Try the pink grapefruit juice, Tom.

Noooooo! My wife and I are starting to do some serious number crunching to figure out if we can afford to buy a home in the SF Bay Area in the next year or so. She has decided that switching from real and delicious beer (my term), to contaminated water (e.g. MGD) will help us save toward a downpayment.

There are only two bottles of Anchor Summer Beer left before the 12-pack of MGD is all we have. I think I'll hide those Anchors in the back of the veggie drawer.

Sell the wife.

Good beer is a quality-of-life issue. How much are you REALLY going to save by being miserable?

I'd just pledge to drink less, but of the same quality. I regularly exhibit what my wife considers to be poor behaviour by expressing a preference for water rather than the draught beers listed by a server at a restaurant.

Just say no to MGD.

My thoughts exactly -- the drinking less part, not selling the wife.

I won't touch the MGD. Beer strike!

Just come over here. I'll give you good booze. But no beer. Good booze is a better investment!

I thought this thing needed a bump.

I tried the fresh-squeezed, sweet, pink, Texas grapefruit juice with the Bombay. I like Texas better with every one of bigjohn's posts. Glorious. Really. But I still like vodka better than gin. Fresh-squeezed juice totally rules. We buy Costco cases of navel oranges just for that purpose. I can't bear to do the per-glass cost accounting.

Peter guzzled that case of MGD, but just won't admit it.

I conducted a double-blind test and proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that good beer tastes different than spring water. I know how relieved you all must be. Results will be published in an upcoming journal of some ill-repute.

Got some Modelo in cans recently and it was delicious; I've basically made a pledge to only buy canned beer if the supplier handling could possibly funk my mellow. That is, Mexican and Dutch beers (you know who you are) - your west coast distributors are leaving your product in full sun on the loading dock, and it stinketh mightily.

The seasonal offering from Deschutes is something called "Cinder Cone Red". Kind of malty, but still pretty aggressively hopped with noble-type hops (not citrusy at all). It's kind of nice, but did not give me goosebumps.

I also recently had LaConner Pilsner (small brewery north of Seattle). Much too full-bodied to be in style, but nice and clean. I think they fiddled with the yeast and fermentation temperatures so that they could get a Pilsner-like Michaura M-55, no wait, *beer* to market without compromising the effect of slow throughput in the brewery. It's a lager style beer with suspiciously ale-like tendencies.

They raised the price of Maker's Mark at the packie. We don't call it "the packie" here of course, but I just like that term so much that I'm going to promote it ceaselessly. Love that Maker's Mark. How was it again, Wicked Pissa?

Is there a cigar thread somewhere? I know nothing about them, and have no desire to be "a smoker". But every few years I have the good fortune to be in mid-load when a friend shares one with me, thus effectuating a unique satisfaction, especially when accompanied by dark beers.

Do you guys use coasters? Is the table you set your drink on during HT in front of, behind or to the side of the listening position? How do you feel about that? Done any studies on the effect of a liquid-filled, semi-cylindrical object within the audible field?

Hey, this whiskey's water! (cite that quote, anybody?)

Are you drinking right now Tom?
That was a heck of a post.

In reply to:

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Hey, this whiskey's water!

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Either Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny... in a dreamlike state (at a mirage?) in a Looney Tunes cartoon, no?

Bren R.

No, chess, unfortunately. Not yet. But soon, very soon.

Bren got it in one! Daffy. I love Looney Tunes.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Guinness.
(sorry, had to chime in.)