It's February 29th. It happens once every four years. That means we're allowed to drink four times as much beer tonight. You can cite this blog as authority. Anyone who disagrees is obviously mathematically challenged.
It's a good drinking weekend for me. My children's parochial school holds its annual fundraiser tonight and tomorrow (mostly tomorrow). It's an auction party, and it's very cool, which must be a fairly rare thing for a parochial school fundraiser. We sell enough beer to warrant leasing a beer truck, which means we'll have more than just Budweiser and Bud Lite. In fact, we're getting a premium beer (this one) that meets the German Beer Purity Law. It'll be a bit pricey, but reasonable ($3 for 16 ounces). I'm really looking forward to it. I'll end up dropping over a thousand dollars on auction items ("Had to buy that EShPN fishing basket!" "But honey, you hate fishing." "Yeah but, it's like, you know, sho cool"), but I budget for it every year.
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Jack Daniels' master distiller is retiring. It's fine with the folks at Modern Drunkard Magazine.
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Interesting pie chart:
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The last section of Chapter 1 is now posted to Beer Man (see left sidebar). The new stuff starts after the triple asterisk.
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I'll have to recommend that my local brewpub start this tradition: Naming a local beer drinker of the year. Too bad the article doesn't say what criteria is used. Are you, for instance, automatically disqualified if you drink Bud Lite? Do you have to drink the sponsor's beer, or are you expected to drink hundreds of different brands? Is it based on objective criteria at all, or is it rather a subjective thing ("Joe here is a lot of fun and likes his beer. He can drink for hours without a urinal break")?
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Philadelphia is celebrating Beer Week from March 7-16. Beer has apparently impaired their ability to count days, but no matter. It's a great idea, and I'm envious. When I tried to set up a beer tent at my town's annual celebration in May, I was torpedoed faster than a British cruiser in 1914. Civic organizations beg for volunteers, but the volunteering must be on their terms. I could accept it if the organizations weren't neo-Prohibitionist, but when they are, they need to offer their services without my help.
"Oh, I don't mind drinking. I just don't want children to see it."
Hey lady, it ain't a Tijuana dobbin show. Then again, to you maybe it is. But of course you're not against drinking.
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Good news out of the Associated Press: More than two decades after the country established a uniform drinking age of 21, a nascent movement is afoot to allow 18- to 20-year-olds to legally buy alcohol under some circumstances.
Yes, I support a younger drinking age, if for no other reason than this: youngsters aren't prohibited from having sex. Sex is a serious sin, and it ruins lives. Immoderate use of alcohol does too, of course, but not like illicit sex, which results in diseases, abortions, and father-less families. In fact, if you take drunk driving fatalities out of the equation, youthful drinking causes very few problems. I realize drunk driving fatalities are a major issue, but is there no way to address the problem besides partial prohibition?
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I've never understood Haiku and don't have much desire to. But I appreciate the niche this guy is carving out for himself: Beer Haiku Daily. Sample:
My beer pays the bills
It's need is my livelihood
Always at the party
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Beer Picture of the Week: