Bar Hopping with the Left
My Dad used to subscribe to Esquire, but he said it simply turned too leftist for him (gentlemanly living for Communists?). Nonetheless, they have a good drinking page, which I stumbled across earlier this week: Esquire Drinks Database. It's one of the best drinking pages in cyberspace. I just wish I had seen its "Best Bars in America" page before I went to San Francisco, where I was probably within spitting distance of Bourbon & Branch:
The classic cocktail is the current generation's drug of choice, manhattans its heroin, martinis its cocaine, aviations its methaqualone. Nowhere is that more apparent than at Bourbon & Branch, where after a bit of silly but effective rigmarole with reservations and passwords, you find yourself in a speakeasy full of young but knowledgeable drinkers absorbing cocktails that would have made a pre-Prohibition Broadway dandy nod in approval.
Then again, the Hideout in Chicago looks more like my style:
Unfortunately, its site has a decidedly leftist bent. They say they welcome anarchists, but they support Big-Government Obama. Oh well, I guess that just brings me back to where I started: leftist Esquire magazine.
Wanna Visit All of 'Em Before I Die
The Brewers Association has also announced the top 50 breweries in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2008. No surprise with the first four. I was disappointed to see the baby killers at number 6, but encouraged to see my local favorite, Bell's Brewery, at 21. I was also happy to see Summit Brewing at 27. It's apparently a pro-life, Catholic-run organization. I've also heard that Spoetzl Brewery in Texas is Catholic, but it didn't crack the Top 50 list, and it cracked the Top 10.
Guzzling in Norway
I never gave it much thought before, but I guess Norway has a reputation for horrible beer. Interesting article about one craft brewer that is trying to reverse that image and the oppressive Scandinavian government that's making it hard on him. Excerpt:
Since launching Nogne O (naked isle) six years ago, the gregarious, bespectacled Norwegian has begun transforming his country's carbonated landscape. With an artisan's touch and missionary zeal, he crafts bold, flavorful porters, stouts, India pale ales and herb-packed oddities more in line with experimental American microbrews than Norway's watery swill.
In many ways, it's a return to Norway's norm. A couple hundred years ago, the government ordered farmers to grow hops and brew beer. If farmers refused, they were fined or could lose their land. Special brews were even crafted to honor deceased Norwegians. “In the summertime, this could be a problem,” explains Nogne O manager Kjell Einar Karlsen. “Because of the hot weather, beers could take six to eight days to brew– and you couldn't bury the body until the beer was ready.”
Miscellaneous
*Happy birthday to my mother. A fine woman, as evidenced by the superb quality of this blog (my modesty knows no bounds).
*Received in an email: "Wait a minute now, I didn't authorize ATTACKS on the Pirates, I authorized A TAX on the pirates"
I'm thinking this might be quixotic: "Landmark Legal Foundation . . . nominated nationally syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize."
