In a massive and coordinated action yesterday, the Federal Government moved to favor Red Bull and pummel other drinks with caffeine.
FDA handed a giant gift to Red Bull here.
The FTC handed a humongous present to Red Bull here.
Other actions are expected imminently, as legions of other regulators rush in to exaggerate the dangers (it looks like soda, it’s “loaded with caffeine,” it’s like a “plague” and “toxic”) and ignore evidence to the contrary. This follows many state actions in recent weeks. Presto, problem solved! We eagerly await the evidence that young people cut back on alcohol, or cut back on co-consumption of alcohol with caffeine. We hope it’s better than the current leading study; it purports to highlight the dangers of the pre-mixed products such as Four Loko, Liquid Charge, Joose and scores of others — without ever having examined any such products. Instead, the O’Brien study reviewed products so different they are not even within the scope of yesterday’s governmental actions (none of which, after some dexterous sleight of hand and misdirection, stopped it from instigating the above actions).
We believe caffeine and alcohol raise plenty of important public policy issues, whether they are combined or not, and they warrant serious deliberation. But many of the deliberations so far reflect political pressures more than an even-handed review.
November 18, 2010 Update: TTB lands another blow, against caffeine added to alcohol beverages, here.
Lingonberry Wine
This post will start short but is likely to grow long over time. Very long. We will try to show the enormous range of foodstuffs from which wine is produced. With each post we will add to the list, and I predict it will grow way past 50 60. Today we add Lingonberry wine to the list.
- Avocado wine
- Banana wine
- Cantaloupe wine
- Dandelion wine
- Elder flower wine
- Fig wine
- Gooseberry wine
- Grape wine
- Jasmine fruit wine
- Kiwi wine
- Linden flower wine
- Lingonberry. This lingonberry wine is made by Oz Winery of Wamego, Kansas.
- Lychee wine
- Mango wine
- Mangosteen wine
- Marionberry wine
- Onion wine
- Peach wine
- Pomegranate wine
- Pear wine
- Pepper wine
- Persimmon wine
- Pineapple wine
- Rhubarb wine
- Strawberry wine
- Tomato wine
- Watermelon wine
Put Some Beer in Your S'mores
Earlier this week we mentioned that Short’s provides plenty of good things to write about. Here is another beer to back that up. If you don’t want to put some beer in your s’mores, maybe you should at least consider putting some s’mores in your beer.
S’more Stout is stout brewed with graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows.
Bloody Beer
Well it’s all good stuff but is it good together? Here is Bloody Beer. The people at Short’s also provide plenty to write about, such as this gem. Bloody Beer is beer brewed with tomatoes, with added pepper, celery seed, horseradish and dill. From the description, it looks like the tomatoes are added during brewing but the rest is added after.
Wit Caught in a Wringer
Port Brewing LLC recently got its wit caught in a wringer. The beer label depicts a witch being burned at the stake. Various wiccans, pagans, shamans and others were not amused and The New York Times was there to cover it. About a week before Halloween, the Times article quoted an offended person thusly:
“Can you imagine them showing a black person being lynched or a Jewish person going to the oven?” she wrote. “Such images are simply not tolerated in our society anymore (thank the Goddess) and this one should not be, either.”
To witch which the brewer responded:
We have been accused of inspiring violence against women, and we have been compared to the violence in Darfur. … It has run the gamut from people saying politely, ‘This is offensive to pagans,’ to people saying we are responsible for all that is wrong in the world.
Port seems to be in the process of changing the label. Port’s co-founder said he was “‘totally in favor’ of changing the label and that he and his co-workers had been ‘ignorantly unaware of the mistake’ they had made.”
The brewery explained that, far from being an attack on women:
Witch’s Wit is in a line of Catholic-themed beers, like Inferno Ale and Judgment Day, conceived in the spirit of gentle satire by Tomme Arthur, another of the brewery’s owners. Mr. Arthur says he is “a recovering Catholic.” … [The company also said it] “would really like to have some kind of contest for a great label.”
It sounds like the system worked pretty well, without a lot of extra governmental intervention. The label got approved way back in 2008 and there was little fanfare. Eventually, a bunch of people got offended, spoke up, and Port quickly decided to change the label. Beernews has a lot more good information about this controversy. For those who did not get enough witch-action on Halloween, here is a squished witch and here is a burning one.
Peach Wine
This post will start short but is likely to grow long over time. Very long. We will try to show the enormous range of foodstuffs from which wine is produced. With each post we will add to the list, and I predict it will grow way past 50 60. Today we add Peach wine to the list.
- Avocado wine
- Banana wine
- Cantaloupe wine
- Dandelion wine
- Elder flower wine
- Fig wine
- Gooseberry wine
- Grape wine
- Jasmine fruit wine
- Kiwi wine
- Linden flower wine
- Lychee wine
- Mango wine
- Mangosteen wine
- Marionberry wine
- Onion wine
- Peach wine. Logan’s View peach wine is made in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania.
- Pomegranate wine
- Pear wine
- Pepper wine
- Persimmon wine
- Pineapple wine
- Rhubarb wine
- Strawberry wine
- Tomato wine
- Watermelon wine
