Photo: pixelens/Flickr.

When a Malaysian night club was busted and 32-year-old Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was caught with a beer, she knew she was in trouble. Not because alcohol is illegal in the country -- it's not -- but because Kartika is a Muslim.

Under Sharia law -- which regulates the day-to-day life of Muslims, including politics, business, sexuality and hygiene -- consuming alcohol is a major offense. Though non-Muslim in Malaysia would be prosecuted under civil law, Kartika had to face Islamic courts.

"I accept the punishment," she said, according to a Daily Telegraph report. "I am not afraid because I was ready to be punished from day one. [The authorities] hope to use my case as a way to educate Muslims. So go ahead. I want to move on with my life."

Last Friday, The Nielsen Company (most famous for its TV ratings) released its annual Guide to the Super Bowl ...which primarily consists of statistics compiled after last year's Super Bowl (...from which we're supposed to extrapolate information about this year's Super Bowl). [Thanks to Rob Kasper for turning me on to the press release via his blog.]

Among the guide's findings, "The Super Bowl is ranked 8th among the highest beer selling occasions for the year."

Since I am mildly obsessed with the concept of determining what is the "biggest drinking day of the year" (which, must be noted, is distinctly different than the "highest beer selling day of the year" despite the two ideas being somewhat related), I decided to look into this claim in greater depth.

Shown to the above right is the Nielsen Company's list of "Top Holidays/Events for Beer" as determined by combined beer sales from all U.S. outlets (including food, liquor, convenience and drug) for the "two-week period surrounding the event."

I took one look at this list and though, "Huh-whaaa?!"

The top three look alright, but then everything else seems to go a little haywire. Father's Day at number four?! Easter Sunday beating out Super Bowl Sunday?! I decided to take these question directly to the source...

Is Super Bowl Sunday really only the 8th biggest beer selling occasion of the year? Find out after the jump...

I do most of my cocktail inventing around the holidays. The reason for this is twofold. One, I always visit my parents and they possess a liquor cabinet that shames some bars, not only in actual number of bottles, but also in the array of top-shelf and/or rare liquors. Two, when does one find oneself in need of a drink more than the holidays?

Whether it's the merriment of celebration, the release of stress, or simply the desire to take a breather from all the socializing by indulging in a brief respite behind the bar, December is the time for mixing. And also for giving, so allow me to give you my two newly-invented cocktails for 2008: the Ginger-Pear Cocktail and the Nihilist.

Sometimes, it has to be done. Maybe you're celebrating something. Maybe you're entertaining a client. Maybe your editor just chopped up your interview and you want to kill everyone. What am I talking about? Drinking at lunch.

Drinking at lunch can be dangerous. Some people get bad headaches from it, even from a glass of wine. It's really best to drink at lunch only if you're going to have time for a nap, but since that isn't realistic, make sure you have Advil at your desk - it might not hurt to pop a couple as a preventative measure.

Don't scare your clients, and don't knock yourself out. Avoid hardcore drinks like martinis, and avoid drinking your night drink during the day; it's likely to make you tired because your brain is used to having it before sleep. If you're particularly prone to afternoon headaches, it's a good idea to drink something involving juice or coffee to try and trick your brain a little.

In addition to headaches and naps (and wildly inappropriate crying jags), drinking at lunch can also cause raucous laughter, the closing of deals; the alleviation of unbearable tension, and a more carefree afternoon to follow.

My picks for what to drink at lunch ( In moderation) are after the jump...

I'm not sure what it is about the 2008 Election that has driven people to the bottle. Sure, coping with the anxiety of tough decisions by imbibing alcohol has been around since, well, the day alcohol was invented (good day, by the way), but this year's campaign for the ages has really upped the ante.

Tonight is the first, and presumably only, vice presidential debate. Maybe it stems from those viral videos of Sarah Palin's Katie Couric interview or Joe Biden's generally gaffe prone nature, but people are expecting it to be a doozy. Many peoples answer: Get boozy.

Googling "Vice Presidential Debate Drinking Game" (in quotes) racks up a respectable 839 results -- and not many are leftovers of Cheney/Edwards. Want to join in on the fun? After the jump see the links to the top 8...

