Well, that clears everything up for me. According to a new study in Cell Metabolism, there's still hope for winos everywhere that a life of swilling red wine will keep you healthy. In short, it was found that whether given in small, medium, or large doses, resveratrol, a naturally occurring "dirty molecule," helped American* mice live longer.
ScienceDaily.com
They can't yet identify what exactly is going on, but this article marks a positive turn in the experimental-drug-development phase for big pharmaceuticals hoping to find the anti-aging pill. I don't know about you, but I plan on sitting back with a few boxes and not worrying at all about this until they can inject the solution into my Orange Tyson Chicken or something.
Beer bottles labeled so you know how much to drink for each musical note. Way cool idea, and to quote them: "Get some friends together with a case, start a band, and get Tuned"
I am ashamed at myself for missing this story. I do not even know where to start on this one. I guess most things in North America go back to how much Canadians love hockey. Being a proud drinker of my birth state's beer, I heartily approve of President Obama's choice of a case of Yuengling to supplement the mandatory case of Molson.
Here's to a US victory over Sidney and the Canadians next time around!
An Uncommon Beer for the Uncommon Brewery. I don't have much to say about this other than that I love bacon, and I will be checking my end of the I-80 corridor for the pounders of bacon beer later this year. Expect an update when I get a taste - or get me a taste and I'll get you an update.
Earlier this week an awesome/awful crime was committed. Around 5,500 lbs of premium grapes were stolen in the middle of the night from a German vineyard. The gutsy thieves brought their own harvester and escaped with nothing but tracks in the mud.
Instead of the desperate work of professionals, I personally hope it was a pair or trio of home-brewers out to make the wine batch of their lives. How cool would it be to have a couple years worth of premium pirated wine locked away in your cellar? Just saying.
Click Here for the first post on the Brewmaster in Chief
The Medal of Honor is only given to members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life
above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an
enemy of the United States."Army Decorations Guide
There are only three living recipients of the Medal of Honor, and more than half since WWII have been awarded posthumously. Last Friday, President Obama obliged the request of the most recent recipient, former Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer, and had a beer with him on the Oval Office patio.
Meyer's choice of Budweiser was replaced by none other than the Brewmaster in Chief's "White House Honey Blond Ale." Whew, dodged a bullet there Mr. President - switching out the adjunct-laden Bud for some good ol' fashioned homebrew. This summer the President and his (likely the guys behind 90% of the brewing) lackeys put down some Honey Porter. Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery, has been giving help and suggestions to the White House, since they are just "experimenting."
All pictures and information were taken from the White House's own blogger site, http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com
I remember the first time I had absinthe very clearly. Wait, let me correct that. The first time I remember having absinthe is very clear:
Sitting in a bar in South Africa a large bartender with dreadlocks responded to my query for a good strong cocktail with "I'll make you my personal invention, a flaming goblin." He then proceeded to pour a shot of absinthe and a few dashes of a dark but aromatic high proof liqueur into a shot glass, light it on fire and toss it back - just to show me how it worked. Four or five hours and twice as many Flaming Goblins later, I had a new favorite bar in Jo'Burg.
A few years ago, when the laws in the US changed to make absinthe legal again (see this comprehensive Salon article), I investigated getting a bottle. But with prices what they are, I have no desire to buy a 60$ bottle lacking thujone.
In the end though, I think good absinthe is on the way soon. This week France finally lifted the last part of the 100 year ban and allowed Absinthe to be called Absinthe again. A dash of absinthe figures prominently in many historical cocktails, and for good reason. While a cup (even properly prepared) of absinthe can be difficult to approach, the depth and finish it can add to a carefully crafted cocktail is invaluable.
Redface Tip:
Check your local liquor store - I've only ever found this in one particular store in NJ - but if you are lucky enough it might be locally available. I know I pay $22-$24 for it.
As will typically happen given the reality of 24-hour news coverage, I got bored with stories about the Mississippi river flooding several days ago. Having lived through one serious flood in my life, I certainly empathize with those effected, but don't have any need to hear the same story thirty-five times in a row.
