Quick Links

First up, check this out if you believe that Tennesseans should be able to buy wine from grocery stores. Pretty concerted website here, more directed and focused than previous efforts we've seen.

http://www.redwhiteandfood.com/


And now comes this bizarre and somewhat terrifying piece. I mean I've had some whisky that tasted like piss but come on...

http://boingboing.net/2010/09/04/whiskey-from-diabeti.html

Drunken Jukebox 3

In what may (or may not) become a regular DK feature, behold the Drunken Jukebox: Music to Motivate Your Liver. A little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n roll, punk, rap and pop crap, old or new– all musical genres and periods are open for exploitation. Quarters and crisp dollar bills not required.

This installment features a resurgent spirit near and dear to our Eastern Tennessee hearts (and livers): Moonshine. Once illicit and considered dangerous in many ways it is now a legitimate enterprise taking off in the alcohol world. Newspapers and websites have been filled with recent success stories and even cocktail recipes coming out of Gatlinburg. UT football season is upon us and everybody knows the Volunteer fight song lyrics:

“Once two strangers climbed on Rocky Top, looking for a moonshine still. Strangers ain’t come back from Rocky Top, reckon they never will. Corn won’t grow at all on Rocky Top, dirt’s too rocky by far. That’s why all the folks on Rocky Top get their corn from a jar”

It’s football time in Tennessee. It’s also Labor Day weekend meaning it’s Boomsday weekend too. And let’s not forget that it’s Lord von Lord’s birthday weekend. Now, please enjoy the musical styling of George Jones aka The Possum.

Summer Staycation is Over

Summer is almost officially over and for once I am glad to see it go. Bring on Autumn I say - cooler weather, football season and wine. It's been a long, hot summer of humid days and stormy, wet evenings that I won't miss one damn bit. Not to mention the allergens that have wrecked my health (I'll stop there).

I was pleased to see an article with some good booze news on MSN and thought I'd share it here in case you missed it. Basically the study focuses on older adults' alcohol consumption, so if you're lucky enough to make it that far the good news is that they suggest you keep on drinking. Super! Something to look forward to. Another thing to possibly look forward to is the soon-to-be opening Public House Pub on Magnolia. The place has been under construction for some time now and was originally targeted to open around the 4th of July holiday but these things take time. A couple of weeks ago while biking I saw a couple of workers resting outside so I stopped and asked for an update. They were noncommittal but said it may be 6-8 more weeks, which puts it around sometime in October. All we can do is wait and see. Well, actually we can continue drinking normally as we wait and see.

Heh heh heh

Cool Wine Gimmick

A few weeks ago reader SKM sent a cool web link showing how to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew. Leave it to the French to come up with a wine-drinking solution. The original video was on wimp.com but I found a version on YouTube that you can see below. Even better though is another wine opening technique I saw on the side bar that doesn’t quite go as planned. The second option is probably closer to how some of our group would go about things.



The other way:

Under the Bridge

This isn’t homage to the RHCP. No, these images were taken at the massive parking area in the Old City underneath the interstate / parkway system. I ride my bicycle throughout town and usually cruise through the lot for a breather or water break away from the street traffic. I do my best to dodge the seas of broken glass but it is practically impossible. On this particular occasion I noticed a higher than usual number of empty bottles and thought I’d do some photo documentation.


I remember the days of going to the bars and frontloading on the way (yes, open containers!) and was just as guilty as these folks who leave behind the sacrificed empties, so I’m not being hypocritical or unrealistic about this situation. I mean, who wants to leave a backseat full of crime evidence should the police get involved. There has to be a better way but looking around the lot I didn’t see the one solution that should be obvious – trash cans. Not a damn one!

Did you know?

For our 400th post on this wretched midden heap, I would like to call your attention to one of the few things our government has done that we all can agree with: The creation of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus.

This nascent (a little over a year old) group is one of other 300 such caucuses in gummint. Largely formed from the Kentucky contingent, I'd like to see what their meetings are like.