The United States of Good Beer

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Liquid Lunch Drink of the Day: Bud Light

Since the Xmas Bash is tonight, today's Liquid Lunch Drink of the Day is the official beer of the WAPL Xmas Bash: Bud Light.

Available in bottles. Available in cans. Available at Waverly Beach tonight at the Xmas Bash.

At least until all you crazy drunks drink it all.

Best Beer Commercial... EVER

I think we just learned why Guinness stays so frothy...

Fried BEER???

I need to try this.  I really, really need to try this.

Fried Beer - Beer-filled pretzel pocket is deep-fried to a golden brown. One bite and the escaping beer serves as a dipping sauce. 21 and over, ID required.

 Gotta go to Texas to get 'em though... Here's the link.

Video Games + Beer = What Elwood Wants for Christmas

Remember how cool it was when that one friend in college built himself a "kegerator," the refrigerator for a beer keg, complete with tapper on the door, so you never had to pump and pour?

Remember how cool it was when one of your buddies got his hands on an old-school arcade console, allowing you to play Ms. Pac-Man, Street Fighter, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles without plunking quarters in every time you died?

Well, now take that first feeling of awesomeness, and multiply it exponentially with the second feeling of awesomeness.  What will you get?

Behold the incredible "Gamerator."  It's the full sized arcade cabinet... with a kegerator inside.  All for the low, low price of just $3,499.

Just check out some of the features as listed on their website:

• Access to over 1,000 classic and current arcade games.
• A refrigerated interior capable of holding a pony keg of domestic beer (international options also available)
• A 26 inch flat-panel HDTV 
• Two conveniently-placed cup holders to house your beverage while playing

So hopefully I'll be playing Contra, Mortal Kombat, and Rampage World Tour while enjoying freshly-poured, ice-cold beer sometime in the near future.  Or if you get one first, please invite me over.

Paris Hilton Brazillian Beer Commercial

Apparently the people of Brazil are also ceding that Americans are hotter than the rest of the world. In a new beer commercial, they're showing Paris Hilton dancing around with a can of beer while the entire nation of Brazil watches on, drooling. I can't tell if they're drooling over Paris Hilton or over the beer. Both look tasty.

Check out the commercial for Devassa Bem Loura beer from Brazil. Devassa means "Libertine." Bem Loura means "very blonde." Appropriate.

Thirsty? Pop a Böner!

That's Böner beer to you.

Check out the story of how one guy's novelty T-shirt has become  a booming beer business.

Or check out their web site at www.boner-beer.com

Happy Birthday, Beer Can!

New Jersey's Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company churned out the world's first beer can in 1935. The experiment took off and American drinkers haven't looked back since -- nowadays choosing cans over bottles for the majority of the 22 gallons of beer they each drink per year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Source: Live Science

You can forever thank Gottfried Krueger for videos like this:



Or get creeped out because of videos like this:

Have it your way... if your way involves getting drunk. And you know it does.

You spend a lot of time at bars destroying your liver.  You spend a lot of time eating fast food to destroy your arteries.  Now you can kill two birds (and possibly yourself) with one stone... one delicious flame-broiled stone.

Meet: the Whopper Bar: 
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-01-21-burger-king-beer_N.htm

Chapter 78.05: The Beerization of the Charity Gala

This just pisses me off. I have no problem with drinking, and I certainly have no qualms with people supporting a cause, but when someone thinks that drinking in and of itself should support a cause, well, that's where I get annoyed.

A co-worker put it like this, and I agree with her: "Call me old fashioned (or of advanced age, or whatever), but isn’t there something obnoxious about saying you don’t want to give time planting trees but will get drunk because you’re going to anyway, and a beer is a beer is a beer? OK, so I haven’t planted trees lately, either, and I do buy from companies that supposedly give a percentage of the proceeds to good causes even if I have to pay a few pennies more because I’m going to buy it anyway, but there’s something about this attitude that doing good shouldn’t inconvenience you or mean changing your lifestyle at all that’s really, really depressing to me."

When I was a kid, I sold stickers to support the Little League and sold candy bars to help out my school. I collected wrappers from soup cans and brought them into school. Whatever happened to collecting UNICEF pennies, or visiting orphanages? Drinking beer? That's not a charitable event.

You might argue that a charity gala is just a glorified way of drinking for a cause, and having attended a couple of them — and more importantly, knowing that those events rarely do much better than break even — I'd say you have a point. You might argue that the beer party is more honest, but the fact is, this is dishonest charity. It's not about charity, it's about getting drunk, it's about trying to get laid. Those may be worthy "causes" by themselves, but they are not charity (even if ugly people... sorry, won't finish that thought).

Do yourselves and the rest of humanity a favor: find a cause you believe in that helps other people, support it, and encourage others to do the same for their causes. Charity is intended to be unselfish. Give it a shot, I think you'll find it's far more buzz worthy than a six pack.

Chapter 77.1: Summertime, and the Living Is ...

We are closing in on the summer solstice. Last one to Stonehenge is a smelly druid!

I was a little surprised to discover that the moment of solstice -- that is, the exact minute at which the earth's axis is most oriented toward the sun (yet, ironically, the earth is farther away from the sun than it is during our winter, at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere) -- is at 11:59 GMT tonight. Seems like an odd time for it to occur, but I'm no solar scientist.

