BOUTIQUE LIQUORS
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BOUTIQUE LIQUORS

Amsterdam's Beer Bikes

Not long ago it appeared that Amsterdam’s famous beer bikes had been banned from the streets by police due to complaints from citizens, but I’ve been assured the problems have been worked out and the city’s world-famous tolerance has prevailed yet again. There are a few new rules these bike companies must follow, but the good news is the party-pedaling fun seems to be back on for the foreseeable future. People organizing Amsterdam stag weekends in particular will be thrilled at this development.

Evidently the problems before related to the bikes going on random routes through the city center, which meant they’d be going down some normally quiet and small streets at night, all the while filled with drunken and chanting cyclists. The other problem seemed to involve the fact that the driver, who more or less serves as the captain of the craft as well, would sometimes get drunk himself, and this could lead to more rowdiness than Amsterdam was willing to tolerate.

New regulations

From what I’ve been told, the beer bikes now have what amounts to a set route, which should definitely keep them out of trouble. The party rentals are normally a 3-hour block, and during those 3 hours the bike starts in front of Centraal Station and moves toward the Singel Canal before heading all the way down to Vondel Park and then toward Centraal Station again through the busy Nieuwmarkt area near the Red Light District. To me this sounds like an ideal tour anyway, so this is probably for the best.

They’ve also been told to make sure that drinkers don’t drink too much, and also that there be a sober permanent driver at the helm at all times. Again, this makes perfect sense, and even with a sober driver (that comes included in the rental price) there is still room for up to 19 drunks, 10 of whom can pedal and 9 that are along for the ride.

Now with karaoke

If some locals weren’t thrilled about some of the chanting and yelling before, it’s hard to imagine what they might think of the newest gimmick, which is an on-board karaoke machine. The main Amsterdam beer bike company has recently added this as a new optional feature, which I believe comes at no extra cost, so now you and your friends can have the thrill of warbling your favorite tunes while spreading your own brand of joy through the Dutch capital at the same time. Their new karaoke bike website is only in Dutch for the moment, but I have a feeling an English version will appear linked to their beerbike.co.uk site if this catches on.

Details of the beer bike

  • Rental period is 3 hours
  • With a minimum of 10 people it’s €39 per person
  • With a maximum of 19 people it’s only €23 per person
  • Price includes a keg of beer equaling 30 liters / 6.6 UK gallons / 8 US gallons
  • 20 extra liters of beer adds €25
  • No beer at all saves you €75, or you can switch to wine or soft drinks
  • Time blocks starting at 6pm and until midnight cost €50 extra for the party
  • Karaoke machine optional

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Rye Whiskey in America

Straight Rye Whiskey in America

 


It's gratifying when anything flirts with extinction and bounds back into the limelight. Such is the case with rye whiskey. Ten years ago it was an afterthought on a remote shelf in your liquor shop and nonexistent in most bars. Today a clutch of rarified superaged expressions is the talk of well-informed whiskey mavens.

Ponder the whiskey's near demise to understand its rebirth. Rye predated Bourbon as colonial America's favorite, being the first whiskey distilled by rye-growing settlers in the East. Then Prohibition nearly killed it. During its enforced absence drinkers tried Canadian whiskey, which while containing rye is not a straight whiskey. It was, however, a smooth alternative and tastes changed. Straight rye lost so much market share that most production moved to Kentucky as a sideline to Bourbon making, which differs only in that corn, not predominates in the grain recipe.

When single-malt Scotches and specialty Bourbons created a cult of whiskey geeks, some craved a spicy middle ground between smoky Scotch and sweet Bourbon. Then came a wellspring of crafted ryes. Old Rip Van Winkle, a whiskey negotiant, created its 13-year-old Family Reserve Rye. Buffalo Trace made an 18-year-old that shares the name Sazerac with an old rye-based cocktail. Fritz Maytag, creator of Anchor Steam beer, made a whiskey purely from rye (no corn or barley). Also into this concatenation of events came artesinal bartenders who saw that many of the classic cocktails now mixed with Canadian were originally straight rye drinks, and they have revived that tradition.

That's great, right? Yes, except for the familiar whiskey conundrum: no one predicted a rye rush early enough (decades ago) to start aging it in earnest. While the above products tickle our taste, there mightn't be enough to go around. Julian Van Winkle, president of Old Rip Van Winkle, had to begin rationing his product years ago because it came from a finite number of barrels he managed to locate and, as he says, "when that's gone, it's gone." Or at least until the whiskey he makes in partnership with Buffalo Trace comes of age. In the meantime, he has placed the Family Reserve batch in stainless steel to keep it from aging further. Sazerac has experienced similar shortages.

So why in the midst of this dearth of old rye comes Old Rittenhouse, first realized two years ago as a 21-year-old and now as a 23-year-old? Serendipity, says Larry Kass of Heaven Hill. The company made the whiskey, then sold it to a distributor for use as a private-label rye, but aged it in its warehouse for the customer, who never used it. When Heaven Hill saw how old the rye had become, it bought it back. The whiskey aged admirably because it had been kept in the cool ground and second floors of its warehouse and now is a complex spice bomb. But, of course, when it's gone, it's gone.

What if you can't find these rarities? Try easier-to-come-by but still tasty ryes—such as Old Overholt, Wild Turkey, and the standard Rittenhouse and Sazerac expressions.

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The Revival of Rye Whiskey

Rye whiskey is often confused with Canadian whisky.   Most Canadian whisky may have been at one time majority rye whiskey, but this is not so today.   Like corn, rye whiskeys can be blended with non-whiskey neutral spirits, or can be the 100% real thing.  Some Canadian whiskies are blended, others are not.†   American straight rye is at least 100% whiskey, with rye making up at least 51% of the mash grains (usually corn and barley make up the rest).  Since I have rediscovered straight rye whiskey distilled in the States, I do not use Canadian varieties any more, even as mixers.  Since whiskeys almost never list ingredients I do not know which Canadian blends currently contain rye whiskey, although a reader assured me that Alberta Premium really is rye.

For more information (about fake rye) try Canadian Whisky.

George Washington made rye whiskey at his home, Mount Vernon, Virginia.  Indeed, the domestic rye whiskey industry had a proud tradition in the United States, particularly in the north-south neighboring states of Pennsylvania and Maryland.  Unfortunately it never quite recovered from Prohibition.  During and after Prohibition Americans turned to blended Canadian whisky to fill a demand that would take several years to mature in casks at home.  Also American tastes had dulled quite a bit during Prohibition, and the market share never reäppeared.  To this day the straight rye industry is far under appreciated.  With the introduction of some new labels, though, a renaissance of rye seems to be on the way!

A few years ago there were only about four brands of straight rye whiskey, today there are about ten!  However, most of these are hard if not impossible to find at many bars and liquor stores.  Do not accept imitations--American and Canadian blended whiskies do not compare.

For more information (about real rye) try Why Rye?.

Old Overholt

Made by Fortune Brands. If you are ready to grow beyond Bourbon, let Old Overholt be your first step.  4 year old, 80°.  Smooth, perhaps a bit light.  A drink for the mature--for whom the excitement of life has passed yet the best is still to come.  Can this and Gentleman Jack be on the same shelf?  A drink of memory--of fields and stars, of bread and the bread-of-life.  The sky is free, but the earth lives.  The earth brings all our needs, but the sky contains our dreams.  Ultimately earth cannot not prevent our desires from going where we cannot walk.  Old Overholt is of the earth, yet from there it leads my spirit far away.
· Suggest reading:  Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Jim Beam Rye

Like Old Overholt it is made by Fortune Brands.  Unfortunately Beam lacks all the charm of its sibling whiskey.  80°.  Rough--although I have had no complaints with its use as a mixer in eggnog.

Wild Turkey Rye

A Pernod Ricard product.  At 101° it is slightly harsh and smoky--highly flavorful though.

Autumn falls through my throat.  Is it poison or medicine?  Does harvest cheat the winter or does winter punish the bounty?  The orange-brown-gold leaves fall brightly in the dying light.  See them abandon the tree for the earth.  In death there is life for some.  Gather your rye-seeds while ye may.
· Suggest reading:  Pied Beauty

Old Rip Van Winkle Old Time Rye

This honored Bourbon maker has been holding back on us.  This recently introduced are "new" rye, was born when Reagan was in the White House.  12 years old, 90°.  Flat surface, but below that the taste is deep.

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye

The other aged "new" rye by this distiller.  13 years old, 95.6°.  Rich and a little sweet.  My best information indicates that Van Winkle purchased its rye stock from a third-party distiller.

Pikesville Supreme

Heaven Hill, the Bourbon maker and Cooley Irish marketer, distills this former Maryland label in Kentucky.  80°.  Sharp, crisp, delightful.

Rittenhouse

While Heaven Hill's Pikesville is a total success, this sister label poses a bit of a mystery.  My first impression was not positive, but it has grown on me.  In one tasting I found it better than Pikesville--go figure.  80°.  Tangy and a little flat, the flavor can seem distracted.

Olde St. Nick Rye

Currently this is an export-only product.  The distributor wrote to me in the winter of 1999 promising a domestic launch "soon."  My first guess as to what that meant was the summer of 1999, but that has come and gone.

A. H. Hirsch

A reader wrote that he has seen a 13 year old Kentucky Rye under this label.  By my best information Hirsch is a bottler and not a distiller.  I have not seen this product on local shelves.  Hirsch's Bourbon comes for Pennsylvania, so the source of its Kentucky rye is a bit of a mystery.  My best information indicates that both Van Winkle and Hirsch obtained their rye stock from the same unknown source--just different barrels.

Old Potrero Rye Whiskey

Capitol Hill, 1998 January 27:  While the rest of the country was watching the State of the Union Address, I was at the Dubliner a few hundred yards from the Capitol.  Oblivious to the President, I sat sampling my first glass of Old Potrero.  I found it to be clean, bright, and subtle.  Hardly there to the nose.  The taste reminds me of fine sandpaper--smooth on the most part with a tingling aftertaste.  The flavor seems quite compact, and I sense that aging will bring out much depth.  While the comparison to sandpaper may not seem flattering, note that this whiskey is 124° and aged only one year.  I know of no comparable product that could be as refined in such a short period of time at that strength.  Old Potrero is quite different from the straight ryes listed above.

Despite its old name, Old Potrero is a new rye.  Fritz Maytag, president of California's Anchor Brewery has been trying his hand at the still for the past several years.  The result is a pot-still, single malt, rye whiskey.  The relatively young first fruits were bottled uncut and unfiltered.  It is made entirely from germinated rye--no fillers!  Because current releases have been aged only one to three years the color is quite light, a bit of a surprise at first glance.  Until recently this micro-distilled rye could only be found in select restaurants (I do not know which) in a few big cities (San Francisco, Baltimore/Washington, Manhattan, London) with a price to match its limited supply.  I have heard reports that a few bottles are popping up with a $90 price tag in California and Maryland.  It may be several years before a bottle appears in a liquor store near you or me.  Hopefully the future will be bright for more available and aged versions of this label

Dead Ryes

Historical Labels

Guckenheimer

One reader has an old empty bottle in his collection labeled "Good Old Guckenheimer," straight rye distilled in Pennsylvania.  Today a blended whiskey is sold under this label.  My Grandfather-in-law obtained a small sample for me from Long Island, NY; it is made in Bardstown KY.  This blended product has a rye-ish taste, and it is not too bad in a Manhattan.  It earns no compliments though.

Michter's Whiskey

This whiskey was made in one of the oldest distilleries in American.  Located in Shaefferstown, Pennsylvania, the distillery opened in 1753 and made rye whiskey.  (The Jack Daniel Distillery is the oldest registered distillery in the country, licensed in 1866.  Prior to that, with a brief exception, American distilleries were not government regulated nor taxed.) Michter's closed around 1988 at which time it was making pot-still sour-mash corn whiskey, the final product of which may or may not have complied with Bourbon labeling requirements; Bourbon does not need to be made in Kentucky.  Stocks of this are currently sold under the A. H. Hirsch label (see my Corn Whiskey page).  It also sold column-still rye to distillers for bottling under different labels.  I visited the distillery many many years ago and due to my youthful age was not offered a sample at the end of the tour.  Sadly, by all accounts there is little hope of the distillery reöpening.  There is a small page about the Michter's distillery and one about it when it was known as the Bomberger distillery. I have heard that some rye has come for sale under the Michter name, but I have not seen any myself yet.

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Get paid to Drink Beer !!

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

 

Let me explain…

Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

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Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

Got paid
£25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

Marc Beasley, UK

..

I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

Chris Litchfield, Texas

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If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

Ian Marti, Canada

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Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

Amanda Estaban, Australia

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

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It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

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As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

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Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



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The perfect wines for summer..

There are hundreds of great wines out there that are perfect foils for the dog days of summer. Although there are about as many styles as there are bottles, a few common denominators exist when selecting a vino for the patio. Start with crisp acidity, throw in a low alcohol content and then mix vigorously with lighter fruit flavors. The end result is a racy wine that will delight the senses and dance across the taste buds instead of plodding along like a palate attached to an anchor.

Let’s start with the old standbys Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. While many Chardonnays saddled with heavy oak and cream may be closer to the heavy wines we are trying to avoid, there are also numerous examples that avoid the oak and the malolactic fermentation that adds that rich and creamy feel. Young white Burgundies retain a higher level of acidity than their American counterparts and thus stay crisp and fresh instead of cloying and thick. Also look for innovative examples of Chard such as the delightfully light un-oaked Chardonnays from Australia or even progressive California wines such as the Keller Oro de Plata that sees no malolactic and no oak. The result is pure fruit, a lighter mouth feel and a zippy finish.

Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite summer whites as the grape is naturally high in acidity and has a backbone of citrus fruit that is just wonderful on a hot summer day. Sancerres and Pouilly-Fumés from the Loire valley in northern France have a vein of minerals and fresh cut grass that can be quite refreshing versions of the Sauvignon Blanc, while the addition of Sémillon to White Bordeaux adds a round and lush note. Sauvignon Blanc has found a fashionable home in New Zealand where the wines are as dry as it gets, buoyed by the high-toned gooseberry aromas so common in these wines. Sauvignon Blancs from California are a little more ripe and round but still a fine wine when fish is the main course.

I wouldn’t be a very good wine writer if I didn’t mention the ubiquitous Pinot Grigio, and as great as these wines may be by the pool don’t forget about other Italian goodies such as the delicious Fiano di Avellino with its honey and almond flavors strutting over a vibrant core. Or try Soave from Verona for a lemony treat. My personal favorite is Moscato d’Asti, a light and fruity wine with touches of sparkle and sweetness made from the perfumed Muscat grape. Nothing is better than hanging out with friends on a warm summer evening with a glass of Moscato and a bowl of fresh fruit. You won’t be disappointed.

Speaking of fruit, there isn't a more sexy and sumptuous summer grape than Riesling. This versatile and expressive grape runs the gauntlet from painfully dry to startlingly sweet and from rocks and gravel to fruit bomb. Which is right for you? That depends on the mood and the occasion. German Rieslings will always have a core of peaches and minerals but can range from bone dry to packed with flavors and residual sugar. The underlying core of acidity will help ensure a balanced and tasty wine. Neighboring Austria also boasts excellent Rieslings though they tend to be a touch more dry than their German cousins. Cooler regions in Australia such as Clare valley are producing wonderful Rieslings with a streak of lime and minerals, always on the dry side. Great for fusion cuisine.

Austria’s greatest grape, the Grüner-Veltliner is also not one to be missed this summer. Hot in the international market right now, Grüner’s most alluring attribute is a layer of refreshing grapefruit and pepper over a light and crisp frame. Wonderful for all seafood dishes or just as a sipper out by the pool, Grüner-Veltliner will continue to carve out a niche in the U.S. market.

Spain is also a home for excellent summertime whites. Ruedas from Castilla y Leon in central Spain offer wonderful natural acidity and delicious flavors from Sauvignon Blanc and the native Verdejo grape. In the Rías Baixas (pronounce Ree-us By-shuss) region just above Portugal phenomenal wines are made from the Albariño varietal. This is the coolest part of Spain and the fogs that roll in from the Atlantic provide both relief from the summer heat but also a certain saline character to the wines. Add to this delicious peach flavors and a sometimes tingly acidity and the result is lovely wine, light in body but long on flavor. Just across the border in Portugal the Albariño is a part of the delicious and cheap Vinho Verde, always a great wine and a great bargain for summer.

Don’t forget your sparklers! Champagne from France, Prosecco from Spain, Franciacorta from Italy and all manners of sparkling wines from across the globe are great in the summer for their natural acidity and refreshing bubbles. Not just for celebrations, sparkling wines are excellent additions to the dinner table and work well with many types of seafood.

Look for Rosés to complete you summer lineup. Dry, crisp and full of flavor those pink wines from the south of France are most-definitely not White Zinfandel. Bandol from Provence, Costières de Nimes from the Languedoc and Tavel from the southern Rhône as well as many others can all be excellent if you want a wine with just a little more backbone than your average white. Spain, Italy and California also produce excellent dry Rosés.

This is by no means an exhaustive list! Many other great summertime wines exist such as Muscadet and Vouvray from the Loire valley, Pinot Gris from Oregon and Gewürztraminer from Alsace. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box such as giving lighter red wines a slight chill or trying tawny port over ice with just a little soda water as is fashionable in the town of Oporto in the summer. The ultimate guideline as to the best summertime wine will be your own. If you feel refreshed after a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon then by all means- have at it! I think I will stay with a glass each of all the wines listed before. That may sound like a lot, but it’s a long summer. Enjoy!

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The History of the Mint Julep

The History of the Mint Julep

No Kentucky Derby would be complete without the venerable Mint Julep on the first Saturday in May. According to the Derby Museum, Mint Julep became Churchill Down's signature drink in 1938 when they started to serve the drink in sourvenir glasses for 75 cents a drink. Today Kentucky Derby serves more than 80,000 juleps over the two-day event.

Mint Julep first appeared in print in 1803 described as a "dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians in the morning." Some historians say Mint Julep was born in the early 1700s somewhere in east coast. First Mint Juleps weren't perhaps mixed with Bourbon, rather rye whiskey or rum or other available spirits.

Chris Morris from Woodford Reserve Bourbon says "Centuries ago, there was an Arabic drink called julab, made with water and rose petals. The beverage had a delicate and refreshing scent that people thought would instantly enhance the quality of their lives." When the julab was introduced to the Mediterranean region, the native population replaced the rose petals with mint, a plant indigenous to the area. The mint julep, as it was now called, grew in popularity throughout Europe.

Mint Julep's popularity came to rest in the agricultural regions of the east and southeast, where farmers awakened at dawn. Morris says the julep was originally a morning drink as the spirited equivalent of coffee in today's society. "One sip and Pow! The farmers were ready to face the long day."

The main ingredient of the Mint Julep is Bourbon Whiskeyiskey. "The biggest change for the julep was the addition of American whiskey to the recipe," says Morris. "The julep was quickly transformed into a mixture of water, sugar, mint leaves, and good American whiskey." 

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Liquor Stores vs. the world

The proposal has come up in the past:  allow grocery stores and others who today are allowed to sell beer to obtain a license to sell wine. New York would join the 35 states including California that currently permit wine sales in grocery stores.  The liquor store owners beat back the proposal the last time it came up but the odds are against them this time because the Bureau of the Budget estimates the franchise fee alone will bring in more than $100 million.  Given the choice between allowing wine to be sold in grocery stores and having their taxes go up another dime, most New Yorkers will vote for wine sales.

