: Korres Absinthe Shave Cream (U.K. Only) [Brandish]

Update: Jared Gurfein, president of Virdian Spirits, chimes in below in the comments. In part:

Lucid contains some, but less than 10 ppm thujone. This is required under US law which considers less than 10 ppm to be ‘thujone free’. This is also the law in many other countries as well. Any absinthe that comes to the US will have to meet this requirement. However, according to extensive research conducted by T.A. Breaux, who is our distiller and the world’s foremost expert on absinthe, as well as a chemist by training, Absinthe from the Belle Epoqué period also typically contained less than 10 ppm thujone.

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100,000 Moosehead Brews Stolen

travis — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:54:55 +0000

Hey Ontario, sorry for your loss.

Two tractor-trailers carrying 70,000 cans and 44,000 bottles of Moosehead Lager were stolen early Wednesday morning at a transport company’s facility in Mississauga, Ont.

The beer company says the retail value of the load is $200,000.

Moosehead isn’t necessarily my favorite beer north of the border, but 100,000 beers being stolen is unfortunate regardless of the brand.

Over 100,000 cans, bottles of Moosehead stolen [CNEWS]

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RoFo Beer Dispensing Headgear

travis — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:43:30 +0000

A Slave to my Passions since 1989, I, “Mad” Randy Flann, have enjoyed developing nearly two hundred “concepts of convenience” which I call RoFo Headgear. Many of these have been featured across the globe in the hippest magazines…

Stay class Mad Randy Flann. Oh and invest some money into a web designer. Your Web site looks like a Geocities homicide scene.

RoFo Headgear

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Building Drinking-Safe Suburbs

Joel — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:51:22 +0000

Part of the reason I have some pity for people who get busted for drunk driving is that I understand why it happens. (Although it’s still not an excuse.) Most towns in America are designed around driving; it is literally impossible in most places to go get a drink without traveling.

(Yes, get a cab. I agree. But I can sympathize without condoning.)

One small community in Westminster, Colorado has been constructed with an eye toward mitigating the drinking-and-driving problem, both physically—there are bars within walking distance—and socially, by encouraging families to get together on porches and in parks to drink. Sounds pretty great.

Every home in Bradburn includes a large front porch—not just a token 2 foot concrete stoop. Garages are all in the back, and homes here also have very small setbacks (the distance between the house and the sidewalk, or front yard), meaning the porches sit right above the sidewalks. This means people sitting on their front porches easily see neighbors walking by, and they stop to talk, creating a community bond that is so elusive in most traditional suburban neighborhoods.

Won’t You Be My Drinking Buddy Neighbor? [Fermentarium via Boing Boing]

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