These days, summer isn't nearly as much fun as when I was a kid. Sure, the beers that I drink are legal, but that's not as much fun as when I was 17. And I haven't worked as a camp counselor for a loooong time now, so working outside with a couple built-in trips to a beach that I don't have to pay for is a thing of the past.

But it's still summer time, the best season of the year. Enjoy, everyone! And crack open a cold one for me.

Chapter 76.7: National "Take A Hike" Day

You may not have known it, but today is National Trails Day -- or as I like to call it: National 'Take a Hike' Day. While I'm sure the purpose of this day is to encourage people to walk through some of the many beautiful areas of our country -- mountain trails, forested areas, shorelines -- but I like the idea of telling people to take a hike.

The possibilities for corporate tie-ins are incredible. For example, Timberland might love this: "I can tell your wife's a hiker by that Timberland treadmark on your ass... Timberland: Take a hike!"

Ok, probably not what they have in mind.

Of course, today, the last thing I wanted to do was walk around in this oppressive heat; 96 degrees in early June is not my idea of fun. And tomorrow is expected to be worse. I already bought a six pack of cold beer. I'm in for the night, thank you!

So any one who wants me to head to a bar tonight ... Take A Hike!

Chapter 70.1: Turkey Time!

Ah, Thanksgiving! One of those uniquely American holidays that we should all be thankful for. Not only does it allow most of us to enjoy a four-day weekend, it also focuses on two of my favorite things: family and food. (I'd add football too, because it sounds good with the other "f" sounds, but I'm really a baseball guy.)

This year, my wife and I have gotten a break. For the first time in a few years, we've not volunteered to host Thanksgiving. I'm really glad, too, because work for me was very busy, and with the new kitten, Oreo, we've had a lot more tasks taking up our time than usual.

But enough about me. It's time for us all to go over the river and through the woods to the in-laws' house. Watch some football, drink some beer, eat lots of food, and laugh into the night. Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone! And if you're waking up early to partake in the various Black Friday sales, drive carefully. There are other nutjobs on the road too. Man, what's the deal with all the 4 a.m. store openings this year? That's a different topic...

Chapter 69.3: Happy Halloween!

My wife and I, who both enjoy a good horror film or episode of Ghost Hunters, went with some friends to the Nightmare Haunted House in New York. It was a blast! The Lower East Side venue looked like an old church, though I don't believe that's what it was.

Groups of twelve were allowed into the haunted house at one time. We wove our way through cramped hallways, never knowing when a masked person might pop out. In many rooms the the looming presence was quite obvious, standing before us or waiting in a corner for the right moment to make a person jump or scream. Each room had a different theme. In one, we had to walk over a bed that looked like someone it had been the scene of a bloodletting. I was in the lead at that point, and a woman dressed completely in black jumped upon the bed; there was nowhere to go, so I had to follow her up over the bed. In another room, at least a dozen bodies in white shrouds stood blocking the path; the room was filled with them. I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to walk through them or if they'd eventually open up some space. When I tried to go around one of them, he moved into my direction -- several times. He wouldn't let me go. It wasn't scary so much as it was confusing. But it was fun.

Also a lot of fun was the bar. Once you had your ticket, you could pre-game in the bar and get a pleasant buzz before entering the haunted house. (In addition to the basic generic beer choices, a nice touch was the brand of wine they served: Gato Negro -- black cat.) But if you're looking for a nice scare, get your tickets soon; the house closes after November 3.

Chapter 68.1: Pizza!

I don't want to suggest that by feeding the blogger (and his wife), anyone can get words of thanks on the blog. But I do want to thank Cammy and Frank for their generous gift of pizza from Chicago. (Oh yeah, I believe there were cheesecakes, too, though I've not actually seen them. ;-) The package arrived at a perfect time -- as you know, Cammy -- and our cat is pleased to have another sturdy box to play in. By the way, the photo to the side is not the actual pizza (or beer, for that matter), just an incredible facsimile.

Chapter 67.2: That Kind of Weekend

So many beers, so little time. Nice piece on Maine beers in the New York Times.

Chapter 60.63: Something Different

I've been ill most of this week, battling a cold that has left me depleted and dejected. So I think a little Irish music and memories of good times are in order. I can't offer you the music, but know that this night was a lot of fun. Hope you had a good time on St. Patrick's Day two months ago. This shot on the left is of the band we were seeing that day -- a longtime friend (old-looking guy on the left) who is always fun, even though he's hard-pressed to actually play the correct note on his bass guitar. The photo on the right includes one of my brothers (old-looking guy on the left) and I (on the right, with the tongue sticking out) with my wife. I suspect my brother won't be happy with this shot being on the Internet. So it goes....

Chapter 51: Turkey Week

The Christmas commercials have begun, the temperature's been in the 60s recently, and the house is undergoing its annual makeover. That's right, it's Thanksgiving time again!

This year isn't any more special than previous years, but it'll be crowded. And not everyone will be in our tiny home in our tiny town. But the basement's ready for bumper pool and beer. If the weather holds up, we'll have a Turkey Bowl ("sponsored" by Bass Ale). And we've eaten enough food from Shop-Rite to qualify for the free frozen turkey.

I'm sure it'll all work out fine, but I'm almost looking forward to getting back to work in a week.