We love truth in advertising, and there's nothing that turns us off faster than a product sporting a wacky name with no relevance to the item in question. We think it's important to let people know what you're about instead of trying to dazzle them with BS. Take our site, for example...we like liquor and we're totally snobs about it.
We've discovered another interesting product recently, Paula's Texas Orange Liqueur, that seems to follow the same tenets. Let's break it down, shall we?
Paula's: Yep, there really is a Paula, and she got the idea for her product from the Lemoncellos she enjoyed while in Italy.
Texas: Sure thing - this stuff is made right in Austin, TX. Actually, we heard about Paula and her liqueur from her fellow Austinites over at Tito's Handmade Vodka.
Orange: According to Paula's site, "because it is made with only the best fresh oranges, it really tastes like oranges." Sounds like a good one to mix with Orange V if you want to set yourself up for a real orange-plosion.
Liqueur: One of Dictionary.com's listings for the word "liqueur" states the definition as "a usually sweetened alcoholic beverage variously flavored (as with fruit or aromatics)." Sounds like this stuff fits the bill, being made from oranges and clocking in at a hefty 80 proof.
Right now, this stuff is only available in Texas, but we'll do our best to get our hands on some for a review. You can check out the Paula's Texas Orange site for more information, and to find out where you can pick some up if you're in the area.
October 11, 2005
We don't generally play a lot of roulette but when we do spin the wheel of fortune, we use the Passenger 57 method - always bet on black. We're not sure how effective it is, but it gives us a chance to scowl and swear like Wesley Snipes in the movie, and it keeps the croupiers entertained.
Now, you can develop your own ridiculous roulette betting system in the comfort of your own home with the Roulette Shot Game we discovered via productdose. Below are more details on the game, which we found at Amazon:
Bring Las Vegas home to your next party with the Roulette Shot Glass Game. This is a authentic working casino-style roulette wheel made of durable high impact plastic. It features an attractive, working 5-3/8 inch gold-tone wheel. The set comes with six shot glasses, each shot glass is labeled by number and color. When the ball lands on your number, you get to drink! A fun addition to any poker or casino party. Compact tabletop design. Spare ball and six shot glasses included.
You can get your own set of
Roulette Shot Glasses
at Amazon, and start gambling for drinks. Plus, to learn another way to mix boozing and betting, check out our coverage of
BetCRIS and George Bush.
We're not usually big fans of drinks that come in stemmed glasses, but we do love martinis, the dirtier the better. Problem is, you need olive brine (the juice the little suckers float in) to make a good dirty martini, and if you make enough you're going to end up with bone-dry olives and no brine left. That's where our new friend Dirty Sue comes in.
Dirty Sue is twice-filtered olive brine that is bottled specifically for mixing drinks, so you don't have to use up an entire jar of olives to make your martini as dirty as you like. Plus, according to the folks at productdose who first tipped us off about Dirty Sue, the stuff "adds a really nice touch to a Bloody Mary, too, which makes it one more perfect reason to expand the bar." Not that we need any more reasons to expand the bar, but there you have it.
You can learn more (and see a glowing product endorsement from Northern Exposure's John Corbett) at the Dirty Sue Website.
October 9, 2005
It's happened to all of us before...you set down your drink at a crowded party, and the next thing you know it's lost in a sea drink doppelgangers. You never have to wander around, holding drinks up to the light to figure out which one is yours again with the Litecube, a dazzling invention that will turn your booze into a beacon from the inside. Here's what we found out about these glowing ice cubes:
Litecubes are made of non-toxic, FDA-approved plastic and contain a gel that allows it to be frozen to help keep beverages cold. Simply pressing the button on the Litecube once makes it strobe, press it twice and it strobes faster, and a third time and the cube will stay lit all the time. Because the Litecube is re-freezable and when used intermittently its battery lasts for dozens of hours. Unlike the single-use "glow sticks" that are popular these days at concerts and parties, the Litecube can be turned off and then reused time and again.
The Litecube comes in a variety of colors; red, orange, blue, green, yellow and orange. You can learn more or get three assorted Litecubes for $11.99 at
beWild.com.
October 5, 2005
We just got in our review copy of On The House: The Bizarre Killing of Michael Malloy, by Simon Read, which we covered recently. That's what we love about these InterNets...you say you want something one day, and the next it's on your desk, face down in a puddle of spilled booze.
We can't wait to give it a read, for all the liquor-soaked reasons we told you about, plus there's already a review on Amazon calling the book "dark comedy at its best" and comparing it to the Coen brothers films. We'll read up and let you know if the comparison holds true.
While you wait for the full review, you can learn more about the book and buy it at Amazon.comfor $7.99. As if a tawdry tale of drunken nights and attempted murder wasn't enough to make you want to pick it up, it's also eligible for Super Saver Shipping! Hooray!
Site: www.simon-read.com
Quaffer
Description: Shot glass with built-in chaser
Typical Price: $7.99 for one; Best Deal is $24.99 for a Quaffer Sampler Pack (2 Glass Quaffers, 2 Plastic Quaffers, 2 Beer Quaffers, 2 Pour Spouts, 2 Recipe Cards, and 2 Stickers), or get your Quaffers
at Amazon.
