MM in the Kitchen: Guinness Chocolate Cake

In case you ever have too much Guinness (haha), you can have it for dessert!

Public Service Announcement: When In The UK, Don't Order An "Irish Car Bomb."

Seriously, you might not want to, no matter how much you might like the drink here.

The Great West Point Egg Nog Riot of 1826

Oh, egg nog.  Please drink responsibly.  Oh, and look who was there for the egg nog riot: Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee.  Yes, THAT Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee!

Hello Kitty Monstrosity of the Day: Hello Fruit-Flavored Beer

NOOOOOO!  

If you're morbidly curious, here's a review by some poor sap who actually tried this.

Prosek vs. Prosecco

Croatians know the difference, but EU-rocrats don't think anybody else does.

Horsin' Around: "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved"

Today we have the most exciting two minutes in sports!  Eat and drink and be merry, as you enjoy accordingly.  

While I do love roses myself, I prefer not to run for them myself ... but I think I know which horse I'm rooting for!

Awesome LOL: A Biologist on St. Patrick's

Full lyrics are here.  Besides, some people like this clinical professor of psychiatry think beer gave us civilization. Enjoy your festive (green-tinted?) beverages responsibly, my darlings, and enjoy this video too!

The Champagne Index of French National Happiness

Apparently this index isn't official, but it darn well ought to be.  France is currently having a bad case of the holiday blues, and sales of bubbly are way, way down.

An Advent Calendar For Grownups

Need a wee dram to get you through the holiday stresses?  Here's something perfect for that.  Or this.  It all brings a whole new meaning to the term "Christmas spirit."

The Official White House Beer Recipe

Well, if it's already going to drive the entire country to drink from sheer economic despair, then it's only polite for the Obama White House to offer a beer recipe, I suppose.

LOL: the Olympic Opening Ceremonies Drinking Game

Click to enlarge.

MM in the Kitchen: Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Sheer madness.  And you'll love it.

Some Health Expert Wants Global Regulation of Alcohol

La Parisienne just sent me this news story.  Good luck with that, pal.  All I'm going to say is: look at Prohibition and how well that turned out.  (Oh, and if you still haven't gotten around to watching Ken Burns's "Prohibition" documentary, you should.  It's really interesting!) 

Delicious Defiance: the Veto Ale

LOL!

MM in the Kitchen: Glühwein (Mulled Wine)

Here's something warm and festive to drink!

History in Photos: Prohibition

Here is a fascinating photo collection by Life magazine.  If you haven't had a chance yet to watch the fantastic Ken Burns documentary, please do soon!  Recall this too.

LOL: the Lorem Ipsum Wine

Just look at the label for this bottle of French wine.  Need some info about (do)lorem ipsum?

Public Service Announcement: Watch "Prohibition"!

I had just noted this new PBS documentary, but now that I've had a chance to watch it myself, I can't recommend it enough.  It's fantastic!  You can watch all of it online here.  I just love how one historian flatly says about Prohibition, "What a stupid idea!"  As for "MM Behind the Bar" for the duration of your viewing, she shall make you a dirty martini.

Watch the full episode. See more Ken Burns.

History Lesson: Prohibition

Kyle Smith has a review of the new PBS documentary, and he piquantly observes:

“Prohibition,” a three-part miniseries that ... comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, has many lessons to teach us about such antiquated, 1920s-era ideas as federal overreach, unfunded mandates to states, runaway taxation, a belief that great political leaders can accelerate human progress, crony capitalism, and of course the dire need of Washington to take steps to improve the lot of the poor and the children. 

In other words, “Prohibition” is, to an almost mischievous extent, an investigative report about 2011.

By the way, the documentary's website is here.

Chick Beer: A Lager for the Ladies

You've got to be kidding me.  Here's the ad copy:

Chick Beer finally gives women a beer choice that suits their tastes and their style. The bottle is designed to reflect the beautiful shape of a woman in a little black dress.  The six-pack looks like you are carrying your beer in a hip stylish purse.  Chick’s unique reflective bottle blings you up!  It’s fun, fabulous, and female!

I don't know about you, but I find this insulting, sexist, vapid, and STUPID.  Yeah, because the ladies haven't been drinking beer for millennia because we've all been waiting for it to show up in a pink frilly six-pack that looks like a FRIGGIN' GORRAM PURSE.  Idiotic packaging.  I feel like walking up to Chick Beer and punching it in the face -- that's the kind of effect that the packaging is having on me.  What next?  Will the bottles look like lipsticks and be laced with Midol and Pamprin?  Pffffffft.

Look, this whole thing consciously creates a gender rift in beer where none had really existed before!  Every beer-drinking girl I know talks about beer, not turning it into some act of gender revolution or whatever.  I don't know about you, but I don't look at a Sam Adams and whine, "Only a guy can drink that!  I'll have to wait for a beer called Abigail Adams.  Boo hoo!  The beermakers of the world are clearly a bunch of male sexist pigs who don't care about meeeeee."  Guess what?  They shouldn't care about whether you have ovaries or not!  The brewers of the world should only care about one thing: making awesome beer.  That's it.  Make great beer and everybody will show up and buy some.  Everybody, guys and girls.  Meanwhile, let the whiny chicks go drink fruity cocktails or wine coolers or something.  Anyway, real girls drink Guinness -- am I right, La Parisienne?

If you want a beer ad that might actually make me want to try the product, look at this Aussie gem: