Red Bull has entered the fray that is soda, more specifically, cola. Don't let the name cola confuse you, this is no Coke/Pepsi knock off, “Red Bull Cola isn’t just a cola; it’s premium, strong and natural.” Most people, including myself, overlook the word, 'natural'. In my defense though, the word does seem to be overused, and in most cases it doesn't even seem to be accurate. Mutineer's Editor-in-Chief, Alan Kropf, displays a perfect example of a questionable product labeling of the word “natural”. Let's not steer too far from the topic of Red Bull though, because in the case of Red Bull claiming to use “natural” products, well I can ensure you, they are not joking around. Upon receiving a generous sample from the fine folks at Red Bull, I was also given a small pamphlet with awesome little pictures and names to go with each natural ingredient; coca leaf, kola nut, lemon/lime, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, pine, corn mint, galangal, vanilla, ginger, mace, cacao, licorice, orange and mustard seed. The natural flavors are from plant extracts and the natural caffeine is from coffee beans. See, I told you. Red Bull is taking no prisoners on their way to dominate the cola market. Why drink a cola that is filled with unnatural products and high-fructose corn syrup when you could have premium cola? Strong? Yes, it is in fact strong too. The Red Bull 8.4oz has 32mg of caffeine and the 12oz can has 45mg of caffeine. An average 12oz cola has about 34mg of caffeine. So, as you can see Red Bull Cola has almost 30% more caffeine than an average cola. I'd recommend the 12oz can of Red Bull for maximum effectiveness. So, we know this product is the real deal – it's strong and natural, but why even try and break into a market that is already dominated by the big players? Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz is a full-blooded Mutineer, and he wants to revolutionize the cola industry. “Few people know that around the same time of Red Bull’s[energy drink] conception, Mateschitz had another idea. His vision was that one day he would produce a cola better than any other cola he had ever tasted, better than any that he loved from his childhood. A premium and 100% natural cola. The packaging design has been locked in his safe for nearly 20 years, waiting for this day.”

So Mutineer Magazine has staked a claim here in the Pacific NW in the name of raw, old-school journalism. We came here to get the first hand story on this mysterious corner of the fine beverage universe, but things have become complicated since we got picked up for National distribution by one of the world’s leading distributors, and ever since our world has been a circus at best and depraved sweatshop of the printed word at its worst. Well today I’m glad to say that we are witnessing a tiny miracle here in the most Northwest corner of America’s America, for the Snipes Mountain AVA is officially official. This is an event of cataclysmic magnitude, to have a mighty AVA birthed from the loins of the mighty state of Washington can only be described as epic. The creation of an AVA, or American Viticultural Area, is a monstrously tedious and time-consuming task, so when one does get created, it is a very cool thing. I checked out the Washington Wine Commission’s website for more info, but apparently the Commission isn’t recognizing the new AVA as there is ZERO information about it on the website, not even a press release. I called the WWC, and after navigating my way through their massive phone tree only to find the receptionist was unavailable, I called back, re-navigated my way through the massive phone tree only to have to listen to the entire staff roster to get to the extension I needed, except I started dialing the extension just before hearing the last number, causing the system to freeze and me having to guess the fateful last number, which I got wrong, forcing me to redial the WCC again, and wait through the long canned speech and staff roster, only to find that the “Senior Communications Manager” was not available to communicate with me, so I left a message. It blows my mind that with news as epic as a new AVA, the combined efforts of the Washington Wine Commission’s “Marketing & Events Coordinator”, “Education Director”, “Senior Marketing Manager”, “Senior Communications Manager”, “Executive Director”, “Marketing Director” and “Communications Director” have been bested in terms of getting the word out about this AVA by a single, lone writer who is a visitor in the Washington Frontier. The region is 4,145 acres and located near Yakima, WA. According to the Tri-City Herald, “Growers first planted vineyards on Snipes Mountain between 1914 and 1917.” Yes, this AVA is the real deal. I wish I could find more info on this new AVA, but given that the Washington Wine Commission is in the dark on this one, I’ll just riff on the name a bit. I mean, who wouldn’t want to put “Snipes Mountain” on their wine bottle? What an awesome AVA name. It is clear that the AVA is named after Snipes Mountain, but what is Snipes Mountain named after? I have two very educated guesses: First you have the very cool “Common Snipe”, which is a species of bird. I was convinced this was the correct answer until I discovered that the Snipe is a wading bird species, and there is not much water to wade in Snipes Mountain country. Also, the bird is only found in New Zealand…FAIL. So by the process of elimination, I must believe that Snipes Mountain is named after none-other than Wesley Snipes, who is best known for the art house masterpiece New Jack City.

