Headline of the Day

Drinking in Country Music: Are Whiskey Songs Going Away?

— Rolling Stone, discussing how a decrees in drinking has effected the genre.

The subhed says it all, "In Nashville, some are wondering how a decline in drinking may affect artists’ own liquor brands and the songs they sing. “There are more weed songs for sure,” says one songwriter." 

I did not predict this.  My prediction was that AI and self-driving cars would lead to country songs about your pickup truck leaving you. 

Unsurprisingly, Willie Nelson is promoting a THC tonic. 

Today in Good Governance

The Minneapolis City Council has decided to postpone the issuance of liquor licenses to the Canopy by Hilton in the Mill District and Depot Renaissance Hotel for a month in order to get public comment.

In case you are wondering, these are hotels loaded to the gills with ICE and CBP agents, so I rather expect that they will be getting a LOT of public comment on this.

A Minneapolis City Council committee delayed action Tuesday on renewing liquor licenses for two Minneapolis hotels that have housed federal immigration officers.

The committee, made up of all the council members, voted 8-5 to delay a decision on the licenses for Canopy by Hilton in the Mill District and Depot Renaissance Hotel until the next meeting on Feb. 17. The council also voted to schedule a public hearing so residents can weigh in on the matter.

The hotels have been the targets of protests because federal agents were believed to be staying in them during the immigration enforcement surge that has brought 3,000 of them to the state. Two days after an ICE agent killed Renee Good in south Minneapolis, about a thousand people converged outside the two hotels, blowing whistles and banging drums to disrupt agents’ rest.

The move to delay action on the liquor licenses was controversial, with some council members saying denying the licenses would set the city up to be sued and lose. Representatives of the hotels were not immediately available to respond to a request for comment.

Committee Chair Aurin Chowdhury said she felt it was important for the council to have more discussion of the licenses and give the public the chance to share their stories, noting her sister lives on the University of Minnesota campus near two hotels that have housed federal agents, disrupting the lives of neighbors.

………

Council President Elliott Payne said it’s fairly routine for the council to evaluate whether there should be conditions added to licenses. He said the council is holding the renewal so it can have a “fact-based conversation.”

Here's a potential condition, no booze for anyone who carries a gun as a part of their job, like ICE and CBP agents.  They need a clear head. 

Neener Neener Reader(s)

I know what you are all wondering following my drunk blogging of the Presidential debate, how bad was my hangover.

I had no hangover at all.

I have in fact never to had a hangover, though I did wake up drunk once, which was a bit disconcerting to put it mildly.

Some peculiarity in my metabolism and/or neurology that means that in the few hundred times that I have been drunk over the past forty some odd years, I have never had a hangover.  (I figure 2-4 times a year, I do not drink that much)

Don't hate me because I'm hangover proof.

I put this down to genetics.

I know 4 people who don't get hangovers, and three of them are definitely of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, and I am not sure about the religious and ethnic heritage of the 4th individual. 

If you share this bit of biology, share it in the comments.

I will offer one warning to those so blessed, of the 4 people that I know, 2 are recovering alcoholics.

Without the prospect of a hangover, it appears that unrestrained behavior is more likely.

I Have a Dilemma

I have three options:

1. Drink heavily, and risk death or injury while live blogging it.
2. Don't watch the debates.
3. Watch it sober. (I tried this once, and I nearly died)

Suggestions?







Link (Click image for full size)

Light Posting Tonight

I am working on making a 393 year old recipe for chocolate.  (See below)

I am actually using only 6 cups of water, because I will be adding an equal portion (actually 1.5 liters) of rum (Mount Gay Eclipse Rum, of course) to make a cordial.

It is my first cordial, and I will be entering it into the Storvik Novice Tournament this weekend.

I actually first made the recipe in 2007.  It is from a recipe contained in a 1631 Spanish treatise which was translated into English in 1652 titled, in English anyway, Chocolate, an Indian Drinke.

It should end up about 40 proof and the interplay of the chocolate and the pepper and the rum should be interesting.

I had considered making two versions, one boiled, and one where the ingredients just steeped, but I would need a few weeks for the latter.

