What Iceland and Vagabonds know about CHILLING beer

'Beer being cooled by evaporation', photo : @VagabondJourney

There's toilet paper on my beer, and that's a good thing.

Because you know you like drinking in the park ; ) , and because you 'forgot' your cooler at your friend's BBQ last weekend; you probably are in need of a low tech way to cool your beer while hanging out in the park, camping, "in a middle of a field", wherever you are. Well, Wade Shepard, of vagabondjourney.com, has found a very simple way of cooling your beers. 

"We were camping, without refrigeration, and I was drinking a cool beer in the middle of a field in Iceland ... 

Just wrap up the bottles in a blanket of wet toilet paper (or another material that retains water but also allows for it to dry) and wait for the water to evaporate a little. The drier the paper gets (the more the water evaporates) the cooler your beer should get."

Now, if it works with wet toilet paper, will it work with a wet Drink Toque perhaps??? I am willing to find out. Off to experiment, more on this later. 

Cheers,

The Drink Toque

Like to run, and drink beer?

(via wired.com)

Have running shoes, will drink beer


Like to run, and drink beer? Me too. And, this guy is definitely taking this issue seriously ...

"Just days before turning 29, Tim Cigelske decided he wanted to do something special for his 30th year on the planet ... and the answer came quickly: run a mile and drink a beer every day. The challenge made perfect sense for Cigelske. In his spare time, he writes Draftmag.com’s Beer Runner blog, which chronicles the intersection of lacing up the Nikes and leaning back with a brew.


More than 260 days later, he’s still going ... he might never stop ...

If I’m not in the best shape of my life, I’m definitely close. I’ve never felt better. I’ve built my way up to running about 50 miles a week with no problem ... At the same time, I’m averaging about one beer for every three miles I run. If nothing else, running allows me to enjoy the beer I love guilt-free. That was the point all along." (wired.com)

For the full interview click here, and to read up on the Beer Runner Blog, click here.

I think we can all agree, this is a fun and delicious way to get in shape ...

The Drink Toque

Make beer in your closet in 7 days ... seriously (via socialsquared.com)

(via NZ Craft Beer TV)

YES PLEASE!

Want a beer? Too tired to go to the store? Why bother going ALL the way to the store, when you can brew a batch of beer in your closet ... in 7 days! (... for the low low price of $5000 ... even though this is really priceless don't you think?)

After watching this video, I am convinced:

The WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery from WilliamsWarn on Vimeo.

(via socialsquared.com)

Tears of Joy, Tears of Joy!

Happy Brewing,

The Drink Toque

All-Beer Diet for an Iowa man (for the next 6 weeks)

(photo as seen on MSNBC.com)

Well this sounds like fun! (although he isn't really doing it for 'fun' per say)

An Iowa Man Plans to Drink Only Beer until Easter ... (Okay, in fairness, he is doing it to observe Lent, but it's the beer that counts)

"J. Wilson is attempting to recreate the way Fransiscan monks marked the holy season of Lent centuries ago. Until Easter, he'll live on only water and four hearty pints per day of his own Doppelbock creation ... his goal is to never become drunk." (MSNBC.com)

No food, all beer. He even brewed all his own beer. He is definitely taking his beer seriously. Good luck not getting tipsy ... ?

These pretzels are making me thirsty.

Cheers sir!

The Drink Toque

Time to start stockpiling beer? Beer apocalypse!?

(from http://www.deviantart.com/)

Time to start stockpiling beer? Beer apocalypse!?

"Where beer is concerned, Reuters reported today that higher costs for malting barley could force brewers to raise beer prices next year, though there's a reprieve this year from tight supplies from Canada, the biggest exporter.

Quality of some barley is in question because of flooding in Canada and Australia.

“Drink up now, is my advice," Dwayne Dubois, the CFO at Big Rock Brewery, told Reuters, signalling price hikes later this year or, more likely, next year." (Globe and Mail, Mar.7, 2011)

Going to store now, then building cellar ... talk later

"Magic Hat Fuels Brewing Process With Beer Waste"

(via Treehugger, photo : Hopspot)

Powering your brewing process with beer waste. Very very ... very cool!

Highly recommend reading the original article on Treehugger , but here is a short caption,

"It's an on-site closed-loop recycling system that uses an anaerobic methane digester (officially called the Biphase Orbicular Biodigester™ System, or BOB) that was developed by PurposeEnergy. It's thought to be the first of its kind in the world."

Check out the company/tech behind this concept at Purpose Energy, 'Saving the Earth. One Beer at a Time'. Awesome!

And go go Magic Hat Brewery for trying it out! Check 'em out.

Cheers,

The Drink Toque

$800, "World's Most Expensive Beer"

(via nailbrewing.com.au)

Mental note : From now on, I will only drink beer made from melted Antarctic Ice. Wait wait, only 30 bottles were made?? Well that should last the weekend ... They are $800 per bottle!? Ummmm ... can I have a sip of yours? Who are you talking too right now?

"The number one bottle (of 30) of Antarctic Nail Ale was sold for $800. The unique beer which was brewed with ice brought back from the Antarctica from the Sea Shepherds last campaign ... All proceeds from Antarctic Nail Ale go to the Sea Shepherd."(via nailbrewing.com.au)

In conclusion, if your beer isn't made from melted Antarctic Ice, why bother?

The Drink Toque

Beer Wars, when 'war' is fun.

"Dutch brewer claims world's strongest beer" (TheProvince.com)

Beer wars? Do I need my trebuchet for this? To do : find my trebuchet.
Perhaps. There has been a beer war brewing in Europe for the last little while. It involves beer, and having fun trying to create the 'world's strongest beer'. Is it 'drinkable'? Not important.

