ThirstyMates.com

Now this is my kind of pup!

Yesterday Alan McLeod of A Good Beer Blog brought up the thought of beer bloggers banding together and taking a stand against drunk driving.

From what I understand he’s taken a little bit of flack for his original post on the subject for singling out craft brewers as not taking action on the thought of drinking and driving.

Now we don’t want to look like the over-the-top MADD in anyway. They left the sane train a long time ago. But I think it’s a good idea for brewers and beer fans to make it known that drinking and driving is nothing to be thought of lightly. It’s not cool!

I have been an advocate of a strict view on drinking and driving since I started operating motor vehicles and I will continue to be so till the day I die. There’s no reason to put yourself and more importantly others at risk. That’s why I’m happy to display this BADD sign on ThirsyMates.com. Alan had a previous version of it on his site but I cleaned it up a bit and sent it off to him.

Anyone else interested in a set can Download a pack here including a psd and three sizes 100×100, 200×200, and 700×700 in gif and jpg.

P.S. Thanks Alan for the Shout out!

I’ve scoured the interwebz (for about an hour) to find some very strangely named brews from around the world!

#5 – Horse Piss beer

Released in April 2005 HPB came out just before the Kentucky Derby that year. It was actually contract-brewed through Viking Brewing Company and donated a portion of the beer sales to charities that protect retired thoroughbred horses.

#4 – Genny Light

While it may not sound all that bad to you or I, “Genny” when translated in to Hungarian actually means “pus” or “filled with pus”. YUCK! Made in Rochester New York the brewery was established in 1878. Genny Light contains only 96 calories per can.

#3 – Griesedieck Brothers beer

This name pretty much speaks for itself. Brewed in St.Louis it’s recently come back after not being on the market for some time. Griesedieck Western Brewery Co. in Belleville, Illinois produces Stag beer and owns the Falstaff Brewing Corporation which makes Falstaff Beer.

#2 – Aass Beer

Made by Norway’s oldest brewery Aass Bayer is a lager. The strangest thing is that the company originally dealt in timber, groceries, baking AND brewing. Talk about a mixed bag! The brewery is still owned by the Aass family which makes me feel bad not only for the beer but all of their children as well! Let’s just hope it doesn’t taste like it’s named!

#1 – Vergina Beer

Vergina makes many types of beer. Their flagship brand is a premium lager but they also have a red, a premium pilsner and a weiss that’s made with a “special top fermenting yeast”! Personally I never really want to hear about Vergina and yeast at the same time but I’d be willing to give this beer just to be able to keep the bottle as a souvenir.

Next week a store in Seattle will be opening called 15th Ave. Coffee and Tea inspired by Starbucks. Shortly followed by two more original locations where Customers will not only be able to buy their lattes but will also be able to pick up a beer or a glass of wine.

Alcohol is quite common at many European coffee houses and Starbucks seems to think that it will help out their dwindling profits in the face of many closings of their traditional coffee houses.

For now the test location will offer a variety of beers and wines ranging from $4 – $7.

Could this tip the scales in the coffee crusade? What are the chances of this coming to Canada? I’m thinking pretty slim for the next few years at least.

Well after all that hooting and hollering, press coverage, lineups, empty shelves, and the biggest liquor sales day in Ontario of all time the LCBO workers are still going to work today.

Details from official sources are a little scant at this time. With the LCBO website saying nothing but

June 24, 2009 12:01 p.m.

The LCBO and OPSEU LBED bargaining teams have agreed to continue bargaining.

All employees should report to work as usual until notified otherwise.

The workers made a last minute decision to put off going on strike stating that a resolution was soon enough in the wind that a strike wouldn’t be nessisary.

CP24 interviewed one customer yesterday during the booze grab blitz:

Toronto resident Bruce Wallner considered it important to hoard some hooch; he spent about $700 on liquor and organic wines to add to his personal cabinet.

“You can’t run out of wine — you’d have to stop eating,” he joked.

I’m glad they’re not striking. I like their selection better than that of The Beer Store. Although you CAN get Steamie there so I guess I’d be okay.

Whelp… the L.C.B.O. workers are threatening to strike. So get your butt to the Liquor store if you’re running low on anything cause tonight is the deadline.

L.C.B.O. workers want more full time jobs. 60% of LCBO workers fall into the casual worker category and earn an annual income of less than $20,800 per year. They also want to nix a management proposal to be able to issue 90-day layoff notices at any time and don’t like the idea of privatization on the L.C.B.O.

Many bloggers and much of the public seem to disagree. There has been a lot of comments about the current L.C.B.O. being a monopoly and even a few calls to strike so that Ontarians will realize that the sale of booze should be opened to the corner stores and grocers.

At least the privately owned Brewers Retail (a.k.a. The Beer Store) will still be open and I have a closet full of home made wine at home so I won’t have to brave any crowds tonight.

Miller Canada with help from Molson has released Miller Genuine Draught in clear plastic bottles.