I did not grind as finely as I did the last time, I used a mortar and pestle instead of a coffee grinder, but as opposed to 15 minutes on the burner (though it is getting that), it will also have 4 days sitting in a mixture of 40 proof alcohol, which should finish the extraction.

Recipe for the non alcoholic version follows:

I May Be Drunk Blogging Tonight

 It's Purim, after all 

If I do drunk blog, expect an elevated level of typographical errors.

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I Owe Elon an Apology

I did not comment about it here, but on some of the social media platforms and BBS's that I frequent, I had made the observation that Elon musk's counterintuitive and stupid user interface choices on Tesla cars was probably responsible for the freak accident that claimed the life of Angela Chao, Mitch McConnell's sister in law.

She mistook reverse and forward and backed up into a pond on her ranch and drowned.

I had assumed that this was, at least in part, a consequence of Tesla's egregiously bad touchscreen centric user interface.

It turns out that Angela Chao was drunk off her ass at three times the legal limit.

At that level of intoxication, it would be rather mendacious to suggest that the car maker's poorly thought out ergonomics was responsible.

On the other hand, the death of Tesla employee Hans von Ohain, who relied on Musk's lies about the self-driving capability of his car to get him home when he was drunk is a direct result of Musk's psychopathic marketing.

In case you are wondering, he was a direct descendant of That Hans von Ohain. (I am not going to make the obvious joke, "Hey look Ma, no Hans!")

Light Posting Tonight

I spent most of the evening bottling some apple cider that I brewed.

It's the first time that I have brewed something in almost 40 years, and the first (1 of 3 bottles) time that I have ever attempted to brew a sparkling drink.  (The mead that I did previously was all still.)

Hopefully, I won't blow up a bottle.

One gallon of unfiltered apple juice (UK terminology, called Cider [because of Prohibition] in the US) and two cans of frozen apple juice concentrate, because good unfiltered apple juice is not that sweet.

I already have a second batch going, with some local unfiltered juice as opposed to the Atkins Farms that I used for my first batch.

If you are in the Amherst, MA area, get some of their apple juice.  It is sublime, and largely made from Macintosh apples.

Posted via mobile.

Racked My First Brew in 35 Years

All of my previous brewing has been mead, but this was apple cider, specifically made from a gallon of Atkins Farms apple cider.  (The cloudy kind that Americans call sweet cider, made from 100% apples, no water added,and what the British call apple juice).

Rather interesting is my discovery that there just was not enough sugar in there, so when I did my first racking, I tossed in a couple of cans of organic (one needs to be sure that there are no bacteriacide preservatives that would kill the yeast) apple juice concentrate.

Have not gotten vinegar, and the fermentation has perked up with the addition of the concentrate.

I will be adding cinnamon sticks and ginger in a bit.

שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה‎, Or, I'm not as Think as You Drunk

It is Simchat Torah (שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה), where Jews celebrate the annual cycle of the Torah.  We go from the last chapter of Torah, Deuteronomy (דְּבָרִים‎), to the first chapter.of Genesis (בְּרֵאשִׁית), and restart the cycle.

It's the kind of the Jewish version of, "Be kind, rewind," (That quote is a boomer thing) only it involves dancing with he Torah scrolls, and a fair amount of drinking.

I am feeling no pain.

That Amount of Alcohol Would Kill Me ……… and 3 Elephants ……… and 2 Blue Whales……… and the Crew of the Starship Enterprise

You may recall that some time ago, I sober blogged a Presidential debate.

It nearly killed me.

Based on preliminary calculations the amount of alcohol required to survive the Republican Presidential debate tonight would not only kill me, but it would require enough alcohol to cause significant collateral damage casualties.

So I will note be watching.

I'll read summaries tomorrow.

I Really Like Trump

I don't know why I said beer instead of Champagne but I wanted to correct this for the record: We are going to run out of 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜!

Happy New Year! pic.twitter.com/sWd71KJrYD

— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) January 1, 2023

I mean Mary, not Donald, of course.

She has clearly developed into a fine person with a good heart, and a wicked sense of humor.

I ❤️ Mary Trump, in a completely platonic way.

Also, I need to buy some booze before supplies run low.