Yes, Mutineer Magazine is getting some clout. I recently wrote to McDonald’s executives and demanded that some McDonald’s locations be opened using only the Mutineer Magazine colors of red and black. Furthermore, I demanded that these new locations only serve Quarter Pounders and Double Quarter Pounders and that the shops be managed by someone called a “Quarter Pounder Secretariat”. So you can only imagine my delight when I found out that the fine people at McDonald’s had taken my idea and made it reality. Well, ok, it wasn’t my idea, but seriously, that is what they did and I think its more than a coincidence! There are two Black Panther-esque, futuristic, Quarter Pounder-only McDonald’s locations, which are part of a promotion to introduce the Quarter Pounder (and irreversible heart disease) to Japan. None of the typical McDonald’s branding is incorporated: no golden arches, no Ronald, and no homeless people outside. These new locations are in some of Tokyo’s poshest neighborhoods. If I can escape the death clutch of the ninja-like meter maids of Los Angeles, I’ll try and visit one of these new McDonald’s and give you a full report, but the chances of my escape are unlikely. See more photos at: Creativity.

You may have noticed that it took us until the afternoon to get a blog up today. The reason for this is that I spent all morning recovering from the Ultimat Vodka Los Angeles Launch Party last night…it was awesome. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed inside, even for high powered media moguls such as myself, so I can’t show you any images from the party except for the shots taken with my iPhone that constitute hard evidence that Mutineer Magazine is indeed popular with lady folk. 4 different Ultimat Vodka cocktails were being served, including the ever so deadly vodka on the rocks… After vodka, the next most abundant thing at the party was celebrities…if you see an extremely good looking guy that looks drunk and confused in an upcoming episode of “The Hills”, that’s ME, because the “The Hills” was filming on the roof, and I somehow ended up getting involved in the melee…stay tuned.

Did you know that at one point Schlitz was the biggest brewery in the world? Yes, it is true. Did you also know that after being bought by Pabst in 1999, Schlitz is now back and is produced in a way similar to the original 1960s recipe. According to the Madison “Isthmus” Newspaper, the Schlitz reincarnate is being brewed, “under a contract with MillerCoors at its operations in Eden, North Carolina”. According to the article, there are now waiting lists to get Schlitz into stores. Yes, America is ready to get its Schlitz on. In addition to, “Go for the gusto”, Schlitz also has the following memorable mottos, “The beer that made Milwaukee famous” and “Just the kiss of the hops”. You really want to be blown away? The American Civil War began in 1861. Schlitz beer was introduced to the world in 1858, after Joseph Schlitz had already operated the brewery for two years under its previous name. So Schlitz came onto the scene before the Civil War! Now I’ve seen “Glory”, “Gettysburg” and “Gods and Generals”, but what I haven’t seen is these guy pounding Schlitz before going into battle. Historical accuracy and Hollywood never did get along. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Schlitz did the only thing it new how to do in order to help the fine people of Chicago: donate thousands of barrels to thirsty citizens. It also built quite a few brewpubs, which were called “tied houses” a the time, and some of these still stand today. Schlitz held onto prosperity for as long as it could, holding onto its #2 position until 1976. Then things started to fall apart. Now, I live by the belief that sometimes failure is out of your control, and all you can do is your best. In 1982, ladies and gentlemen, Schlitz raised the bar regarding what it means to do the best by launching “Schlitz Rocks America With The Who”. This is the kind of American brilliance that has been lost in recent decades. You don’t see Wall Street launching “Schlitz Rocks America With Wall Street”, have you? That would raise half the 700 billion on its own. Nope, Wall Street just wants a hand out, and while Schlitz did ultimately fail in their bid to make a comeback in the '80s, at least they were able to walk tall and proud knowing that they had done all they could to save the company. (With no golden parachutes involved, unless you consider groupies and doing lines off of John Entwistle’s bass a kind of golden parachute)