Here’s how the new law will work.  Any store that wishes to obtain a franchise to sell wine will have to pay a fee equal to .46% of their previous year’s gross sales.  For chains like Stewarts that number would be calculated per store not across the entire business.  This is a one-time fee and while no one knows how many stores will apply, it’s a good bet that the larger supermarket and convenience store chains would rush to do so.  Being able to add another high margin product to their shelves should easily justify the initial outlay.

Naturally the liquor store owners are up in arms.  They claim that as many as 1,000 of the state’s 2,700 independently owned liquor stores would close, resulting in a job loss of 4,000.  However, they offer no factual basis for such claims.  Undoubtedly some liquor stores will close if the measure is approved. Some are probably going to go out of business anyway given the state’s overall economic climate.  For others this might be the final straw.

New York does not allow liquor store owners to operate multiple stores.  Thus each store represents a unique owner.

Interestingly the liquor store owners do not feel confident enough to stand on the economic argument alone.   Perhaps they recognize that the self-interest of 2,700 versus that of 19 million consumers is not good odds. Instead they are try to cement opposition by claiming that allowing groceries and others to sell wine will increase teenage drinking and drunk driving and they’ve enlisted law enforcement organizations to help them defeat the Governor’s proposal.

While building a coalition against proposed legislation is good politics, it can backfire – especially if the argument is as shoddy as this one.  It defies logic to think that teenagers will have any more luck buying wine from the Liquor Store that currently sell beer than they do buying beer. If a teen can’t find an adult willing to buy beer for them on what basis can we imagine that that same teenager could convince that same adult to buy them wine? Further, what percentage of teenagers would rather drink wine than beer?

There’s also the possibility that the liquor stores will not come off half as bad as they want us to believe.  Most of the wine sold in groceries will come from large volume suppliers.   One proprietor made the point when she stated: “The consumer will be relegated to drinking Yellow Tail.”   Sophisticated wine buyers will continue to buy their wines from liquor stores because they won’t settle for Yellow Tail.  Young adults, however, may start consuming wine by buying Yellow Tail at a grocer’s.  It will then be up to the liquor store owners to convince them to graduate to better quality wines.

By the way the convenience store owners are not happy with the Governor’s proposal either.  They view the franchise fee as being too high which would put the opportunity out of reach of small stores.  They are also opposed to allowing liquor store owners to sell beer and tobacco in return for allowing their members to sell wine.

Of course that brings up a solution the Governor’s office might want to consider.  If liquor store owners could sell beer and wine they might drop their objection to allowing grocers to sell wine.  It would also enable the state to bring in even more franchise fee revenue.

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Drive Through Liquor Store Information

Liquor StoreDesign  A telephone survey was conducted 20 months after the closure seeking information and owners' opinions about how their Liquor Storehad changed since the closure and how this affected their business. In addition, 2 years of aggregated pre- and post-closure total gross receipts revenues were obtained from the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, with convenience stores as a comparison group.

Findings  Interviews were completed for 149 of 220 Liquor Stores. Over one-quarter of former drive-up liquor windows (28%) had been converted to 'step-in' sales, defined as an outside door where customers can stop and enter the premises while their car is running. Almost two-thirds (61%) of owners reported decreased annual gross revenues following closure, with a reported average 15% reduction in alcohol sales. This is consistent with findings of decreased gross receipts for operators of non-urban, but not urban, drive-up liquor windows compared to convenience store gross receipts. Almost three-quarters (72%) of those surveyed would re-open the drive-up window if the law were rescinded. This is a matter of convenience for the Liquor Store.

Conclusion  Over one-quarter of the drive-up owners converted to step-in alcohol sales that still allow a form of drive-up liquor sales. Despite this, the forced closure of New Mexico's drive-up liquor windows negatively impacted total sales and liquor sales revenues of establishments that operated them. The drive up Liquor Store still remains popular.

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Liquor Store History

civil war

The history of  the liquor store is inextricably linked to prohibition. Prohibition is the effort to limit or ban the sale and consumption of alcohol, and has been prevalent since Arkansas ’s territorial period. The state has attempted to limit use of alcoholic beverages through legal efforts such as establishing “dry” counties. Since achieving statehood in 1836, prohibition has consistently been a political and public health issue.

In the early days, drinking was not only an everyday fact of life but, a fundamental part of state politics. Candidates typically won favor with voters by providing generous amounts of whiskey on Election Day. There developed, however, a sense that alcohol hindered the ability of workers to perform their jobs adequately, which some business owners feared would result in lower profits. While some prohibitionists were against any type of alcohol, others took a strong stance against whiskey and liquor, while only wanting to somewhat limit the production and sale of beer and wine.

soilder

The Civil War brought great efforts by state leaders to prohibit the sale of liquor from a Liquor Store. In 1862, under Confederate rule, the state passed a statewide ban on distilleries in order to save grain for the war effort. This did little to curb backwoods “bootleg” whiskey production, and indeed, many prominent Arkansans openly ignored the law, such as Washington County judge David Walker, who proclaimed that he would pay “any price in or out of reason” to acquire whiskey. In 1864, the state’s efforts to stop the production of alcohol fell apart when Governor Harris Flanagin signed a bill that allowed distilleries to pay the state for the right to produce alcohol.

In the post-war era, farmers discovered they could earn far greater profits by producing alcohol than by growing corn or other agricultural products. The spread of moonshine stills and the illegal trade in alcohol spurred response from  law enforcement. Throughout the 1870s, in what became known as the “moonshine wars,” federal revenue agents fanned out across  in search of illegal stills. Raids against moonshiners were common, and stories of violent shootouts were told in the local newspapers.

The prohibition movement gained momentum in the first decade of the twentieth century as much of the nation, continued to ban bars and saloons. By 1906, 60% of American towns had done this. It was during this period that  governors such as George Donaghey led the way for stronger control of alcohol.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the national move toward prohibition gained the final motivation it needed, as the war effort’s demand for grain (a key ingredient for producing liquor) outweighed the need for alcohol. This brought about Congress passing the Eighteenth Amendment, which  ratified in January 1919.

By the early 1930s, the Great Depression was upon our country. This changed the perspective of many Americans, who began to view repealing the ban on alcohol as economically beneficial. People were indeed softening their stance on the selling of alcohol by theliquor stores. With the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933, the entire state of Arkansas was once again wet. This ushered in a new phase in the state’s history of alcohol control, in which prohibition was determined county by county.

man drinking a beer

While the national prohibition movement collapsed following World War II, Arkansas temperance advocates still pushed for dry counties but also had to reconcile with changing attitudes toward consumption. The business community no longer sided with the fading temperance movement. Indeed, from the late 1940s through the 1960s, “dries” suffered many setbacks. Winthrop Rockefeller, governor of the state during the late 1960s, argued that liquor sales would boost tourism and stimulate the economy. By the end of the 20th century, the lines between wet and dry counties had solidified, with 43 counties dry and 32 wet. Efforts to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol have existed throughout Arkansas ’s history, from the territorial era to the present day.  Now you can shop at your favorite Liquor Store.

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Bar Trivia

Bar establishment - Bar-related trivia

  • The longest bar in the world is 684 feet or about 208.5 meters long and is located at the New Bulldog in Rock Island, Illinois.
  • A bar is now located in the New York City building that once housed the National Temperance Society.
  • The U.S. marine first recruiting station was in a bar.
  • Tom Arnold, Sandra Bullock, Chevy Chase, Bill Cosby, Kris Kristofferson, and Bruce Willis are all former bartenders.
  • in West Virginia, bars can advertise alcoholic beverage prices, but not brand names.

Several fictional bars and Liquor Store have featured prominently in television series, including the following:

  • Archie Bunker's Place
  • Babylon on Queer as Folk
  • Cheers
  • Karatos on Angel
  • Moe's Tavern on The Simpsons
  • Phil's on Murphy Brown
  • The Queen Victoria on EastEnders
  • The Regal Beagle on Three's Company
  • Ten Forward on Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • Rovers Return on Coronation Street
  • The Drunken Clam on Family Guy

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Kosher Tequila

U.S. firm to launch new kosher tequila for Mexican holiday

A New York businessman is launching a new kosher tequila in time for Cinco de Mayo.

Martin Silver says Agave 99 will be on the market in time for the holiday that celebrates Mexico's defeat of French forces on May 5, 1862.

Silver, president of Long Island-based Star Industries, says he wants to satisfy the craze for high-end tequila with one that observant Jews can drink.

Silver says a half million cases of the 99-proof kosher tequila are being produced at a Mexican plant using methods certified by a rabbi. It will retail for $41.95 a bottle.

The product launch - with Mexican songs sung in both Yiddish and Spanish - is set for May 5, but it will also be sold earlier for Passover, which starts at sundown on April 8 this year.

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Wheat Ale style

Brewing with wheat instead of barley is an ancient tradition that stretches back to the earliest days of brewing. Although not an easy grain to work with, beers brewed with a proportion of wheat do not require maturation, as is the case with lagers, and can be drunk soon after brewing. Most importantly wheat ales are very refreshing. Traditionally they are cloudy or hazy, though with modern filtration they can easily be made clear. Bavarian "weizen" beers are the best known examples of wheat ales and are widely imitated.

Dunkel/Dark Weizen. These dark wheat beers derive their character from the use of darker malts in the non-wheat ingredients, so that a richer, darker colored beer can be achieved, along with fuller malt flavors. Dunkel weizens still display the floral, estery qualities of a pale weizen. Dark weizens are produced with or without a secondary fermentation in the bottle, with the corollary that these styles can be yeast sedimented or unsedimented depending upon the preference of the brewer.

Flavored Wheat Ales. Turning wheat beer into a cocktail has precedent in Europe where alcoholic cordials or fruit syrups can be used to help beer slide down more easily. Flavored wheat ales are an increasingly popular specialty category covering a number of flavoring options that brewers have adopted, particularly in the USA, the home of "throw-the-rule-book-away" hybrid beer styles. The two most significant additives are fruit and honey, usually employed separately. Raspberry is a common choice of fruit to flavor these styles and the best examples have faithful fruit essence and avoid any sweet cloying character. Honey can add richness to the palate and give a hint of sweetness. Herbs and spices are also encountered, but the possibilities are endless. Chocolate dunkel raspberry weisse anyone?

Hefe Weizen. Weizen bier is a top fermenting beer style that originates from southern Germany, particularly Bavaria, and is brewed with at least 50% wheat in the mash. Hefe weizens are refreshing, highly carbonated beers ideal for quenching summer thirsts. They undergo secondary fermentation, often in the bottle, and the yeast strains used for this purpose impart a spicy, clove-like flavor. Hefe (the German word for yeast) on the label denotes that the bottle contains yeast sediment. Alcohol content is typically 5-5.5% ABV, giving these beers a medium to medium-full body. Hop flavors play a very insignificant role in the flavor profile. The best examples to be found are still authentic Bavarian imports, although some good domestic examples are produced and are often available as a draft option.

Kristall Weizen. A Kristal weizen is a non-hazy weizen ale. Kristall on the label of a weizen specifically denotes that a weizen has been filtered prior to bottling to remove the protein haze and yeast often suspended in such beers. Kristall weizens lack the yeasty and spicy complexity often associated with hefe weizen beers, and have a cleaner and more delicate flavor. Floral, fruity aromas are often noted in classic examples of this style, though healthy alcohol content of 5-5.5% will give a medium to medium-full bodied character.

Weizen Bock. Weizen bocks are essentially winter wheat beers, originally brewed in Bavaria. The color can be pale gold to brown. They are of higher alcoholic strength, as high as 7% ABV, showing a warming personality, though they should still have a significant 'rocky' head when poured. These beers combine the character of hefeweizens and dopplebocks and as such are rich and malty with estery, yeasty qualities and show a note of wheaty crispness through the finish.

Wheat Ale. As the name would suggest these are ales that use a proportion of wheat in the mash to add a protein haze. Wheat ales, inspired by the German weizen tradition were popular before prohibition in the US and are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. This generic category encapsulates the diverse interpretation of the classic German Weizen styles brewed in America and elsewhere. A host of variables ranging from the wheat/malt ratio, hopping and filtration/non filtration all contribute to wide variations on the theme. Generally US examples feature a more marked hop accent than classic German weizen styles and are often dryer.

White/Wit Beer. Wit beer is a style of flavored wheat. It is distinctly Belgian in origin and is still very closely associated with this low land country. Wits employ a proportion of unmalted wheat in the mash but also have flavor added in the form of curaçao, orange peel and coriander, among other ingredients. Their appearance is marked by a hazy white precipitate and these beers generally have some sedimentation. Typically these are very refreshing summer thirst quenchers. They are not widely produced in the US but some notable examples can be found.

Wheat Beer Extra Credit:   

Students of trivia may be interested to know that Germany’s famed purity law specifically forbade the use of wheat and  other grains for producing beer. The reason? Wheat was too valuable in the production of bread to waste on beer.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

 

Let me explain…

Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

Got paid
£25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

Marc Beasley, UK

..

I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

Chris Litchfield, Texas

.

If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

Ian Marti, Canada

.

Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

Amanda Estaban, Australia

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

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As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

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Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



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Spiral Wine Cave


Wonderful Wine Cellars For Any Room in Your House

spiral-staircase-wine-cellar-design

spiral-staircase-wine-cellar-designspiral-staircase-wine-cellar-designspiral-staircase-wine-cellar-designEver want a wine cellar but don’t have the space or money to build one? The wine cellardesign/build firm will dig a hole right in whatever room you want your cellar in and haul the dirt right out the front door. In the remaining void they infill a highly functionally andwine cellar to fit all your favorite vintages and go with your wine.

amazing-cellar-design

amazing-cellar-designEverything is designed with function in mind but the resulting form is equally compelling - the rows of wine face you as you wind your way down the central stair. Of course, you can store more than wine down in these as well - they are a great and continuously cooled pantry extension for all kinds of beverages.

spiral-wine-cellar-diagram-drawing

The cellars and kept at ideal temperatures, insulated on the sides and top. Cool air is piped in and warm air is piped out. Even when no air flow is needed for temperature purposes it is kept moving to keep the air fresh. Customers have had these installed in all kinds of ways, from flush- and hidden-door versions to entrances that intentionally boast their presence:

beautiful-dining-room-trap-door

beautiful-dining-room-trap-doorSome of these are clearly made to stand out.

elegant-trap-door-cellars

Others blend more smoothly or seamlessly.

home-interior-trap-door-designs


 

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Accessories for the Home 3

Wine Dispensing CabinetEver fancied having your own wine on tap, well now you can with the vin au verre wine dispenser.

You load up the vin au verre with 8 of your favourite tipples, plug in tubes and what not and though and behold you can now pour your wine out of a tap that wouldn’t look out of place in McDonalds. The dispensing unit is also fully temperature controlled and offers protection from UV. So if you’re more of a wine drinker than collector this is more suitable solution than the single bottle cellar we reported on earlier.

Cool Shooters
The Cool Shooter is just like a regular ice cube tray, but instead of making cubes, it makes perfectly formed frozen ice shot glasses. All you need to do is fill the Cool Shooter with water, favourite juice or even liquor and put them on the freezer, and soon you can pop out a fully formed ice glass.


Just remember to finish up the drink before the glass melts away in your hands, or your fingers freeze in the process. The Cool Shooter tray is made from silicone flexible rubber, so you just have to twist it to get your ice shot glass. The Cool Shooter makes four ice shots at a time, so if you’re having a party or something, make sure you buy another one for your friends.

Cool Shooters

Drinking Game Whose Round

As I’m about to go to the pub for a drink with a few tight friends (I’d like to call them frugal but they’re not they are just tight) this gadget seems pretty appropriate, the Whose Round Is It Anyway? game.

The game works like Simple Simon but instead of having to remember colors you need to remember drinks. The loser is the first person that fails to remember and repeat all the drinks and they’ve got to buy the next round (I made the last bit up but it does kind of work, though you may get the odd strange glance if you sit in the corner playing this all evening).

winerack

We had a fair bit of fun reviewing the beer belly which was all well and good for us blokes but it wasn’t exactly ladylike. Now the makers of the beer belly have decided to cater for the ladies too, with the wine rack (though I think wine jugs would be more appropriate).

Like the Beer Belly the Winerack is designed to be worn as an undergarment but instead of hanging off your gut, it enhances the chest. So us beer swilling blokes get to look more chunky whilst wine loving women get a boob job, now where’s the justice in that (should of been a bum bag).

Thrillist describe the other pair of obvious benefits excellently:

Turning A cups into double Ds, and double Ds into sloshy surface-to-air missiles.

Bar

I’ve always wanted to have a bar in my house, but they’re a bit space consuming and if I replaced the dining table with a bar and stools it would put me in the spare room for the foreseeable future. So this funky inflatable bar could be the ideal alternative.

When not in use the inflatable bar can be stashed like a regular suitcase (with wheels and all). When it’s time for the party simply inflate (hopefully with a pump rather than lungs) switch on and you have your very own solid, illuminated, funky bar. Sizes vary from 4′ to 11′ long depending on your popularity and thickness of wallet.

Further info and more  Bubble Miami.

perlick-beer-dispenser.jpgEven though this summer had been tough on most of us, with ever-increasing temperature no thanks to our gas-guzzling monsters we call cars, a bunch of stinkers at the box office, and the overall dearth of the economy, you will realize that there is still a glimmer of hope as you kick back and relax in your La-z-Boy lounge chair, taking a nice, long swig of the nectar of the gods. Somehow, chugging a few glasses of beer down often soothes the nerves and bring about an overall sense of calm.

The Perlick Beer Dispenser is bound to keep your beer belly happy as it ensures you get perfectly chilled drinks no matter what time of the day it is. Perlick is offering a wide range of choices that will suit any home, be it a mansion with sprawling grounds or a tiny apartment with little space to spare. The Perlick Beer Dispenser is available in a 24″, 48″ and a much larger outdoor version. You not only get to stock your favorite range of beers inside, you can also store other essential drinking liquids such as wine and sodas to suit the meal of the moment.

Made from commercial-grade stainless steel interiors, these Beer Dispensers come in choices of up to 3 beer taps for a single undercounter refrigerated cabinet so that all three of you can hold a drinking session simultaneously. As we all know, beers that are not chilled properly taste terrible. The Perlick Beer Dispenser ensures that does not happen with a variable speed compressor that offers precise temperature control in an energy-efficient cooling manner. A 2″ thick wall offers superior insulation and minimizes vibration.

Behold - Tote-A-Keg! Summertime is in full swing in my part of the world and that means outdoor BBQs and get-togethers. There are a few things that can transform you from mooching slob into next-door legend when showing up at a neighborhood cookout; bringing a large slab of pre-rubbed ribs, a nice spicy homemade sauce or a cooler full of beer. To elevate yourself beyond legend status, bring the Tote-A-Keg, a portable draught beer system that holds 2.5 gallons of your finest homebrew. You will instantly be deified – grown men will speak of you in hushed and reverent tones. Now is the time to get yourself a compound and a nutty philosophy because anywhere you take this thing will produce instant followers.

