When I was a kid, I was intrigued by the metal detector commercial that always ran during cartoons. You all know the one I’m talking about. The pudgy guy who says, “She’s proud of all the weight I’ve lost.” That line, to me, competes for cheesiest commercial line ever, but it wasn’t enough to throw me off the scent of gold bullion lying just beneath the surface of my backyard. The dream eventually faded after digging massive holes in the yard and coming up with nothing, but I’m still captivated with the idea of buried treasure.
You expect to hear about coins, skeletons, and bottles, but fine beverage? Yes friends, some Swedish divers, while exploring a wreck about 200 feet down in the Baltic Sea, found 30 bottles of Champagne. The fizzy stuff is believed to date back to 1780 and was part of cargo headed to those boozehounds, the Russians (one theory is that the Champagne was part of a consignment to Peter the Great sent by King Louis XVI). Continue Reading »
Maui Brewing Co. brewers of Bikini Blonde, Big Swell IPA, and CoCoNut Porter have expanded their off-island distribution to Washington State in a signed deal with Click Wholesale Distributing of Kent, Washington.
Click Wholesale Distributing and their sister Co. Click Distributing East will give Maui Brewing Co. availability throughout the entire state of Washington, including some portions of Idaho. Maui Brewing Co. beers can also be found in Hawaii, Oregon, and California. Continue Reading »
The first ever Cabana Cachaca Bartender Olympics will be held outside the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans on Thursday, July 22nd from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm. The Cabana Cachaca 2010 Bartender Olympics will be broken up into three distinct challenges: Speed, Knowledge and Creativity.
“We’ve designed the challenges around skills that every good bartender already has and uses each time they are behind their own bar. What will make this event exciting is the teams are made of the best of the best, and they are competing in front of an audience of their peers.” — Matti Anttila, founder and president of Cabana Cachaca. Continue Reading »
One sector that is obviously not suffering at all is the beer industry. A new report from the Brewers Association puts new breweries that have surfaced thus far in 2010 number some 155. That is getting close to one new brewery per day. To put this number in perspective, all of 2009 only brought 110 new breweries to market.
This number doesn’t just cover the latest craze in beer, nanobrewing, but the Brewers Association is also seeing strong growth in the microbrewery sector as well as brewpubs. What is even more encouraging from these outstanding growth numbers is that the breweries-in-planning list they have has an outstanding 389 projects. Obviously not all of these will come to fruition, but the sheer amount as compared to last years 260 give a good outlook on the brewing sector. Continue Reading »
Some Notre Dame athletes really embraced their Irish side on Friday, July 16th when 11 of them were busted for underage drinking.
According to ESPN.com: The son of former Notre Dame standout Joe Montana was among 11 Fighting Irish athletes arrested on misdemeanor charges of underage drinking at a party Friday night.< !–more–>
A total of 44 people were arrested after city police responded to a call about a fight near a roadway and discovered the party, said St. Joseph County Police assistant chief Bill Redman.
Two non-athletes face a misdemeanor charge of providing alcohol to minors. The arrests were handled by state excise police, who didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment on Saturday.
Worst case scenario has the athletes spending 30 days in jail, but like that’s going to happen. They’ll be back to doing keg stands and slurping Jagermeister shots out of the finest cleavage South Bend has to offer.
Today, ten brewers from three Colorado breweries will embark on a five day, 470 mile bike ride for charity. Tour of BoulDurango starts at Avery Brewing Company in Boulder and crosses over 6 majestic mountain passes to Durango. During the epic journey, the ten crazy brewers from Avery Brewing, Oscar Blues Brewing and Ska Brewing will be visiting craft breweries and brewpubs along the way in an effort to bring together Colorado brewers, raise money for local charities, and encourage the spirit of collaboration and camaraderie.
“Craft beer isn’t about getting rich and cutthroat business practices; it’s about following your passions and doing what you love, it’s about being part of your local community and working with people who are just as psyched to be in the business as you are.” — Adam Avery, President and Brewmaster of Avery Brewing Company. Continue Reading »
Tales of the Cocktail 2010
Date: July 21 – 25, 2010
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Epic. That is the closest you can come to describing Tales of the Cocktail, which has become the mixology event to top all mixology events. Taking place in the city that birthed the modern cocktail, Tales offers attendees an ambitious mix of parties, seminars, tastings, dinners, competitions, and other spirits and mixology-fueled events. Continue Reading »
We’ve received a barrage of invites to the endless list of parties, gatherings, events, and other fine beverage celebrations that collectively make Tales of the Cocktail a legendary experience, but none have me as pumped at this one: Smoke & Honey. Continue Reading »