Revoltingly Sober Tonight

It's Purim, and traditionally, a Jew is supposed to get so drunk that they cannot determine the difference between Mordecai and Haman.

But for me tonight the residual effects from last week's whatever the f$#@ I had, along with the need for a follow-up with a GI doc.  (Next Tuesday). Make drinking, particularly to excess, imprudent.

So I am sorrowfully dry tonight.

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Deep Thought

 I was at a company holiday party tonight.

Nothing on toward untoward happened, in fact I have never been at a company holiday party or anything unusual has happened.

But it did remind me of a rule that I have, and one that I highly recommend to you.

Never, ever, drink alcohol at an office party.

It's fine for family events, but the potential for something going wrong at a company function is just too great.

If you want to get drunk and make an ass of yourself, that is what Purim is for.

Posted via mobile.

The Least Thanksgiving Spirit

Absinthe


Pale green


Louche

I am referring, of course, to Absinthe.

I decided to buy some for this for Thanksgiving, because of its association with angst ridden artists like Vincent Van Gough, Paul Verlaine, Edouard Manet, Charles Baudelaire, Ernest Hemingway, Paul Gaugan, Guy de Maupassant, Émile Zola, and Oscar Wilde.

Of course, Thanksgiving is not about angst ridden art, it's about getting together with family, and desperately trying not to punch out that racist relative of yours at dinner.

Absinthe is made from wormwood, anise, and (for Lucid brand absinthe) fennel and hyssop.

It's similar to other anise based drinks like Ouzo and Arak having a licorice forward flavor, though the bouquet and the undertones are rather different.

Also like other anise based drinks when water is added, the essential oils come out of solution, and create a cloudy colloidal suspension called the Louche.

Of course, I am not an angst ridden artist, I'm a generally happy ignorant asshole, and an engineer.

That being said, my eldest is a playwright and a poet, so I kind of figured that she had to drink Absinthe at least once, since it got legalized in the United States 2007.

It's nice, but I do not understand its association with depression and moral dissipation and turpitude.

This is the sort of drink that is nice to sip while having a spirited discussion about the aesthetics of Akira Kurasawa movies, not one that leaves you lolling in the gutter.

(later edit)

Dammit.  How could I post about Absinthe and not use the word ennui?

I’m Not as Thunk as You Drink

It's Simchat Torah, which celebrates the fact that we have gotten to the end of the Torah, going back to Genesis (בְּרֵאשִׁית) from Deuteronomy. (דְּבָרִים‎)

We read the Torah at night for the only time of the year, and celebrate and dance with Torahs.

It is frequently associated with the consumption of significant quantities of C2H5OH.

It is arguably the most joyous and raucous celebration of a rerun this side of a Star Trek convention.

A Public Service Announcement

After we dropped Nat off for her play, and before the play was canceled, we went to a little cafe across the street, Joe Squared.

I had a very nice risotto, and a couple of glasses of beer. (Sharon* was driving back from the play)

One was an IPA, and I rather enjoyed it.

The second was a Belgian ale, and it knocked me on my ass.

Belgian ales can be dangerous.  They sneak up on you.

I am Not as Thunk as You Drink

Today, Jews retell the story of Esther and how she thwarted Haman's attempt to destroy the Jews in Babylonia.

I won't spoil the rest of the story, but we won, and now we eat, and drink. (A lot of drinking)

Oh bother, I just spoiled it, didn't I?

Don't blame me, I'm rather drunk right now.

A Quick Note

I have been sampling my 35 year old mead, "Weeping Glass," this evening, and as a result of a significant amount of C2H5OH, there may be typographical errors that I have missed.

The cork has deteriorated, but the mead has turned out nicely.

The recipe is fairly simple: 4 lbs of honey (citrus blossom) per gallon if water, some lemon, some orange, and some nutmeg.

I Am So Eager for This to Be over, and I So Dread Tomorrow

I am sure that I am not the only one.

I want this to end, but tomorrow will be pure hell.

Even if it is a Biden blowout, I will have to be watching the new coverage, which means that I will have to watch the pundits pontificate.

Well, I refuse to do this sober.

BTW, my prediction. (joking)

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