Just like a big time draught system the Tote-A-Keg uses CO2 to dispense the beer and a 2.5 gallon keg is roughly the same amount as 2 cases, plenty for even the largest outdoor gathering. Another advantage is no glass or aluminum to dispose of and serving size is up to the discretion of the person doing the pouring. “Shock and awe” friends and acquaintances alike with your brewing prowess although beware of pitfalls. One time I had a complete stranger show up at the door of my apartment and ask: “Still got that keg?”

Beer SculptureDo you like beer, but are dissatisfied with the seemingly endless parade of bland yellow fizzy mass-produced beers? Would you like to inspire awe and respect amongst your gadget-loving beer-drinking buddies? Do you have vast “untapped” financial resources? Look no further than Beer, Beer and More Beer’s amazing Brewing Sculptures!

The B3-2000 Brewing Sculpture goes far beyond the “pale” of many typical homebrew setups. Much more than a package of malt-extract, hops, yeast and plastic fermentation buckets, a Brewing Sculpture is a complete microprocessor controlled microbrewery capable of making up to eight cases of beer in a single batch. Make beer like the pros from whole grains and water. With the B3-2000 you have complete control over any beer style you could want to make whether your fancy turns to lager, stout, India pale ale or gruit.

To keep your bank account low and your interest piqued, B3 makes an array of add-ons and peripherals for the entire line of Brewing Sculptures. Get all of them and the B3-2000 will do just about everything for you except fetch some aspirin the next morning. However, if you like to take a more hands on approach to your zymurlogical exploits B3 also offers the B3-1500 which will require a little more elbow grease and has a batch output of two cases (or five US gallons).

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Accessories for the Home 3

NDrive G400 PND

Every once in a while, some new gadget comes along that is so obvious that you have to wonder why someone else didn’t invent it.

The NDrive G400 PND is one such device. At first, the NDrive G400 looks like any other Personal Navigation Device. It has a 3.5 inch screen that is completely touch-friendly, along with the usual application menu of a GPS.

What makes the G400 stand out is that one of the applications is a breathalyzer test. That’s right, a device that helps you drive can actually recommend that you don’t drive. All you need to is touch the application, wait for it to calibrate, and then literally blow into the device itself.

BeerTender
Draft beer in your own home is most beer drinkers’ preferred way of having their pint (no tinny taste from the can). Krups are now about to launch in the USA the BeerTender which delivers a crisp, fresh perfectly chilled draft beer which will stay fresh for upto 30 days. The unit has been engineered to work exclusively with Heineken and Heineken Premium Light DraftKegs.

The BeerTender is simple to set up and operate, and you have a choice of chill temperature settings depending on your preference. It also has a display which tells you how much you have left, and how long you have before you need to re-stock. It’s the perfect thing to have when you’re having a summer BBQ or a bit of a gathering (which we seem to do rather too often, particularly when we decide to have a poker night!)

shot-caller.jpg

Ah, with the holiday season upon us yet again, many people will be celebrating it with some drinks to make the occasion all the more merry. The Shot Caller targets thrill seekers who love getting smashed at parties, functioning as a timer for those who want to indulge themselves in the Power Hour ritual. For those who are out of the loop, Power Hour requires a person to take one shot of beer, each minute for the whole hour - that amounts to approximately five beers. A loud buzzer from the Shot Caller lets you know it is time to gulp yet another shop, keeping track of the time gap. I suppose after having too many shots, even a stopwatch in your hand is useless, hence the need for this $15 device.

Professional Electric Martini Maker

This is a great gadget for the lazy cocktail lover, the professional Electric Martini Maker.

The ultimate in convenience and class, this commercial-quality martini maker allows for effortlessly preparing a martini at home. The unit’s polished stainless-steel 20-ounce cocktail shaker features a built-in strainer, while its touchpad ensures easy operation. Simply add favorite martini ingredients using the 1-ounce shaker cap, turn the appliance on and watch the green olive light up, press Shake or Stir, and voila–a timeless cocktail is made.

The Gamerator

Almost every geek and gaming enthusiast has always desired to have their very own arcade cabinet. Admit it, you know this to be true. However, there are several problems that generally arise which prevent you from reaching this goal: space, money and a spouse. Granted, not all spouses will be opposed to the idea, however, that usually seems to be the case. While I can’t help you with the issue of money, here’s an idea that might help with the others. Get an arcade cabinet that combines more than one household device. In this case, a kegerator.

Booze Drip

This probably isn’t politically correct but funny none the less, the booze drip.

Everyone knows that laughter is the best medicine, so you need to make sure you get your daily dose of fun. The best way for you to medicate yourself would have to be this Bedside Booze Drip.

Designed around a Hospitals IV drip you can fill the bottle with any drink you want and have it ready and waiting when the pains of your life, wife or strife, get to much. It comes with a stand to hang the bottle from and a long IV tube that can be places in a glass or straight in your mouth for instant relief.

iPod Bevy

I don’t normally see the point of buying a tiny iPod and then sticking it in a massive case, but the bevy is different, not only does it protect your iPod Shuffle it can also open bottles of beer.

Have you got an iPod Shuffle? Do you drink beer? Do you use keys? If the answer is yes to all three, then you need the Bevy. This ingenious sliver of sturdy plastic and bottle top-biting metal functions as an iPod Shuffle case, a bottle opener and a keyring. Talk about multi-tasking!

Spiral Cellars

If, like many people, you don’t have the luxury of having a cellar in which to store your precious bottles of vintage wine, there is now a solution.

Spiral Cellars can come into your home and excavate a hole directly under your floor (be it in the kitchen, lounge, garage, or any other ground floor room) in which you can store upto 1,600 bottles of wine down a spiral stairway cellar system. The stairway is a watertight, pre-cast cylindrical system which is installed into said excavated hole. They use the earth as a natural insulator and they use an air-flow system meaning no power is needed. This ensures optimum temperatures can be maintained in order to keep your precious vino in tip top condition.

Spiral Cellars will send round an engineer to ensure you’re not trying to put in a cellar through your property’s water pipes and carry out a full assessment of the suitability of the cellar you have chosen.

Dimensions for the Mini Cellar start at 1.35m deep (holding upto 650 bottles) to the Spiral Cellar going upto 3.00m deep (holding upto 1,600 bottles). Check out
the options available at www.spiralcellars.com.

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Accessories for the Home 2



I think all of us at Coolest Gadgets will certainly love this - the Leather 250GB Hip Flask USB Drive.

This portable drive looks just like a pocket size flask and is wrapped with buttery 100% real leather. Connect it to your computer using USB 2.0 for transfer rates of up to 480 Mbits per second, no external power supply is needed. Built in Drop Guard protection protects your data after a night on the town with the boys. Works on any standard OS including Windows, Linux and Mac.

Be the life of the party with this Beer Tube Siren! It will require a quartet of AA batteries to operate, so hopefully you’re sober enough to replace them should they run out of juice in the middle of a hard night’s partying.

Great for bars & restaurants - patrons can flip the switch to let your servers know they are ready for another tube. Wonderful for parties - having a birthday party? Let the birthday child feel special with a lighted lid Turn on the switch and light will let everyone know that the tube is ready to party.

For $19 a pop, this is one of the cheaper (and wackier) drinking gadgets I’ve seen so far…definitely not meant for folks who intend to remain sober.

Forget about bottle-juggling the next time you host a party at your home. With the Chugalug Drinks Factory, making cocktails will never be the same again.

Making the average glass-twirling bar monkey seem about as wacky as Tim Henman, this bizarre contraption makes creating cocktails a highly amusing experience - and we should know because we’ve made thousandsh shinsh our shamples arrived. The idea is to stick this strange, Wonka-esque collection of translucent pods, vortex funnels and chambers to any flat surface (fridge, filing cabinet, window, boss’s door, you name it) via the included suction cups. Next, pour your drinks into the funnels at the top (booze in one, mixer in the other) and watch in wonder as your concoction gives in to gravity, whooshing around the Chugalug’s various bits and bobs. At the end of its journey your tipple will be waiting in the special ice chamber, perfectly mixed and ready to be dispensed into a glass. Cool!

There is a common misconception about corporate interaction. It’s not always “all business”. Some of the most hardcore mofos I’ve ever known were members of the corporate elite. Want to make a snide comment about their quarterly profits? How about a punch to the jaw instead, fool?!

And while corporate honchos might not walk around with big metal chains and sharpened shanks as their weapon of choice, they certainly find ways to hold their own in the inter-office rumbles. This Punch mug not only delivers the kick of caffeine you so desperately need, but also provides an excellent alternative to brass knuckles for any snotty PR employees.

All coasters are just the same, right? I love those that feature my favorite lager, but this Solar Powered Drinks Coaster will probably usurp that preference .

Placing your drinks glass or bottle onto the solar drinks coasters sets off a mesmerizing sequence of hypnotic colors, which illuminate your glass and drinks bottle and will look fantastic in your garden this summer. Eye-catching colors include red, orange, blue, green, yellow and purple, making these solar color-changing coasters a guaranteed talking point! An integral solar panel that charges up during the day is used to power your solar coasters and an energy efficient color-changing LED produces the vibrant multi-colored effects for up to 6 hours.

ExacTap
I love gadgets that are for the betterment of mankind and this is certainly one of those, ExacTap, a new kind of beer disperser that can pour the perfect pint in under 3 seconds.

ExacTap works with lager, cider, stout and Guinness. Though whether a pint of Guinness poured in 3 seconds tastes nicer than the more traditional 10 minute multi stage Guinness pouring ceromony is up for debate.

The ExacTap is currently by used at Chelsea footie club, Twickenham and the Odyssey arena in Belfast. For further info and videos check out the official product page.

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New Gadgets for the Home 1

This looks like some sort of strange mad scientist design of a contraption which concocts a weird potion after putting in all sorts of exotic ingredients. Actually, it is known as the Missisipi Distiller that attempts to capture the original spirit (pun not intended) of the American south distilling heritage.

When I first heard of Beer on a Stick, I thought it was some sort of alcohol infused ice lolly. Boy, was I wrong - this is meant to be a cup holder instead, purportedly helping keep the beer cold since your hands won’t be holding the mug. I thought that was what the mug handle was for anyways?

It’s an injected-molded polystyrene 3 piece cup holder. Our intuitive design makes it easy to assemble. Our low order minimums make it easy for you to try Beer on a Stick at your next event! We are sure you’ll share our enthusiasm for this new product. Sit back and enjoy one of your favorite beverages using the Beer on a Stick cup holder and we’re sure you’ll agree that this item is truly unique and fun.

Well, there is nothing quite as manly as making a toast using a frosty mug that you hold in your hand, and not some pansy-looking device like this. I’m not sure who the target market is, but it would be interesting to see just how many people or corporations pick this up for their next dinner bash.

Drinking wine can be said to be a pursuit of leisure in addition to it being an art form, and seasoned veterans will tell you that the wine is best enjoyed at the right temperature and drunk from the right glass. The Breathable Wine Glasses aim to make your life easier in this case.

The Breathable Glass designers have come up with a top secret formula that not only greatly improves the “nose” (smell to you and me) of your wine, but renders any wine poured into the glass ready for drinking within a few minutes. This means you can enjoy that vintage bottle you’ve been hiding in the cellar for the last few years without clearing a huge window in your schedule. A few minutes in one of these glasses is the equivalent of it sitting in a decanter for one to two hours, and without any change to the wine’s character and structure. Of course you don’t need to be a wine lover to appreciate the genius of these glasses as they will work just as well with spirits and fruit juices, lifting the flavors head and shoulders above normal glasses. Discover just how great your wine can taste with the most revolutionary wine improver to hit the market in years.

With fast food joints offering a limited soft drink menu of usually Coke, Diet Coke, Orange, 7up and Root Beer (or their Pepsi “equivalents”) sometimes the only way to keep drink options interesting is with the classic “suicide,” (mixing them all). Well now, Coca Cola is poised to introduce a Fountain Machine that will dispense soft drinks with up to 100 flavor combinations.

What’s advantageous to store owners is that they won’t have to redesign their beverage stations to accommodate the new dispenser, as it takes up the same space as current machines offering 8 flavors. The design can do this thanks to high-concentrate ingredients which come in cartridges, a design that’s much like that of a printer, thereby allowing for the simple swapping out of replacement cartridges on the fly, or for changing out unpopular flavors for new ones.

“Innovation is our lifeblood,” said Chris Lowe, president of the Coca-Cola North America food service and on-premise division, “and we wanted a dispenser that offers consumers greater beverage variety while helping our customers increase beverage profitability.”

Early prototypes underwent testing earlier this summer with Coke planning a limited release sometimes next year.

Always wanted to take a walk on the wild side? Then the InsideOut Glasses will definitely make you stand out from the crowd.

Super stylish, these sleek glass cylinders contain inner chambers shaped like iconic drinking vessels. Simply pour in a drink and the familiar shape of a champagne flute, a martini glass or a liqueur glass appears. How cool is that! Handmade and mouth-blown, InsideOut Glasses are guaranteed to wow guests with their elegant and contemporary styling. Better still, drinks stay cooler for longer because mitts only make contact with the outer cylinder. Chill one in the freezer and the effect, both visually and practically, is stunning. Sub-zero glassware? Absolutely.

Purists will probably cry foul that this desecrates centuries old tradition of how certain liquors are drunk, but hey - if I can afford to pay for bottles of Kristal without flinching, nobody tells me how I should drink my champagne.

Folks who love a rich, creamy stout crowning their favorite lager in a pint will definitely find the Black and Tandevice handy. It allows you to concoct such a drink right in the comfort of your own home without having to head off to the nearest pub.

Brütül (brew tool) introduces the ultimate device for creating the classic Black and Tan and other delicious layered beers. We logged hundreds of hours designing and building the world’s most versatile beer layering device, the Lagerhead Black and Tan Turtle. Equipped with the “Snapper” bottle opener, this handsome Chelonian pours a delicious layered beer time after time.

Hmm, I’m really thirsty for some golden nectar right after this post, but it might be a bit too early in the day to start knocking back some booze.




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Stocking your home bar without breaking the bank

These days it pays to know what you’re drinking. Not for counting calories or making sure that you are not being over-served, although these are important things indeed. No, I mean it literally: it’s about watching your wallet. Have you noticed that your pocketbook now seems to be getting supermodel thin every time you go out for a few drinks? It not your imagination, it’s the new economy of drinking in America. checkingyourwalletYou see, as more high quality and so-called super-premium liquors propagate the shelves of retailers and bars,  prices of BigBillslofty and trendy distilled spirits push traditional price barriers, usually in direct proportion to their expensive packaging and marketing campaigns. The latter are often necessary these days, by the way, to make any real and lasting penetration into the highly merged and distracted distribution and supply chain. The fact that this upward price pressure occurs even during a flood of new brand launches, seemingly contradicting the laws of supply andMoneyBreakdown demand, is truly amazing from both an economic and everyday common sense perspective.liquorstoreshelves Is there really enough consumer demand to support these prices? It’s hard to believe there is, but it’s apparently so, as the current price escalation seems to respect few if any conventionally assumed price boundaries. Consider the sobering fact that last year we reviewed a $100 vodka. This is the spirits game and it’s definitively pay-to-play for everyone involved.

Fortunately amid all of this rather unusual and unfathomable behavior, level headed spirits producers and marketers are betting on the fact that consumers will come to their senses (in point of fact, most probably never lost them) and seek products that deliver a taste experience similar to the trend-setting brands for a price that is more conservative and palatable. (Think Madonna in a nun’s outfit.) And to do our part to better facilitate this fiscally responsible attitude and pursuit, we’ve launched a new competition specifically focused on finding the best buys of the spirits world and bringing these value oriented brands greater consumer awareness. I’m happy to report that we did find many brands delivering both great taste and satisfying economics. Nightclub

Below are the winners in the three price tiers of our first annual BTI Best Buy Bar Competition: under $20, under $15, and under $10 as well as full lists of recommended products in each category. We’re sure that you’ll find these products a welcome addition to you home bar and we’re busy spreading the word to the trade so that you can get your wallet off of that bizarre “club diet” the next time you head out for a drink or two.
2006BestBuyBarWinners-Partial

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Belgian Monastic Ales

Belgium: Monastic Ales

Monastic Ales

Whoever serves beer or wine watered down, he himself deserves in them to drown. - Medieval exhortation for pure beverages

Belgium is a unique beer-producing country where beer, culture, and religion coexist in greater harmony than any other place in the world. The history of beer in this flat, culturally divided part of Europe dates back more than two millennia. When Julius Caesar led his conquering Roman legions through the land of the Belgae in the first century b.c., he found that the natives were already producing a variety of simple beers. Brewing continued through the Middle Ages when self-sufficient monasteries established their own breweries. Six of these monastic breweries are still in operation in Belgium and Holland. In the 15th and 16th centuries, as part of the cultural empire of Burgundy, this corner of Europe spread brewing technology and tradition to the whole of northern Europe. Unsurprisingly, more than a few Belgian breweries can trace their foundation back further than 300 years. For example, Liefmans of Oudenaarde in East Flanders was founded in 1679.

A small country (about the size of Maryland), Belgium presents to the connoisseur a treasure trove of exotic ales. This range of flavors can send beer critics spiraling off into the wilder reaches of inflated winespeak in an effort to capture on paper the sheer complexity of Belgium’s finest beers. Such diversity is not achieved by German adherence to purity laws that proscribe any ingredients other than yeast, malted barley, water, and hops. In addition to these ingredients, such exotica as barley sugar, herbs, fruits, and spices are all part of an ancient Belgian brewing tradition that would make a Bavarian brewer run for his Reinheitsgebot parchment.

Fewer than 100 breweries are currently active in Belgium, compared to approximately 3,000 at the beginning of the 20th century. Industrialization, mergers, takeovers, and the post-World War II trend to pilsner-style beers have had their effects. Nonetheless, Belgium remains a country of strikingly diverse beer styles. It must be remembered that Belgium is a relatively modern contrivance of two principal cultures, Dutch-speaking Flemish to the north and French-speaking Walloons to the south. Flems and Walloons are a touch chauvinistic about drinking their own beers, a fact that only serves to enhance diversity.

The great monastic brewing tradition survives in six Trappist monasteries-five located in Belgium and one in Holland. In all, Trappist breweries produce about 15 labels. The Trappists are part of the Benedictine order of Catholic monks. European Union law has reserved the use of the words "Trappist Ale" only for these beers. This double trinity of holy beers, the Grand Cru Classés of the beer world, upholds the tradition of "nutritional" beverages whose original purpose was largely to nourish monks with "liquid bread." Modern-day monks continue this tradition. Brother Theodore, the octogenarian guiding figure behind the Chimay Trappist brewery, still takes a bottle of sustenance after morning prayer.

It may prove difficult tracking down many of these beers in the United States, especially outside large urban areas, although beers from Chimay are widely distributed.

From this select group of Trappist beers, a separate category of "abbey" beers has developed. These beers are brewed in commercial secular breweries. Some are produced under license and in accordance with original recipes from abbeys that have ceased their brewing operations. Others are fanciful creations, or named after local ruins. The law offers little guidance in the naming of abbey beers, or the printing of the actual brewer in an obvious manner on labels. This label proliferation is a source of minor frustration in correlating brands to actual breweries in Belgium.

