Brews You Can Use
Well, LeBron led the Lakers with 26 points last night, but they lost in his debut. I've slowly warmed to LeBron over the years, even if he toes the BLM line on all things politics. This recent piece ratcheted him up a few levels in my book: LeBron James says his sons, ages 14 and 11, drink wine with their dad. It's good to hear public figures strike a reasonable chord when it comes to alcohol. He didn't say he and the kids get hammered together. It's clearly a situation in which the boys have a glass of wine with dinner, and every sane person knows there's nothing wrong with that. The neo-Prohibitionists, of course, ain't havin' nun of it.
Speaking of children, Kentucky now has two barrels of bourbon for every child . . . and adult. But don't worry, the kids aren't drinking all that bourbon. It's simply a profit deal: "The distilling industry is an $8.5 billion economic and tourism engine, according to the KDA, that generates 17,500 jobs with $800 million in payroll. The KDA's Kentucky Bourbon Trail and Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Trail draw hundreds of thousands of visitors who made 1.2 million stops at participating distilleries last year, according to the KDA."
I might have to expound on this a lot more in the podcast: Communism continues to cause heavy drinking in Eastern European countries. I'm reminded that alcoholism is also rampant in Scotland . . . which has become one of the most welfare-laden regions of Europe. Substance abuse is also rampant in the inner cities. There's a common theme here.
I've never, ever been into morning drinking. This, despite the fact that I admire a few practitioners of the craft: "In an e-mail, biographer Joseph Pearce told me, 'It's certainly safe to assume that Tolkien, Lewis, et al drank ale during the morning gatherings at the Eagle and Child. This is clear from the memories of others who joined them at these gatherings and is also clear from at least one of Tolkien's letters.'" Link. If you like to drink in the morning, and you are the snobbish sort, here's an article for you: How to Pair Wine With Breakfast Sandwiches.