Um… What?

This flexible packaging option offers many benefits over traditional glass and cans, including quick chilling, retaining cold longer than glass and cans, being re-sealable and virtually unbreakable.

MGD already comes in cans which takes away all of the benefits listed above minus the re-sealable aspect. This is simply a gimmick on the part of the manufacturer to try to sell more bland MGD.

The clear plastic bottle isn’t even better for the environment seeing as how Ontario has the best recycling program in the world set up just for beer bottles!

Plastic bottles allow more light exposure to the beer than glass causing skunky tastes (although any taste WOULD be an improvement in MGD). They also cause beer to flatten a lot quicker (anyone who has tried to disguise beer in a gingerale bottle will notice this). I fully understand a quicker chill time with plastic over glass but I can’t see a beer staying colder in a plastic bottle. There’s just less insulation there.

Today while cruising Digg I found a suposedly banned skit from Tiny Toon Adventures in which Buster Bunny, Plucky duck, and Hampton Pig (the “tiny” equivlents of Bugs, Daffy and Porky). Find a beer in the fridge and drink it up.

The never ending bottle gets them wasted and the regular burping, falling down and getting rejected by girls ensues. There’s also a little grand theft auto and drinking and driving thrown in there for good measure.

Here’s the clip:

The title of this YouTube vid says it was banned but I distinctly remember seeing it on TV when I was young.

EDIT: It appears that my buddy Dave of randomasrhyme.com fame has also featured this on his weekly feature Wordless Wednesdays

As of today a new plan to get drivers that have been drinking off the road takes effect.

From now on drivers with a blood-alcohol reading between 0.05 to 0.08 will have their licence suspended for three days. A second offense will get the driver a seven day suspension and a trip to an alcohol education program. If the moron in question still doesn’t learn and gets caught for a third time they’ll get a 30 day suspension, be required to attend a remedial alcohol treatment program and have an ignition interlock condition placed on their licence for six months. Meaning they will not be allowed to drive any vehicle that does not have a breathalyzer device installed.

There’s also another law set to take effect around 2010 that will impose a zero tolerance blood-alcohol limit on all drivers 21.

Before today drivers between 0.05 and 0.08 only had a 12-hour licence suspension, no matter how many times they managed to get caught. A minor slap on the wrist as far as I’m concerned.

I’m glad our province is taking measures to get drinkers off the roads. I’m sure a lot of the people receiving suspensions between that 0.05 and 0.08 range (known as the warn range) put themselves in the “I only had a few drinks I’ll be fine” category but I have no sympathy for them. I personally don’t own a car now but when I did I had a 1 beer 1 hour rule for myself. 1 beer then a 1 hour wait to drive. I’m sure that even then at times I may have been able to blow between that range. Now my only mode of transport is my motorcycle and I have a strict zero alcohol tolerance for myself (not only that but so does the govt. as I am still under my M2 licence).

This is definitely a step in the right direction to getting drivers off the road after a few drinks.

The open beer market for Ontario has come up again in our recent politics. This time it’s Progressive Conservative Leadership Candidate Randy Hillier striking up conversation of bringing beer to our local corner stores.

Last time this issue came up I was against it. Even praising Dalton McGuinty for declining the thought of selling in corner stores. But after some discussion on A Good Beer Blog I’m pulling off my best impression of a politician and doing a flip-flop.

My first reaction almost a year ago was to think that sellers of cigarettes are already doing a piss poor job of keeping THEM out of the hands of minors and that would just pass on to beer and wine. But I’ve had almost a year to think it over and think over the arguments posed to me by my readers and the readers of A Good Beer Blog and I’m thinking now that it wouldn’t necessarily be easier for kiddies to acquire alcohol in all cases and that the deregulation would end up to be good for the industry little guys.

I’m still somewhat on the fence though. I would like to see beer in my local convenience store but I do still think it would sometimes be easier for kids to get their hands on it. BUT that being said I never really had troubles getting my hands on a beer or 12 when I was under age either and that beer had to come from The Beer Store.

I’m sure if deregulation did occur though that the govt. would surely police it quite strictly for a long time to come.

Here’s what Randy thinks:

“Beer distribution in this province is currently controlled by foreign companies.” Hillier said. “In these tough times we need to give struggling small Canadian businesses like corner stores, restaurants and hotels more opportunities.”

“Dalton McGuinty is costing local Ontario businesses millions of dollars, to the benefit of foreign-owned breweries.”

Hillier proposes to allow corner stores to be able to sell wine and beer. As well restaurants, bars and hotels would be able to sell off-sales to further help their businesses.

I think he’s got a point or two that are quite valid. I for one would certainly take advantage of closer beer and wine (although now I mostly make my own). But I will still have that twinge in the back of my head about some dick-head shop keeper being too lazy to check an ID and some kid ruining or ending someone’s life. We’ve all seen it before though coming from the current system as well. So why am I afraid of this change?