alcohol

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Beer's New Role: Cocktail Mixer
Beer's New Role: 
Cocktail Mixer 

Beer's New Role: Cocktail Mixer

New drinks throw away rules about mixing alcohol

(Newser) - The days of keeping your beer and liquor separate are over, with bartenders crafting crossover drinks that mix beer with other spirits—even wine. “Other countries have been doing this for a long time,” one beer connoisseur tells the New York Times. Creations range from the “Muddy...

Heath Almost Gave Up Pills
 Heath Almost Gave Up Pills 
GLOSSIES

Heath Almost Gave Up Pills

Friends, colleagues remember tragic actor

(Newser) - Heath Ledger was a complicated actor who quit using marijuana and alcohol and came close to giving up the sleeping pills that may have killed him, friends and colleagues tell Vanity Fair in a profile. Though he was leery of summer blockbusters—“He was afraid it would define him...

Local Food's New Apostles: Bartenders, Er, 'Bar Chefs'

(Newser) - The affinity for fresh, local produce in US restaurants has spilled out into the bar, USA Today reports. Many mixologists—or the new term of art, “bar chefs”—are starting their days scouting farmers markets instead of ordering syrups. “The flavor in the produce is not only...

To Beat Heat, Go 'Swizzled,' Not Stirred

West Indies drinks hit it big in New York

(Newser) - Shaken, stirred—or swizzled? This summer, many bartenders are urging patrons to choose the last. An authentic “Swizzle”—as the trendy drinks are called—doesn’t use a plastic stick; rather, a real stick from a Caribbean tree, with prongs that make it nature’s own Mixmaster, reports...

Let's Teach Teens How to Drink (Wisely)
 Let's Teach Teens 
 How to Drink (Wisely) 
OPINION

Let's Teach Teens How to Drink (Wisely)

(Newser) - It's time to stop treating underage drinking like a joke—5,000 deaths and 100,000 sexual assaults a year should make that clear—and give states the freedom to get creative with their laws, writes John McCardell in the Atlantic. The federal age-21 restriction only pushes the drinking underground...

Bachelor Parties: Creating Hangovers Since 500 BC

Time explores history of debauchery ritual

(Newser) - With The Hangover’s bachelor party tale dominating the box office, you might be wondering: Just where did this ritual come from? Time offers a brief history:
  • In the 5th century BC, the ancient Spartans celebrated the groom’s last night as a single man with dinner and toasts.
  • In
...

UK Women More Prone to Boozing, Brawling

Drinking fines skyrocket among women

(Newser) - In a sign of a growing “binge-drinking ladette culture,” fines for being drunk and disorderly have soared 30% over two years among British women, the Daily Telegraph reports—faster than among men. Fines to underage girls have risen by half, and a report says a quarter of violent...

Amsterdam's 'Beer Bikes' Drive Into Trouble

(Newser) - “Beer bikes”—party vehicles that combine two of Amsterdam's favorite things—are under scrutiny after two recent accidents involving the gizmos, Reuters reports. Each large conveyance seats 10 peddlers at a central bar while a non-drinker steers. “This beer bike is completely legal,” said a transport...

Speakeasies Make Secret Comeback

But they're not very similar to true Prohibition-era bars

(Newser) - Across the US, trendy bars are cropping up—but good luck finding them. These homages to the 1920s speakeasy are obscured by wooden slats, hidden behind other stores, accessible only by password. “People have an affection for this period of American history, and they want the mystery,” one...

How to Make a Real Old-Fashioned
 How to Make a Real 
 Old-Fashioned 
GLOSSIES

How to Make a Real Old-Fashioned

(Newser) - Esquire adds to its everything-a-man-must-know lessons with a primer on the Old-Fashioned, which is nothing less than the “Fender Strat of cocktails” because it “embodies the classic American combination of offhand style, swagger, and micrometer engineering,” writes David Wondrich. At its heart is good old American whiskey—...

'Happyhour' Gene Decides How Fast You Get Drunk

Cancer drug could be used to lower humans' alcohol tolerance

(Newser) - What if your genes determined how much of a tolerance you had to alcohol—and you could take a drug that would turn those genes on or off? That scenario may not be far from reality: researchers studying fruit flies have discovered a gene called "happyhour" that renders...

Cannes: From Class to Crass

Festival has more alcohol, drugs, sex than films

(Newser) - The name “Cannes” once conjured up images of Hollywood glamor and French sophistication, but no more. The film festival has turned into a marathon of binge drinking and sleazy sex, attended by high-heeled, fake-tanned partiers who are “not interested in the films, only the party scene,” one...

Can It: Wine Industry Goes Aluminum

Drinkers like single serving, easy transport, eco-friendliness

(Newser) - It may lack a certain old-fashioned class, but that’s not stopping the wine industry from embracing aluminum cans, the Times of London reports. A top can-maker said he’d sold 35 million cans to the industry last year, up from 6 million in 2006—and he foresees wine fans...

Tough New Schools Shake Up Bartending

Restaurants, liquor firms aim to gussy up drinks

(Newser) - In a tough economy, restaurants are hoping to cash in on cocktails—and bartenders are going back to school to improve their mixology prowess, the Wall Street Journal reports. Restaurants hope expert barkeeps will bring in upscale drinkers, and the courses help trainees score top jobs. But the advanced-level programs...

Utah Drinkers Get in Touch With Bartenders

New law knocks down barriers, hands-off policy in restaurants

(Newser) - Under a new law that went into effect yesterday, restaurants that sell alcohol no longer need to separate patrons from the people serving them drinks, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. “Not having these barriers is going to save us a lot of time, especially with out-of-state visitors who constantly...

UK Weighs Limits on 'Binge Bars'

Brown calls time on drink promotions in effort to reduce rowdiness

(Newser) - British pubs that offer "all you can drink" promotions may soon find themselves banned from serving alcohol under tough new measures to curb binge drinking, the Independent reports. Gordon Brown declined to introduce a minimum drink price as some activists had called for, but the PM promised that the...

Binge Drinking Could Fuel Dementia 'Epidemic'

Up to a quarter of UK dementia cases may be booze-linked

(Newser) - It’s no secret that drinking kills brain cells—but doctors in Britain now fear an “epidemic” of brain damage from binge drinking, the Guardian reports. Up to a quarter of dementia cases in the UK may be brought on by heavy drinking, they say, noting that some people...

Kennedy Drinking Again: Book
 Kennedy Drinking Again: Book 
GLOSSIES

Kennedy Drinking Again: Book

Family fighting over Lion's legacy

(Newser) - Ted Kennedy’s grim health prognosis has driven him to drink, according to Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died, a new book from longtime Kennedy scribe Edward Klein. In an excerpt in Vanity Fair, Klein says Kennedy’s wife moved him to Florida after the seizure because his Hyannis...

Booze Lands Hoff in Hospital...Again

Lawyer claims story only broke thanks to ex

(Newser) - David Hasselhoff was hospitalized, yet again, with alcohol poisoning Saturday, Radar reports. His daughter—not the one who videotaped him drunkenly eating a burger—found him unconscious on the floor of his home and called her mother, Pamela Bach, who rushed the one-time Michael Knight to the hospital. The actor,...

Surprise! JT's Tequila Is Good
 Surprise! JT's Tequila Is Good 

Surprise! JT's Tequila Is Good

Self-described 'tequila geeks' give pop star's creation thumbs-up

(Newser) - Tequila aficionados were shocked to discover Justin Timberlake’s 901 tequila is in fact quite drinkable, the New York Daily News reports. “It’s actually a really nice product,” said one bar owner. A bartender added, “I gotta admit, I’m a little surprised.” The experts...

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