That said, Wednesday afternoon I heard a story with a different take on NPR - the music of the 1927 flood. What really caught me was when they played a section from Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy's "When the Levee Breaks". The legendary Led Zeppelin song - yeah - it was a cover of this song.
Inspired by the music of the 1927 flood, and in honor of the current flooding, I present to you my very own Muddy Delta Cocktail.
Muddy Delta
1 oz American Honey (Wild Turkey Whiskey)
3 Tbsp Demerara Sugar
1/2 oz Dark Rum
Guinness
I know this recipe is in a funny format - I put them in the order you prepare and not the way I usually put things down.
First pour the whiskey into a pony shot glass (1 oz glass). Set aside. Spoon the Demerara sugar into a wet ~10 oz rocks glass. Swirl the glass to make sure the sides are coated about 3/4 of the way up. Add the dark rum and then pop open your Guinness and pour it in. Before the Guinness has cleared, turn to whomever you are drinking with and say: "If it keeps on rainin'"- Eliciting the response: "Levee's goin' to break" - Drop the whiskey in and take a long slow drought.
A few notes about this cocktail: You may use brown sugar or raw sugar if you don't have Demerara laying around. Though a few bucks at a natural food market will get you enough Demerara to last you a year or two. There is (obviously) too much sugar in this cocktail. The intention is for you to have some sediment on the bottom and froth all down the glass when you finish.
Finally, here is the original recipe I started with, which got the response "Uck, it tastes like muddy water" from my taster.
Ever since I came across the Modern Drunkard article on beer fasting, I have wondered what the experience would be like. I did a fast once - only 72 hours, but it was enough to go through a few of the thought processes that seem to go through fasters' brains and bodies. And no, this is not the part where I tell you about my bowel movements.
A recent successful beer fast by J. Wilson for lent was impressive. He brewed his own beer for the experiment, pictured above, and kept an inspiring blog throughout his fast. And, he finished it all off with a bacon smoothie.Check out his blog for the full details, but here is his video post for his 40th day.
Stranded out in the cold - frostbitten and hungry. With nothing to eat but dried seal meat, few supplies and ambitions dwindling. Nothing to drink but delicious scotch. Sounds like a hell of a good life, huh?
As a follow up to my previous post, more on Shackleton's Scotch below:
The "new" scotch is "well-balanced, with soft fruity characters and a touch of smoke." While it sounds like he's reading a cheap wine label, and 'smoke' is code for 'metal carboys' I'd drop a fair amount of money on a bottle of that in the event that they make more of them.
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan spared nothing and no one - not even breweries! Kirin's brewery in Northern Japan was hit hard. It sits right on the harbor and you can see the giant tanks of beer that have been knocked down. I just hope the next picture that comes out of this brewery is the workers having lashed the tanks together and creating a drunken raft to float on to safety...
Barack Obama - The United States first Brewmaster in Chief
Last month at the White House Super Bowl party something historic occurred. For the first time ever in American history, the President served beer brewed on site. The beer, which was the "White House Honey Ale," was made using honey from the White House beehive.
At the party, there were approximately 100 12oz bottles served, and there are plans in the works not only for more beer, but TO GROW HOPS IN THE WHITE HOUSE GARDEN.
All pictures and information were taken from the White House's own blogger site, http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com
I don't normally tune in to Glee - I have watched a few episodes from each season, usually when I am in the mood for 40 minutes of pop songs actually sung and performed well - and I'm doing something else at the same time so Glee is just background. The most recent episode, S2 E14, is all about drinking, and I loved it. Anytime I get to hear "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer," I'm not complaining too loud.
I am not encouraging you become a fan of the show (and its crappy high school drama storyline), but if you have enjoyed music videos before, and like alcohol, you should check out this episode. It's on Hulu
Aged Scotch dating to the 1907 Nimrod Expedition to Antarctica, led by Ernest Shackleton was flown by private jet to a lab in Scotland for testing and tasting.