What exactly is the definition of a nerd? I like spending all day on the web and reading and Star Trek. Does that make me a nerd? Or is that just a cliche and the real meaning of nerd is a lot more complex than that?

It's a question for smart people to mull over, preferably when drunk, and CocktailNerd.com can help you get there. It's a cool blog about the world of cocktails and drinking. It's updated regularly and has a really smart sense of what the good stuff is to link to. It got a bookmark from me instantly.

It also has a "Daily Cocktail" page, but I can't seem to get it to work right now, so let me know exactly what's on that page.

Recently I've found myself at events where, just as the evening seems to be winding down, games of beer pong spring from fully formed from the ether. For those of you not in the know, beer pong is a game in which two people stand on either ends of a ping pong table (or similar structure of rectangular shape) and set up a triangle of plastic Solo cups in front of them. Each cup gets filled to some predetermined level with beer. A player tosses a ping pong ball at their opponents cup, trying to land a ball into a cup. If the ball does make it into a cup, the player to whom that cup belongs must then drink its contents. It is amusing to watch and if you're looking to get drunk, this is a quick way to do so (not that I'm encouraging excessive drinking).

The people know don't seem to require much in the way of special equipment in order to play, but when I sent a link to the PortOPong to one of the regular instigators, he was thrilled and immediately placed an order. Apparently, it's always been his dream to play in a swimming pool and now that wish can become a reality.

I've been working on this story for months, because I wasn't sure which songs I should include and which songs I should leave off the list. And then I finally decided what the rules would be: only songs that are about food or drink or have them in the title. In other words, just because a song mentions food or drink doesn't mean it's about food or drink, so I'm leaving those off the list. Here we go:

1. "Black Coffee" (Julie London): OK, I'll admit it, this is a truly personal choice. I'm a big fan of standards, and also a big fan of film noir. And this song has noir written all over it. Julie London (you might remember her as the head nurse from the TV show Emergency) sings it so seductively and in a sultry manner you just want to run out and buy some coffee and take up smoking (several people have covered this song, including Sarah Vaughan and k.d. lang, but London's version is the best). Really cool song.

I think there's a misconception about drinking alone. A lot of people I know see drinking alone as a sign that you're depressed, lonely, unsocial, or a combo of all three. I don't think this is true or not. Sure, if you're face down in the gutter with a bottle of whiskey in a brown paper bag, that's one thing. But that's different than sitting at home in your comfortable chair, reading a book or listening to music, drinking alone. Like many other things in life, it comes down to location, location, location.

Modern Drunkard magazine lays down the rules in a piece entitled The Zen of Drinking Alone. Some of the rules include Find Your Circle of Solitude (find your quiet space, turn off the TV), Choose Your Moderator (whiskey on the rocks is Johnny Carson, a cocktail is Conan O'Brien), and The Sound of Isolation, which is what music you pick to drink to (no rap or heavy metal - the point is to mellow out).

And always remember: the monkey never forgets.

Most of these "what _____ are you?" quizzes you find online are often inaccurate but a fun way to waste a few minutes of your day. And they often reinforce some aspect of yourself that is true, or maybe you wish was true, and you get a little icon to put on your web site to make other people think you're that way too.

This one asks you a bunch of questions (though not enough, I feel) to find out what type of drink you are. Are you a hard drink like whiskey? Are you a drink with a little umbrella in it? Are you a martini person? Or maybe you're not an alcoholic person at all. The questions revolve around what activities you do when you drink (playing quarters? lying down? vomiting?), what snack you like to eat when drinking (peanuts? olives? nachos?), and the type of taste that appeals most to you.

For the record, the quiz said I'm a beer person. Which is odd, since I rarely drink beer.

Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, is the most expensive coffee in the world. The name "civet coffee" comes from the fact that the coffee berries are eaten by civets, which are mongoose-like critters, in Indonesia and the coffee beans are excreted by then after digestion. The beans are then cleaned and roasted to make the coffee.

