I've been a hypocrite: Writing about Brews You Can Use and not drinking any brews. I have a stomach ailment known as candygutitis. At times, it causes me to react severely (read: examine my toilet's insides repeatedly) after drinking. The problem had pretty much gone away with medication, but while I was in Yellowstone, it came back. I drank one (yes, one 12-ounce beer; a Labatts) and was terribly sick the next morning. I bounced back by 11:00 a.m., so the day wasn't totally shot, but it made me gun shy. In addition, I was so busy getting ready for vacation that I only drank once between June 30th and leaving for Yellowstone. The result: I had drank a grand total of six beers for the entire month of July. I partially remedied that last night. I went to the local brewpub after work, taking a bankruptcy law magazine for light reading, and ordered a big Leinenkugels Sunset Wheat. Most righteous. My wife later joined me for more beer and dinner. I woke up this morning with the slightest of headaches (gone now) and no problems in the gizzard. So it's celebration time. I'd crack a beer, but it's only 6:30 a.m. In lieu:
Brews You Can Use
This is one of the wildest drink articles I've ever read: Ten Fine Liquor Journeys. I'm not sure I'd call the journeys "fine." Perhaps "bizarre," "weird," "esoteric." But not "fine." The first blurb:
Only the daring–and deranged–dare drink snake wine, a potent Vietnamese tradition that's potentially deadlier than a hangover. A poisonous cobra is submerged in rice wine or grain alcohol, creating a purported cure for everything from rheumatism to impotence. Though it's become popular across Southeast Asia, snake wine originated in Vietnam, where it's served from the Mekong Delta to Hanoi, either in steeped quantities or liquor is mixed with snake blood or bile.
The other journeys:
United States Whiskey Trail
Chartreuse, France
Japan's Ten Sake Regions
Scotland's Malt Trail and Whisky Coast
La Ruta de Tequila, Mexico
Artisanal Rum, Martinique
Cognac Region, France
Soju, Korea (soju–a slightly sweet, vodka-like spirit traditionally made from grain)
Izmir's Raki, Turkey (raki, a clear brandy made from grapes and raisins and flavored with anise–it tastes like licorice)
I notice the story spells it "whiskey" when referring to the U.S., but "whisky" with reference to Scotland. Typo or different spellings?
__________
The War Against Beer Pong. The gist:
The point of beer pong is to get your friends drunk – and parents and university administrators generally frown on that sort of thing. Last fall, Georgetown University banned beer pong, specially made beer-pong tables and inordinate numbers of Ping-Pong balls and any other alcohol-related paraphernalia in its on-campus dorms – even in the rooms of students of legal drinking age. The University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Tufts University have also banned drinking games.
Perhaps the most-accurate observation in the piece: "As long as students 'have access to alcohol, they will create drinking games out of any activity.'" He's right about that. Let's see, as a student I played drinking games made from:
-Quarters and cups (bounce quarter into cup)
-Pounding hands on table (everyone pounds hands, yells "What's the name of the game! THUMPER! How's it played?! SIGNS!, then pass signs around silently until some drunk misses his, then he must drink)
-Ping Pong (put cup on table, give up a point--and take a drink--every time opponent hits your cup)
-Billiards (all sorts of variations)
-Dice (Ole, a game of bluffing fellow drunks)
-The board game Risk (unsurprisingly, I don't recall what we did)
-Checkers (cups of beer instead of checker pieces; you drink your men as they get jumped)
-The Radio (you name the song first, the others drink)
-The Bob Newhart Show (take a drink every time someone on the show says "Bob"; more daunting than it sounds).
And I'm sure I'm missing a few.
__________
The manly pet: In the rain forest of Malaysia, scientists have found a small mammal, closely related to primates, whose major source of food is a type of beer.
__________
A loyal TDE reader tells me this is BYCU-worthy: Fat Heads Brewery and Saloon, a haven for handmade ale and foods with a local twist, is opening its first franchise location at the former Danny Boy Farmer Market location at Columbia and Lorain roads. I've never been to Pittsburgh, much less Fat Heads, but it looks like a great joint.
__________
As long as we're on regional news:
At 3 p.m. Saturday, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans will present "The Southern Brewing Experience" with the Lazy Magnolia Brewing Co. from Mississippi. The event includes basic beer education, ingredients, pairing beer with food, and a taste of prize-winning Southern Pecan Nut Brown Ale.
Re: "Pairing beer with food." What goes with squirrel and possum?
__________
I've seen this saying a few times the past couple of years. Thought it was worth passing along:
