Blogs : Wine and Drinks
Wine and Drinks Cocktail news, the latest bars, beer, wine, and trends—from Belgian beer to biodynamic wine.
Wine: It's Bad for You Again!
“Average wine drinker puts on half a stone of fat a year, says campaign group,” whatever that means. Ah, it’s British—in American English the headline would read, “Average wine drinker puts on seven pounds of fat a year, says campaign group.”
That’s a fair bit of weight. But the British government’s campaign is based on the somewhat dubious assumption that all alcohol consumption comes in addition to a full day of calories, abetted by the idea that alcohol consumption demands the additional eating of fatty/salty snacks. The Telegraph compounds the damage with odd math, suggesting that “the average wine drinker consumes an extra 2,000 calories a month—the equivalent of 184 bags of crisps.” Crisps are potato chips, but is any bag of chips a mere 11 calories?
Two facts are apparent after reading the story: One, yes, alcohol has calories, and anyone who doesn’t understand that is probably dealing with bigger problems than unexpected weight gain. And two, the British government seems absolutely heedless of enhancing its reputation as the world’s most clucking, scolding nanny state.
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Tagged with: wine, alcohol, health, great britain, telegraph, crisps, nanny state, wine and drinks
Tea Has Arrived
Specialty tea is the hot new drink of hot young techies, says Wired magazine. Is this news? I dunno. Tea’s been around for ages, and now it seems like just another niche market to get people to spend egregious amounts of money on obscure varieties of something that has supposed cachet.
But serious tea connoisseurs certainly exist, and they’ve got some tips on how to properly steep your tea if you wanna be serious about it too.
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Tagged with: wine and drinks, tea, wired, tea connoisseurs, steeping tea, directions, drink trends, media
Long Island Iced 401(k) Anyone?
The New Yorker speculates that 2009’s economic climate will inspire a new breed of cocktail. Some of its recipe ideas:
“Long Island Iced 401(k): Put hopes in shaker. Add dreams. Shake until dashed, then drink all the vodka, gin, tequila, and rum left in liquor cabinet.”
“BlackBerry Sling: Discover that your BlackBerry doesn’t work because you haven’t paid the bill. Sling it against the wall, then buy a prepaid phone and make some rum in your toilet.”
Other recipes include Trickle-Down Punch, Nasdaiquiri, and Tequila Slumlord.
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Tagged with: wine and drinks, food and cooking, new yorker, cocktails, recession, atlantic, economy
Table Taps Are Less Fun than You'd Hope
The idea of draft beer pourable at your restaurant table conjures up visions of putting your mouth on the spigot and reliving your finest collegiate moments.
Not so, for better or worse: A report from an Irish bar in Lexington, Kentucky, gives all the details on Table Taps, and they’re far more sane than you’d think.
All that’s currently on offer is a selection of four crappy macrobrewed domestics; at the Kentucky pub, an initial purchase gets the patron 32 ounces of sudsy, flavorless beer, the equivalent of 16 ounces of decent imported stuff or 12 ounces of serious Belgian brew.
After that initial 32-ounce rush is tapped out, further beers need to be requisitioned from the servers, which sort of defeats the purpose of having the power of unlimited beer in the first place. Management can even cut off the flow of beer by pressing a button in the back, a lot easier than wresting a drink out of a belligerent patron’s hand.
The 32-ounce limit isn’t built into the Table Taps system; each drinking establishment sets its own limit on how much the spigots will dispense. One Georgia establishment, for example, drew the line at 180 ounces of beer per table.
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Tagged with: draft beer, taps, macrobrew, kentucky, lexington, media, wine and drinks, table tap, beer
Fruit-Flavored Firewater with Finesse
Web magazine Table Matters explores eau de vie, the fruit-based digestif that many Americans associate with the expression “tastes like burning.”
But the unaged brandy, when done well, cuts an impressive gastronomic figure:
“‘If the fruit doesn’t have it, the eau de vie never will,’ said Lance Winters [from] St. George Spirits. In making eau de vie, ‘you’re taking an aromatic and flavor profile of a moment in time and place. It’s a time machine.’”
And it also calls to mind another question: Why, precisely, does the United States lack the digestif after-dinner ritual that makes European dining so damned civilized?
Image source: flickr member sashafatca under Creative Commons
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Tagged with: eau de vie, digestif, table matters, media, wine and drinks, brandy, st george spirits
Pizzaiolo's Signature Cocktail Cracked
Oakland’s Pizzaiolo is a favorite for good pizza and good atmosphere, but what’s really sold chowfish on the place is its namesake cocktail made with amaro, Campari, tonic, and lime juice. One thing that makes Pizzaiolo’s drinks special is the homemade tonic water says pastryqueen, who orders it on the rocks with a lime wheel.
twocents played with the cocktail ingredients to come up with proportions for making the Pizzaiolo cocktail at home: 1 1/2 parts Campari to one part each Averna amaro, lime juice, and tonic water. chowfish confirms the recipe is “just right.”
Pizzaiolo [East Bay]
5008 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland
510-652-4888
Board Link: Pizzaiolo’s cocktail: amaro, campari, tonic, lime: recipe?
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Tagged with: san francisco bay area, restaurants and bars, wine and drinks, pizzaiolo, cocktail, recipe
