Tag: Alcohol

Closing Thought–08Dec21

‘Tis the season to be jolly”….and that means the consumption of  booze……

Ever wondered which country has the most drunkedest on this small planet?

Well if you have then look no further than IST for we have the answers for you.

The US made the top 5 list…..

Australians are either the drunkest people in the world or the people most likely to be honest about how often they get drunk, according to the latest Global Drug Survey. The survey of 32,000 people in 22 countries found that while Australians drank alcohol around twice a week on average, they became drunk 27 times a year, more than people in any other country surveyed, Guardian reports. The survey defined drunk as “having drunk so much that your physical and mental faculties are impaired to the point where your balance/speech was affected” and “your conversation and behaviors were very obviously different to people who know you.” The US is the fourth-drunkest country in the world, according to the survey, behind Denmark and Finland but just ahead of the UK.

Caterina Giorgi at the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, an Australian nonprofit, said the findings suggest people are “drinking at fairly risky levels.” She noted that Australia also came first in the number of times people reported seeking emergency medical treatment after alcohol use. The survey found that respondents from Ireland got drunk an average of 14.6 times a year, but were the most likely to regret getting drunk, the Journal reports. They regretted getting drunk 28.4% of the time, while those from Denmark and Finland had the least regrets, at 17% each.

Data for the latest report was collected between December 2020 and March 2021. The previous year’s survey was carried out before COVID lockdowns began, and researchers said use of alcohol and almost every other drug in the survey declined year-over-year, Stuff.co.nz reports. Some of the steepest declines were in cigarette smoking and cocaine use. The researchers also found that the pandemic had caused changes in behavior, with a 42% drop in the proportion of cannabis users who shared joints or bongs.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–23Apr20

The pandemic has the world in flux…..Supermarkets are suffering….shopping is suffering…..farmers are suffering……and now we hear that breweries are staring to suffer….

Germany’s Werneck Brewery has survived world wars, economic crises, and decades of declining beer consumption. But after 400 years it has finally met a fatal challenge: the coronavirus. The brewery, which the AP reports traces its history to 1617 and has been owned by the same family since 1861, is closing for good, taking with it 15 full-time jobs and more part-time positions. Also gone is a chunk of local history and tradition in Werneck, a town of 10,000 in the brewery-rich state of Bavaria. German brewers fear its demise is the leading edge of more closures as the virus outbreak threatens the existence of the country’s many local producers of the national beverage—community institutions, often family owned for generations, whose buildings and affiliated taverns are regional landmarks in a country where the hometown brew is a sentimental favorite despite national competition.

Hardest hit are smaller breweries that like Werneck that depend on supplying kegs to local taverns and events such as local festivals. Retail sales are providing some support as people drink at home. Breweries are trying things like drive-through sales and even shipping beer and glasses to customers so they can join an online tasting. Family member and brewery manager Christine Lang said the decision to close came with “many tears.” The beer market was already hard fought with tough price competition, she said. Then came the virus, and the restaurants the brewery depended on were suddenly closed. The head of the German Brewers Association said that “many breweries will not survive this crisis, that is already becoming clear.” For Lang something irreplaceable has been lost. “My family and I will miss it very much. The brewery has been … part of every dinner table conversation all our lives. We will be missing part of our identity, and in a way the region will too.”

Even Oktoberfest is in jeopardy……

Since social distancing and Oktoberfest go together about as well as beer and milk, this year’s festival in Bavaria has become the latest COVID-19 casualty. This is the first time the beerfest has been cancelled since World War II and Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter says it is a “bitter pill to swallow,” Bloomberg reports. Last year’s festival attracted around 6 million visitors. This year’s event had been scheduled to run from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4, but authorities said that with no coronavirus vaccine available, the public health risk was simply too high, the Guardian reports. This isn’t the first disease-related cancellation in Oktoberfest’s 210-year history: It was called off amid cholera outbreaks in 1854 and 1873. Other iconic events including the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain have also been called off, reports the AP.

Germany without beer will be ripe for revolution…..how long before the US has a similar problem…..what will the faithful do without their daily dose of alcohol?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

One Bourbon, One Scotch

It is a Sunday and I needed a subject for a post of the day….and I try to by an FYI blog on weekends…..and this Sunday I thought about booze.

I admit that I do enjoy a drink now and then…..and bourbon is that drink although I have enjoyed a single malt and a good Irish in the past.

