Beer

    Jingle Beers has officially begun! After a minor hick-up, our inaugural Jingle Beer this year is Boulevard's Nutcracker Ale. Boulevard is a local brewery here in Kansas City. They have a pretty decent selection of beers to choose from. My favorite would have to be their plain Wheat beer, followed by the Bully Porter. Boulevard's seasonal beers are pretty hit or miss though... I was never much of a fan of their Oktoberfest seasonal, Bob's 47. I like hops as much as the next guy but I don't think your Mät;rzen should taste like an IPA. Call me crazy. But anyway, the Nutcracker is a different story. Boulevard did a great job with this seasonal.

    It's that time of year again, when brewers start churning out their seasonal Christmas beers. When I think of holiday beers I usually think of warm (in taste, not actual temperature...) brown ales with a slightly higher than usual alcohol by volume. Nothing fancy, just beers that go well with a smoked ham or a plate of chocolate chip cookies. As it turns out, there are a myriad of different holiday ales that run that gamut from fancy to fanciful. This December we're chronicling a spirited romp through more than 25 of these X-mas seasonals, from Delerium's Noël to Boulevard's Nut Cracker Ale. Blackenheimer's coverage of this year's month-long event begins on December 1st, so check back early and often for the delicious details on this year's Jingle Beers.

    When I first heard about pumpkin beer it didn't sound too awesome. A few weeks ago I read a brief review (not of Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale, but another pumpkin beer) that described a pumpkin micro brew as tasting, "most like the inside of a jack-o-lantern than a pumpkin pie." That pretty much turned me off. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin pie to begin with, though I usually end up eating a slice anyways... Honestly, the whole idea of a pumpkin beer sounds a bit too much like a Jones Soda flavor. I'm thinking of something along the lines of their holiday Yule Log flavored soda. Yum?

    I hereby submit that Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat is the best smelling beer ever created by mankind. I first had one of these beers about a month ago and was blown away. The Sunset Wheat has an exquisite bouquet which smells something like a pack of Starburst candy and a key lime pie. If both of those things were put in a blender and puréed and then that mixture were fermented and made into a beer, this is what it'd smell like. But it's not just the smell of the Sunset Wheat that is so awesome. This beer's taste isn't quite what you might expect if you get a snoot full of the Starburst aroma before you take a drink...

    What'd Anheuser Busch ever do for you? Except give you a cheap hangover... I don't see what the big deal is with Budweiser being bought up by the Belgians. It's not like they are real Belgians anyways, it's a humongasaurus multinational corporation. It's not like a bunch of waffle munching, half-German, tulip hugging, French fry inventors pooled their euros together to buy up an all American institution. Some liberal créme puff at Salon got it right, saying: "Ever since Budweiser was sold to Belgian brewing monster InBev on Sunday, beer drinkers have been sighing that a piece of Americana has been lost. They've got it all wrong. During its rise to President for Life of Beers, Budweiser ended up crushing dozens of local brands that formed part of this country's colorful drinking heritage."

    I've never traveled any great distant solely with the intention of drinking. I have, however, found that no matter where I've ended up there were always plenty of interesting traditions to partake in. Whether was the dirt flavored potato schnapps in Iceland, Eiswein festival in the Rheinland or the Bierdiplom in Bamberg, there always seems to be a local drinking culture that has made my visit all that much more enjoyable. I'm far from an expect on the subject and maybe that's why I find the whole concept fascinating. I've compiled a short list of some of my favorite beer tourism events, some of which I've done and others which just sound like crazy amounts of fun.

    An Australian man was charged by police with a DUI for operating a motorized wheelchair while under the influence. Reuters says that the guy was six times over the legal limit. That's six time over the Australian legal limit. So it's no surprise that this guy was wheelchair bound at the time of his arrest. The article doesn't say whether or not this dude is a cripple or just a wheelchair enthusiast, so this may not even be his wheelchair.

    Hippie news bureau The Environment News Service has a story about how the official vehicles for this year's Democratic National Convention will be running on beer. Well, they are calling it "waste beer" which is burnt as ethanol would be. The Coors company is providing said waste beer to the democrats. Supposedly this waste beer is somehow different than the "shit beer" Coors normally produces... but I'm skeptical to say the least. However, in the spirit of Memorial Day weekend, I do plan on buying a case of Coors Light and pouring it into my gas tank to test this out. If, by some miracle of science, it works that means I can fill up my tank with boozes for something like $80 instead of $40 worth of gas.