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Can You Drink Expired Beer?

December 20th, 2010  |  Posted by The Efficient Drinker
expired budweiser with blacked out born on date

expired, but totally fine

The big domestic breweries have amusing ways of differentiating their flagship beers. Coors Light is made with water from the Rocky Mountains, which change color depending on the temperature of the beer. FYI, cans start to turn blue at 48ºF and are fully blue at 44ºF. Interestingly, the bottle labels are calibrated to turn blue two degrees lower. [Please comment if you have a theory] Miller Lite alternately prides itself on tasting like a full-bodied beer, or the opposite: that it has the least carbs of any of the mainstream light beers. Bud Light advertises itself as a beer for grown-up frat boys and generally has the funniest ads. Lastly, Budweiser brands itself on its ingredients and its freshness, which is described by Born On Dating.

The dating seems silly, because I couldn’t possibly care less when my beer came off the line in St. Louis or wherever it’s produced. If in the situation where I’m drinking it, maybe I do want to know if I’m going to be assaulted by skunkiness. The issue is that skunked beer is usually caused by exposure to light and fluctuations in temperature, rather than time elapsing. Sure, with more time, it’s more likely that the beer has been exposed, but not if it’s been sitting in a cool basement or other area that ’s dark and doesn’t experience wild temperature swings. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Beer | 119 Comments »

7 Holiday Drinking Gift Ideas

December 10th, 2010  |  Posted by The Efficient Drinker

With Hanukkah already behind us, perhaps this post is a bit tardy. Regardless, the arbitrary ground rules are “things that aren’t immediately consumable,” so a bottle of Grey Goose is out.  Here are a few drinking related gifts, mainly aimed at guys, but that’s not to say that there aren’t some gals out there who wouldn’t enjoy them.

  1. flask gift ideaEngraved flask – So many uses, but my favorite anecdote about a flask comes from a friend who moved to London after college. He was so disconcerted that their mixed drinks were both expensive and weak (premeasured to 30mL or about a shot), that he solved it by re-spiking his whiskey and cokes with extra whiskey, smuggled in via flask. A brilliant idea, but be stealthy or risk getting tossed. Pictured is the $25 “Bobcat” from eFlasks, where you can get them engraved. The leather works well for using this outside in the winter cold. Should be used more often as a groomsman’s gift.
  2. Wine Opener gift ideaWine Opener – The basic ones work well enough, but if you’re going to spring for something, you could go with the semi-automated route, where the Oster checks in highly. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of random clutter plugged into the kitchen, so I prefer the Metrokane Rabbit. It’s not automated, but is an impressive (and elegant) looking piece of machinery. Its leverage is akin to cutting down a weed with a chainsaw, which seems like a very American approach.

    Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in General | 21 Comments »

Calories in Vodka: Does Brand Matter?

November 17th, 2010  |  Posted by The Efficient Drinker

vodka tonic caloriesOne question seems to come up somewhat often: for calorie purposes, does the brand of vodka make any difference? Is Grey Goose calorically any better or worse than Smirnoff, Absolut, Skyy or well vodka? NOPE!

So, that’s why the liquor calories page only lists vodka by proof, which is 80 or 100. Unless specifically noted, vodka is 80 proof, though Absolut, Smirnoff and Stoli do offer the 100 proof variety. The rule of thumb:

Calories in a Shot of Vodka (1.5 ounces)

  • 97 – 80 proof
  • 121 – 100 proof

Note that there is one exception to the 97 and 121 rule in Devotion Vodka. Devotion has added protein, so even though it’s 80 proof, it checks in at 105 calories. Aside from the exception, in anything labeled “vodka,” all of the carbohydrates have been fermented into alcohol. There’s no residual sugar, and the calorie count is a direct result of its proof. So, what makes premium vodka any different than the stuff in plastic bottles? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: mixed drinks, vodka
Posted in Liquor | 142 Comments »

Should Four Loko be Banned?

November 8th, 2010  |  Posted by The Efficient Drinker

Four Loko bannedA few weeks ago, students at Central Washington drank an inadvisable amount of Four Loko, a caffeine-infused malt beverage, or alcopop if you’re from the UK. Malt liquor is similar to beer and is more commonly associated with Olde English and Steel Reserve. Those taste like strong beer minus the hoppiness, but Four Loko strips out the barley/beer flavor and adds a ton of sugar which creates a kinda sweet-tasting carbonated beverage that is a strong 12% ABV. So, does a caffeinated, sweet 12% ABV alcoholic drink necessitate being banned?

In a word, no. Like anything else, it’s drinker beware. Supposedly the college kids were mixing it with vodka, among other things. This is incredibly, incredibly stupid. Each 23.5 ounce Four Loko can is equivalent to: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: alcopop, flavored malt, regulation
Posted in Beer | 19 Comments »

How and What Americans Drank During Prohibition

October 17th, 2010  |  Posted by The Efficient Drinker
Appalachian Moonshiners

A rural moonshining outpost

In keeping with the Boardwalk Empire theme, it was time to figure out how people drank during Prohibition, because it’s clear that the flow of alcohol was dampened rather than cut off. Prohibition Agents ranged from inept to corrupt, as agents often used their training to flip to the dark side (much like ex-military working for Mexican drug gangs). Onto the sources of booze during the “Dry Age,” circa 1920-1933. Circa because certain states took longer than others to adopt the amendment as state law. In order from largest sources to the smallest:

  1. Imported Liquor – Canadian Club whiskey was initially manufactured in the United States and called “Club Whiskey.” At some point its founder moved factories across the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario. Eventually the name changed as well. During United States prohibition, Canadian Club massively ramped up production and with Detroit’s proximity to Chicago, it was Capone’s main business. Why buy whiskey in Atlantic City if it was being made less than 300 miles away? The other main import was rum from the Caribbean. So-called rum runners would bring the stuff over on boats small enough to escape detection by the Coast Guard. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Liquor, TV | 71 Comments »

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