Boozin’ Blog

New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest party nights of the year. While the good times are flowing here are a few tips to avoid a miserable New Year’s day after.

1. Don’t Drink. Duh! Let’s move on to some more practical advice.
2. Eat. I’ve never bought into the theory that having food on your stomach “absorbs” some of the alcohol. What the hell does that mean, anyway? Alcohol is a chemical and whether it’s marinated into some mashed potatoes or not your body is still going to have to deal with it anyway, right? But eating before and while you drink does work. I believe that it has to do with how full you feel. If you’re hungry you want to put stuff inside you. If you’re full you’re less likely to want to put more stuff in you. But that might be as much hooey as the absorption theory. For whatever reason eating works. So before you go out tonight have a full meal and work those hors d’oeuvres while you’re at the party.
3. Alternate drinks. I don’t mean beer then wine then a long island iced tea. I mean alcoholic, nonalcoholic, alcoholic, nonalcoholic. Drinking alcohol actually dehydrates the body and this is a great deal of the misery of being hung-over.
4. “Beer before liquor; never sicker. Liquor before beer; never fear.” Again, I have no idea why this is true but I can say from personal experience it is. If you plan to pound down a few shots then do that first. Then you can coast out the rest of the night by nursing a beer or sipping some wine with a nice buzz.
5. Try a dietary supplement. I don’t have any personal experience with those anti-hangover pills but I know some people who swear by them. The good folks at The Beer Belly sent some Cheerz to me when they sent one of their bellies for a review on my beer.about.com site. I plan on trying them tonight.
6. Don’t go to sleep drunk. If the room’s spinning when you finally get to bed that’s a pretty good sign that you’re going to feel it tomorrow. Try to stay awake for at least an hour after your last drink to give your body time to metabolize it.

Here’s wishing you a safe and happy one. If you do party tonight take it easy, have a designated driver if you’re driving, and have fun.

Happy New Year!

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Here’s what happens when a marketer tries to understand the beer business. In a recent article in Forbes Jack Trout tries to get his head around the US beer business and why the biggest selling brands have been stagnant over the last few years. They’re offering too many different kinds of beers, he explains.

He’s a blowhard, I reply.

In fact he’s a self-contradictory blowhard. Within his own article he contradicts his own premise. He points out that big beer companies with their variously branded lagers are loosing market share to craft beer including their own faux crafts like Blue Moon and Leinenkugel. But variety is one of the strengths craft beer. The biggest craft brewer, the Boston Beer Company, has a huge number of different Sam Adams beers available and that hasn’t hurt their sales.

I could also point to the continued success of wine despite the fact that the products produced by almost any given winery are many and often take some study to understand. And how about the evolution of vodka over the last few years? You can buy vodka flavored with almost every imaginable fruit and somehow consumers are able deal with that. But I’m not here to argue about marketing.

Granted, the various versions of Miller, Bud and Coors are essentially the same beer with different labels but Trout doesn’t make this clear. In fact I’m not sure that he even realizes this. He seems to think that all beer is the same and so, his logic goes, why should any brewer have more than one product?

Choice is saving beer from this sea of the same that seemed likely to define beer as recently as 15 years ago. US beer drinkers are finally discovering the variety of beer and the pleasures of it. They are voting with their dollars for beer that tastes of more than fizzy, slightly sweet water.

So, Mr. Trout, why don’t you go out and actually try some of those “wacky American beers” before you try to evangelize your marketing gospel to them? You might find some truths that are not available in your statistics tables and marketing textbooks.

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You’ve been out for a few hours. You had dinner with wine or a beer; maybe even a cocktail or two. After that you stopped at a club and had a few more. But you paced yourself. You feel fine but you wonder if there’s a road-block or if you roll through a stop sign and get pulled over if you will get busted for DUI.

So, key half-way in the ignition, you begin to debate with yourself. Maybe you heard once that the body can metabolize one serving of alcohol an hour. You start doing the math – one cocktail before dinner, a beer with the pasta; that was an hour an a half; then another beer at the club before the band started playing which was…what time was that? And what the hell is a serving anyway?

Then you remember those stories that you’ve heard about people blowing over the legal limit after taking a drink even though an actual blood test shows their true alcohol level to be below the legal limit. The last thing that you drank 30 minutes ago was a beer so does that mean that you’d blow a higher level than you actually are? You begin to wonder if you should walk down the block to the nearby Starbucks and gargle with espresso.

Well, here’s a perfect solution. Get a personal breathalyzer. Starting at only $85 with free shipping Boozin’ Gear has a selection of breathalyzers that will tell you exactly what you’re going to blow if you get pulled over. With most States’ limits at 0.10 or 0.08 if you blow under 0.08 you’ll be legal to drive in most places.

Naturally, these devices aren’t intended to help you trick law enforcement. If you ever question your own ability to drive, regardless of the numbers you register on a breathalyzer you should wait or call a cab. Personal breathalyzers are only intended to help you follow the letter as well as the spirit of the law.

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I can often be a very oblivious man. I drift along through life totally unaware of time that has passed or of upcoming events or holidays. And so it is that in typical fashion I have let the Fourth of July sneak up on me.

So today I must rush out to buy meat for the barbie and, most importantly, booze for the glasses. I haven’t decided what exactly to serve yet but here are a few ideas.

Beer - Here’s a list of ten summer beers that looks beyond Bud. Of course there’s nothing wrong with a Bud but it’s a holiday so why not try something new? One thing that I’d add to this list is to seek out some local beer. According to the Brewers Association, most Americans today live within 10 miles of a brewery or brewpub. If you live near a brewpub pop in and ask for a couple of growlers of their best summer brew. Keep the jugs on ice and the cap screwed on tight and you can serve your guests some great fresh beer.

Wine - Regular readers of this blog will know by now that I’m a bit of a snob. I can’t help it. Consequently I have a pretty low opinion of Rose’. But no summertime sipper list would be complete without some of the pink stuff. Indeed, despite my snobbishness, I find that I really enjoy a cold Rose’ on a hot day with friends and a bar-b-que. Here’s a nice list of summertime wines.

Cocktails - Want to play bartender? Here’s a handful of some particularly refreshing summertime cocktails. If you want to watch Master Mixoligist Bridget Albert make a caipirinha check this out.

Well, that’s it for me. I have to run to the store.

Happy Fourth!

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