"drinking" news and stories

Ignorance is bliss, but it's not very good for your health. U.S. News Health reports that 76% of 1,000 American polled agreed with the statement "wine can be good for your heart." Hey, the good news is: That's true, but only if you consume two glasses per day if you're a man and one glass if you're a woman. Otherwise -- and here comes the really bad news -- excess drinking can lead to all kinds of problems like irregular heartbeat, obesity, cancer, high blood pressure and even heart failure.

Not only that, but Americans are also ill-informed about sodium, believing (56% of those surveyed) that ordinary table salt is the primary source in our diets. (61% believed, incorrectly, that sea salt had less sodium than regular salt.) All you have to do to understand that most of our sodium comes from processed foods-soups, snacks, condiments and canned foods like tomato sauce (why do you think they taste so good?) -- is to pick up a container of seemingly harmless cottage cheese and read the label. It will show that an eight-ounce serving contains about 720 milligrams of sodium, or half your daily recommended intake.

Americans are also famously bad at geography, but there's no word yet on whether young people are having trouble locating Napa and Salt Lake City on maps.

Alcoholics Anonymous first began by the meeting of two men, Dr. Bob and Bill W. -- anonymity is a basic tenet of AA, thus the abbreviated names -- who offered one another moral support. Dr. Bob's last drink was on June 10, 1935, making this year's AA convention in San Antonio, Texas, a 75th anniversary celebration for the organization, which now boasts 2 million members. The birthplace of the two men's determination to help themselves and others is considered Akron, Ohio, which just celebrated the anniversary over the weekend with Founder's Day events, including a motorcade to the grave site of Dr. Bob.

For those of you closer to New York City who would also like to conduct some sort of pilgrimage, you can visit 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn, the former home of AA founder Bill W. and where early NYC AA meetings were conducted. Later a clubhouse was established at 334 1/2 West 24th Street in Manhattan, with headquarters also located at 30 Vesey Street. AA groups now exist all over the world to help people from all walks of life recover from alcoholism.

AA members focus on a 12-step and 12-traditions program that helps them deal with their illness one day at a time. According to the group, one drink is too many and a thousand is not enough.

Proving that alcoholism isn't just about men or women on skid row with a panhandling bucket, Bill W. had worked in Manhattan as a stockbroker.

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.