"australia" news and stories

It's a predicament almost as old as alcohol itself. In fact, in Macbeth, Shakespeare wrote of partaking in alcoholic beverages: "It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance." Well, maybe if Shakespeare had spent more time drinking in moderation...

NewScientist reports that a recent Australian study found that moderate drinking can actually reduce the chances of developing erectile dysfunction by 25% - 30% compared to people who don't drink at all, even after accounting for additional risk factors such as age, smoking and heart disease.

Sounds counterintuitive compared to the old adage, right? But it seems more and more, scientists are identifying the health benefits of drinking in moderation. (Plus drinking in moderation can provide you the benefits of not looking like an idiot at family gatherings!) To your health!

[via Hop Talk via Boing Boing]

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Want to win a cruise for two? All you have to do is tell a good story (oh--and it has to be true--and you have to be 21 years old). Alice White, a well-known Australian wine brand, just "did her colors," as the press release puts it, and got all new, colorful labels for the line of wines. Now the brand has launched a "Live Life in Color" contest that asks you to tell the story of a colorful adventure you've had (no matter how big or small) and enter to win a Royal Caribbean cruise for two, including airfare. Ten first place winners will receive a 10-piece cookware set and a $100 American Express gift card.

The contest begins tomorrow, January 26, and runs through March 30. Some ideas that might spark your imagination: mastering a new recipe, fundraising for your favorite charity, meeting someone you've long admired, celebrating a milestone in a special way...there's nothing too big or too small to write about. And it's only 200 words or less. I'm practically there on this post already.

Read more about Alice White after the jump.

Ok, so wine has numerous health benefits. It cures everything from cold sores to cancer. (Note: the above is not intended as medical device.) I tout wine's health benefits as much as anyone, but deep down inside, the truth is that I kind of like my wine as a vice. It's the only vice I have, really (though I'm sure my husband would say otherwise). I don't drink it because of its health benefits, but for the sheer pleasure of the taste, the bouquet, the way it enhances the food I cook and relaxes me after a stressful day at work or with the kids. The fact that it won't kill me in small quantities is simply a bonus.

What I don't want is a wine that's turned into a drug. An Australian doctor has pumped up a wine with resveratrol, the antioxidant that makes wine so good for you, with 100 times the normal amount. Phillip Norie, the winemaker and an M.D. expert on the link between wine and health, calls it a preventative medicine and a vascular pipe-cleaner. Taste-testers say they can't taste the difference between this wine and normal wine.

Perhaps the discovery will launch a new generation of health-concious wine-drinkers, but I hope if that's the case, they'll move beyond imbibing strictly for health and begin to enjoy the wine for the beautiful drink it is.

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Now that Thanksgiving is behind us and the December holidays are ahead of us, but not so close that I'm feeling the panic of unbought presents and unmade cookies and undecorated house, it's time to talk about a wine that was tailor-made for this "down" week before the holiday frenzy begins, when you still have time for a bit of pre-bed reading or TV-watching while snuggled into a cozy chair with a blanket tucked around your legs. The wine is, of course, Syrah, or Shiraz, as it's known in Australia.

It used to be that you could draw at least a loose demarcation between the two styles. Syrah, originally from France with its most notable examples coming from the Northern Rhone, is more a rough-and-tumble wine: wild, spicy, and requiring age and food to appreciate its greatness. Shiraz, by contrast, is almost Port-like with its richness and velvety chocolate undertones.

Lately the lines between the two have become increasingly blurred, with more New World wines labeled "Syrah" that taste more of "Shiraz" and some vice versa, so it's harder to choose which you're in the mood for based on the label alone.

Continue reading "Syrah/Shiraz - Wine of the Week" after the jump.

When I think of my mom, two things usually don't come to mind: beer and Frank Zappa. Which made it odd earlier this week when I opened an email to find she had sent me the following quote: "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."

Now, I'm not a big Zappa fan and have never heard this quote. I'm guessing that puts me in Group A of two possible groups, with Group B consisting of huge Zappa fans who have heard this quote a million times. But the quote did get me thinking that there are a number of countries that I associate with one specific beer. Yes, I realize they have more than one beer, but every time I think of said country, one specific beer immediately pops into mind trumping all others.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying these are the best beers each country has to offer, or even a list of my favorite international beers, but for this week's Slashfood Ate beer edition, I present the 8 countries that through experience and marketing I most associate with one specific beer.

See the list after the jump...