These days with the flavors and the total wimpy shit they call whiskey…..but there is a difference in the whiskey of all sorts….

The basics, according to Encyclopedia Britannica:

Whiskey (or whisky) can be any of a variety of distilled liquors that are made from a fermented mash of cereal grains and aged in wooden containers, which are usually constructed of oak. Commonly used grains are corn, barley malt, rye, and wheat.

The difference between whiskey and whisky is where the stuff is made: in the United States and Ireland, it’s spelled “whiskey”; in Scotland, Canada, and Japan, it’s “whisky.”

Now, for the differences between Scotch, bourbon, and rye. Back to Encyclopedia Britannica:

Scotch is a whisky (no e) that gets its distinctive smoky flavor from the process in which it is made: the grain, primarily barley, is malted and then heated over a peat fire. A whisky cannot be called Scotch unless it is entirely produced and bottled in Scotland.

Bourbon, a whiskey that was first produced in Kentucky, U.S., uses at least 51 percent mash from corn in its production. It also uses a sour mash process — that is, the mash is fermented with yeast and includes a portion from a mash that has already been fermented. U.S. regulations specify that in order for a whiskey to be called bourbon, it must be made in the United States.

And rye whiskey? It’s a whiskey that uses a rye mash or a rye and malt mash. In the United States, regulations stipulate that the mash must be at least 51 percent rye in order for it to be called rye whiskey. In Canada, regulations do not specify a minimum percentage of rye.

Flavor-wise, Scotch is smoky, bourbon is sweet, and rye is more astringent than the two others, making it particularly suitable to cocktails.

To help out if you want more information on whiskey……

A Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide to Whiskey

Now that you have become an expert in whiskeys….we go to the day’s musical interlude…..clear booze may be next on the list……

To help out a little George Thorogood…..

Or maybe this ditty from Tom Waits……

Sunday is in the bag and so am I (not really just went with the subject of the post)…..

Then there are my two best friends…..

Be well, be safe

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

The Lager The Better

Sunday……Christmas comes…..

Tis the season to be jolly…….and to get that jocularity a couple of beers would help…..

Lager…..Cooper Lager……Boston Lager…….

The problem is….these days every idiot with a few extra bucks wants to start up a “Micro-brewery”…..there is a flavor for everyone.

I admit  it I truly enjoy a good beer……there are many types of beer…..Pilsners, Ales, Stouts….but of them all Lager is my favorite…..but for those not sure….what the Hell is a Lager?

Lager originates from the German word lagern which means ‘to store’ – it refers to the method of storing it for several months in near-freezing temperatures. Crisp and refreshing with a smooth finish from longer aging, lagers are the world’s most popular beer (this includes pilseners).

A lager, which can range from sweet to bitter and pale to black, is usually used to describe bottom-fermented brews of Dutch, German, and Czech styles. Most, however, are a pale to medium color, have high carbonation, and a medium to high hop flavor.

Don’t worry as a Christmas gift to my weekend readers I will give you a short history lesson (you knew I would have something to offer, right?)

Most of the popular brands here in the US Lagers are the most numerous….how did this come about?

America is a nation of beer drinkers, and that beer is lager. The fact that we call this “domestic” beer, even though it’s traditionally German and brewed worldwide, reinforces the idea that there is a typical American beer, and that beer is something that ends with the word “lite.” You can say that you’re not a fan of it but if you’ve ever worn a uniform, you’re part of the problem. Through beer rationing and buying power, the U.S. military had a major influence in making light lager America’s default beer.

This story starts with a failed revolution halfway around the world, but we’ll get to that in a minute. America was a country of immigrants who brought their beer traditions with them. In colonial America, those immigrants were mostly English, and they brewed ale. Today, ale is trendy, but for a colonist it was terrible beer. It’s thick and heavy, with high alcohol content. On the upside, it brewed in a couple of days, but it goes bad just as quickly. The warmer climate in much of America is poorly suited to ale, which explains the old saying: If you turn your back on ale, it will go bad. Anyone who could afford to buy imported ales and stouts from England did so, making it a luxury product. No wonder most Americans preferred ciders and whiskeys.

https://warontherocks.com/2018/12/how-the-army-made-lager-americas-beer/

My grandfather had the perfect description of Lite Beer…..it is like making love in a canoe (f*cking near water)……give beer with a body or keep it to yourself.

There you go!  My last Sunday post and I wish all a good day and shall we move onto the rest of the holiday season?

Shall we play?

Be well, Be safe…….