Whenever this time of year rolls around, everything looks like a huge vat of Pepto-Bismol has exploded and covered everything in sight. It makes me want to blindfold myself, hurl and drink excessively.

Anyone not living in a cave knows that Valentine’s Day is upon us and what better way to celebrate than by going out to blow a wad of cash on some flowers that have recently had their prices jacked, take your girlfriend/boyfriend/whatever out for an overpriced meal, or even go all out for some fine piece of jewelry that you won’t pay off until it’s time for Christmas, right? Wrong.

Valentine’s Day is just another Hallmark Holiday, friend. That is, it is a completely fabricated commercial event. There’s no denying this. There are no real traditional or secular aspects to the day itself – other than those that are purposely incorporated into it.

I truly believe that you don’t need some greeting card (or any) company to tell you when you should display your feelings of love or affection for that certain special someone. In fact, I wholeheartedly believe that if you are truly, madly, or deeply in love, you should show it every day, not just on a day that someone else has arbitrarily picked for you. If that’s what you want, more power to ya, lil lemming. I’ll be watching from the sidelines, having a few brews and watching you pull your hair out.

Trust me when I say that if you can change the way you think about this "holiday" and put it into practice, you’ll find yourself in better spirits, less-stressed, more cash in your pocket, and still have love in your life – (as long as s/he agrees and thinks this way also).

If you are absolutely driven to focus all your emotion and attention on a single day, find a day of your mutual choosing and go to it. It will be that much more special!

Cheers!

TAGS [ VALENTINES DAY ]

This keg fridge takes conversion to a whole new level. Combining draft beer kegerator with iPod, Craig Jones has created a beer and music lover’s dream… that is, if you dig Keystone Light.

All joking aside on which beer brand adorns the iPod Kegerator, this is some pretty rad engineering. I can’t thank John, our new Director of IT, enough for passing along the story by Caleb Johnson, via Bornrich.org. I love seeing beer lovers’ ingenuity.

Know of any other wicked original draft beer systems worth mentioning? Tell me about them! Either comment on the post or shoot me an email at hannah@kegworks.com. I’ve seen superb paint jobs, like the one on this Heineken Kegerator and multi-tap wonders, like this 4-tap beauty. I can’t wait to see what else is out there.

Cheers!

TAGS [ KEGERATOR | CUSTOM KEG FRIDGE | IPOD KEGERATOR | IPOD KEG FRIDGE | KEGERATOR CONVERSION ]

About a month ago, we told you about the exciting Cocktail Contest that we’re sponsoring on the Magnificent Bastard website. The gist is, if you’re the one who submitted the original cocktail recipe that’s eventually selected to be "The Magnificent Bastard" you get lots of fame and glory, plus $500 to spend at our store.

There was an overwhelmingly positive response but the Magnificent Bastard found an awesome way to make it fair and make it work. After pre-screening the entries and performing an initial taste test, the 32 best entries have been selected for a single-elimination bracket tournament.

Check out the entries that made it and feel free to play along at home. When you scroll over the names on the bracket, their submitted recipe appears.

Act fast, as the games begin tomorrow, February 11th. A very lucky 5-person team will be doing the tasting and we’ll have a winner by Monday, April 5th.

TAGS [ MAGNIFICENT BASTARD | COCKTAIL CONTEST | CLASSIC COCKTAILS CONTEST | MB COCKTAIL ]

Ever wanted to learn how to bartend? The thought has crossed my mind many times. Now with the free "ICE" (Interactive Cocktail Entertainment) iPhone application, I can learn as I play.

This app is very cool. The game makes you pick the glass and all the ingredients for the drink. It tells you if you make a mistake and even makes you pour the liquor and shake if required.

So if you are rocking an iPhone, get this FREE app. You’ll not only have an extraordinary interactive guide, but also an entertaining and original game where you can have fun with your friends and become a true bar man. Here’s a quick demo video:

If you’re not cool enough to have an iPhone, borrow someone else’s for a minute and try your hand (or finger) at "Interactive Cocktail Entertainment."

TAGS [ BARTENDING | LEARN TO BARTEND | IPHONE APPS | IPHONE BARTENDING APP | MAKING COCKTAILS ]

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a pretty big geek when it comes to advertising. As much as I love football, I love advertising more and the Super Bowl is all about the commercials for me. I’ve been reading speculations for months and I recently spent an entire evening doing nothing but watching spots from the past 43 years. I can’t freaking wait for this year’s commercials. Personally I’m not a big fan of Budweiser’s beer –but I’ll admit that I very much look forward to their advertisements.

When I happened to come across this article on the Chicago Tribune website regarding alcohol ads, I got a bit worked up. Here’s why: In that article Purdue University professor Adam Barry claimed that beer commercials shown during the Super Bowl are misleading. His reasoning? "They have taglines promoting responsible drinking, yet the ads promote more beer sales."

I have news for the good professor; commercials (and all advertising) exist to drive sales! That is why they’re created – whether they feature alcoholic beverages, automobile parts or job search tools, they’re made to sell a product.

Barry believes that the viewers of these commercials are presented with conflicting messages when beer companies claim that their products are "less filling" or full of "drinkability" (which means consumers can drink more) and then immediately told to drink responsibly. He thinks that to clear things up public health experts need to establish exactly what exactly "responsible drinking" means.

I’m sorry but I don’t think that a little "clarification" on a television commercial is going to stop that frat party beer pong game from happening or discourage Uncle Jimbo from having one more cold Coors Light at Grandpa’s 90th birthday bash (even if the mountains aren’t blue!)

