Posts Tagged ‘alcohol’
Study: Wine adds five years to life, beer two years
Half a glass of wine a day may add five years to your life, a new study suggests. Drink beer, and you’ll live only 2 1/2 years longer.
Dutch researchers followed 1,373 men for more than four decades, noting their eating and drinking habits. Men who had about 20 grams of alcohol daily — equivalent to a half a glass of wine — had 2 1/2 years added to their life expectancy at age 50, compared with men who didn’t drink at all, according to the research published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Men who consumed only wine had twice as much added longevity.
Light alcohol intake was linked to lower cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and overall mortality in the study. Researchers had known that moderate drinking is tied to a lower risk of heart disease, possibly because of an increase in high density lipoprotein or so-called good cholesterol as well as a reduction in platelet clumping, making it more unlikely for clots to form. It is the first study to show that one kind of alcohol is superior to others in prolonging life, the researchers said.
“In this study, 70 percent of all wine consumed was red wine,” the researchers, led by Marinette Streppel of the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, said in the paper. “This suggests that the cardioprotective effect of wine could be due to a protective effect of polyphenol compounds in red wine, but other explanations cannot be ruled out.”
Polyphenols are chemical substances found in plants such as tannins and flavonoids.
Read more: Wine Adds Five Years to Life, More Than Beer, Dutch Study Finds
Bartender shatters cocktail record
Bartender Chris Raph is used to working busy nights at the Shout House, a dueling piano bar in downtown Minneapolis. But on Thursday night, keeping up meant proving himself the world’s fastest bartender.
Amid screaming girls and with sweat streaming down his forehead, Raph, 31, of Burnsville, shattered the Guinness World Records feat for the most drinks made in one hour before a crowd of about 300.
After hearing about such a record last summer, Raph contacted Guinness about making his own attempt. It took him months to prepare. In the meantime, a bartender in Munich, Germany, set the new world record with 389 drinks.
Raph broke the record with a citrus orange cranberry fizz for drink 390, then went on to pour a total of 662 cocktails by the end of the hour.
The Shout House auctioned off the record-breaking 390th drink for $225, with the proceeds going to charity.
Raph couldn’t just make several hundred vodka Red Bulls, since the Guinness rules state that each drink must be different. However, most of the drinks on his list were quickies made from two or three ingredients.
Raph established a breakneck pace, finishing each drink in about five seconds. Behind the bar he stockpiled 110 bottles of vodka and tequila, as well as gallons of fruit juice. Three bar-backs worked in unison to clear drinks and clean glasses.
So who got to taste all those cocktails? Only a few people. Most were dumped out so the glasses could be washed and promptly re-used.
Church holding Easter service at bar [Video]
Very interesting story and idea.
Many people spend their Sundays going to the church of their choice, but have you ever thought about attending a church service at a bar? One Little Rock Church is promoting its upcoming Easter service at a popular River Market hang out.
Just call it the Bar Church. That’s how a new church called “The River” is advertising itself. Not only will its Easter service be held at The Rev Room, the church is holding Good Friday service this week in the River Market as well.
Many churches are advertising Good Friday and Easter services, but most of them will take place in traditional settings.
“Well, we’re meeting at a bar,” says Shane Montgomery, Pastor of The River Church. He says he’s trying something different. “If you’re going to church somewhere, you probably don’t need to come down on Easter Sunday because you might feel a little uncomfortable,” Montgomery said.
By breaking away from the norm, he hopes to attract a new audience.
“It made sense to me,” the pastor said. “How do you get people that don’t go to church to go to church? You do that by going to a place and removing obstacles that are intimidating and church is intimidating sometimes.”
A few non church-goers had mixed reactions about the whole idea.
Joe Carter liked the idea, “because it kind of joins two worlds together.”
“I don’t know about having Easter Sunday at a bar,” said Aaron Adams. “That’s just the way I grew up and you don’t associate drinking with going to church.”
Pastor Montgomery says he anticipated negative reactions, but it’s not overshadowed by the positive impact he hopes his church will leave behind. “We choose to listen to the people that Jesus called us to reach,” he said.
If you’re thinking about coming, leave the dressy outfits and suits at home. Montgomery says they’re not allowed.
Read more and watch this story: Little Rock church holding Easter service at bar
Photo: From Flickr user Magic Bullet Theory
Man on motorized barstool charged with DUI
A DUI is never “good news” but this is positively interesting.
Neighbors heard what sounded like a lawnmower buzzing down Kelley Lane in Newark earlier this month. It turned out to be a motorized barstool which police say a man crashed while drunk.
Kile Wygle, 28, is charged with driving a barstool while under the influence of alcohol and driving with a suspended license. He’s asked for a jury trial.
Police say Wygle crashed his strange-looking contraption while trying to make a U-turn.
According to a report, Wygle told Officer Michael Trotter that his barstool can reach speeds of 38 mph, but was only going 20 mph when he crashed.
Wygle was treated for minor injuries at Licking Memorial Hospital where he joked with Trotter about drinking 15 beers before the crash. He refused the blood-alcohol test.
Ohio law prohibits anyone from operating a motorized vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The law excludes wheelchairs and mobility scooters.
Read more: Man on motorized barstool charged with DUI
Bar has beer taps at tables
“It’s every guy’s dream,” says Jason Bailey, a partner in O’Neill’s Irish Pub. “We are in Guy Heaven.”
The topic was Table Tap, an innovative way to get cold beer from the refrigerator to the table at O’Neill’s on Richmond Road in Lexington.
Instead of a server carrying pitchers, a beer tap connected by plastic tubing to a keg in the bar’s walk-in refrigerator is at the customer’s table.
As each fresh glass of beer is poured, a meter embedded in the table registers the amount and the charge for each ounce, which depends on the brand of beer.
“It’s just like paying for gasoline, except we charge by the ounce instead of the gallon,” Bailey said.
The tab can later be divided among the people at the table.
“It was just so super-neat, we had to try it here,” he said. “Every guy has thought of (inventing) this.”
Read more: O’Neill’s has beer taps at tables
Student creates alcohol-flavored popcorn [Video]
Fun story and great video.
A student at University of Missouri in Columbia has created “Pub Corn,” alcohol-flavored popcorn.
“I soaked the kernels in whiskey,” Cary Silverman said. “That didn’t work. I tried injecting it with a syringe. I poked my finger a lot, but it didn’t work.”
Silverman didn’t give up, and he finally came up with non-alcoholic coatings that taste like beer, piña colada and Irish Cream.
Silverman said his main buyers have been pregnant women and truck drivers. He said they’re looking for the taste of alcohol, but can’t drink the real stuff.
Silverman has been approached by producers for Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and Martha Stewart, all of whom would like to have Silverman on their shows. Oprah asked for the tequila-flavored popcorn.
Read more and watch that story: Student Creates Alcohol-Flavored Popcorn
I know you are wondering where to order some: Pub-corn.com If you get some, let us know what you think!
Buddhist temple built with 1.5million recycled beer bottles
Built using more than a million beer bottles, this incredible temple in the north-east of Thailand is a novel way to recycle any empties.
Sometimes known as Wat Lan Kuad, or Temple Of A Million Bottles, the temple uses the discarded bottles to construct everything from the crematorium to the toilets.
Altogether there are about 1.5million recycled bottles in the temple, and the monks at there are intending to recycling even more.
‘The more bottles we get, the more buildings we make,’ says Abbot San Kataboonyo.
The design is amazing. Read more: The Buddhist temple built using 1.5million recycled beer bottles
Click the pictures to see larger images.
