New gadget: The Beer Pager
So you’re three or four hours into a wild party, there’s countless beer cans or bottles strewn everywhere, and you’ve got a problem: You can’t figure out which beer is yours. You don’t want to pick up the one that’s two hours past room temperature; you don’t want to pick up the one someone used as an ashtray; and you don’t want to pick up the one that guy with the thing on his lip may have been sipping on earlier. So what do you do? Easy. You page your beer! With this:
Yes, that is the Beer Pager. The makers claim the device “Locates your lost or stolen beverage instantly!” If you’re so inclined, you can read more at www.beerpager.com.
How green is your beer?
Greenopia.com, a Web site that provides directories of environmental companies, recently released a list of some of the greenest and least greenest breweries in the world. The winner: No surprise that New Belgium Brewing Co. out of Fort Collins, Colo., would take the cake. The Thirsty Beagle has written about them before; they provide bicycles to employees and use organic products in the brewing process. Some of the losers, according to Greenopia: Molson-Coors, Guinness, Heineken and Sam Adams. You can read a report on the list here. And below are the standings, with a 4 indicating the top environmental score:
-New Belgium – 4
-Eel River – 3
- Bison – 2
-Butte Creek – 2
-Sierra Nevada – 2
-Anheuser-Busch – 1
-Corona – 1
-Foster’s – 1
-Labatt – 1
-Samuel Smith – 1
-Molson-Coors – 0
-Guinness – 0
-Heineken – 0
-Sam Adams – 0
-Tecate – 0
Beer-can chicken ideas
Hello TTB readers. With football season rapidly approaching — only 24 days to go! — The Thirsty Beagle is 
doing some serious thinking. About eating. Yes, nothing says football season is here like meat cooking over the grill on a crisp autumn day. I’ve got a plan this year, for a weekend when OSU’s not at home, to try out the famous beer-can chicken recipe.
So I’m soliciting some help here: If anyone has tried the recipe before, what beer did you use? I’m trying to avoid using a really cheap beer — so that I can avoid my chicken tasting like really cheap beer – but the main problem I’m foreseeing is that the really good beers don’t come in cans. I guess I could always get whatever beer in a bottle and pour it into another can, right? Either way, let me know in the comments section if you’ve tried a beer you felt turned out nicely. Thanks!
Beer vs. wine: The fight is on
Have your torches and pitchforks at the ready, beer fans. The country’s wine makers and sellers are coming after you. According to this report, with wine sales dropping in this spotty economy, wine sellers are setting their sights on the 21-to-30-year-old-man demographic in hopes of boosting sales. Beer lovers, don’t be fooled by this see-through attempt to abandon the good drink. To give up beer for wine would be to suggest there was something wrong with beer in the first place, and we know that’s not the case. OK, Thirsty Beagle propaganda session over!
New low-calorie beer: SELECT 55
A-B Inbev this week announced the U.S. roll-out of a new low-calorie beer offering. The beer, SELECT 55, is being touted as the world’s lightest beer. As you might guess by the name, the beer has a scant 55 calories per 12 ounces. If you’re counting, that’s 330 per six pack. By comparison, a standard Bud has 145 calories per bottle; Blue Moon is 171; Leinenkugel Original has 152; Michelob Ultra and Miller Lite have 95 and 96, respectively; and the previous low-carb winner, MGD 64, has an obvious 64 calories. A-B says SELECT 55 is a smooth, light golden lager that “answers a growing demand among a segment of adult drinkers who are seeking lower-calorie alcohol beverages to complement their busy lifestyles.” The Thirsty Beagle has been down this road before with MGD 64: I’m just bringing you the beer news folks. As for my opinion, all the super-low-calorie beers do is answer the demand of people who are drinking beer for the wrong reasons. You gotta enjoy it for the taste, people. I’ll stick with the 150+ calorie range for my beers, thank you very much. If you are interested in a sip of SELECT 55, it is available in 15 U.S. markets right now, the closest to Oklahoma being Austin, Dallas and Wichita Falls, Texas.