A rare brew, this coffee is not available just everywhere, but Coffee & Tea LTD in Linden Hills, Minneapolis stocks it. The shop sells the coffee for $10 per 8-ounce cup, making it one of the most expensive cups of coffee in the country, if not the single most expensive. The owner, Jim Cone, buys green beans from Indonesia and roasts them to order in a vintage 1910 coffee roaster. He compares the coffee to fine wines, noting that it "might be too much to drink everyday" and describes the coffee as "having a rich and caramel-like taste."

Interestingly, Forbes has priced Kopi luwak at $160 per pound, while Coffee & Tea LTD sells it for $420 per pound. Granted, the coffee shop roasts its own beans on site, but it still seems like there would be a cheaper way to get your hands of a pound of the coffee than to pay retail there.

Aside from willpower and peer pressure, there are few things that can actually dissuade someone who really wants to drink from drinking. That's why AA has a 12-step program, not a 1-step one. But some scientists in Australia have just announced that they have a drug that may stop people from drinking. The compound blocks the production of a chemical called orexin that induces euphoria. So far, the compound has only been tested on rats, but it was remarkably successful in stopping the compulsion to drink alcohol in rats that had developed/were forced to develop an addition to it. In fact, they completely stopped drinking it when offered.

The theory is that the pleasurable effects of drinking, or the perceived pleasure that triggers the orexin system, are what drive the cravings and taking that away eliminates the reason for the craving to exist. Presumably, the drinker would still feel the effects of the alcohol, but there would no longer be any type of "high." Scientists also think that a similar treatment could be developed to treat other addictions, such as binge eating.

Obviously, it still has a long way to go before something like this will be available to the public, but it certainly sounds like it could help some people eliminate a step or two if they have a drinking problem.

Christmas is officially over, but the holiday season culminates with New Year's Eve and there is plenty of time for celebrating up to that point. And by celebrating, we mean drinking. Now, we don't have any problems with drinking here at Slashfood and quite like the occasional glass of wine or a cocktail, but we don't advocate drinking and cooking - and neither do fire officials. Many fires each year are started by careless cooks who have had a few too many before deciding to whip up a stir fry or other heat-intensive dish that requires a more than a little bit of attention. Since your reactions can be slowed by alcohol, you might be more easily distracted that usual and a situation might get out of hand before you have a chance to take action.

Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and try to hold off on the second (or third or fourth) drink until after dinner is served.

Due to falling alcohol prices, "drink wars" in pubs and sales at supermarkets, it looks like this could be the booziest Christmas ever in Britain. The average Briton will drink a surprisingly large amount over the holiday: 18 pints of beer, three bottles of wine, one bottle of spirits and four glasses of fortified wine. That comes out to 137 units of alcohol in a little over a week. Given that the maximum limit recommend for men is only 21 units and 14 units for women, health officials are concerned about people's health. Increasing your alcohol consumption by 4 to 6 times is not good for your health at any time.

Britain is known as a big-drinking (or binge drinking, depending on who you ask) country, with the average person consuming 200 liters of alcoholic drinks in 2006, which comes out to more than 8 billion liters for the whole country.

Health officials and groups are encouraging companies to cut back on and.or eliminate their advertising that appeals to young people and to consider restricting the sales of "alcopop" drinks, the sugared, colored, sweet concoctions that are clearly, in most eyes, not "aimed at adults." Even if changes are instituted, it won't have any effect on this holiday season, but next year, those officials might be able to rest a little easier.

In Vienna, anyway.

The Roboexotica convention is going on in Vienna right now, and there are 30 robot bartenders mixing drinks for the attendees. Robots were invited to the event (can robots really be "invited" to anything at this point?) to "demonstrate their skills in categories such as mixing cocktails, serving drinks and snacks, bar conversation and smoking cigarettes and cigars." I wasn't aware that it took skill to smoke a cigar or what practical purpose it would serve to have a robot be able to do that, but I'm sure it looks cool as hell.

One of the more popular bartenders is Chapok, who looks like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz and is trained to make sleazy come on lines to women like "hey you sweet thing, have you ever had a date with a robot?"