If you'd asked us two weeks ago, we would have said our current shot technology was just fine. You take the shot, then use your other hand to bring the chaser to your mouth. We were young then, naive. We hadn't tried the Quaffer shot glass.
As we said in our earlier Quaffer coverage - the premise is so simple, we can't believe we didn't think of it. A quick and easy way to layer a shot, combining the shot and chaser into one glass. Genius, right?.
Our initial foray into the world of the Quaffer was with Jim Beam and ginger ale. We filled the lower chamber with ginger ale, affixed the special pouring spout that comes with the Quaffer sampler pack to the bottle of Beam, and layered it on top. The process was quick, easy and mess-free, and we went from unwrapping the glass to drinking the shot in about 30 seconds.
The only problem we had during our test was that we were a bit exuberant. Expecting to have to slam it back like a normal shot, we suspended the Quaffer vertically and the liquid had a tough time getting through the narrow bottle neck in the middle. We had more luck when we kept the glass at more of a 45 degree angle instead of 90 degrees, and had no more troubles with booze squirting out the corners of our mouths. Take it from us, it'll be much easier if you're relaxed while you drink, instead of trying to slam it down.
We'll keep you posted when we get a chance to try out the beer Quaffer...it's basically a bigger version of the glass, designed for drinks like Car Bombs. We can only guess it will reduce the overall mess over those kinds of drinks, because you don't have to drop the shot glass into the beer. We've ended up with Guinness and Bailey's lining the walls of our offices by doing that shot the traditional way, so we welcome the change. (On another note, we recommend being careful when you order this one out in bars...it's a great drink with a harsh name, and we've seen an Irish bartender completely refuse someone service after he ordered one, because she was so offended. That's why the beer Quaffer will come in handy...you can whip them up in the privacy of your own home.)
Rating: Four and a half out of Five 
Shop for Quaffers here...shipping is free. [Edit: Looks like the packages we found are no longer available; hit the link above to find the right Quaffer package for you.]
October 4, 2005
One problem we've always had with beer pong (or Beirut, as some call it) is that it's hard to find a good place to play. Outside of frat houses and the Liquor Snob offices, there are very few places with a ping pong table available for use, and even fewer places that will let you spill beer all over them. Trying to build a table never works either, because you never think of it until you're already half in the bag, and it never comes out level or playable, if you ever get anything put together at all.
The Bing Bong portable beer pong table seems to be the solution to all our problems. It's a lightweight aluminum folding table that weighs 20 pounds and wraps up into its own carrying case. It's got extendable, locking legs, and it looks sturdy enough to handle even the roughest bumping from a drunken competitor. Plus, the Bing Bong table offers a waterproof surface to avoid damage from spills (not that those ever happen in beer pong), and you can check out their printable PDF of suggested rules, so you'll never have to argue about what happens to the losing team.
It retails for $149, which is a great deal, especially if you play a lot or can get a couple people to chip in. Learn more and get your own at the Bing Bong Tables site.
October 1, 2005
Last week, we told you about the Quaffer, an interesting shot glass with a built-in chaser. We were so fired up to do a review we had some shipped right out to us. Our Quaffer sampler pack has just arrived in the mail, so we'll be reviewing it as soon as we can.
The sampler pack includes two glass Quaffers, two plastic Quaffers, two beer Quaffers, two pouring spouts, stickers and instructions. We can't see a down side to getting the shot and the chaser all wrapped up as one, so we're definitely looking forward to this review.
If you can't wait for our two cents, pick up your own Quaffer sampler and let us know what you think.
Update: Two minutes after posting this story, we realized that with all these cool shot glasses staring at us, we weren't going to wait to try them out. We did one with ginger beer and Jim Beam, and it worked like a charm - the layering was easy and so was the gulping. A more thorough review will follow, but we just had to let you know.
Earlier this week, we covered the PerfectDraft, a home draft beer system. This week, we heard that Heineken is suing PerfectDraft manufacturer InBev, for infringement of "intellectual property rights."
Apparently, Heineken is in a tizzy about the similarity of PerfectDraft to its own product, the Beertender. We don't know what intellectual property is, but we know we can get behind the idea of draft beer at home. We'll be monitoring this case to see how it works out, but all we can say is "Can't we all just get along?" We don't know who invented it first, but we don't really care. Our question is when we're going to be able to get one of these systems here in the states - currently they're only available in Europe.
Learn more about PerfectDraft, and compare it to the Heineken Beertender, and then somebody let us know when we can get our hands on either system.
Read more about the the lawsuit at Forbes.com.
September 30, 2005
Last week we told you about Kegbot, a nifty kegerator contraption with a computer built in. Not to be outdone, German scientists have developed an electronic drink coaster that knows when a glass is nearly empty and automatically asks for a refill. Getting a drink refill by email? O brave new world that has such beer coasters in it!
Andreas Butz at the University of Munich and Michael Schmitz from Saarland University came up with the idea while out drinking with their students.
The disc-shaped mat can be attached to a normal beer mat so that it still soaks up spilt liquid and displays an advertisement. But it also contains a pressure sensor and radio transmitter to alert bar staff of the need for a refill.
The device weighs 110 grams and costs $100 to make, but Butz and Schmitz think the weight and cost would shrink if the mat were to be mass-produced.
Learn more at
New Scientist.
Paula's Texas Orange Liqueur
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