Lambic beers are esoteric and quite distinctive in the world of brewing. They are rare, even in and around their home city of Brussels, where the local airborne wild yeasts allow this tart specialty style to spontaneously ferment. Modern tastes have veered away from tart, acidic flavors. A handful of producers persevere with the artisanal, slow, and inefficient methods that yield the most striking examples of geueze lambic beer. With negligible exceptions, lambic beer in Brussels and throughout Belgium has become synonymous with the Bellevue range from the giant Interbrew company. Although very drinkable, these beers have a rather mild lambic affectation. Short of a sharp upturn of interest in these beers in Belgium or abroad, artisanal lambics will not be truly known and appreciated outside a relatively small but devout group of enthusiasts. Do not hold back-a good selection of lambics may be found in the United States, albeit in small quantities.

Another noteworthy style of Belgian beer is wit (white) beer, a cloudy wheat ale spiced with coriander and orange peel. A classic example is Hoegaarden, which has resurfaced on the U.S. market. Despite its increasing sales volume domestically and abroad, it is tasting as good as ever. Interbrew’s considerable investment in the De Kluis brewery, founded by Pierre Celis (who later went on to found yet another wit brewery in Austin, Texas, of all places), is yielding beers worthy of the historic name of Hoegaarden, a town famous for its wit beers in centuries past. Hoegaarden and other Belgian wit beers should prove increasingly popular with U.S. beer consumers who have become accustomed to drinking cloudy wheat ales during summer months.

Despite its beer culture, Belgium has not proven to be an easy environment for young artisan brewers to start a new venture. Distribution is difficult to achieve without the acquiescence of the country’s dominant brewing conglomerates, who control distribution to bars and cafés in a subtle and not so subtle manner. Shining successes such as Brasserie d’Achouffe, founded in 1982, looked at the outset to the export market to build sales volumes for their strong, spicy ales. Sixty percent of their production is now exported, and other breweries are taking note and casting a hungry look at the difficult to penetrate, but rewarding, North American market.

From the U.S. consumers’ viewpoint, Belgian beers generally represent styles that the domestic craft-brewing industry has not yet addressed in a convincing manner, with a few notable exceptions. Strong Belgian Ales represent a step up the sophistication ladder and often are priced accordingly. They invite contemplative, less hurried drinking (if only because of the alcohol content), and can bridge the gap between the proletarian perception of beer and the more cerebral one of wine.


Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

 

Let me explain…

Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

Got paid
£25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

Marc Beasley, UK

..

I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

Chris Litchfield, Texas

.

If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

Ian Marti, Canada

.

Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

Amanda Estaban, Australia

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



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Wheat Ales

Brewing with wheat instead of barley is an ancient tradition that stretches back to the earliest days of brewing. Although not an easy grain to work with, beers brewed with a proportion of wheat do not require maturation, as is the case with lagers, and can be drunk soon after brewing. Most importantly wheat ales are very refreshing. Traditionally they are cloudy or hazy, though with modern filtration they can easily be made clear. Bavarian "weizen" beers are the best known examples of wheat ales and are widely imitated.

Dunkel/Dark Weizen. These dark wheat beers derive their character from the use of darker malts in the non-wheat ingredients, so that a richer, darker colored beer can be achieved, along with fuller malt flavors. Dunkel weizens still display the floral, estery qualities of a pale weizen. Dark weizens are produced with or without a secondary fermentation in the bottle, with the corollary that these styles can be yeast sedimented or unsedimented depending upon the preference of the brewer.

Flavored Wheat Ales. Turning wheat beer into a cocktail has precedent in Europe where alcoholic cordials or fruit syrups can be used to help beer slide down more easily. Flavored wheat ales are an increasingly popular specialty category covering a number of flavoring options that brewers have adopted, particularly in the USA, the home of "throw-the-rule-book-away" hybrid beer styles. The two most significant additives are fruit and honey, usually employed separately. Raspberry is a common choice of fruit to flavor these styles and the best examples have faithful fruit essence and avoid any sweet cloying character. Honey can add richness to the palate and give a hint of sweetness. Herbs and spices are also encountered, but the possibilities are endless. Chocolate dunkel raspberry weisse anyone?

Hefe Weizen. Weizen bier is a top fermenting beer style that originates from southern Germany, particularly Bavaria, and is brewed with at least 50% wheat in the mash. Hefe weizens are refreshing, highly carbonated beers ideal for quenching summer thirsts. They undergo secondary fermentation, often in the bottle, and the yeast strains used for this purpose impart a spicy, clove-like flavor. Hefe (the German word for yeast) on the label denotes that the bottle contains yeast sediment. Alcohol content is typically 5-5.5% ABV, giving these beers a medium to medium-full body. Hop flavors play a very insignificant role in the flavor profile. The best examples to be found are still authentic Bavarian imports, although some good domestic examples are produced and are often available as a draft option.

Kristall Weizen. A Kristal weizen is a non-hazy weizen ale. Kristall on the label of a weizen specifically denotes that a weizen has been filtered prior to bottling to remove the protein haze and yeast often suspended in such beers. Kristall weizens lack the yeasty and spicy complexity often associated with hefe weizen beers, and have a cleaner and more delicate flavor. Floral, fruity aromas are often noted in classic examples of this style, though healthy alcohol content of 5-5.5% will give a medium to medium-full bodied character.

Weizen Bock. Weizen bocks are essentially winter wheat beers, originally brewed in Bavaria. The color can be pale gold to brown. They are of higher alcoholic strength, as high as 7% ABV, showing a warming personality, though they should still have a significant 'rocky' head when poured. These beers combine the character of hefeweizens and dopplebocks and as such are rich and malty with estery, yeasty qualities and show a note of wheaty crispness through the finish.

Wheat Ale. As the name would suggest these are ales that use a proportion of wheat in the mash to add a protein haze. Wheat ales, inspired by the German weizen tradition were popular before prohibition in the US and are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. This generic category encapsulates the diverse interpretation of the classic German Weizen styles brewed in America and elsewhere. A host of variables ranging from the wheat/malt ratio, hopping and filtration/non filtration all contribute to wide variations on the theme. Generally US examples feature a more marked hop accent than classic German weizen styles and are often dryer.

White/Wit Beer. Wit beer is a style of flavored wheat. It is distinctly Belgian in origin and is still very closely associated with this low land country. Wits employ a proportion of unmalted wheat in the mash but also have flavor added in the form of curaçao, orange peel and coriander, among other ingredients. Their appearance is marked by a hazy white precipitate and these beers generally have some sedimentation. Typically these are very refreshing summer thirst quenchers. They are not widely produced in the US but some notable examples can be found.

Beer Extra Credit:   

Students of trivia may be interested to know that Germany’s famed purity law specifically forbade the use of wheat and  other grains for producing beer. The reason? Wheat was too valuable in the production of bread to waste on beer.


Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

 

Let me explain…

Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

Got paid
£25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

Marc Beasley, UK

..

I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

Chris Litchfield, Texas

.

If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

Ian Marti, Canada

.

Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

Amanda Estaban, Australia

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



 del.icio.us  Stumbleupon  Technorati  Digg 

Wheat Beer

What makes a beer a wheat beer? Simply put, a significant quantity of the mash should contain wheat. Typically wheat beers contain 30-70% wheat malt and the remainder is regular barley malt, usually a pale variety like Pilsner. Though there are many different styles and sub-styles that can be called wheat beers they all share certain characteristics. Wheat has a lot more protein in it than barley which contributes to thick, long lasting heads. This protein also creates haze in most wheat beers. Wheat contributes very little flavor to a beer but it does contribute a distinctively silky mouthfeel. Wheat beers are highly effervesant and most are light in flavor, making them great summer beers.

Hefeweizen: The best known and original wheat beer is hefeweizen. Using wheat as an ingredient in beer was the first exception made to the famous beer purity law, Rheinheitsgebot, and that exception was made specifically so the nobility could continue to enjoy this style. This Bavarian style of wheat beer is pale and cloudy. It is bottled and served unfiltered so the yeast used during fermentation is still present. This special strain of yeast contributes banana and clove notes to the aroma and flavor of the beer. Wheat beer is an ale so it is heavier and doesn’t provide the smack of a lager. But served cold, with or without a slice of lemon, it is no less refreshing. Berliner Weisse: While the brewers in southern Germany really on yeast for the flavor and aroma of their wheat beers, brewers in northern Germany use a different technique. Berliner Weisse is fermented with ale yeast and Lactobacillus delbruckii which creates an unforgettable beer. The bacterium contributes a dominant mouth-puckering sourness. Otherwise this beer is light in character and very effervesant. Some fans of this rare style like to sweeten it with flavored syrups. That may work for them but as with every beer I always encourage initiates to try it on its own first. Dark Wheats: There are two dark styles of wheat, Dunkelweizen and Weizenbock although it should be pointed out that early Hefeweizen’s were probably much closer to Dunkelweizen than today’s Hefeweizens. Dunkelweizens are brewed very much like Hefeweizen except that the malt used is typically one of two darker varieties – Vienna or Munich malt. These malts contribute a chestnut brown color and are the primary malts used the Oktoberfest style. The combination of the rich roasted flavors of the malt and the banana and clove notes from the Hefeweizen yeast can create a wonderfully complex and satisfying brew. Weizenbock is made in virtually the same way except that it is a higher gravity beer so, in alcohol content at least, it’s similar to bock. Krystal: Krystal wheat beer is what you would imagine – clear wheat beer. You often see wheat beers described as unfiltered. Krystal is a filtered wheat beer. Filtering produces a crystal clear beer with none of the cloudy character of Hefeweizen. Filtering removes the stuff that contributes the beers flavor and character so Krystal wheat beers are much lighter than regular wheats. They do retain the same banana and clove notes thought they are far more subtle. Belgian witbier: Thanks to Hoegarden, this once almost dead style has come roaring back. Brewed similar to Hefeweizen, Belgian witbiers use a yeast that is similar to the Bavarians’ yeast in the way that it adds flavor and aroma but those characteristics are distinctly different. This style, having grown up out from under the dictatorial eye of Rheinheitsgebot, also includes orange peel and coriander. Witbeirs are at the same time fresh tasting and complex. Other Belgian beer styles contain malted and unmalted wheat but are not generally considered to be wheat beers. American wheat: This is the American craft brewers’ spin on wheat beer. This style takes the Hefeweizen recipe and replaces the distinctive yeast with much cleaner fermenting ale yeasts. This creates a very subtle brew making it a great transition beer for many new good beer drinkers. Specialty: Because wheat contributes so little to a beer’s flavor while at the same time it produces some much desired qualities such as head retention and a smooth, full mouthfeel, it is the perfect style to use as a base for many fruit beers. There was a time when virtually every brewpub I walked into was serving a wildly popular raspberry wheat beer. Though this isn’t the case now, there are still quite a few of them. But fruited wheat beers aren’t limited to berries. Virtually every fruit and quite a few spices have found their way into a wheat beer recipe at some level. While none have had the staying power and popularity to earn a separate style distinction, there are simply too many fruit wheat beers on the market to not acknowledge them.

No doubt you will find some wheat beer styles that seem to fit more than one of the categories that I’ve laid out here. Consider this list of styles as simply a jumping off point for you to begin exploring wheat beer if you’re not already familiar with its variations. Wheat beer will surely continue to expand and be reinterpreted by today’s innovative brewers.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

 

Let me explain…

Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

Got paid
£25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

Marc Beasley, UK

..

I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

Chris Litchfield, Texas

.

If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

Ian Marti, Canada

.

Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

Amanda Estaban, Australia

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



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Summer beer

View PDF of Summer beer flyer
View PDF of Summer beer flyer


Anchor Summer is the first American wheat beer in modern times. Our first brew of this light and refreshing beer was in the summer of 1984.

Anchor Summer is an all-malt beer, and over 50% of its malt comes from malted wheat. It is fermented with a Triticum aestivum, AKA wheat traditional top-fermenting "ale" yeast because we prefer the clean flavors developed by this yeast. We believe that this style best celebrates the refreshingly light flavor of malted wheat. You may notice that the head on this beer is unusually abundant, with a consistency similar to whipped egg whites. This is due to protein contributed by the wheat.

The brewers at Anchor are proud to have revived not only rich hearty dark beers, but also this light crisp style of a modern American wheat beer.
  Click to enlarge

Summer getaway Wheat malt contributes to an unusual lightness and dryness to the palate, and this—combined with the distinctive flavor of the wheat—makes for a perfect thirst-quenching beverage. It is the ideal drink for beer lovers who appreciate tradition and character in their beer, but also seek a lighter, refreshing style, perfect for warm weather.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

 

Let me explain…

Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

Got paid
£25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

Marc Beasley, UK

..

I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

Chris Litchfield, Texas

.

If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

Ian Marti, Canada

.

Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

Amanda Estaban, Australia

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

/

It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

/

As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

/.

Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

A Regular $69.97 Value!

Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

Today you can get the guide for $9.95

Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



 del.icio.us  Stumbleupon  Technorati  Digg 

The secretive world of Champagne

Exciting Champagne Secrets Revealed

Is there a celebration anywhere? You definitely can't miss Champagne. Celebrations can be anything like winning a crucial match, getting hold of a billion dollar project, etc. Where there is celebrations, Champagne is always there. It is one of the most flexible beverage. For so many decades, Champagne is used mainly to represent happiness or joy or celebrations.
 
Do you want to know the origin of Champagne? It is France. French Champagnes are famous for their imprinted bottles and the traditional taste. Ensure that Champagne is spelled with a capital "C". Why specifically capital C? It is because only these Champagnes are made from French vineyards and they are only authorized to use captivate C. If not, it means that you are just getting the normal sparkling wine.
 
Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier, what are they? These are the grapes which is grown in French vineyards for preparing the traditional Champagne. You would be amazed to hear that there exists white grapes and Chardonnay belongs to this category of grapes. Remaining two types, namely, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir belongs to the category of black grapes. Just look at the label of your Champagne bottle to know what grapes is used. Depending upon the flavor that your like, you can buy your Champagne.
 
Champagne is definitely more superior than the usual sparkling wine. Be cautious when you buy Champagne as there are manufacturers who use cheaper grade of grapes to prepare Champagne. However, to know which is the best quality Champagne, you definitely should have tasted Champagne made from French vineyards.
You might have seen bubbles spew from Champagne when you open it and many buy Champagne just to see this bubble spew from it. Do you know why this happens? Carbonic acid gas is present in Champagne and when this react with the small drops of Champagne, you get bubbles. This process is referred to as the double fermentation process.
 
Just snatch a bottle of Champagne if you have celebrations in place. You may go to the nearest ABC stores to get Champagnes of excellent quality. The secrecy surrounding Champagne is no longer a closely guarded secret. New and exciting discoveries are made frequently. The passion for Champagne is as strong as ever. There are several places to buy Champagne and Wines. Your favorite Liquor Store or Online Liquor store is a good place to start. There are many choices to make and either place has numerous resources to help you along the way. Liquor Store can have their products on the shelf for a long time. When you purchase from a Online liquor Store has a fast rotation of Champagne and liquors which means a fresh product. With fast shipping to your home freshness of Champagne is no longer a problem.

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Champagne facts

Champagne FAQ

 
As midnight approaches on December 31st, more than a few of us will crack open a bottle or two of champagne to help toast in the New Year. With a few choice facts about the bubbly stuff, you can look knowledgeable rather than just tipsy when you drain your flute. Here are a few little nuggets you can share with fellow revelers.

 

What exactly is champagne?
 
Strictly speaking, champagne is a sparkling wine that comes from the Champagne region of northeastern France. If it's a bubbly wine from another region, it's sparkling wine, not champagne. While many people use the term champagne generically for any sparkling wine, the French have maintained their legal right to call their wines champagne for over a century. The Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1891 established this rule, and the Treaty of Versailles reaffirmed it.
 
The European Union helps protect this exclusivity now, although certain American producers can still generically use champagne on their labels if they were using the term before early 2006. How is champagne made?
Sparkling wines can be made in a variety of ways, but traditional champagne comes to life by a process called the methode Champenoise. Champagne starts its life like any normal wine. The grapes are harvested, pressed, and allowed to undergo a primary fermentation. The acidic results of this process are then blended and bottled with a bit of yeast and sugar so it can undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle. (It's this secondary fermentation that gives champagne its bubbles.) This new yeast starts doing its work on the sugar, and then dies and becomes what's known as lees. The bottles are then stored horizontally so the wine can age on lees for 15 months or more.
After this aging, winemakers turn the bottles upside down so the lees can settle to the bottom. Once the dead yeast has settled, producers open the bottles to remove the yeast, add a bit of sugar known as dosage to determine the sweetness of the champagne, and slip a cork onto the bottle. What's so special about theChampagne region?
 
Several factors make the chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier grapes grown in the Champagne region particularly well suited for crafting delicious wines. The northern location makes it a bit cooler than France's other wine-growing regions, which gives the grapes the proper acidity for sparkling wine production. Moreover, the porous, chalky soil of the area the result of large earthquakes millions of years ago aids in drainage.

 

Do I have to buy champagne to get good sparkling wine?
 
Not at all. Although many champagnes are delightful, most the world's wine regions make tasty sparkling wines of their own. You can find highly regarded sparkling wines from California, Spain, Italy, Australia, and other areas without shelling out big bucks for Dom Perignon. Speaking of Dom Perignon, who was this guy?
Contrary to popular misconception, the namesake of the famous brand didn't invent champagne. But Perignon, a Benedictine monk who worked as cellar master at an abbey near Epernay during the 17th and 18th centuries, did have quite an impact on the champagne industry. In Perignon's day, sparkling wine wasn't a really sought-after beverage. In fact, the bubbles were considered to be something of a flaw, and early production methods made producing the wine somewhat dangerous. (Imprecise temperature controls could lead to fermentation starting again after the wine was in the bottle. If one bottle in a cellar exploded and had its cork shoot out, a chain reaction would start.) Perignon helped standardize production methods to avoid these explosions, and he also added two safety features to his wines: thicker glass bottles that better withstood pressure and rope snare that helped keep corks in place.

 

What's the difference between brut and extra brut?
 
You'll see these terms on champagne labels to describe how sweet the good stuff in the bottle is. As mentioned above, a bit of sugar known as dosage is added to the bottle right before it's corked, and these terms describe exactly how much sugar went in. Extra brut has less than six grams of sugar per liter added, while brut contains less than 15 grams of additional sugar per liter. Several other classifications exist, but drier champagnes are more common.

 

Why do athletes spray each other with champagne after winning titles?
 
Throughout its history, champagne has been a celebratory drink that's made appearances at coronations of kings and the launching of ships. However, the bubbly-spraying throwdowns that now accompany athletic victories are a much more recent development. When Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt won the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1967, they ascended the winner's podium with a bottle of champagne in hand. Gurney looked down and saw team owner Carroll Shelby and Ford Motors CEO Henry Ford II standing with some journalists and decided to have a bit of fun. Gurney gave the bottle a shake and sprayed the crowd, and a new tradition was born. What's sabrage?
After the French Revolution, members of Napoleon's cavalry decided that the normal pop-and-foam ritual of opening a bottle of champagne just wasn't as visually impressive as it could be. They responded by popularizing a way of opening bottles using a sword. The technique, known as sabrage, involved holding a bottle at arm's length while quickly running a saber down the bottle towards the neck. When the saber's blade struck the glass lip just beneath the cork, the glass breaks, shooting off the cork and neck of the bottle while leaving the rest of the vessel intact. Ceremonial champagne swords are available for just this purpose, and if you can pull off this trick, you'll be the toast of your shindig. (Be careful, though. A flying champagne cork is already you'll-put-your-eye-out dangerous, and adding a ring of ragged broken glass to the equation doesn't make the whole endeavor any safer.)