2009 U.S. Open Beer Championship results
Right here is a list of winners from the recent U.S. Open Beer Championship in Atlanta. Plenty of familiar names on the list, several I agree with, a couple I whole-heartedly disagree with (read: Sam Adams Blackberry Witbier). Scrolling through the list is not a bad way to pass a few minutes. You’ll see a lot of beers you might not be familiar with, and see what beer style/category several of the beers you’ve had fall into. Of note, Sam Adams took home a medal haul, winning the American Light category with SA Light, the American Lager category with Boston Lager, the Dopple/Strong Bock category with its Double Bock, the American Wheat category with its Summer Ale, and the Herb and Spice category with its Imperial White. I’ve had all of those and can concur they’re all pretty good. As a side note, also in the American Lager category, Sierra Nevada’s Summerfest scored the silver. I tried this one a few weeks ago and would highly recommend it as an easy-drinking bevvy for a nice, warm day in the yard.
Would you like fries, I mean, beer with that?
I read a report today about a new trend emerging on the coasts, and I can only hope it makes its way inland to our fair state in a widespread fashion. Some fast food restaurants are beginning to add beer and wine to their menus. We’ve already seen that here at what you might refer to as some of the more upscale fast-food places, like Moe’s and Pei Wei. Restaurant operators say they’re trying to offer consumers amenities offered at higher-priced spots, but with less of the price. Cheers to that!
Lightning McQueen says: ‘The checkered flag is mine; and so is your wallet!’
The Thirsty Beagle has mentioned before that I have a young son. He’s 3-going-on-4 in about six days. He’s now at a very cognitive level. He understands beer is for adults, the OSU Cowboys are No. 1, and other important stuff like that. He also understands what he wants. Long gone are the days where myself and Mrs. Beagle could use trickery, deception and redirection to make him forget about something he earlier had set his mind on. The boy has a memory like a steel trap. Once he decides he wants something, either he’s going to get it or there’s going to be a showdown of 4-year-old determination and fit-throwing vs. parenting mastery and cunning. So enter into this lion’s den the commercial that came on last night for the latest version of Disney on Ice at the State Fair. You’ve got Timon and Pumba from “Lion King.” You’ve got Lightning and Mater from “Cars.” I looked over at my son and he was glued to the TV, wide-eyed. The countdown was on: How long until he asked to go? Mrs. Beagle, sensing the inevitable, beat him to the punch. She asked if he wanted to go. He said yes. All-in-all, I’m not upset at this point. It’ll be fun for him and there’s nothing wrong with taking him to see a show. Even if half the production is princesses and fairies. Plus, we typically go to the State Fair once a year, so why not just knock the fair and show out at the same time. Could be worse, right?
Well, there are certain things The Thirsty Beagle can’t stand: Cyclists who insist on riding 10 mph in the middle of the road, and then also insist on running four-way stops (You can’t have it both ways, cyclists!); Waiting in line for anything; flies; and trying to buy a ticket listed at a certain price and then finding it’s actually more expensive because of surcharges, services charges and the always-hated, counter-intuitive and dispicable ”convenience” fee.
So we find ourselves back around to Disney on Ice. The Thirsty Beagle logs on today to buy tickets. I settle on the $28 rink-side seats. I’m doing quick math and looking at a total of $84 for a trio of seats. Halfway through the ticket-buying process, I get hit with the service charge: $7 per ticket. It’s not clear to me what this “service” is. As far as I can tell, the whole transaction is being handled by a computer. Either way, I’m annoyed. You’re telling me that some arbitrary service charge is being assessed for one quarter of the cost of the actual ticket? The Thirsty Beagle thinks this is a little steep. But nothing takes the cake like when you are almost ready to check out, and you are asked how you’d like to receive the tickets. Your options: $4 to have it mailed, like $25 to have it sent by FedEx, or $4 to PICK IT UP AT WILL CALL! Yes, I went all-caps on you. First off, $4 to mail the tickets, when surely that will cost all of like 50 cents? That’s bad enough. But four freaking dollars to PICK THEM UP AT WILL CALL??!! You want me to pay you $4 so I can stand in line to get my tickets? Absurd. So long story short, somewhere along the way The Thirsty Beagle ended up paying $109 for the tickets. Let me phrase that another way: To buy three tickets, I essentially had to buy a fourth ticket! The solution: Just tell me the tickets cost $36.33 in the first place, then no hard feelings. Who will be the brave soul to start this fair and honest ticket pricing revolution? The Thirsty Beagle awaits.
