For those of you who haven't heard of whiskey stones, they're basically rocks you can keep in your freezer and toss into your drinks to chill them without watering them down. Might seem a bit weird, but we've seen people do a lot stranger stuff with booze.
If you don't like the idea of dropping the igneous in your drink, perhaps a stone shot glass will serve you better? Just toss it in the freezer for four hours before you plan to drink and voila...and as a point of interest these are made right here in Vermont, not too far from Liquor Snob headquarters.
If you've been living under a rock for the last year or so, you probably haven't heard of Four Loko. Known in these offices as canned blackout, the high-octane (caffeine and alcohol) beverage was pulled off store shelves in 2010. The brand is accused of targeting underage drinkers with soda-like flavors, and linked to a surge in date rapes because of such. In the wake of the furor, the company's fratty founders have kept their heads downs, but that didn't stop folks from teeing off on them and their brand:
"If you set out to engineer a booze delivery system that is as cloying, deceptive and divorced from the usual smells, tastes and presentation of alcohol as possible, you'd be hard pressed to come up with something more impressive than Four Loko," wrote former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni in the midst of the flap last fall. "It's a malt liquor in confectionary drag...Four Loko cans--I paid $3.50 apiece for mine--are something to see, each sporting a few ultrabright, childlike hues in a kind of rippling weave that evokes a camouflage pattern. Fatigues like these are what an army of Teletubbies would wear into battle."
Ahoy faithful readers (if there are any left) - you might have noticed we haven't been posting much. After over five years of writing about booze pretty much every damned day, we sort of came to the conclusion that maybe we were over it. Not the drinking, of course...never the drinking. But, after a nice little unintentional break we're back and more excited than ever, and what better way to jump back into the fray than with a story about beer for your royal johnson?
And by that we mean Royal Virility beer, Brew Dog's contribution to the royal wedding everyone's constantly nattering about nowadays. And they didn't make any old beer - they made one to make sure the Prince's Willy keeps a stiff upper lip on the wedding night, with a "7.5% ABV India Pale Ale...infused with natural aphrodisiacs like herbal viagra, chocolate, and Goat Weed." Hell yes, but if you want it you'll have to act fast - they're only making 1,000 bottles and they'll go quick even at $17 a pop.
National Vodka is a premium wheat vodka imported from Russia, and we've gotten our hands on five bottles - one of each of their flavors. The vodkas are distilled five times, and they've been making the stuff since 1903 so we have to figure they know what they're doing. The flavors we received were Original (we suppose that's just "vodka" flavored), Citrus, Cranberry, Horseradish and Pepparo (hot pepper), and each bottle is set to retail for under $15 so the price is right.
We're looking forward to tasting and reviewing all of the flavors, but the Horseradish and Pepparo have us the most intrigued...both have visions of Bloody Marys dancing through our heads. We'll get the reviews up ASAP, and make sure to head over to My National Vodka to learn more about the brand.
Wouldn't an entire year's supply of beer for only six dollars be amazing? Let's sit and drool thinking about that. Aaaaand, scene.
While actual beer for that low a price might be a pipe dream, you can get a year's subscription to Beer Connoisseur Magazine for only $6 right now. That's four issues about the proof God loves us and wants us to be happy, at a buck fifty each. Get on it, but get on it fast, because the deal runs out in about 5 hours.
Tanga (via Deal News via B. Real Ferguson - thanks for the link)
A New Zealand brewery is frothing up some controversy with its announcement of a new cherry-flavored "breakfast beer" designed to taste good in the morning.
We hope it goes well with Pop Tarts, but have a feeling the whole thing is more publicity stunt than attempt to get you to drink beer in the AM. Why? Because people who are going to drink beer in the morning already drink beer in the morning - and no lager with a hint of cherries is the root cause, we can pretty much guarantee.
That's not stopping folks from freaking out about it. Which means they're talking about it. Which means they're playing right into Moa's clever little hands. All we can say is give us some Moa of that breakfast beer. See what we did there?