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Shipping Champagne

Shipping ChampagneA new year has come. And the best way to welcome this new year is by greeting everyone. And for those special friends, you need to add something more with your best wishes. Send champagne to them, good branded ones, all nicely packed in lavish boxes. When you are sending champagnes, do keep in mind that it is important to get them packed nicely.
 
Gifting champagne is an art. When you are gifting it to someone yourself, you have the option of handing over just the bottle with two champagne flutes. But gifted through champagne delivery services, you need to send the gift in a box, well decorated and safe for the bottle. The best way to send a box is by decorating it in a way that impresses the receiver. You can put the bottle amidst pink and white roses. Or you can also pack in a box of chocolates. Once, I saw a champagne in a box that also had a small teddy bear in it.
You can choose to do all the packing yourself. But if you are not too confident about gift wrapping champagnes or you just don't have the time in this festive season, you can also get champagne delivery services through some of the good web sites that provide this facility. Some of the flower delivery web sites also provide the service of champagne delivery. You can try that out as well. Placing the order is quite easy and some of them are also known for their proactive and diligent service.
 
Champagne is that special drink that kings, rulers and people of royal lineage have always enjoyed. Even today, celebrations and merriment calls for champagnes. No joy or occasion seems complete without the presence of champagne. And when dear ones are far away, they can be sent greetings and warm wishes with.

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Buying Champagne for your Wedding.

Buying Champagne for your Wedding.

Champagne delivery - a thoughtful gift - wrapped with love - a new year has come. And for those special friends, you need to add something more with your best wishes.
 
And the best way to welcome this new year is by greeting everyone. - send champagne to them, all nicely packed, good branded ones in lavish boxes. Gifting champagne is an art. When you are sending champagnes, do keep in mind that it is important to get them packed nicely. When you are gifting it to someone yourself, you have the option of handing over just the bottle with two champagne flutes. The best way to send a box is by decorating it in a way that impresses the receiver.
 
But gifted through champagne delivery services, you need to send the gift in a box, well decorated and safe for the bottle. - you can put the bottle amidst pink and white roses. Once, I saw a champagne in a box that also had a small teddy bear in it. Or you can also pack in a box of chocolates. You can choose to do all the packing yourself. Some of the flower delivery web sites also provide the service of champagne delivery.
 
But if you are not too confident about gift wrapping champagnes or you just don' t have the time in this festive season, you can also get champagne delivery services through some of the good web sites that provide this facility. - you can try that out as well. Champagne is that special drink that kings, rulers and people of royal lineage have always enjoyed. Placing the order is quite easy and some of them are also known for their proactive and diligent service. Even today, celebrations and merriment calls for champagnes. And when dear ones are far away, they can be sent greetings and warm wishes with champagne delivery. No joy or occasion seems complete without the presence of Champagne.

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The Holistic Powers of Champagne?

The Power of Champagne? 
 
 
What sorts of ailments respond to champagne therapy? Hold on to your corks the list includes migraine headaches, obesity, insomnia, food allergies, lazy bowel, depression and anxiety (I could have told them that).
Surprised? Don't be. Wine in-small doses has a long history of healthful benefits. In moderation a drink or two a day, depending on your gender and make-up wine is good for your heart and circulation, your memory, your mood. But like so many other good things, thin, buttery chocolate chip cookies for instance, too much can lead to trouble. Alcoholism drinking out of balance is a huge, dangerous and costly problem. And women who drink an excess of wine sadly, two or more glasses a day are at significantly greater risk for breast cancer, uterine cancer, osteoporosis and the saying of idiotic things they hate themselves for in the morning. Many people vow at New Year's end to drink less alcohol, and if you're one of them, and still remember you took that pledge, here are a few sober strategies for lowering your cocktail count in 2009:
 
Carry a Fake. Let's face it, cutting down on your alcohol intake isn't nearly as hard as telling your drinking pals you're cutting back. They look at you like you've just slashed their tires, with your teeth. A good way around that until you've built up some backbone is to simply carry a fake drink, one that looks like alcohol but isn't. Tomato juice with lemon (a dead ringer for a Bloody Mary), a tonic with lime, a lemonade in a martini glass. Garnish helps think two skewers of olives.
 
Accept and Abandon.
Practice this Key Move. The problem with drinking is that it lowers your inhibition to more drinking. That's why the palm-pass-over the-glass move was created. It's the universal signal for no more wine, thank you, and the more you practice it the easier it becomes. Some people like to add a clever remark, like "I'm on call at the hospital," but this is strictly optional.
 
Sip and Savor. What is not optional when it comes to successfully cutting back on your drinking is learning to savor the four-to-six ounces of wine you do have. Watch the pour. Smile, relax, and settle into the joy of the moment. Cultivate a sloshing-technique that encourages the wine to climb up the sides of the glass without escaping onto your shirt. Put your nose inside the rim and inhale deeply, allowing the undertones of raspberries, vanilla and nymphs running naked in a sunlit field to fill you with appreciation. This is it! Your one wonderful glass of Champagne for the evening.

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Champagne's dark side

Champagne's dark side
 
Visitors to Champagne in France's northeast stream through the cellars of such famous brands as Bollinger, Moët et Chandon and Taittinger to learn about bubbly and perhaps sip a glass or two. But for the local vignerons (grape growers) and their families, champagne is a livelihood and a heritage.
 
My father keeps a postcard pinned on the wall above his desk, showing a group of swarthy peasants in aprons and tunics, shirtsleeves rolled up to the elbow, standing among vines, surrounded by leaves and baskets full of grapes. It's the vendange, or grape harvest. One of these swarthy types is my great-grandfather, sporting a walrus moustache. Their faces are tired - their backs have been bent all day in the sun and I wonder if there isn't a kind of vague defiance in their expressions.
 
The photograph was taken in the village of my birth in France's Champagne region at the turn of the twentieth century - the height of the postcard craze, and the time when champagne fully assumed its iconic status. My father's family had already been making champagne for over a century - since 1772, in fact. At that time, their grapes would have been sold to become wines both still and sparkling possibly to one of the local monasteries where champagne was developed by two monks a century earlier.
 
My uncle would start each day with a glass of champagne mixed with tap water. In the days before brands, products were differentiated by geography, which is the rationale behind the industry's refusal to allow sparkling wines from other regions to use the champagne name. According to this world-view, champagne can't be champagne if it isn't made here it's a contradiction in terms. Almost every villager works in the champagne business. They benefit from the village's classification as a grand cru commune, one of 17. This means that because of the historically high quality of their fruit, vignerons can charge buyers full price for their grapes. This system of classification dates back to around the time of the postcard, and its introduction led to riots by sceptical vignerons. Maybe that's why my great-grandfather looks so peeved.
 
It's a quiet hillside village surrounded on almost all sides by rows of vines, but history hasn't spared it: the Prussians invaded in 1870, the phylloxera bug wiped out half the vines in the 1880s, and WWI flattened the village. Prohibition and the Depression hit hard, and then the Germans marched in a third time in 1940. Ironically, the Germans have played a decisive role in champagne's history. Their love of the drink built the industry in the 19th century, and Nazi patronage meant that the industry survived WWII largely unscathed. Champagne has always been an everyday thing to me. It was always there on the kitchen table, where the conversation often centred around acreage and tonnage. My uncle would start each day with a glass of champagne mixed with tap water.
 
The Napoleonic Code still requires deceased estates to be shared equally among siblings and vigneron families struggle to survive on their small allotments. My father's was so small he left the village to make wine in what the champenois call 'le nouveau monde' , but he always refused to call his sparkling wines champagne. Once, my aunt showed me a legal document she had recently found hidden away in a wall of the winery she's lived above all her married life. It dated from the 1840s, at about the time when, thanks to advances in the chemistry of winemaking, the village began to specialise in sparkling wine. It was a legal document declaring that the then occupants had been found guilty of infanticide - a drastic but not isolated solution to the dilemmas of inheritance. The rules of champagne:
 
it must be made within the legally defined region it must be made from grapes grown within an area of 30,000ha (74,000ac) it must contain only chardonnay, pinot noir or pinot meunier grapes vines must be pruned according to one of four officially-sanctioned methods the vineyard's yield must not exceed 50 to 60 hectalitres per hectare grapes must be harvested by hand the wine must be vinified according to the traditional méthode champenoise it must be stored for at least 15 months after bottling.

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Shopping around for a Liquor Store

Shopping Around for a Liquor Store

Finding wine can be tough, but a good wine store can help you narrow down the chaotic search for the best vintage. A Liquor Store can offer you the best of the best, presenting their selection with as much variety and balance as possible to enable you to make an educated choice. A wine stores products should be accessible and clearly labeled so that you know what you're getting out of a wine before you take it home. A good Liquor Store should be storing the wines at the right temperatures, for starters. For a lot of Liquor Stores, the products will be on the shelves for a long time and it can lose some of its vitality. A good Online Liquor Store, however, recognizes the proper temperatures and stores the wines with the right humidity in mind. Without the right storing temperature, the wines sold by your favorite wine store may be less than great. The wine bottles on the shelves should be easy-to-read and organized. There is nothing worse than wandering around a store for hours looking for the wines from Argentina because they are not grouped by geographical area. Wines should then be grouped in type within the area, so that the wine bottles are easy to decide between. Reds should be grouped apart from whites wherever possible to avoid confusion, especially given that many bottles are clouded or dark.

The right wine rack can make all of the difference in the world in terms of storing the wine, too, so a proper wine store should have the right wine racks. Without the right wine racks, the wine can be stored at the wrong angles or inclinations which can be bothersome to some wines with more sediment than others. Other Liquors may need to be stored straight up and not on a wine rack at all. The staff at the wine store should be knowledgeable enough to know the difference. It is important to go to a wine store where the staff is knowledgeable about the wine. If you are working with staff that has little to no interest in the product they are selling, you may want to consider going to another wine store because it may mean that they take very little pride in handling the wine.
You should go to stores that offer taste tests regularly and that have clearly marked sections and wine descriptions throughout the store. Some people choose their local liquor store, but true wine lovers seek out a winery shop or a specialty Liquor Store.

All in all, finding the ideal wine store can be a challenge. If you are unsure about wine stores in your area, you can always look around for a specialty shop that delivers or that you can reach by taking a small trip to. It may very well be worth it to spend the extra time and money on finding the right store for your wine purposes.
A good wine store can be hard to find, but it is all worth it in the end when you open that delicious bottle of your favorite wine.

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The New Wine Label Phenomenon

The New Wine Label Phenomenon

It comes as no news to anyone that the American people love their animals. What did come as a surprise to me is that we also love animals on our wine labels. Yes, a study released earlier this year by ACNielsen confirms that wine labels with animal images are becoming increasingly popular in this country. I felt compelled to do my own research on this topic so one evening I stopped by my local liquor store to check out the wine selection. Sure enough I was greeted with a veritable zoo of animals on labels. There were Dancing Bulls, Leaping Horses, Black Swans, Little Penguins, Kangaroos, even a hippopotamus courtesy of Fat Bastard Wines (which is French would you believe). This very informal research confirmed that there seems to be a much larger selection of wines with animal labels than ever before.

Critter Labels Rule
In the wine industry these animal labels are affectionately known as "critter labels", and the trend began back in 2001 with the introduction of the Yellow Tail brand of wines into this country from Australia. Pictured on the label is what looks like a kangaroo (but which is in fact supposed to be the yellow-footed rock wallaby). These wines had labels that looked striking, were priced very reasonably and they tasted great – so they became a runaway success. So much so that they spawned an entire new "category" of wine. The ACNielsen study has some hard data confirming the popularity of this new wine category. In the past three years there have been 438 new Table Wine brands that have been successfully introduced in the American market (those wines that sold more than $20,000 annually). Of these 438 new brands 77 of them featured an animal on their label, around 18 percent. Combined with existing "critter label" wines, sales reached $600 million in 2005 out of a total of just over $4 billion, based on ACNielsen sales data from supermarket point of sale purchases.

"Critter-labeled wines are on the rise, quickly gaining share in the table wine category," said Danny Brager, vice president of ACNielsen's Beverage Alcohol team. "The sales generated by new brands featuring a critter outperform other new table wines by more than two to one." That's right, taken across the board new critter-labeled wines have proven in the marketplace to be more popular. "While placing a critter on a label doesn't guarantee success, it is important that wine makers realize that there is a segment of consumers who don't want to have to take wine too seriously," said Brager. "Not only are they willing to have fun with wine, they may just feel ‘good' about an animal label presentation." With hundreds of new wine brands being introduced each year, wine makers realize that they need to stand out from the crowd if they are to make an impression. The easiest and most cost effective way to stand out is with an attention grabbing label on your bottle. The wine industry has also realized that there is an increasingly large segment of consumers who are attracted by fun labels. They want to buy a non-pretentious wine and they don't want to pay a fortune. These are the people who walk into a liquor store and supermarket and have no idea what they are going to buy – they decide by looking at the labels.

Chasing the Yellow Tail
The Yellow Tail wine phenomenon is the perfect example of this. From Casella Wines, a small family-owned winery in New South Wales, Australia, Yellow Tail went from zero to the number one imported wine in the US in just two years. The first year the Casella brothers expected to sell 25,000 cases of wine here, they ended up selling 200,000 cases. That was back in 2001. In 2005 they sold 8 million cases of wine. Yellow Tail Shiraz is now the #1 selling red wine in America (not just imports but ALL red wine). In the crowded and highly competitive US wine market with over 6,500 wine brands, Yellow Tail has become the #1 wine brand, and it took just five years. Now, I realize that Yellow Tail's success is not just because of their label. They have a great product that is reasonably priced – the Shiraz is just $6.99 – and they have a very loyal base of repeat customers. But could they have become #1 without their unique label? I don't think so. One of the biggest barriers they faced was getting people to try the wine in the first place. With what looks like a brightly colored kangaroo on the label on a black background, it is a visually striking label. It was able to break through the clutter at the retail store with this label. Perhaps the biggest indication of the success of Yellow Tail is the number of copycats it has spawned. Penfolds, Australia's leading winery, was obviously disappointed in missing out on this opportunity, so they responded with the launch of the Little Penguin brand of wines. There is now a deluge of animal themed wines, so much so that ACNielsen is tracking their sales now. Despite all this new competition Yellow Tail remains the most successful wine brand in terms of total sales.

Labels are a Powerful Tool
While the wine business is somewhat unique there are lessons here that can be applied to any industry. One lesson is that with a high impact label you can make inroads even in a conservative and image conscious industry such as the wine industry. Your label should be working hard for your product. It should be informational, be a sales and marketing piece, carry any necessary regulatory information, and at the same time be eye catching. If you are selling your products at a retail store, then your label needs to perform well in all these areas for your product to compete with other more established brands. Your label is your sales tool. The success of Yellow Tail wines demonstrates that in any competitive industry a good label can help bring success. Of course, it doesn't have to feature a critter, but a visually appealing and eye catching label will always help sales. At Boutique Liquors, our Online Liquor Store would be happy to assist.

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What You Should Know about Buying Wine Online

What You Should Know about Buying Wine Online

by Boutique Liquors


Buying online is easy, but you are probably wondering, "Why should I bother when I can always buy my favorite wine from a local liquor store?" To some extent, you are correct. However, if you want to have a wider wine selection, you should definitely consider buying wine online.

Where Should You Buy?
When buying wine online , you have the choice of either buying from a winery website or from online wine merchants. Now, the first option is a good choice if you already know what you want to buy.

Buying Wine from a Winery Website.
Many wineries have online stores offering mail order service. All you need to do is to fill up an online form or download one and send the form to the winery through email or fax, and you would soon have your wine delivered to your house. It's as simple as that. You're probably thinking, "So, what's the catch? Is there any?" Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks to buying wine online. First of all, these stores or wineries impose minimum orders. You can't just place an order for a single bottle. This is not feasible for them. You need to place an order for six bottles. This depends on their policies. You can pick out different wines and place your order. You can pick out wines you haven't tried before but you have heard to be of good quality and then you can order a mixed dozen. Of course, you can only order wines that the winery is offering. Now, the second drawback to buying wine online is the freight charge. If you are buying wine online from a winery that is located within the same country, you would likely get free freight. However, do not be duped into thinking that this is actually "free". Often the freight is conspicuously added to the purchase price. If you are residing outside the country, you will definitely have to pay for freight charges. It is best, therefore, to maximize your freight payment by ordering several bottles of wine all at once.

Buying Your Wine from an Online Merchant
Buying wine online can have its advantages especially if you purchase your bottles of wine from an online merchant. First of all, you can place a mixed order. You can pick out wines from different regions or wineries. You will also likely save money from freight if you would purchase from online stores. The owners of these stores have practically imported the wine for their customers. They have also settled customs issues. So, you will have no more problems with the importation of your ordered bottles of wines
You will also enjoy better deals, discounts and offers. The competition between online merchants is fairly steep. To attract more customers, they offer competitive prices, better services and great freight deals.
Buying Wine Online - Is It Safe?
The wine industry is rapidly growing. Buying wine online is relatively safe. You just have to make sure that you get your wine from an established and trustworthy online merchant. It is very important that you check the online store first before you purchase anything. Make sure that they have a privacy policy. You should also ensure that they have secure data system or that information transmitted to them will be SSL encrypted. Usually, you will find this information from their website.

Getting Your Wine Delivered 
When buying wine online, getting your purchase delivered safely and properly can be an issue. If you go to work during the day and there's no one left at home to accept the delivery, you might worry about getting your purchases safely. It could disappear from the front porch. You can look for an online wine merchant that accepts delivery instructions. You can get the product delivered at work or you could have your neighbor accept the delivery for you. There are risks involved in buying wine online, but if you want to have more choices when it comes to your wine repertoire, you would definitely enjoy shopping online. Your options are practically limitless. You are not limited by geography. You can visit an Italian winery website and get the best wines from them. You can go to an online wine merchant store and you can order a selection of special wines. Your wine inventory will certainly be unique once you start buying wine online. At Boutique Liquors, our Online Liquor Store would be happy to help.

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Champagne- More than just for celebrations

Champagne --- More than just for celebrations

Its very name "Champagne" denotes celebration. We serve it at weddings to celebrate newlyweds. We launch ships with it, not to mention ringing in the New Year!
Champagne is synoymous with celebrating. It comes in many styles, and from many places around the world. But the true wine drinker, will tell you the french make the best champagne in the world...

The finest French Champagne's come from the same region that the fine wine got its name, Champagne. Even though Sparking wines are produced throughout the world, French champagne still holds its long reputation for being the best in the world.

The Champagne Region is a mere 90 miles north of Pairs . This northern region of France is known to have the worlds most ideal climate, and soil for growing grapes. Grapes that produce some of the finest Champagne, and Sparkling Wines in the entire world. The Champagne region has optimal conditions for vine cultivation. With its mild winter, and sunny summer and fall, along with the forests and rivers which keeps the region at an optimal humidity.

The Region also possesses a unique chalky soil best for growing Champagne grapes. This soil being much like fertilized topsoil, drinks in sun light and water. With Champagnes natural slopes that face the South and Southeast, the very region its self protects the vines from the northern winds, and exposes the vines to the warm sun. With the exceptional sun light, and rich soil, and perfect climate, it is the best place in the world to produce Champagne grapes.

