Posts Tagged ‘media buzz’
Tiger Blood
This, quite apparently, is what Charlie Sheen has been drinking. It is Tiger Blood Vodka, made in Hungary. No word on whether it’s the source of the Adonis DNA. The evidence is here.
Fox says the real Tiger Blood is something along the lines of mangosteen — a fruit we covered about a year ago.
Editor’s Note: nothing in this post should be regarded as curative, therapeutic, advisable or serious.
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famous, media buzz, speaks for itself
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Doomsday Libations
How many prognosticators, and beer companies, need to foretell the end of the world, before we see it coming?
The Mayans were early to call this thing, a couple of thousand years ago. But since then, Stevens Point Brewery has notably called it, with their 2012 Black Ale. The label explains that “The ancient Mayans developed a ‘Long-Count’ round calendar that ends ominously on December 21, 2012. This date is the inspiration for the name of this Ale.” Box 19 of the form explains that the date is nothing major like “a vintage date, production date, cellar date or sell-by date.” It’s only the end of the world.
A handful of Tequila labels back up this prophecy. The Luna Nueva Tequila labels show a few cavorting cadavers, and refer to “2012 The Mayan Prophecy.” Box 19 of the form explains that “The ancient Mayan believed that time runs in cycles and the last recorded cycle ends on [December 21, 2012].”
As if that weren’t bad enough or soon enough, this Oregon brewer is getting ready with Apocalypse IPA, and this New Zealand brewer has Armageddon IPA. Lest anyone tremble, my favorite line from the Wikipedia page is where NASA says the 2012 predictions may be comparable to those surrounding the Y2K bug.
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Rhonda’s Fight to Save Moonshot
Fox and Reason have a good video about the recent brewhaha over beer with caffeine.
The video features John Stossel, Nick Gillespie, and Rhonda Kallman (owner of Moonshot, Beer with Caffeine). Among the highlights:
Rhonda says FDA’s ban is “clearly a case of the government over-reaching. … My Moonshot Beer is nothing like these Four Loko drinks.” FDA:
didn’t fully research it … they put the onus on the small entrepreneur to have a scientist. … It’s 5% alcohol by volume and less than a half a cup of coffee of natural caffeine. It’s a great combination. … They won’t stop here. Where will they stop?
Sen. Schumer won’t stop at calling these drinks a “blackout in a can.” He goes further to suggest they may be a death wish in a can. And here, Iowa takes a step toward going much, much further (toward banning any mixture of cola, coffee or Red Bull with alcohol, at bars and restaurants).
Near the end of the video, Rhonda points to her petition to save Moonshot. She seeks to distinguish it from the circa-2010 Crunk, Four Loko and Joose products, and explains:
For the time being, Moonshot has ceased production due to [the FDA ban]. … Three of the products targeted are high alcohol, high caffeine and high sugar “juice” drinks sold in oversized 23.5 ounce cans and targeted to underage drinkers. The fourth was Moonshot ’69 – an all malt, craft-brewed pilsner beer that bears absolutely no resemblance to these high alcohol, high caffeine sugary drinks. … There is nothing new about adults combining caffeine and alcohol. Who hasn’t enjoyed a rum and Coke, Irish coffee, Kahlua or espresso martini? The question should be what levels are appropriate.
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caffeine/secondary effects, fda, media buzz, policy
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FDA and FTC Banish Four Loko and Joose
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.
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caffeine/secondary effects, fda, legally interesting/controversial, media buzz, policy
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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.
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legally interesting/controversial, media buzz
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