It's Kentucky Derby Time, and That Means "Julep Time"
Paris Wolfe, cleveland.com
If You Prefer Your Julep with Literary Support, Here are the Will and Walker Percy Approaches
Or You Can do the Fred Sanford Approach, and Use Ripple to Make a "Mint Jipple" (a chart of Fred's Ripple cocktails)
Speaking of Ripple: It's Featured in This Great Video from Modern Drunkard Magazine, Along with Zima and Billy Beer.
Notable Shots from that Hilarious Video
Coors marketed Zima to appeal to a "mythical demographic': men who don't like the taste of beer. Its actual demographic, it turns out, was women and (what the alcohol industry likes to call) "pre-legal consumers."
Zima allowed even light beer drinkers to feel manly and macho.
Early Zima sales were fostered by an urban legend that it wouldn't register on a breathalyzer.
Billy Carter thought Billy Beer might allow him to become the Colonel Sanders of beer.
The Billy Beer manufacturer quickly cranked out 2 billion cans . . . of the "cheapest crap they could legally call 'beer.'" The hope? They'd sell all of it before people realized it was swill. It didn't work. There were so many extra Billy Beers, you still buy one today for just $1.
Ripple, despite Sanford and Son's efforts, never caught on, primarily because it was too strong for youngsters who wanted something sweeter (and who migrated to Boone's Farm) and not strong enough for the urban demographic. The United Fruit Workers strike against Gallo took specific aim at Ripple.
It also suffered intense (and just) criticism based on aesthetics.
If You Want More History about Gallo's Fortified Wines