I can see being upset if beer companies were marketing messages like "don’t stop until you pass out" or "the more you drink, the cooler you become" - but they’re not doing any such thing. If they were condoning or encouraging binge drinking or dangerous behavior by offering mail-in rebates for funnels or selling cans with a built-in shotgun tabs, sure that would be a problem. From what I’ve seen, these companies are simply trying to set their beer apart from the other guys. The great majority of beer ads are saying, "Hey, when you drink a beer - drink THIS kind. It’s better/ more delicious/super fun/will make girls want you/won’t make you fat etc." The big players likes Anheuser-Busch Inbev and Miller Coors tend to play a tug of war with market share and they’re simply trying to get ahead.

I am of the opinion that people who drink beer know what they’re getting themselves into. It’s pretty common knowledge that drinking alcohol in excess will get you drunk and if you drink enough beer, it can even kill you. It is also common knowledge that one should never operate a motor vehicle while drunk because doing so is incredibly dangerous and could be costly or even worse, fatal.

If you ask me, adding another line to the end of a commercial stating what "drinking responsibly" really means isn’t going to discourage anyone from irresponsible or reckless behavior.

Sure, a McDonalds commercial might prompt you to get in the car and go through the drive-thru but it is ultimately your decision to order the extra large value meal and down it before you get back to the couch. There are plenty of people who can enjoy a Big Mac once in awhile without sacrificing their health and becoming obese. In the same way, beer commercials might prompt you to purchase a specific kind of beer but the decision to drink that beer in excess, drive drunk or do other irresponsible things is ultimately yours to make.

I am glad to say that now, at the wise old age of 25, I take drinking responsibly very seriously. However, I am also a young adult who attended college a very short time ago. I’m honest enough to admit that I did occasionally drink irresponsibly. I very much regret some of that irresponsible behavior, however I would never in a million years blame my actions or choices on talking frogs or the real men of genius. If I reeeally wanted to blame someone, I’d opt for my friends and classmates who encouraged such behavior, however ultimately I know that those decisions and any resulting consequences were my own.

I wholeheartedly believe that there should be more efforts to educate young adults on the dangers of binge drinking. I think that alternate transportation should be both available and encouraged. I believe that there should be harsh consequences for drunk drivers (especially those with repeat offenses) and I think that it is important to remind consumers to drink responsibly. I do not however find anything about Super Bowl beer commercials confusing.

End rant.

TAGS [ BEER ADS | SUPER BOWL ADS | ALCOHOL ADS | PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY | BUDWEISER ADS | BUD ADS | MILLER ADS ]

Nationwide distribution of the brand new Samuel Adams LongShot Variety 6-Pack is scheduled to begin this April. You should be excited. I am!

The LongShot 6-Pack is the result of the 2009 American Homebrew Contest, in which the Boston Beer Company chooses 3 winning brews (2 from contestants and one from an employee entrant).

The winners get to brew alongside the Samuel Adams brewers in Boston. Their recipes are also bottled and included in the LongShot variety package, which is distributed all over the country for just $9.99. In 1984, Sam Adams’ founder, Jim Koch, homebrewed the first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager® in his kitchen. 25 years later, Koch makes an effort to recognize the most talented homebrewers for testing the boundaries and coming up with creative brews. This competition is a company tradition that began back in 1996.

Photo from The Captain’s Chair

This year you’ll sample 2 bottles each of New Hampshire resident Michael Robinson’s Old Ale, Ben Miller’s Barleywine (hailing from New Mexico) and Employee Homebrew Winner Jeremy White’s Saison.

There were over 1,500 entries to the contest and Koch judged the himself with help from Jason and Todd Alström of Beer Advocate, Jay Brooks from Celebrator Beer News, Julie Johnson of All About Beer, Bob Townsend from Southern Brew News and Tony Forder of Ale Street News. The winning beers were selected by style category and the criteria was based on the American Homebrewers Association Beer Judge Certificate Program guidelines.

To find out more about the beers and all of the details, check out the Beer Avocate write-up or the contest website.

If you’re a homebrewer, make sure to start thinking of ideas for the 2010 contest! We could be writing about your beer by this time next year.

TAGS [ SAM ADAMS | SAMUEL ADAMS | LONGSHOT CONTEST | BEER CONTEST | SAM ADAMS LONGSHOT | HOMEBREW CONTEST ]

Mardi Gras is a huge deal in Buffalo. It helps break up the bitter cold winter and gives an excuse to see friends and loved ones that have finally dug a path out of their doors wide enough to get to the car. There is a parade, a couple of drag shows, and a ton of people wandering bar to bar pretending that it’s not somewhere just above 20° outside.

Getting the right attitude is always what the party is about. The parade has some of the craziest floats you’ve ever seen. Everyone joins in with wild paper maché floats mounted precariously to their car of the themes of wine, women or song. Then Southern Comfort steps in and provides the Hurricane, the drink of choice to keep your sugar levels up and your body temperature at a balmy 51°. Plus all the bar covers go to Hospice Buffalo, a great organization that helps people and families in need at a difficult time.

So celebrate the cold on Fat Tuesday, or if you’re lucky enough to be in a balmier climate, like the original French Quarter area, get out there and break up the dark winter days with some fun!

TAGS [ MARDI GRAS | HURRICANE COCKTAIL | COCKTAIL MIX ]