 The grapes used in making Champagne are, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. These three grapes blended in different amounts make the base wine that is used to produce the finest Champagnes. Pinot Meunier grapes makes up 40% percent of the blend. This grape is the easiest to grow, and is resistant to cold temperatures, so can do well longer into the winter months. Pinot Meunier grapes are only grown in the Champagne Region of France.

 Pinot Noir being the second highest percent of grape used in making Champagne. Pinot Noir adds fruity flavor to the Champagne, and is 35% of most blends. Chardonnay accounts for the remaining 25% of the blend. Chardonnay adds the lightness to the wine. Champagne is almost colorless, this is due to a process that gently presses the grapes, to extract the juice, without the color.Who invented Champagne? There is much controversy in regard to this question. The first commercial sparkling wine was produced in the Limoux area of Langue doc France, in the mid 1500s. No one acctually knows who invented Champagne?

Contrary to legend, it would appear that the French monk Dom Perignon did not actually invent Champagne? But in his life time he certainly developed many advances in the production of fine Champagne, and Sparking Wines. He has certainly earned a wonderful reputation for all of his efforts in making fine Champagne. Dom Perignon became well known not only for his expertise in blending wines to create fine tasting champagne's with superior flavor.

But also for his studies that lead to the prevention of champagne bottles and corks exploding. He decovered that by using a thicker bottles, and tying the corks down to the bottle with string, kept the bottles from exploding. This invention made it possible to store the Champagne for long periods, with out losing bottles to explosions, and cut down in wine spoilage.

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Meet your new waitress..

Solar-powered bra displays text, holds drinks

Triumph Photovoltaic-Powered Bra -- Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan has unveiled a new eco-friendly concept bra called the “Solar Power Bra” (Taiyoko Hatsuden Bra), which aims to stimulate eco-awareness and promote clean energy.
The green, high-quality cotton bra features a waist-mounted solar panel that powers a small, chest-mounted electronic billboard or any other electronic device you choose to connect. A pair of reusable drink containers attach to the bra cups, allowing the wearer to reduce consumption of aluminum cans and plastic bottles while increasing bust size. When not in use, the containers can be collapsed and stored in small pockets in the cups.
Triumph hopes the bra inspires people to think about global warming, the dwindling supply of fossil fuels, and the future of energy.

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Oktoberfest in Germany

Oktoberfest in Munich
You consider yourself pretty hip. You've forsaken the frothy peasant's swill you once chugged from plastic cups at college keggers. You've moved on. You're no philistine. Perhaps you've developed a fondness for microbrews or craft beers. Maybe you're an aficionado of imports and well-versed in the thrill of a fine German beer. (Some of you may have even experienced the thrill of having a fine German -- but that's another story and really none of our business.) But you haven't really had a German beer until you've had a ponderous one-liter mass of German nectar forcefully thrust upon you by a burly, iron-fisted German beermadschen while surrounded by throngs of drunken tourists and rotund lederhosen-clad German herrs amidst the thundering cacophony of an oompah band while trying to maintain your balance atop a long, wooden picnic table in a beer tent at Oktoberfest, all the while shouting out beer-drinking songs in a language you don't speak.

The proverbial mountain climber, when asked "Why attack Everest and brave the most hostile climate conditions in the world," is often said to explain such death-defying madness with the simple "because it's there." A similar retort may be all you have to fall back on to rationalize why you'd journey halfway across the globe to join six million other thirsty tourists for the well-lubricated 16-day "Super Bowl of beer drinking." There are experiences in life that are all the more valuable precisely because of being arduous. Man has an innate love of superlatives: biggest, wildest, drunkest. Oktoberfest is all these and many more.

OKTOBERFEST HISTORY, OR "WHY OKTOBERFEST STARTS IN SEPTEMBER"

If you're not already familiar with Oktoberfest, you're probably thinking, "Wow, the Germans must really love October, celebrating its annual arrival with such ardent partying each year." The truth of the matter is that what the Germans actually love is drinking beer -- so much so that they can't wait until October to hoist their steins. The festival actually begins on the second-to-last Saturday in September each year and lasts 16 besotted suds-fiiled days. Leave it to Teutonic punctuality to be a month early for a party while the rest of the world is still striving to be fashionably late.

There's actually more background to explain the festival than the mere arrival of October. The festival has its beginnings in the October 12, 1810, marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxon-Hildeburghasen. On that fateful day, Ludwig and the foundation for today's Oktoberfest were laid. The original public festival lasted only a day and was held in the Munich meadow that still carries the bride's name, Theresienweise, or Weis'n, in the local vernacular. The festival has been held there ever since then, interrupted only for wars and other minor annoyances. (Of course, interrupting an annual festival for wars in Germany is akin to interrupting a baseball game for tobacco-chewing.)

Over the years, the spectacle that is Oktoberfest grew in prominence and duration. The modern Germans, with their inimitable ability to maximize production, decided to stretch out the party to its current two-week-plus-two-day length. It's precisely this kind of dedication to productivity, combined with billions and billions of Marshall Plan dollars, that has transformed Germany into the economic and beer-drinking wunderkind that it is today.

An interesting historical aside: the marriage of Ludwig and Theresa ended in divorce. But while the marriage failed, the party succeeded, and the original inspiration for the event has long since been replaced with a grander and nobler vision -- the stalwart consumption of prodigious amounts of some of the finest beer in the world. Which brings us to our next point. What types of beer do they drink?

OKTOBERFEST BREWS

A love of beer is an almost innate characteristic of the German psyche, and with order and efficiency being the hallmarks of German culture, it's easy to see how this attitude has spilled over into the production of their most beloved beverage. German beer production is governed by the world's oldest food law, the Reinheitsgebot, or Purity Law, which dates all the way back to the 1516 mandate of Duke William IV of Bavaria (a German folk hero whose name has become synonymous with the term "Duke William IV of Bavaria"). The Purity Law mandates that German beer be composed of only four ingredients: malted barley, hops, yeast and water.

The majority of beer served at Oktoberfest is Märzenbier, meaning "March beer." Yes, folks, the Germans, the most organized folks on earth, have a party called Oktoberfest that begins in September when they drink a beer known as "March beer." Go figure.

There are various explanations of how this came to be. Some beer pundits claim that a Munich brewer found his beer reserves depleted at festival time and decided to serve a brew made in March. Hence the name. At any rate, the Bavarian tradition of brewing large batches of beer in March dates back to the 19th century, before refrigeration, when production needed to be finished before the weather got too warm for brewing. They would then store the reserves in cool places, generally caves or cellars, for use during the summer months.

The advent of mechanized refrigeration in the latter part of the 1800s coincided with the proliferation of railroads in Europe, which enabled thousands more of those thirsty Bavarians to travel to the Munich Oktoberfest. Even though the larger Munich brewhouses were making special festival brews, demand often outstripped supply, and one way or the other, Märzen beer became the Oktoberfest beer style known to the world. (The style has had, and continues to have, various incarnations.)

Recent changes in tastes have seen the traditional Märzen brew supplanted by paler, less robust "Oktoberfestbier" to suit broader international tastes. Most of Munich's big brewers still produce a draft Märzen at Oktoberfest time for sale in their beer halls and festival tents. Typically, a Märzenbier will be copper-red in color, have a full-bodied maltiness, be somewhat spicy and dryish, and have heartier flavor than more common lagers. But you don't need to know this to enjoy them. What you do need to do is work up a powerful thirst and be aware that you'll be considered a wimp if you don't order by the mass -- a large, full liter of beer served in a heavy glass stein by a heavy German waitress who can proudly carry six of them in each hand. (That's 12 liters for those of you who are mathematically challenged -- enough beer to slake the thirst of the average small army.) The German beer waitress is clearly the highest Darwinian evolution of the waitress species. You'll find out very quickly that hoisting even one is quite a workout.

Each of the six major Munich breweries -- Lowenbrau, Paulaner, Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrauhaus and Augustiner -- produces its own variety of beer for the festival. The massive tents that these producers sponsor hold up to 6,000 revelers and serve as the epicenters of Oktoberfest beer-swilling and malt-inspired mayhem. With such large capacities, these tents are the equivalent of sports stadiums hosting passionately contested events. And if you venture inside, be prepared to engage in Olympian feats of beer-drinking prowess. Timid souls would be well-advised to stay on the sidelines, but the hearty devotee of beer-imbibing should proudly rally to the challenge. Because, after all, it's there.

If you should ever actually tire of beer drinking, Oktoberfest also offers an eclectic assortment of things to do. You'll find amusement park rides, refreshment stands, side shows, carnival games, fun houses, performance stages, shooting galleries, roller coasters, bumper cars and the like. Of course, if you actually go to Oktoberfest to do anything but drink beer, you're probably in the wrong place at the wrong time, which in Germany, as the world knows, can be a dangerous thing.

If, like Mohammed, you can't actually "go to the mountain," then you can certainly bring the mountain to you. That's our round about way of saying that there are a great number of American breweries producing fine Märzens and Oktoberfest brews that you can probably procure as close as your neighborhood liquor store. So don your lederhosen this fall, toast the season with a festival brew, and have your own Oktoberfest. Here are some tasting recommendations:

OKTOBERFEST MARZEN TASTING NOTES

With the growing popularity of micro and craft brewed beers in the United States, beer drinkers have embraced richer, more robust brews, thus, Oktoberfest styles are growing more popular than ever. If you find you have an urge to embrace a robust German and you can't travel to Oktoberfest, many North American brewers produce their own Oktoberfest brews during the fall season. If you're a fan of more flavorful, heartier beer, you'll want to try some of the following, which should be readily available in most liquor and grocery stores from September through November.

Don't pay for your beer any longer...
Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

...

 

Let me explain…

Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

.....

Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

.

Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

Got paid
£25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

Marc Beasley, UK

..

I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

Chris Litchfield, Texas

.

If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

Ian Marti, Canada

.

Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

Amanda Estaban, Australia

...

Make Money Drinking Beer
Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

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It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

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As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

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Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



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"Legal Weed Beer"

Brewer ordered not to use ‘Legal Weed’ caps.

Image: Legal Weed bottles 
Vaune Dillmann is hardly the first one to play off his northern California town's name. Tourists love the local school bus that says "Weed High."

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Vaune Dillmann thought the wording on his bottle caps was just a clever play on the name of the Northern California town where he brews his beer — Weed.

Federal alcohol regulators thought differently. They have ordered Dillmann to stop selling beer bottles with caps that say "Try Legal Weed."

While reviewing the proposed label for Dillmann's latest beer, Lemurian Lager, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau said the message on the caps he has been using for his five current beers amounts to a drug reference.

In a letter explaining its decision, the agency, which regulates the brewing industry, said the wording could "mislead consumers about the characteristics of the alcoholic beverage."

Dillmann scoffs at the notion that his label has anything to do with smoking pot.

"I've never tried marijuana in my life," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I don't advocate that. It's just our town's name."

The town of 3,000, sitting beneath Mount Shasta about 230 miles north of the state capital, takes its name from Abner Weed, a timber baron who opened a lumber mill there in 1901 and eventually was elected to the state Senate.

Dillmann, 61, started the Mount Shasta Brewing Co. in 2004. He said he has always used the town's name on his beers and named the company's first official brew Abner Weed's Pale Ale.

His bottle labels follow a long tradition of exploiting the town's name. Even city officials do it.

A sign posted on the way out of town reads, "Temporarily Out of Weed," while another says "100 Percent Pure Weed." Dillmann noted those examples in an appeal letter he sent to the alcohol bureau.

Once, Dillmann said, his wife, a former teacher, was delayed on a field trip to San Francisco as tourists clamored to pose next to the school bus, which said "Weed High."

But illegal drugs are no joke to the federal agency, which maintains meticulous rules about labeling. Drug references on alcoholic beverages were banned in 1994, agency spokesman Art Resnick said.

"We protect consumers of alcohol beverages against misleading advertising and labeling," he said.

He said the agency is reviewing Dillmann's appeal.

The Boulder, Colo.-based Brewers Association, which represents 1,100 craft brewers nationwide, said the Tax and Trade Bureau seems to have become more aggressive in recent years. It has gone after brewers for seemingly innocuous claims, such as descriptions that say one beer is stronger than another, said association director Paul Gatza.

"We're seeing the TTB starting to poke around at breweries' Web sites and issuing letters," he said. "Our trade association is feeling like TTB is overstretching a little bit."

Gatza said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the 1980s protected truthful speech on beer labels.

Meanwhile, Dillmann has placed a rush order on unmarked bottle caps so he can keep bottling while he awaits word from the federal agency on his appeal. He has enlisted the help of his congressman, Republican Rep. Wally Herger, who has asked the agency to explain why it rejected Dillmann's bottle cap labels.

The decision banning the "Try Legal Weed" caps came just after Dillmann had placed an order for 400,000 of them, at a cost of about $10,000. It took him four years to go through the first batch of bottle caps, but Dillmann said his sales have been increasing steadily.

Still, the native of Milwaukee said he wonders how some other brewers have gotten away with the names for their products, such as Hemp Ale or Dead Guy Ale. And he can't understand how his label has run afoul of federal alcohol regulators who must surely be aware of one of the most famous advertising slogans in American marketing: "This Bud's for you."


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Got paid
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I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

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If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

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Billionaire Winos 2

In 1997, Acker sponsored an auction with Phillips de Pury. It and several subsequent auctions, according to Kapon, were a disaster. But he persisted, even as his taste began to shift toward older wines. Sometime in late 2000 or early 2001, Rosania walked into the store on West Seventy-second Street. Neither Kapon nor Rosania can remember the moment exactly, but their meeting would eventually prove to be a milestone in the world of fine wine. Both were around 30. Rosania was a partner in a real estate investment firm, a self-made mogul who was ready to spend some of his growing fortune.

Largely by cultivating young collectors like Rosania and Kurniawan, Kapon has made Acker the leading vendor of fine wines in America, selling more than $60 million a year at auction in the past two years. "John has worked at it," says Peter Meltzer, author of Keys to the Cellar, who covers the auction scene for Wine Spectator. "I'm very impressed with him. He's really out there. The traditional houses have not been as aggressive. And he really knows what he's doing. He's learned empirically. He will be able to tell you the best vintage of La Tâche tasted in the last five years."

Kapon can talk trash as well as the next Angry Man, but he's a serious taster who, at this point, has probably sampled — and written about — more rare old wines than almost anyone his age on the planet, with the possible exception of Kurniawan and Rosania — wines like the 1870 Mouton or the 1945 Romanée-Conti. And he has the notes to prove it. He knows all the tasting terminology, but he's added some terms of his own, like "whips and chains," which he used recently to describe a young, powerful Champagne, and "vitamins," which seems to refer to the slightly metallic taste of supplement pills. Generally speaking, his notes are livelier than most critics'. Robert Parker may be more influential, while Allen Meadows, author of the newsletter Burghound — a friend of Kapon's — is the Pope of Burgundy. But neither of them has tasted some of the rare and old bottles that the Angry Men open at their gatherings, nor do they tend to pronounce upon them so colorfully: "Tighter than a 14-year-old virgin," an Angry Man said of one of Big Boy's Champagnes. "Stinky like the crack of a 90-year-old nun," another said, nosing a red Burgundy that was exactly half that age.

Kapon now has his sights set on Asia. This past spring he presided over an auction at the Island Shangri La ballroom in Hong Kong that brought in $8.2 million, including $242,000 for a case of 1990 Romanée-Conti, a new record. (One can only hope that the buyer isn't planning to mix it with Coke or Sprite, as Chinese connoisseurs are alleged to do.) The sale puts Kapon in a good position to become a leader in the exploding Chinese market.

As for the younger collectors, including Rosania, who are selling, it's hard to say whether they are locking in profits, hedging against a possible decline, or just editing their collections so they can buy even more. Probably all of the above. "All I can say is, I've only seen prices go one way," Kapon says. According to the Wine Spectator Auction Index, worldwide auctions of fine and rare wines hit a record of $301 million in sales in 2007 — a 25 percent increase over 2006, and 2008 looks as if it may be another record year despite the deteriorating state of the economy.

Unlike some collectors, this group of Angry Men is drinking as much as it's hoarding. When I dined with Jef Levy on a recent trip to Los Angeles, he invited four other friends along to Spago so we could open more bottles — 17 in all, ranging from a 1937 Ausone, which still had a brooding core of dark fruit, along with a spicy cinnamon note, to a 1999 La Tâche from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, with a flight of Pétrus ('55, '71, and '85) in between. After the first dozen or so bottles, my writing became hard to read, so I can't tell you much about the Pétrus. The next night, at Cut, Wolfgang Puck's Beverly Hills steak house, we limited ourselves to a more modest 12 bottles going back to the 1929 Haut-Brion.

"Life is short," Rosania says. "You've got to drink it." When I ask him how many bottles he has in his cellar, he says he has no idea. When I venture a guess of 50,000, he says, "Hell, I have 50,000 bottles of '96 Champagne." When I tell him that one estimate places the value of his cellar at $50 million, he shrugs.

Rosania grew up in modest circumstances, and his swaggering mogul manner is tempered by frequent professions of noblesse oblige. "With privilege comes responsibility," he says. (In fact, I've heard him say it four or five times.) After his father died of prostate cancer in 2005, he helped found Mount Sinai Hospital's wine auction. You can't swirl a glass at a Manhattan wine event without hearing testimony to his generosity.

The night before the auction at Cru, I consumed, by my best estimate, some $25,000 to $30,000 worth of Rosania's wine — including the 1945 Mouton and the 1947 Cheval Blanc, two legendary Bordeaux, the former marked by a signature mintiness and the latter so sweet and rich that it reminds people of Port — and I was one of 14 drinkers. And who other than Rosania could tell you that 1914 Pol Roger is one of the greatest Champagnes ever made, much less prove it by pulling it from his cellar and serving it, as he did the night before the auction? For once, the Angry Men seemed stunned nearly to silence.

Considering the age of these wines, it's amazing that most of the ones we tasted were brilliantly preserved, even as they acted their age. Poor storage can result in duds — Champagnes that have turned to sherry and red Burgs that have turned to vinegar.

Then there are the fakes. No one likes to talk about them, any more than swingers like to talk about STDs. But, just as hot art markets breed forgeries, the inexorable rise of the wine market has inevitably created a demand for counterfeit bottles. No one really knows how widespread the problem is, although anyone who has tasted enough will have come up against it. The first time I was aware of the problem was seven or eight years ago when I tasted a suspiciously fruity magnum of 1947 Pétrus, an extremely rare and prized Bordeaux, while dining at the home of Jancis Robinson, one of the world's leading wine critics. After the wealthy friend who'd brought the bottle went home, I asked Jancis if she really thought the wine, which tasted remarkably young and fresh to me, was a '47 Pétrus. "It certainly didn't seem to be," she said diplomatically. I've since heard about a lot of suspicious mags of '47 Pétrus. Given the vineyard's tiny production and the unusual nature of the magnum format, there shouldn't be more than a very few floating around these days.

Needless to say, it's generally the most legendary wines that are being faked, like the '45 Mouton or the '47 Cheval. During my marathon with Levy in Los Angeles, we encountered at least one bottle that was obviously a fake (sent to our table by another collector). One of the reasons that Rosania's Champagne auction attracted such interest was because of its aura of authenticity: Big Boy had purchased most of the stuff from the original buyers in Europe, and the market for vintage Champagne is so undeveloped that nobody has yet bothered to fake the stuff. As for Bordeaux and Burgundy, no one knows how many fraudulent bottles are residing in multimillion-dollar cellars around the world, though sometimes we get a clue.

