Who Needs Beer?

Kansas Blue Law Bans Sale of Alcohol During Oktoberfest Festival

10 Ways to Celebrate Bourbon

And do I love to "celebrate" Bourbon. I have got try the maple bourbon ice cream. Yes, it is a slide show from the Huffington Post but, boy do I have to work my way through this list because oddly for me I have tried none of them.

8 Beers Americans No longer Drink

Msnbc has a list of beers that have had tremendous declines in sales over the last five years. Their headline is a bit misleading since they include Budweiser on the list which sells 18 million barrels a year which is an interesting definition of "nobody" and then they go on to point out that the beer that sells the most is...Bud light. So I doubt InBev is gong anywhere anytime soon. On the other hand regular Budweiser has gone lost 7 million barrels in consumption a year so I guess there are quite a few executives who are currently worried about keeping their jobs.

Open That Damned Bottle of Wine!

Way back in the year 2000 (which was either the last year of the 20th century or the first year of the 21rst, depending on who you ask) Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher who wrote the Wall Street Journal's wine column got tired of hearing people with a fantastic (and expensive) bottle of wine somewhere in their house refuse to open until an undefined "special occasion" that never seemed to arrive. So they did exactly what you would do in that situation--they created their own holiday. "Open That Bottle Of Wine Night", where the "special occasion" would be opening that wine. They scheduled it for the last Saturday night in February (which means of course that we missed it--but hey, I've only been doing this blog for less that two, weeks cut me some slack). It's a great idea but I don't think it goes far enough, every night is open that bottle of wine night. Hmm, maybe that goes a bit too far--not that I'd be averse to everybody buying a bottle of Duckhorn Vineyards Three Palm Vineyard Merlot 2001 $99 (one of my favorite wines in the world) every night after work, especially if they bought it from me, but what I mean is that people a messing up the price value ratio when they are talking about wine.

Say you you and three or four friends meet a bar or restaurant for couple of drinks to sit around and talk. Each one of you can easily spend 10 or 20 bucks on two or three glasses of wine or mixed drinks. for that kind of money you guys could have bought a bottle Duckhorn and sat around in someone's living room talking with your friends and drinking the best wine any of you have every tasted. Heck for less than $15 dollars per person you could try Chimney Rock Napa Cab. The purpose of wine (kinda like life) is to create memories. And aren't you going to create better memories at someones house drinking a spectacular wine then sitting in some booth somewhere drinking generic beer and eating chicken wings underneath a stuffed moose head that's wearing sunglasses? Well aren't you. So what are you waiting for?

By the way, I am aware that I'm not a disinterested observer in this as I am actually selling the wine we're talking about. But seriously, how many times have you balked at buying a $15 bottle of wine and the next day paid $10 dollars for a glass of wine at a restaurant? Add it up, I think my point will remain valid.

"Drunken Elk Rescued From Swede's Apple Tree"

Not only is that the real headline, it accurately describes the article. The explanation:

According to Johansson, it looked very much like the elk was severely drunk after eating too many fermenting apples.
Drunken elk are common in Sweden during the autumn season when there are plenty of apples lying around on the ground and hanging from branches in Swedish gardens.

My favorite quote:

“My neighbour recognised it as the animal that almost ran into her car earlier in the day. She was pretty sure the elk was already under the influence,“ said Johansson

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Brewdog, Tokyo 12oz. $13

My favorite beer. Bar none. Let me repeat that....... MY......FAVORITE.....BEER. As I may have mentioned before I like extreme flavors and Tokyo is as extreme as beers get. It's an imperial stout brewed with cranberries and jasmine (cranberries? jasmine? Yes. And yes) then aged on oak chips. It is an epic beer. Also 18% alcohol, like I said, epic. Ultra rich ultra intense spicy and herbal flavors. It drinks like a port. The bad news is that there was only one case left in Maryland and no one knows when or if we are going to get any more. The good news is that we snagged the last case. this may be your last chance take it.

Cork!

Chris Madden has a very pro cork essay in Gizmodo. And let me just say I agree with him as far as it goes. Cork has amazing properties and which explains why it has been the stopper of choice for mankind over the last few thousand years. But...(you knew there was a but didn't you?) corks can ruin wine. It can leak a chemical called TCA into the wine which while harmless, tastes terrible. There is some controversy as to how many bottles of wine are ruined by corks but the estimates I've heard boil down to 5% give or take. That's a lot of wine.

The pro-cork people fire back that cork is superior to screw caps no matter how cleverly designed when it comes to aging wine (read Chris's article to find out why). But aging I think is beside the point since the vast majority of wine drinkers in the world don't age their wine. They buy wine and drink it within two weeks at the most. So why should they have to suffer to have one out of every 20 bottles of wine they buy be undrinkable? They shouldn't, and know whit the new stelvin screw caps they don't have to. Traditionalist beware screw caps are winning and very soon will be the industry standard.

Earthquakes, Hurricanes......

Next I'm expecting a zombie apocalypse. I hope they like wine. Or at least a decent craft beer.