It remains one of the few places where drinking in the style of a cast member of “Mad Men” is not only accepted but expected.Diplomat Calls for End to Drunkenness at U.N. - NYTimes.com (via rubenfeld)
In recent months, Anheuser-Busch (or more specifically, AB InBev) has faced allegations that they’ve been watering down their beer, culminating in a lawsuit. Here’s their response, which ran in a number of newspapers nationwide. Clever. (via @curtyb)
Budweiser sued for watering down beer
(Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP)
Beer lovers across the country have filed $5 million class-action lawsuits accusing Anheuser-Busch of watering down its Budweiser, Michelob and other brands.
This lawsuit could have been filed anytime in the last 50 years.
(Seriously, though, Bloomberg Businessweek had a killer cover story on this very topic not so long ago.)
Maker’s Mark President Bill Samuels, the founder’s son, said the company focused almost exclusively on not altering the taste of the bourbon while stretching the available product and didn’t consider the emotional attachment that customers have to the brand and its composition.
Bill Samuels said the company tinkered with how much water to add and keep the taste the same for about three months before making the announcement about the change Monday. It marked the first time the bourbon brand, more than a half-century old, had altered its proof or alcohol volume.
“Our focus was on the supply problem. That led to us focusing on a solution,” he said. “We got it totally wrong.”
After thousands of customers complained about the change, the company changed its mind about the change. As of Monday, they’re going back to the old model. ”We really made this decision after an enormous amount of thought, and we focused on the wrong things,” Samuels said.
Days after a car crash that killed five teenagers, along with their instructor and her husband, Russian political figures are jumping on the incident as a call for tougher drunk-driving penalties. The suspect, 30-year-old Alexander Maximov, allegedly was intoxicated with the equivalent of two bottles of vodka in his bloodstream — and worse, shows no remorse for his actions. ”I know it may sound terrible, but these innocent teenagers could have paid with their lives to send a message to the society that we can’t go on like this,” said movie star and United Russia politician Yevgeny Gerasimov, who attended the funeral of the teenagers — each of whom had been born with birth defects and were abandoned by their parents. (photo by Sergei Loiko/Los Angeles Times) source
A blockbuster deal with a touch of lime: Mega-beer company Anheuser-Busch InBev SA is buying the half of fellow mega-beer company Grupo Modelo it doesn’t own, for a cool $20.1 billion — all in cash. The buy groups such brands as Corona and Modela with Budweiser and Beck’s. Expect the celebration to include a lot of alcohol. (photo by TAZphotos on Flickr; edit for misspelling)
» Who would have guessed that getting high reduces stress? While the study stopped short of conclusively saying that medical marijuana was the direct cause of the lower rates, the authors did note that, when used in moderation, cannabis acts as an anti-depressant. The authors also found that states with medical marijuana programs saw a reduction in alcohol consumption by young men, and note that alcohol is a known depressant. Read the full results of the study here.
Our dinner breaks would be 2 1/2 hours long while they drove in new cars and boats and gazebos and stuff. So at NBC in Burbank we had a place called Los Arcos across the street, and they served great margaritas. So Vanna [White] and I would go across and have two or three and six and then come and do and the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet.Pat Sajak • Revealing that he’s hosted episodes of “Wheel of Fortune” drunk before. Let’s face it … when the job is that easy, you probably would do it drunk, too. Also, this YouTube video exists.
So says the Center for Disease Control. Their study on binge-drinking, released today, trumpets this very concerning figure, though some vital context is missing; obviously, what type of alcohol is being consumed is going to play a role in just how dangerous this is. There isn’t really a type of alcoholic beverage you can consume nine times over that wouldn’t leave you blindingly or dangerously drunk, however, and as a public health issue this can’t be ignored. (Photo by libraryrachel) source
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
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Four Loko Maker To Make Alcohol Content More Prominent: If it has as much alcohol as 4 & 1/2 beers, why don’t they just call it Four and a Half Loko? They could even call it Charlie Sheen’s drink of choice. (via Percolate)
Harry Potter liked to party. At least until he deduced that alcohol wasn’t such a boon to his personality: “I became so reliant on alcohol to enjoy stuff… I’m actually enjoying the fact I can have a relationship with my girlfriend where I’m really pleasant and I’m not f—king up totally all the time.” In addition to doing away with his drinking habit, Radcliffe has his sights set on doing away with the “curse” of being a successful child star: “If I can make a career for myself after Potter… in the biggest film franchise of all time, no other child actor who comes after will ever have to answer those same bloody questions.” We applaud Radcliffe’s determination, but we’re skeptical if one Daniel Radcliffe could ever cancel out, say, one Kirk Cameron. (Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures) source
If you thought, as we did, that anti-DUI laws were more or less non-controversial, State Rep. Alan Hale of Montana has a few words for you. Hale launched into a stirring speech on the floor of the state House, defending the right of Montanans to operate motor vehicles after downing a couple Vodka tonics. Anti-DUI laws, Hale claims, are “destroying a way of life that’s been in Montana for years,” and hurting small businesses in the process (primarily bars and taverns, like the one Hale himself owns). We’re all for supporting local businesses as a means of maintaining communities, but we’re not sure legalizing drunk driving is the best way to accomplish this. On the upside, we do like the tie he’s wearing. source
A northern hamlet battles with the bottle
Every year around Christmas, the hamlet of Cambridge Bay in Nunavut bans the sale of alcohol, and every year the crime rate in the community takes a nose dive.
This year, when the local council lifted the ban shortly after New Year’s Day, alcohol began flowing back into Cambridge Bay with reports of up to 4,000 pounds’ worth of liquor arriving by plane into the community of 1,800 in a single day.
This month, police saw the first violent death in the community in more than a year, charging a 22-year-old with second-degree murder in the death of a 19-year-old woman. It was a crime police say was fuelled by alcohol and whose violence has reignited discussion around whether Cambridge Bay, like most other communities in the territory, should permanently ban or restrict the sale of alcohol.
“If it wasn’t for alcohol, two scouts and a whistle” would be enough to police the hamlet, RCMP Sergeant Charlie Gauthier told the Nunatsiaq News.
Fascinating story and angle.
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