We wish we could say this picture was taken here in our Liquor Snob offices, but the best we can brag about is a bottle of the rum the man is holding, not the man himself. We've been excited about Ron de Jeremy rum since we first covered it back in January, and we're positively giddy to try it now. There's a rumor that he kisses the tip of every bottle that goes out, but it's not true - we know because we're the ones that started the rumor...right now.
Expect a review soonishly...as soon as we're done setting the mood.
Do you remember those old Sally Struthers commercials for ICS? Y'know, "Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do." That's how we feel about whisky...sure, we all want to know more about it. That's why we're so excited about the announcement of The Balvenie Whisky Academy, which we heard about from What Does John Know?.
Learn more about the program at his site, but here's a rundown of the modules...they had us at "whisky nitty gritty":
Module 1 - 'The History of Scotch Malt Whisky'
Experts featured: Charles MacLean and Sukhinder Singh of The Whisky Exchange
Module 2 - 'Production of Scotch Malt Whisky'
Experts featured: Richard Lake from Crisp Maltings Group, Marie Stanton, Stuart Watts and David Stewart from The Balvenie, Ian Grant from Glenfiddich and Leslie Gracie from William Grant & Sons
Module 3 - 'Whisky Nitty Gritty'
Experts featured: Eddie Ludlow of The Whisky Lounge, writer Gavin D Smith, The Balvenie Global Ambassador, Sam Simmons and Sukhinder Singh of The Whisky Exchange
Module 4 - 'Nosing and Tasting'
Experts featured: Leslie Gracie, Eddie Ludlow, David Mair, David Stewart and Sam Simmons
And so, on this most famous of drinking days, we give you this pugnacious and foul-mouthed little drunken scrapper. In all fairness he may be dressed as an Oompa Loompa instead of a Leprechaun, but if you can get past that it's entertaining enough. Plus you can hear some Dropkick Murphys-y music playing in the background, so we're calling it Irish! Glad to hear the Murphys have hit a Spinal Tap-esque level of LP-related awesomeness.
Editor's Note: Don't watch this video if you don't want to see an angry little person being dangled by his ankles. You were warned.
If you're not familiar with Old Tom gin, it's somewhat of a "missing link" between London Dry and the sweeter Dutch-style gins. What does that mean? According to YumSugar, it might mean everything, depending on your palate:
Ransom is an authentic Old Tom gin, which means it's made from malted barley and corn, much like a whiskey. Then, it's aged in oak wine barrels for a few months.
The result is a spirit somewhere between gin and whiskey, and unlike anything I've ever tasted. The barrel aging gives the gin a woody, herbaceous flavor, but it still retains gin's signature juniper and citrus flavors.
Sounds like just what the doctor ordered if you're looking to experience the flavors of both your classic "white" and "brown" liquors - ebony and ivory writ large in a cocktail glass.
News and tips on all things alcoholic, including beer and wine, breathalyzers, cocktails and spirits; plus drink recipes, booze reviews and more. All the news that's fit to drink.
Whiskey Stone Shot Glasses
If you've been living under a rock for the last year or so, you probably haven't heard of Four Loko. Known in these offices as 
National Vodka is a premium wheat vodka imported from Russia, and we've gotten our hands on five bottles - one of each of their flavors. The vodkas are distilled five times, and they've been making the stuff since 1903 so we have to figure they know what they're doing. The flavors we received were Original (we suppose that's just "vodka" flavored), Citrus, Cranberry, Horseradish and Pepparo (hot pepper), and each bottle is set to retail for under $15 so the price is right.
Wouldn't an entire year's supply of beer for only six dollars be amazing? Let's sit and drool thinking about that. Aaaaand, scene. 
A New Zealand brewery is frothing up some controversy with its announcement of a new cherry-flavored "breakfast beer" designed to taste good in the morning. 
We wish we could say this picture was taken here in our Liquor Snob offices, but the best we can brag about is a bottle of the rum the man is holding, not the man himself. We've been excited about 
If you're not familiar with Old Tom gin, it's somewhat of a "missing link" between London Dry and the sweeter Dutch-style gins. What does that mean? According to YumSugar, it might mean everything, depending on your palate:
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