"A Dutch brewer [Almere-based brewery, 't Koelschip (The Refrigerated Ship)] with a penchant for competition has laid claim to creating the world's strongest brew: a beer that is some 60 per cent alcohol by volume."(1)

Ummmm, that's pretty serious even for hard alcohol! And, The Refrigerated Ship is a fantastic name for a brewery, so they get points for that, but ...
Who's their competition? None other than the Scottish brewery, and marketing geniuses, Brew Dog, who are selling their 55% alcohol by volume in these perfectly sized, dead squirrels:

(via pastemagazine.com)

"Dubbed "The End of History," ... Only 12 bottles were made, each housed inside a stuffed dead animal and sold starting at 500 pounds ($780) each"(1)

So, it's a beer war, and we are giving a big Drink Toque Salute to both of these heavyweight contenders. But, as in the case of many things, we feel that the tie goes to the people who put beer in a dead squirrel.




Source:

1. "Dutch brewer claims world's strongest beer" (TheProvince.com)

Magical River of Beer (no explosions next time please)

Magical River of Beer / Touch Me
(cred : The Drink Toque, for reals)

"Exploding beer vat douses B.C. street in suds"

"... blast was powerful enough to tear an aluminum loading door off its hinges, sending 32,000 litres of fermented foam flooding across a downtown street in the North Okanagan city."

Okay, thankfully, everyone was alright, so I feel okay concentrating on the positives ... a Magical River of Beer, 32,000 litres worth, flowed through the streets. That sounds really really really nice ... really!


(original story via Globe and Mail)

Vancouver Drinks More than You. The Country's biggest-ever beer bash (Canada).

(a blurry late night/early morning iPhone photo from inside the German Beer Pavilion)

About halfway through Vancouver's Winter Olympics 2010, we started receiving receiving reports that the German Fan Fest tent or German Beer Pavilion, as I called it, had sold more beer in one week than the last two Olympics combined. So much so that they were sending for emergency beer reinforcements from Germany. Prohibitionists would be ashamed. But, in Canada, and our only response was A-W-E-S-O-M-E, let's drink more!

While I have not been able to confirm these reports, and, in fact, no one seems to be giving out volume numbers of beer consumption; our inquiring minds want to know! So, if we can assume that more visits to the beer gardens would equal more beer drunk, then the only conclusion can be that the Vancouver Olympics were one GREAT party.

Take, for another example, the Heineken House. This was a pavilion that was way out of the City centre, in Richmond, but still put up enormous numbers. According to a story on bclocalnews.com, the Heineken House "nearly doubled the early estimates, reaching 120,000 visitors ... more than in Beijing, China in 2008 and Torino, Italy in 2006 ... Little did they realize the capacity Canadians had for partying." According to another story in The Province, "Heineken expects to pour 320,000 beers during the Games". Now, that was before the Games, and, at that point, they were only expecting about 50,000 visits. Therefore, we can assume that the Heineken House actually sold at least 800,000 beers during the 2 week span. And, considering there were reports they were significantly outpacing their proposed beer consumption rates, that number could be significantly higher. Okay, so that place was a party.

Lets take another angle here. According to that same story in the Province before the Games, the Molson Hockey House cost $15 million to construct and run. Were they expecting to make a profit? "If Team Canada goes deep into the tournament, we should be OK", said Jordan Bitove, some Molson marketing dude. Well, that Team Canada did go deep in the Men's Hockey tournament. They won the Gold! So, if we minus out the exorbitant door fees (although it was amazing inside), that still leaves $ millions upon $ millions sold in beer. Even at $7/beer, do the math, that's well over 1,000,000 beers; no matter which we way you add it up. Now, with approximately 3,000 visitors a day, albeit a rotating 3,000 visitors including in and out privileges, that's an enormous amount of beer being drunk per person as well. PARTAY!

So, WOW!, there was something going on in Vancouver. Hopefully you were able to experience some of this Country's biggest ever beer bash. We did, and our Drink Toques were our Co-pilot in Fun the whole way. Thanks Vancouver!

Where is the Beer Launching Refrigerator?

When I saw the video below in 2007, I thought my life was finally coming into focus. He presented his Beer Launching Fridge on the David Letterman show, and you would think sales would develop from that. But, where is it? Where can we all buy one of these? I mean, who doesn't want beers, or whatever drink you choose, flying around at a party or gathering?

I, for one, still await the commercial introduction of the Beer Launching Refrigerator.

Wolfing Out? - Easy signs that a person is moving towards 'Wolfing Out'

What does it mean to 'Wolf Out'? My friend, Andrew, forwarded me this picture to describe the transformation one must take when engaging in a Stag Party-like, car camping expedition.


Here are some easy signs that a person is moving towards 'Wolfing Out'.

1. Learning new freestyle, dance moves, specifically for dancing on cars. Wolves like to dance on cars!
2. Disappearing into the woods for long periods of time. Wolves like wide open spaces to Wolf Out in!
3. Shotgunning of beers. Wolves are thirsty!
4. Devouring meals quickly. Wolves are hungry!
5. Moving to more primitive communication forms.
6. Generally acting unruly, especially while riding in cars. Uncontrollable.
7. Participating in what was referred to as 'Tom Ball'. Any ideas as to what this is?
8. Many beers go missing from the cooler. Where are they all going?
9. The subject may be able to dunk a basketball whereas before they couldn't; it could just all be in their head, and they end up with an 'Unidentified Party Injury', because they weren't even anywhere near a basketball court. Mr.Wolf is still okay though, he wolfs on!

I will do more research into this phenomenon known as 'Wolfing Out', and report back to you soon. Enjoy your weekend!



Have fun,

The Drink Toque