Recently, billionaire collector William Koch filed a string of lawsuits against dealers and vendors who sold him bottles that were reputedly fakes (see The Billionaire's Vinegar, a recent book by Benjamin Wallace), including Eric Greenberg, an Internet consulting ex-billionaire who allegedly sold some 17,000 bottles in an October 2005 Zachys auction. Koch says that before Greenberg went to Zachys, his collection was first rejected by Sotheby's on the grounds that too many bottles were fakes. Acker subsequently held a major auction from Greenberg's so-called Golden Cellar (as opposed to Kurniawan's, which is referred to as The Cellar).

So far, Kapon has largely managed to stay above the fray, in part, he says, by doing his homework. For the Golden Cellar auction last October, Kapon rejected lots that he found suspect and attached an unprecedented 80 pages of documentation to the catalog. "All the great collections in this country have lemons," he says. "You've got to navigate around them." More recently, he withdrew 22 lots of Kurniawan's Ponsot Burgundy — one of the region's most legendary domains — from the Rosania auction at the last minute after questions were raised about its authenticity.

A few weeks after the Big Boy auction, Kapon agreed to meet me at Veritas, the Flatiron District restaurant that vies with Cru for the title of Wine Geek Central. Although Cru is his headquarters, Kapon is clearly a regular here and is treated as a visiting dignitary. He arrived with his new girlfriend, Dasha Vlasenko, a statuesque Estonian-born former model several inches taller than him who works in real estate. Kapon, who is in the middle of a divorce from his first wife, met Dasha at a party recently. She took a little while to warm up to him. "He was incredibly persistent," she says.

Kapon, who'd put together five auctions in the space of two months, looked a little ragged, pale, and slightly puffy-faced with a three-day growth. He quickly ordered a $450 1996 Drouhin Marquis de Laguiche Montrachet, a rare white Burgundy, and filled me in on his schedule. Less than three weeks after the Rosania auction, he was busy preparing three more to take place within the month, including the Hong Kong auction. Fans of Kapon's wine porn have bemoaned the fact that he's weeks behind posting his tasting notes, but it doesn't seem like he'll catch up anytime soon. His Hong Kong schedule sounds particularly daunting, at least for his liver, including dinners at which he will be inducted into the Commanderie de Bordeaux, a major Château Pichon-Lalande dinner, and yet another devoted to the wines of Romanée-Conti.

After we polished off the Montrachet, Kapon ordered a $550 1998 Mugnier Musigny Grand Cru, a rare bottle from another legendary Burgundy vineyard that we both liked a great deal and should have been the wine of the night, except that by the time our second course arrived we'd finished it. So John ordered yet another bottle, a 1971 Roumier Morey-St.-Denis Clos de la Bussière, which, as a premier cru, is lower in the hierarchy than the Musigny. But it blew the youngster away. In his newsletter, Kapon later observed of the $425 wine, "autumnal aromas were inviting like football season, and meat dripped from its bones like parking lot cookouts."

Halfway through the '71, Kapon spotted Danny DeVito across the room and asked the sommelier to send him a glass. From our vantage we could see that he was drinking a Colgin Cabernet — very serious juice, if not quite Burgundy. "I don't know if he's a Burgundy man," I said.

"Hey, just open up and say Ahh," Kapon said. "You don't have to know it to love it."

And sure enough, a few minutes later, DeVito hoisted the glass aloft and waved Kapon over to his table. I felt like somebody should warn the actor that Burgundy can be extremely addictive and that he was talking to the head pusher man. But it was too late. When Kapon finally returned to our table, 20 minutes later, he had the self-satisfied air of a priest who's made a new convert.

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Billionaire Winos 1

Billionaire Winos

Their tasting notes would make Robert Parker blush, their thirst would choke a camel, and their pinkies — and noses — are decidedly not in the air. Glass of 1914 Pol Roger, anyone?

Billionaire Winos

A new breed of wine traders likes to open Champagne — and make money — the old-fashioned way: with swashbuckling, no-holds-barred style.

Big Boy is standing in the middle of the dining room at Manhattan's three-star Cru restaurant, waving a saber, demanding that everyone shut up and pay attention. It's not easy to shut this crowd up — they've been drinking really expensive wine for four hours, and the adrenaline of big spending is in the air. But Big Boy, aka Rob Rosania, is more than capable of shouting down a roomful of buzzed alpha males. It's his party, and his magnum is bigger than anyone else's magnum. He didn't build a billion-dollar real estate empire by acting like a pussy. Signature sunglasses planted in his curly, dark mane, he's wearing a natty blue Kiton windowpane sports jacket over an open white shirt showing plenty of chest hair, and while he doesn't actually pound his chest, he often gives the impression that he's about to. He's in the process of selling off $5 million worth of his wine cellar to the assembled company — plus a few absentee bidders — and even though there are 40 or 50 more lots to go, he wants to celebrate.

After commanding the attention of the room, Rosania hoists a jeroboam of 1945 Bollinger for all to see. Then he lowers the enormous bottle and props it at a 45-degree angle as he prepares to saber it — the most dramatic and traditional method of opening Champagne, certainly no less than a $10,000 bottle deserves, and one that Rosania has perfected in the several years he's been collecting. For some reason this particular jero (11 more are in the auction) is not cooperating, and it takes Big Boy a few whacks to decapitate it, but no matter. A cheer goes up as the top of the bottle goes flying, and within minutes we're all drinking Bollinger made from grapes that were hanging on their vines when the allies stormed Omaha Beach.

"Shut the fuck up, and let's finish this," says John Kapon, standing a few feet above the crowd, pounding his gavel on the podium like a judge addressing an unruly courtroom. Kapon is the 36-year-old president of Acker Merrall & Condit, which bills itself as America's oldest wine store and has, under his watch, become the world's leading vendor of fine wine at auction. It's not often that you hear an auctioneer address a roomful of well-heeled bidders this way — it's hard to imagine Sotheby's urbane, British-born Jamie Ritchie doing so — but Kapon knows most of the 70 men in the room personally, and the very few women in attendance are accustomed to the high-testosterone world of competitive oenophilia.

The assembled company includes some of the most serious wine collectors on the planet, some of whom have flown in from Europe and the West Coast for this particular auction. None of them remind me of Frasier Crane. Raised pinkies and foppish horticultural analogies have been in short supply all night. Kapon tends to cheerfully mispronounce certain French names; "rock 'n' roll" and "T and A" are among his highest vinous accolades.

The L.A.-based film and television director and philanthropist Jefery Levy is in the process of dropping about $400,000 on vintage Champagne and Burgundy, including a case of '62 Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Bèze for $80,000. Levy has a distinctly Goth look: He's in his customary head-to-toe black, from his shades, formerly owned by Elvis, to his bespoke British crocodile shoes, and when he really wants an auction lot he keeps his paddle in the air until Kapon tells him he's bidding against himself. Also in from L.A. is 32-year-old Rudy Kurniawan, who vies with Rosania for the title of MDC (Man with the Deepest Cellar), and is alleged to spend more than a million dollars a month on wine. Kurniawan is from a fabulously wealthy Chinese family, although his father gave him an Indonesian name to protect his privacy. He is widely believed to have had a major impact on the escalating prices of the fine wine market in the last five years, and the Rosania auction includes some of Rudy's overstock, bottles of Rousseau and Romanée-Conti that would constitute the crown jewels of absolutely anyone else's collection.

While these kinds of multimillion-dollar auctions happen every other week in New York, what made this one — which went down in late April — unusual was the preponderance of old Champagne, a category that was a backwater in the fine wine market until Rosania began collecting it with a vengeance a few years ago after tasting a bottle of 1937 Krug he bought as part of a mixed-case lot. The auction's climax came early on, when two bottles of 1959 Dom Pérignon Rosé — the never commercially released debut vintage — provoked a telephone duel between two European bidders and quickly escalated from the opening price of $6,000. When Kapon slammed his hammer down three minutes and $64,000 later, a new record had been set for Champagne. With the buyer's premium tacked on to the $70,000 hammer price, someone had just paid $85,000 for two 49-year-old bottles of pink bubbly that very few people besides Rosania had ever tasted. The room erupted in cheers and applause. Bear Stearns had collapsed the month before, and the subprime crisis was claiming victims as the dollar continued its precipitous slide, but this and several other spring auctions proved that the market for fine vintage wine remained buoyant.

The celebration lasted till well after two. The exhausted Kapon slipped away. More wine was ordered from Cru's encyclopedic list. Wine director Robert Bohr glided around the room like Jeeves, serenely presiding over the chaos. It had been five hours since we'd finished a three-course meal from chef Shea Gallante, so Big Boy ordered six dozen hot dogs from his favorite East Village stand and six pizzas from Lil' Frankie's, all washed down with an $850 1990 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle.

A few years ago, I started receiving e-mails detailing bacchanalian gatherings with elaborate tasting notes about wines that most of us could only dream about, sometimes dozens of them: '59 Krugs and '45 Romanée-Contis. It was wine porn spam, which had somehow eluded my filter. The notes were studded with references to Big Boy and King Angry and Hollywood Jef. Who the hell were these guys, I wondered, and why were they drinking so much better than me? The author of the e-mails, I finally learned, was Kapon himself. His fellow Dionysians were members of his tasting group, the Angry Men, which included Rosania, among others. (When I eventually ask why they're called the Angry Men, Kapon shrugs and says, "We're New York guys and we don't tolerate bullshit. We're all busting balls and cracking on each other.")

When Kapon joined the business in 1994 after a brief foray into the music business, Acker — established in 1820 — was a somewhat sleepy operation doing $4,000,000 a year. (Kapon's father and grandfather had also worked for Acker.) Sotheby's and Christies pretty much had the fine wine auction market to themselves. Like most wine geeks of his generation, Kapon's first love was California Cabernet. The Napa Valley was undergoing a renaissance in the nineties, and the big, ripe, voluptuous, fruit-driven Cabs were easy to love, the vinous equivalent of Seinfeld-era Teri Hatcher. ("They're real and they're spectacular.") So-called cult Cabernets — small production super-extracted wines like Harlan, Colgin, and Bryant Family — were garnering 100-point scores from über-critic Robert Parker and selling for as much as First Growth Bordeaux. (Rosania and Kurniawan also cut their teeth on Napa Cabs — Kurniawan's epiphany wine was a 1995 Opus One Cabernet.) For many serious collectors, these Cabs are the gateway drug that leads them to the hard-core-addictive stuff — first Bordeaux, the motherland of Cabernet Sauvignon, which provided the inspiration for Napa, and then on to the Secret Kingdom that is Burgundy. Like most true geeks, Kapon and his inner circle are Burgundy nuts; at the Rosania auction several people booed when he announced the Bordeaux portion of the sale.

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Wine Caves

Storingwine underground has been a good idea for thousands of years. A few historical highlights illustrate the long-standing tradition:
  • A family living in northern Iran 7,000 years ago used what may be one of the world's earliest known wine cellars. Archaeologist Mary Voigt discovered half a dozen 2½-gallon pottery jugs containing wine residue; they were "embedded in the earthen floor along one wall of a 'kitchen' of a Neolithic mudbrick building."

  • "Romans would store their wine in the conveniently located catacombs," according to Wine Cave History. France's first wine caves were abandoned crayeres, from which Roman builders had excavated limestone blocks. "From these early discoveries, it was only a short step to dig caves for the specific purpose of storing and aging wines," the article continues. "Caves were dug throughout Europe."
  • Wine makers in the New World brought Old World knowledge. For example, Brotherhood Winery, America's oldest winery, was founded by European immigrant John Jaques. The Washingtonville, New York, facility has been in continuous operation since 1839, staying open during Prohibition to produce sacramental wines for churches. It still uses underground cellars dating to the mid-1800s.
  • Especially in modern times, California vintners lean more to aging their wines in caves rather than cellars. A few wine caves, notably those of the Schramberg and Beringer Wineries, were hand-dug in the late 1800s by Chinese laborers who had honed their pick-and-shovel skills building the transcontinental railroad. In 1919, Prohibition put an end to wine cave construction. In 1934, following Prohibition's repeal, Beringer Vineyards welcomed the public into its facilities for the country's first wine cave tours.
  • Beginning around 1970, increased demand and improved excavation techniques sparked a new wave of wine cave construction in California, which produces more than 90 percent of US wine. By 2003, about 115 of the man-made caverns have been built in Napa and Sonoma Counties. They range in size from a few thousand square feet to around 50,000. The caves are used primarily for aging wines, but some wineries press them into service for public relations purposes by conducting tours. Some use portions of the tunnel-shaped caves as dining rooms; others have built more spacious underground rooms specifically for special events like concerts, weddings, and corporate seminars. At least three (Jarvis Winery in Napa, White Rock Vineyards in Napa, and Staglin Family Vineyard in Rutherford) operate their entire wine production cycle underground.

How Are They Built?

Particularly in California's wine country, where the geology consists largely of volcanic rock, modern wine caves are usually dug with roadheaders. Consisting of a rotating array of cutting bits, these machines grind away the earth at rates ranging from 2 feet to 15 feet per day, depending on the site's specific makeup. Typically 13 feet in diameter, the tunnels are laid out in various configurations such as rectangular grids or wheel spokes. The inner surfaces of the caverns are usually covered with sprayed-on concrete for waterproofing and structural stability. Visit Wine Caves of the Wine Country's Wine Cave Construction page for an informative, illustrated description of the entire process.

Where harder rock obstructions are encountered, drilling and blasting remains an option for excavating wine caves. Another technique that can be used to remove embedded boulders is to drill holes in them and fill the holes with a chemical compound that expands and fractures the rock.

In softer soils, especially those that easily cave in around an excavation, cut-and-cover construction is the preferred method. A large hole is dug out of the ground, a concrete structure is built in the hole, and soil is replaced over the area. This technique is proving popular in Oregon and Washington, where the soil is much softer and wetter than in California's wine basins.

Why Are They Built?

Subterranean facilities naturally provide ideal conditions for aging wine: consistently cool temperature, constantly high humidity, low levels of light, and no vibration. Rarely do they cost as much or more to construct than a comparable above-ground structure. Furthermore, the lack of need for artificial heating or cooling saves substantially on energy costs. Placing storage spaces underground leaves valuable surface space free to be used as vineyards that are both productive and scenic. Noise-whether generated by construction activity or parties held in caves' special events rooms-is contained, leaving pastoral scenes undisturbed.

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50 liter bottle of Champagne


Murgatroyd is a 50 liter bottle wine, regardless of whether it is champagne or wine. It is a real word rarely, because production of wine of that size is rare.

I looked through a lot of references but just can not find the origin of the word Murgatroyd. However, I would like to make a wild guess that it may be from a Middle Eastern or Biblical origin:

Jeroboam (3 Liters) derived from the name of the founder and first ruler of the divided kingdom of Israel

Rheoboam (4.5 Liter) is the son of Solomon

Methuselah (6 Liters) was the patriarch at the time of the Flood

Salmanazar (9 Liters) is the royal name of Babylon (Shalmaneser)

Balthazar (12 Lilters) derived from the name of one of the Three Wise Men

Nebuchadnezzar (15 Liters) is one of the ruler of Babylon

Melchior (18 liters) is another of the Three Wise Men

Melchizedek (30 Liters) has its origin from the Bible as well, as the King of Shalem and Prist of God Most High

There is some reference of Murgatroyd in the Bible, but how that become the name of 50 Liter bottle wine I am not sure.

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Worlds most expensive Champagne


Perrier-Jouet Record’s The Most Expensive Champagne

Perrier-Jouet Record’s The Most Expensive Champagne

Of the alleged brands of costly champagnes, it has taken to the record books – Perrier-Jouet champagne a 12-bottle limited edition, with each bottle priced at US$ 6,485 (Euro 4,166) sets the record for the costliest champagne ever offered. A product of the French drink firm Pernod-Ricard, the entire set of 12 is expected to be sold at an astounding price of €50,000. Exclusively targeted to make the party for elites, Pernod-Ricard confirms not more than 100 sets of this exclusive champagne would be produced.

Regarding the tang, the probable-buyers would enjoy the liberty to personalize their own champagne However, this would require the buyer to have a man-to-man discussion with Perrier-Jouet’s cellar master Herve Deschamps at Epernay, France. After finalizing on the make-up, the ‘liqueur’ (composition of wines and sugar from different years) would be blended to tailor the bottles of 2000 Belle Epoque champagne. For more, the buyer has the option of storing their champagne for eight months in the cellars of Perrier-Jouet.

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Pink Champagne Basics and Information

Pink Champagne Basics and Information

Pink Champagne is an incredibly romantic drink! This is NOT just regular Champagne with pink food coloring To understand why Champagne can be made pink, you need to understand just how Champagne is made.

pink Champagne Champagne is made from four different grapes. These are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Gris. Usually it's the first two grapes that are used in the most volume.

Chardonnay is a white wine grape - but pinot noir is a red wine grape! So how come all Champagne is not pink? The answer is in the way a grape works. Grapes are all white on the inside. It's only the outside skin that has any color. You can make a white wine out of a red grape! You would just remove the skins immediately so that there was no red color added to the wine liquid. An example is white zinfandel. Zinfandel is a red grape. To make a white zinfandel, they just let the skins stay on the liquid for a short while. That lets a small amount of the tint from the red skin color the wine liquid, giving it a nice blush color.

So normally when they make a Champagne, even though they use "red grapes", they take the skin away immediately so that none of the red color from the skin affects the overall color of the Champagne liquid. In order to make a Champagne a pink Champagne, all they have to do is let the skins sit with the liquid for a short while. The longer it sits together, the more pink the liquid becomes.

Pink Champagne was made famous in the movie An Affair to Remember, when both of the lead romantic actors fall in love with each other and share their love of the pink bubbly. In Hotel California, they like to drink "Pink Champagne on Ice".

But how does it taste? Champagne can vary widely from maker to maker, so if you've tried different Champagnes you already know that they can be sweet, musty, fruity, nutty, and any variety of other flavors. Pink Champanges tend to taste a little fruity, but they can be sweet or non-sweet depending on the maker. You'll want to look up the website for a given maker of pink Champange - or check out the neck tag at your local wine shop - to know exactly what flavors are in a specific Pink Champagne you want to try.

Pink Champagnes certainly make LOVELY Champagne cocktails!! They are also perfect for all romantic situations.

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Champagne toast's

Clinking of Wine Glasses and Toasts

As with many of our food traditions, the clinking of glasses traces its root to the health and safety of the drinker. In this case, it goes back to the tendency of nobles to kill each other off by poisoning their food!

Wine was very commonly drunk during medieval days because it was one of the only safe liquids available. Water was often polluted, and milk was both useful for other things and thought to be for children only. As the wine was often full of sediment, a poison was easily introduced into it.

To prove that his wine was safe, the host would pour a bit of his guest's wine into his own glass and drink it first, to prove it was safe. If the guest trusted his host, however, he would merely clink his flagon against that of his host's when his host offered his cup for the sample. The 'clink' (or perhaps 'clunk' back then, since wood or metal was more common for drinking vessels) was a sign of trust and honesty.

Later, as metal and glass became more common, the chiming noise also brought a festive feel to events, and brought to mind the 'safe' feeling of church bells.

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How to select Champagne for your wedding


Wondering which Champagne's and wines to serve at your wedding? Don't know how much of each you'll need? Here are the basics that you'll need to know to get the perfect mix at your big day.