This story has been building for awhile, with many details yet to come, but it is becoming obvious that Amazon.com will offer wines for sale on their site sooner than later. This could potentially revolutionize the way wine is purchased and explored by consumers as well as the way it is sold and marketed by producers. If, and this is a big if, Amazon can navigate the running joke better known as the endless laws regulating alcohol distribution in the United States in a way that makes sense for consumers, they may just pull it off. There is something about Amazon doing this that sets them apart from other Internet wine retailers: Amazon is something that people already understand and are not intimidated by, putting it in a position to turn current customers onto its wine offerings. Users don’t have to open new accounts and are able to buy from a company they have already built trust with. According to Reuters, Amazon is looking to sell wine in 26 states, and is currently approaching regional associations about working together to assist wineries with getting their wine online. This collaboration in itself is pretty exciting and something I think regions and producers will really respond to. The article also says that only a small percentage of U.S. wine sales currently comes from online sales, with big factors being “partly due to the expense of shipping wine, and confusing states rules on wine shipments”. I’m excited to see how this effects the mega-ultra-super distributors of the world that continue to inbreed and consolidate into some mutated 1984 corporation controlling all of the world’s fine beverages. This situation has been begging for some balance for a while, and hopefully Amazon can provide some of that much needed balance. Stay Tuned…

Mutineer Magazine writer Natalie Hall attended the grand opening of Kress and here are her thoughts: When you walk through the front doors, it makes quite an impression. The place is huge, I mean huge. The Kress is a multi-level restaurant, club, lounge, and banquet hall. As you walk in, you see an enormous round bar with a gorgeous abstract chandelier, flanked all around with banquettes designed in that opulent French-Asian Victorian thing. I see two things: the waitresses with trays of fancy-schmancy cocktails, and a buffet of appetizers. (Score!) The restaurant and sushi bar is on an elevated level open to the main floor. I didn’t really get to try the food much, but I did have a little spring roll filled with shitake mushrooms and boursin cheese with a spicy little dipping sauce. It was totally delicious, and I really wanted to take the whole tray, but I was in public and in front of a date, so I refrained. I got a kick out of their “private” dining room, which is basically a large dining table completely surrounded by see through plexiglass in the corner of the restaurant. A staff member assured me that is was, however, soundproof. We were led down to the club, which is actually below ground level underneath the main bar. The club is very Vegas-y and small, but in a good way. It actually feels very exclusive and luxurious- maybe it was the large amounts of snakeskin. Either way, it’s pretty damn cool. The best part however, is for girls only. There is a champagne bar in the ladies room. Just take a moment with that. Ok, good. The roof top bar is by far the coolest part though. It’s got this Miami Beach vibe, with AstroTurf on the floor, sexy banquettes on the edges, and 360˚ views of Hollywood. It makes me wonder why there aren’t more roof-top bars in Hollywood (this is the only one!), although you can only get up there if you get bottle service. So I spent the rest of the night taking advantage of the free cocktails, and lounging on top of Hollywood with my “photographer”. Go check out The Kress, if only for the sheer spectacle of the thing. I’m just waiting for when they open apartments in it so I can move in and spend the rest of my days in hedonism. A girl can dream, right?

Great anticipation has awaited the opening of the Blue Palms Brewhouse located in Hollywood. Located in the same spot as the original Blue Palms Lounge that’s history goes back to the 1930’s - owner Brian Lenzo has recreated the look and feel of the original place. Hollywood now has a real beer bar with only crafts brews and even a cask engine. Chef Gabriel Gordon of Beachwood BBQ designed the recipes and the menu specifically to compliment the many styles of beers that are available. Superb food is reasonably priced with Kobe beef burgers available for $12 and appetizers from $4-$13. At the soft opening last Friday they were serving some beers that are very difficult to find such as the Hair of the Dog Fred, Lost Abbey Witches Wit, and the Stone Vertical Epic. Of course available on draft was my favorite, Rodenbach Grand Cru. The Blew Palms brewhouse is now officially opened, so show up and find out what LA now has to offer.