Billy Mays

Goodbye, sweet prince of marketing.

Beer Wars

Just finished watching my copy of Beer Wars that I bought from the website. A quite respectable movie that revealed a few things that I didn't know in-depth already (mainly the "three-tiered system" of beverage distribution). All in all, worth the $20 I paid, especially for the deleted scenes and the panel with Ben Stein. Ben's kind of a dick in it, but its still not too painful to watch.

Nom

Well, looks like I'm well enough to imbibe limited quantities. Let the mini-games begin.

Downtime cont.

I had to break up last weeks post because my attention span just couldn't handle writing that much when recent updates have brought one of my favorite video games to unsurpassed levels of awesome. Seriously, the Sniper/Spy update of Team Fortress 2 is just killing me. Anyway, the last portion I was going to discuss is podcasts. Well, technically, podcast. The only podcast I listen to is WhiskyCast, run by Mark Gillespie. It's an amazing podcast. Each episode is chock full of of information, trivia and intriguing tidbits, interviews, reviews, and the occasional witty and appropriate joke. He's just come up on his 200th episode and every single one of them before that is worth downloading and listening to. I credit much of what I know about scotch and bourbon to him and his wonderful podcast. So, go have a listen, or check it out on iTunes.

In other news, I'm feeling well enough these days to move on from watching insane amounts of movies and sleeping all day to finally doing things. I'm counting down the six to eight weeks required of rest and recuperation until I can finally start sampling the wide world of beverages. This weekend will herald in a cigar event at Uptown Cigar that I will try everything in my power to go to. They've even got the street closed off by the mayor. How bad-ass is that?

Downtime

My recent brawl with medicine has left me high and literally dry in the wide world of beverages. So, I've been getting my fix through media. 'What medium, oh great purveyor of beverages, have you been investing time in?", you might ask. Well:

Three Sheets: An Epic Adventure with Zane Lamprey - I love the hell out of this show. At first, I was rather mixed, because he kinda comes off as a complete dick in the first episode. Granted, some guy is bogarting the man's beer and he doesn't even know him, but he just gave off this vibe. However, I have grown to love everything about this show. Being Steve McKenna'd, or accidentally Jim-the-Cop'ing, its a wonderful world of booze soaked history, knowledge, and good old fashioned drunken video shoots. I recommend picking up all three seasons, available (hopefully) at your fine video purveyor. The fourth and onward episodes are being picked up by a different network, one that I can't remember, as Mojo went off-air.

Sweet mother of Jesus, so many magazines - Lots of them. This months Gourmet had an interesting article on the use of smoke in drinks, which I wholeheartedly approve of. I love cigars and Islay scotch. However, the main magazines of late (all back issues since I've been busy as hell being sick and completing finals) have been: Whisky Magazine, Malt Advocate, Beer , All About Beer, and Draft. I excluded Mutineer, because its probably one of my favorites and I'd like to talk a bit more in-depth about it. Its fledgling, but its really an interesting blend of the beverage world. Personally, it seems a little wine heavy for my tastes, but it has an amazing mix of all beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. As I enjoy an amazing mix of all beverages, this intrigued me. One of my friends ended up picking up a copy and he said that it seemed like it was having an identity crisis, but I liked the mish-mash of vodkas, absinthes, beer, coffee, etc. And it had an article by the aforementioned Zane Lamprey...so it was a required purchase.

Other Blogs - A few of my favorite blogs include Gin and Tacos for their classic Gin Reviews, as well as Cask Strength for their ever updated information on my favorite of beverages, whisk(e)y. As a foodie, I feel obliged to include my new favorite food blogs, the Ridiculous Food Society of New York and The Shameless Carnivore. The first is based in Albany (Guilderland, technically) and a wealth of interesting food recipes, the second is based in NYC and chock full o meat.

Post 2 to come.

Tonight's Quaff - Monday June 1st

Tonight's quaff is a healthy gallon of watered down Gatorade. Noms. After surgery on Friday, I don't know how often I'll be drinking as of late, so we'll see how things go.