You may already have a Champagne or wine that you love - something that the two of you drank on a favorite date, or a Champagne that your parents drank at their wedding. If you don't, there are many helpful sites to Champagne and wine on the net, including Boutique Liquors.com. Your caterer will most likely have recommendations for you and will help you figure out how much wine you'll need for the amount of people you're having. At most parties, approximately 30-50% will drink white wine (mostly Chardonnay), 30-50% will drink red wine (mostly cabernet), and about 10 to 20% will drink white zinfandel. You'll want to consider your crowd: more women usually mean more white wine drinkers, more men mean more red wine. I work with a lot of theater crowds which are heavy beer and red wine drinkers.

You'll also want to consider what entree you are serving. Sauvignon Blanc goes with a wide variety of seafood entrees, as well as poultry and cheeses, and is the best option for pasta with a cream sauce. Chardonnay is a widely popular white that works well with chicken, pork and many seafood dishes.

For red wines, Merlot and Cabernet are the most popular options and both suit a menu that includes beef or pastas with red sauces. Another crowd pleaser is Beaujolais, a light fruity red. If you're having a late November wedding or early December wedding, why not serve a Beaujolais Nouveau. This highly-anticipated wine is the first wine of the new season and should be drunk immediately. It's great for weddings as it carries a sentiment of new beginnings and celebration.

And of course, you'll want to have a Champagne or sparkling wine for toasting! (many of you may not know that sparkling wine is the same thing as champagne, except that its not from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France). This will be the most expensive part of your wine budget, thus only serve it for the toasting. You should plan for 2 glasses of Champagne per guest, unless your wedding will be very long, or you know that there will be many formal toasts.

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breaking news

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Eco Vodka

"Saving the planet, one glass at a time."

I don't know why I didn't see this sooner. Maybe because I'm not much of a drinker? I have maybe one drink a month... and the hubby, when he drinks, usually drinks beer. We were in the store the other day - he wanted beer - when we saw this bottle with recycling symbols on it. Of course, this caught my attention, and his, too, so we checked it out, and decided to give it a try.

Vodka 360 Eco-friendly VodkaSo, here are the eco-friendly details. The labels and the tag hanging from the neck on the Vodka 360 bottles are made with 100% post-consumer waste paper, processed chlorine free. The glass bottle is made with 85% recycled glass, 70% of that being post-consumer. The tag that hangs from the neck of the bottle is actually a pre-paid envelope. For what? To remove the swingtop from the bottle and mail it back to 360 Vodka. For every top returned, they donate $1.00 to environmental causes.

Good so far, right? There's more! The process used to create the vodka is highly energy efficient, with nothing going to waste. The label on the back of the bottle details "360 Vodka Environmental Benefits Statement," which says, "Earth Friendly Distilling Co. saved he following resources in the production of 360 Vodka's labels: 113 fully grown trees, 48,371 gallons of water, 81 million BTUs of energy, 5409 pounds of solid waste, 18,550 pounds of greenhouse gasses, 9222 miles of average driving in a U.S. car, and 0.8 years of average home electricity use." The vodka is quadruple distilled through a process that the company says "reduces the use of fossil fuel energy by 21%," and is five times filtered.

The company itself is also taking steps to help the environment. Among these are double sided printing, recycling of all supplies which are recyclable (they even have their own recycling center), 360 Vodka Eco-Friendly Vodkaeliminating paper towels and polystyrene (plastic/styrofoam) untensils and cups, and even reusing plastic bags from received shipments as garbage bags. They have also purchased renewable energy certificates to offset their electricity and natural gas consumption.

If you haven't already left me to go Google the company, you can see their website here. As well as more information on the company and the product, the site includes desktop wallpapers, videos on the product, locations to buy the product, and even recipes with names like "Mother Earth," "Father Earth," "Apple Tree Hugger," and "Ecotini." There is a guide to going green, titled "The little green book," in the Downloads section that is beautifully laid out and includes some of the recipes. On the bottom of the site are rotating "Eco-Factoids," such as "36 recycled newspapers save an entire tree."

One thing I forgot to mention... the cost. Believe it or not, it was about the same price as another, non-eco brand. I haven't tried it yet, I was too busy taking the pictures <img src="http://focusorganic.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif"> When we open the bottle, I will update and let you all know how it is!

Vodka 360 Eco-Friendly Vodka Vodka 360 Eco-Friendly Vodka

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First Class Bar

First Class Bar

SAS Galley Cart: Ready for service
This is the we use bar we use in the Telstar Logistics Executive Lounge. Actually, it's an old airline galley cart, and this is the story of how it ended up in our headquarters... and how you can get one too.
A few years ago, we decided we wanted a galley cart -- the kind that flight attendants push down the aisles while serving food and drinks in the skies. Why? Well, we're hopeless aviation geeks, of course, but we also admired the simplicity, durability, and functionality of airline galley carts. Plus, we reasoned, a galley cart would be the perfect foundation for a compact bar setup.
Our quest to find a cart eventually took us to the deserts of El Mirage, California, where we found an aircraft boneyard with a few old galley carts to spare. Here's the one we liked best, as it looked the moment when we first laid eyes upon it:
My SAS galley cart: As found at an aircraft scrapyard
It's an old SAS galley cart from the late-1970s, manufactured in Switzerland by a company called Bucher. We bought it, took it to a self-service car wash to clean off the dust, then carried it home. Later, we built a few matching drawers from acrylic sheet plastic, then loaded our cart up with vintage airline glassware, tiny bottles of liquor, cans of mixers, and plenty of napkins and bags of peanuts pinched from the cabins of the world's leading airlines.
It's turned out to be a wonderful tool for living. When not in use, all our barware and booze stows compactly and unobtrusively inside the cart. Come fun-time, the cart quickly converts into a bar, with plenty of workspace, easy access to bottles, and a snap-on tray (also found at the boneyard) that provides another level of storage for condiments and cocktail accessories:
SAS Galley Cart: Top level
And you can imagine how giddy we became when we flew on SAS in 2007, and discovered that the airline still uses carts exactly like ours in regular commercial service:
Still in Service
So where can you get one too?
Used airline galley carts are hard to find, and short-wheelbase carts like ours — which are much better-suited to domestic use — are even more rare. And even if you make the trek to the desert to visit a boneyard, the carts you'll find there are often in sad shape. New ones, however, cost several thousand dollars.
Happily, we just discovered another option. The Swiss company that manufactured our cart has an American subsidiary called Bucher Aerospace, and Bucher is now selling new carts to the general public at a very fair price.

Buchercolors

Prices start at around $800 for an empty cart sold in a selection of 10 tasteful colors. Throw in options like top rails, a foot brake (handy during social turbulence), and some interior fittings, and the final price comes closer to $1300.

Bucher2

That's much less than a premium class roundtrip ticket from California to New York, and trust us when we say this: Having one of these carts at home makes every day feel like flying First Class.

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White Wine serving temperature

White Wine Serving Temperature

For white wines, the opposite may be true. It’s better to serve a white wine too warm than too cold. White wines served too cold (under 45°F) lose many of their flavors and aromas.

However, you still want to serve your white wines colder than your red wines. Serving white wines at a lower temperature brings out their natural fruity, fresh, and sweet characteristics.

You will want to serve your white wines at 45-55°F, depending upon the wine and your personal preference. A Reisling will be better a bit colder than a Pinot Gris or a Chardonnay.

Since most home refrigerators are kept at between 35-40°F, it’s best not to serve your white wines right out of the refrigerator.

Removing your white wine from the refrigerator 30-60 minutes before serving should bring them to about the right temperature. And, you can always warm the wine up by cupping your hands around the glass as you swirl.

If your white wine has been kept at room temperature, place it in the refrigerator or ice bucket for 30-60 minutes before serving.

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Champagne bottle sizes 2

  • Quarter bottle - Split or Piccolo (187.5 or 200 ml) - You may find these in nightclubs or on a flight. This is the preferred size for a single drink if your are a proper lady living in Europe!
  • Half bottle - Demi (375 ml) This size is generally reserved for use in restaurants for patrons who want a couple of glasses and hate to waste a drop.
  • Bottle - Imperial (750 ml) This is the usual champagne bottle you find in most shops.
  • Magnum (1.5 liter) This size is the equivalent of 2 bottles.
  • Jeroboam (3 liter) The equivalent of 4 bottles for an impressive hostess gift or a serious party.
  • Rehoboam (4.5 liter) Equal to 6 bottles, you'd better drink fast or the bubbles will be a fond memory by the time you get to the bottom.
  • Methuselah (6 liter) 8 bottles fit into this size.
  • Salmanazar (9 liter) You've entered the realm of the ostentatious here - 12 bottles.
  • Balthazar (12 liter) 16 bottles.
  • Nebuchadnezzar (15 liter) 20 bottles.
  • Melchior (18 liter) 24 bottles.
  • Solomon (25 liter) 33.3 bottles
  • Primat (27 liter) 36 bottles.
  • Melchizedek (30 liter) 40 bottles.

    Make Sure the Champagne is Cold
    Start off by chilling the bottle. The best serving temperature is around 45° Fahrenheit, that would be about 7° Celsius. If you put your hand on the bottle it should feel very cold not just cool.

    A good method for making sure you get the right temperature is to fill your ice bucket, or any deep container if you don't have a special one for wines, and let the bottle sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Adding just a bit of water to the ice in the bucket will actually help cool down your bubbly. There's an explanation based on physics and heat transference, but all you really need to know is that it works.

    It's important to have a chilled liquid. Champagne that is too warm will foam and spill when you uncork the bottle. You'll lose some of the bubbly and make a mess. Of course, it also tastes much better at the right temperature! You don't want to make it too cold though, or you'll lose some of the flavor of the wine.

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    HEALTH BENEFITS OF BEER

    HEALTH BENEFITS OF BEER: In May 1999, Texas Southwestern Medical Center reported that the results of studies demonstrated that those who consume moderate amounts of beer (one to two per day) have a 30-40% lower rate of coronary heart disease compared to those who don't drink.

    health benefits of beerBeer contains a similar amount of antioxidants as red wine and five times as many antioxidants as white wine.

    Alcohol in general has also been shown to have the ability to increase the amount of good cholesterol (HDL) into the bloodstream and helping to decrease blood clots.

    Beer in particular contains vitamin B6, which prevents the build-up of the amino acid homocysteine that has been linked to heart disease.

    A recent study performed at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Utrecht indicates that those who drink beer had no increase in their homocysteine level over a measured period of time; in contrast, those who drank wine or liquor still had some increase.

    Also noted was the fact that those who drank beer experienced a 30% increase in vitamin B6 in their blood plasma.

    The health value of beer has actually been known, documented, and applied for centuries, although the facts about beer are often covered up or obscured by those who abstain.

    Beer is made from grains, water, and yeast. Wheat and barley are the most commonly used of these grains (cheaper beers use corn and rice), both of which are loaded with a variety of vitamins that survive the fermentation and filtering process.

    And the vitamin value of the yeast (the source of the high concentrations of B6) is conserved in the hundreds of unfiltered beers that are on the market -- both on tap and in bottles.

    Dr. Katherine Tucker in 2004 "participated in a study that showed beer, either dark or light, protects bone mineral density," reported The Harford Courant.

    According to Tucker—who is associate professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition, Science, and Policy—alcoholic beverage contains high levels of an ingredient which allows the deposit of calcium and other minerals into bone tissue.

    "The reason, we think, is that beer is a major contributor to the diet of silicon," the Tufts expert, who is director of the nutritional epidemiology program at the Friedman School, told the Courant.

    "Most health research suggests that benefits, including protection against heart disease, are noted with up to one drink per day for women and up to two a day for men," Tucker went on to say.



    Visit our friends at BOUTIQUE LIQUORS.com

    Don't pay for your beer any longer...
    Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

    Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

    ...

     

    Let me explain…

    Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

    And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

    Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

    The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

    When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

    They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

    When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

    .....

    Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

    .

    Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

    Got paid
    £25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

    Marc Beasley, UK

    ..

    I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

    Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

    Chris Litchfield, Texas

    .

    If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

    Ian Marti, Canada

    .

    Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

    Amanda Estaban, Australia

    ...

    Make Money Drinking Beer
    Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
    Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

    That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

    /

    It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

    All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

    You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

    /

    As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

    /.

    Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

    A Regular $69.97 Value!

    Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

    Today you can get the guide for $9.95

    Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



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    Dispensing Draught Guinness

    Guinness on Tap

    How to Dispense Draught Guinness
    Most of our customers love a perfectly poured Guinness. We also know, that most of our customers are not sure how to set up a stout beer system. So, here’s a brief tutorial on what it takes to get your Guinness flowing at home. Stout lovers, please note that this tutorial also pertains to Beamish Stout, Murphy's Stout and Boddingtons, although the keg couplers are different.

    There are basically three kinds of Guinness from Ireland available in the United States. The first version is found in the short bottles. This type is very bitter, and high in alcohol content. Then, there is the draught version, dispensed from metal kegs and found in many bars and restaurants around the country. The draught version is low in alcohol and calories. It is characterized by its tight, creamy foam head. The third version available is the draft cans and bottles. The 14.9oz can and the 11.2 oz bottle have a small widget in the bottom that contains a small nitrogen charge. When the can or bottle is opened, the nitrogen is released which makes the beer come alive. The version is actually very close in taste to the draught version.

    Let’s take a closer look at the draught, or “keg”, version of Guinness

    Draught Guinness is a completely different animal from all other draft beers. There are three basic differences:

    1. Type of gas used
      Instead of using CO2 to push the beer through the lines, like a typical draft beer, Guinness uses a nitrogen/CO2 blend. This mixed gas comes in an all-in-one air tank that contains 25% CO2 and 75% nitrogen. The nitrogen gives Guinness its creamy, tight head that makes it pour and look unique. Just about every city in the country has a mixed gas dealer. So, to get this in your city, simply check under "gas" in your local yellow pages. Or, ask your local Guinness distributor who they recommend. The Guinness Import Company goes to great lengths to make sure that gas dealers are properly blending air tanks with mixed gas. Some gas dealers will only fill a nitrogen tank with mixed gas. Other dealers are not partial and will fill a regular CO2 tank with the mixed gas. The only difference between the two kinds of tanks is the threads on it. So, you can use your CO2 regulator with a nitrogen tank, but will need is a CO2/Nitrogen Adapter. Make sure to set the regulator for 30 psi.
    2. Keg Coupler
      This is the piece that fits onto the keg itself. Draught Guinness and Harp Lager use a coupler that is unique to those brands.
    3. Faucet
      Faucet The last thing is the faucet. If you've watched a bar person pour a pint of Guinness, look at the faucet. It is different than all the other faucets. Sometimes it is called a European Specialty Faucet. There is a different type of handle on the faucet, it is pulled forward and down for the beer to come out. Also, in the faucet is a tiny restrictor disc. The beer is forced through the disc, this is what helps give Guinness its unique head. There is also no waste (foaming over) with dispensing Guinness. These Specialty Faucets can be converted to dispense any other type of beer (i.e.: Bud, Miller, Coors etc.) by removing the restrictor disc/flow straightener.


    The bottom line is that serving Guinness on tap at home is easy! The pieces and parts needed to do it are just a bit different. It is even possible to convert an existing system to dispense Guinness. You'll just need to change your faucet, air tank, coupler and regulator.

    Don't pay for your beer any longer...
    Instead, the beer companies will pay YOU!

    Who else wants to find out how to earn easy extra money... just for drinking and talking about beer!

    ...

     

    Let me explain…

    Incredible as it may seem, beer companies and other companies are spending $41 billion annually to do market research. They need the opinions of regular consumers like you to decide if a product is worth their time and money.

    And these companies realize now that telemarketing doesn’t work— People like you and I just keep hanging up on those annoying telemarketers calling during our dinner time - the companies know they can’t get your opinions for free, so they are prepared to pay you for them—and pay well.

    Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70. I really enjoy these sessions and I pay no tax, completely legit, just cash in an envelope. The $70 came in very handy too because I wanted to buy my 6 year old grandson a bike for his birthday and this paid for it.

    The invite to this focus group came about by being registered with a market research company and if you are interested in getting invited to one or more of these focus groups make sure you read on...

    When these marketing research companies get a job like this one they will assemble a survey panel based around a set of demographics that their client (in this case a beer company) is interested in as customers. Typically they will use the data that you have supplied in your profile to work out whether you fit the survey panel and then get in contact with you.

    They rang me up while I was away from home last week and after a quick round of screening questions, I was locked in for the a session on the following week.

    When you show up to the venue they check off your name and with a group of other people you go into a room where there is a facilitator and you discuss the product and give your opinion on it and the marketing for the product.

    .....

    Here are some stories from other guys just like you and I, who got paid to drink and talk about beer...

    .

    Had to give feedback on new pumps, glasses and beer mats...how the story behind the beer would affect my purchasing and other stuff then the tasting. Was given 5 different beers and had to answer questions on each...all I can say is it tastes good!

    Got paid
    £25, which was then used for more beer, pool, kebab and taxi home!

    Marc Beasley, UK

    ..

    I got a call from a nice lady from a market research company on the way home from a mountain bike ride this afternoon. She said she'd pay me $100 if I came in and discussed computer programs for 30 minutes! Sounds great, eh? She asked me if I'd attended a paid "research discussion" before. I told her, "Yes, in college we drank beer for $50."

    Well, guess what - she's paying for drinking beer too. I'm attending a beer taste test next week

    Chris Litchfield, Texas

    .

    If you're a male, do yourself a favor and take advantage of the magic (stupidity?) of market research. I recently attended a consumer panel organized by a market research company. They conducted an "Economy Beers" taste test on a Monday afternoon. It was 75 minutes, and paid $100.

    Ian Marti, Canada

    .

    Guess who's part of a beer focus group?…Me! That’s right. Wednesday night, I’m going to be part of a focus group that will be discussing beer. For my troubles, I get a $75 gift certificate for Amazon. How about them apples? Getting paid to talk about one of my favorite things? It doesn’t get much better than that.

    Amanda Estaban, Australia

    ...

    Make Money Drinking Beer
    Will Reveal More Than 180 Companies
    Waiting to Pay You For Drinking Beer, Eating Out, and Giving Your Opinions…and Many of Them are International Companies!

    That means that no matter where you live, these companies want research from your area: United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

    /

    It Couldn’t Be Easier—Just Point and Click!

    All you need to do to have access to these marketing firms and begin making money almost immediately is to sign-up to purchase the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide for the nominal amount of $69.97.

    You will have unlimited life-time access to the guide, downloaded on to your computer. It's a one off small time fee. No monthly billing. No yearly recurring memberships. No hidden charges.

    /

    As soon as you order, you will be given instant access to download the guide directly from the Internet on to your computer. (The guide is in downloadable PDF format.) Since there is no actual hard copy of the manual, there's no need to wait 2-6 weeks for delivery. You can access the guide and begin signing up with market research companies in just minutes from now./

    /.

    Make Money Drinking Beer Guide is On Sale

    A Regular $69.97 Value!

    Our Sale Price is $29.95 (That's 58% Off!)

    Today you can get the guide for $9.95

    Here's the deal. I charge a fee so I can cover the costs of maintaining this site and the Make Money Drinking Beer Guide. I'm actually losing money by running this site, but I'm trying to re-cover some of the fixed costs I've already outlayed.



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