Researchers could hear the Scotch sloshing around despite the -22ºF.
I like my whisky almost any way, from rocket fuel to smooth and smoky, but I can't imagine how rich this stuff must taste. My only problem is, I am the chagrined owner of a case of 'aging' dandelion wine. Now this dandelion wine is home-brew as most of you know. My concern with this Nimrod Whisky is that no matter how excited you are about a bottle that's been hidden away, that doesn't mean it's any good. Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway, since the scotch being tested and tasted for six weeks before going back into cold storage.
History has always pointed to how venerable alcohol is, but new evidence published by the Journal of Archaeological Science suggests that wine may be even older than we thought.
In a cave in Armenia, "A shallow, thick-rimmed, 3-by-3 1/2-foot clay basin appears to be a wine press where people stomped grapes with their feet." NYT Article. How cool is that? over 7,000 years ago, people already knew the effects of cultivating the sweet nectar of grapes - and even built a specialized facility for making it.
Download the journal entry for all the science behind how they know it was cultivated wine - some interesting data about syringic acid contents then and now as well as plenty of other archaeological practices.
While I'm sure it would bring you joy to hear I didn't post anything on repeal day because I was too drunk, sadly I cannot make that claim. It was down in my calendar to celebrate - and celebrate it I did in the most appropriate fashion. However, I did forget to finish my post and get it published at 21:00 hours. Sorry about that.
Some of the best mixologists in the world attended the DC Craft Bartenders Guild Ball on December 4th to celebrate the 21st amendment. Drinks were poured, good times were had, and all of it auspiciously legal.
This July a remarkable find was made in Finnish waters - the world's oldest Champagne. The champagne dates back to somewhere around 185 years ago. Wow.
Champagne this old makes the 8-week Welch's brew look just as gross as it should look. Everything about a 185 year-old bottle of champagne is awesome. Not the least of which is that it was found at the bottom of the ocean... again, Wow!
Cheers to the intrepid diver who swigged a bottle expecting salt water and was instead greeted with sweet alcohol.
According to Champagne expert Richard Juhlin, the bottles could go for $135,000 each at auction depending on who shows up to bid.
The beauty in this new report on "Why Intelligent People Drink More Alcohol" is that it defines things so methodically that I couldn't find a single hole in the logic in two full reads (one sober as a monk at matins, the other a few degrees in). Evolutionarily speaking, smarter individuals try new things - and alcohol is new.
I love it! Plus, that zinger that finished off the third paragraph had me laughing my ass off.
The final paragraph also had a tidbit of sense that I find refreshing:
That such behavior [binge drinking and getting druuunk] is detrimental to health and has few, if any, positive consequences, is irrelevant for the Hypothesis. [The hypothesis] does not predict that more intelligent individuals are more likely to engage in healthy and beneficial behavior. Instead, it predicts that more intelligent individuals are more likely to engage in evolutionarily novel behavior.
Intelligent people are not, ceteris paribus, more likely to make good (healthy, moral, salacious) decisions, they are just more apt to do novel evolutionary things. Brilliant! This means I can still plausibly claim to be intelligent while also explaining why I am ombibulous and spent the whole day Sunday feeling like crap.
Most cultures have a word for their national liquor and it usually boils down to something resembling "Water of Life." While anyone knows I could launch into a stupefying yet sophistic rant about what that says about alcohol's value in society, history, and politics, I'll stick to the recent news that my friend Jake sent my way. Scottish Scientists Develop Whisky Biofuel.
Judging by the article, it's years down the line, but what's important to note is that it's an old process, and it uses pot ale, not whisky itself. When I first clicked the link, I was afraid it was going to be a scientific process that told me I could just pour liquor into my tank and drive on it... ...I'm glad that fear was unfounded.
They're starting a spin-off company from the university, so if you're interested in moving to Scotland and being a part of a project that might revolutionize the way people think about whisky, I'd investigate.
