Spit-On-The-Keyboard Hilarious -- And Thank God I'm Not A Man

Oh, man (no pun intended), this is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long long time. These are ads for an Israeli brewing company. The ad campaign was called "Thank god you're a man." Click on the three black images to enlarge each -- and make sure there's no fluid in your mouth when you're looking. (Wash your brain out with soap! That was NOT a double entrendre.) Huge tip o' the mug to my pal Jay Brooks for this grand laugh-of-the-day.

Beer + Kid Rock + Tax Abatements = Stimulus

Hey, maybe Jacob is on the right track after all. This just in. Frankly, I had no idea who Kid Rock is. Had to google him. Learned he's [yet another] rock-musician-guy with bad hair and sunglasses.

State Economies Go Crrrrrash! State Legislators Say Taaaax! [Corrected]

As usual, I'm "attending" to about seventy-five different things at once (write a thousand words today, pick up milk and eggs, think about commissioned piece on beer, acknowledge husband's existence, get some exercise, figure out what to fix for dinner, etc. etc. etc.....)

So: am not doing the greatest job in the world of paying attention to the Big Important Stuff -- but: it's not lost on me that a good number of state legislatures are turning their attention to revenue: how and where to get it. (In you've not heard the news, the state of California is nearly broke and will lay off about 20,000 employees this week. The state of Kansas can't meet its payroll on Friday. And so on....) [Correction: The state of California has told 20,000 employees that they may be terminated; it has not yet laid them off.]

No surprise, all of a sudden those "sin" taxes exude allure and charm. As we all know, cigarettes have taken the brunt of the "we need money so let's tax a sin" in the past few years.

Now it's apparently alcohol's turn. Many states are considering many options when it comes to taxing beer (and other forms of alcohol). But some of the best news coverage of such an attempt is coming out of Oregon.

So, for a good roundup of what's happening Oregon's legislature, see here and here.

And then for an excellent commentary on that activity, see Jeff Alworth at Blue Oregon. (*1)

As always, be sure to read the dozens of comments that Jeff's piece provoked. Jacob Grier, who also lives in Portland, is covering these developments from a different perspective, one that's worth thinking about. Also see his (only slightly) tongue-in-cheek idea for his share of the "stimulus" package.

[Added after the fact: When I originally posted this entry, I neglected to include a link to Patrick Emerson's blog; he, too, is discussing the economics of beer and taxes. He's got many entries on the topic, so here's a link to his blog, and then rummage around for the relevant content.]

To change the subject somewhat: Again, the commentary from Jeff and Jacob [and Patrick] are great examples of the upside to blogging, the internet, and the digitization of modern life. Back in the days of p.i.e. (*2), I wouldn't have known about either of them, and it's unlikely they would have had access to such a broad audience.

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*1: Jeff typically surfaces here at my blog in his capacity at the blogger at Beervana, but in his "other life," he writes about politics at Blue Oregon.

*2: PIE = pre-internet era

In Praise of Abita

Shall we end this workweek on a high note? This article about Abita Brewing.

I'm a serious fan of Abita Turbodog, which may be one of the best beers in America. (True, it came in second when I bracketed beers for the first edition of The Enlightened Bracketologist, but it won -- yay! -- two weeks ago when I bracketed beers again for the second edition of Bracketologist [coming soon; no link yet].)

So: enjoy the weekend. Enjoy a Turbodog!

(Preferably with the one you love.Tomorrow, I gather, is Valentine's Day. That's a non-starter at our house, where every day is V-Day.) (Yes, you read that right. I don't expect, and don't particularly want, flowers, chocolates, jewelry, or, dear god, a Vermont Fucking Teddy Bear -- although those commercials are hilarious.) (

Why, yes, I do make the perfect wife, thankyouverymuch!)

Beer Consumption? Yes, It's Declining. (And We Know Why.)

Our man-on-the-beer-beat in St. Louis, Jeremiah McWilliams of Lager Heads reports on declining global beer sales/consumption. No surprise, right?

Of course, twenty years from now, it'll be interesting to learn what an economic historian has to say about production and use of barley, rice, hops, etc., versus the purchase of those reported by brewing companies.

Because we can assume that some of the crops will end up in homemade beer, sake, spirits, and so won't be shown in tallies gathered by industry analysts or reported to taxing authorities. (That's one way that government officials were able to measure the amount of illegal alcohol production during Prohibition: What got planted? What got sold? What got taxed?)

Lachky is Leaving the Building

From Jeremiah McWilliams of the always-informative [example of why journalism must survive] Lager Heads, news that Bob Lachky is leaving Anheuser-Busch.

I'm not even remotely surprised. Heck, I'm 55. I can understand the desire to do something different. Especially when what you've been doing is slammed by a tsunami named Carlos. Although I absolutely believe the take on it: that Lachky had been thinking of this for some time. (Because he'd no doubt seen that the times they were 'a changing.) (For which we ought to applaud his ability to take the long view of the big picture.) Lachky, by the way (whom I've only met once) is the guy who responded (by paper letter) last summer to my plea that A-B try to save the archives and library, for which I was grateful.

Bob: good luck and godspeed.