Some may say the secret ingredient is "salt". Others say it is gypsy magic and the proprietors of this video must be hunted down and tortured for their beer-cooling secrets.
Are you a sad football-watching drunk who wants nothing more than to guzzle cheap American beer and pass out in front of the flickering televised sporting contest, momentarily forgetting your copious problems? No, you're the future of beer marketing!
• Still looking for a place to celebrate the inauguration? You're in luck. A long list of restaurants and bars have special events planned. [GS, Eater, Metromix]
• Newly opened restaurants have been hit the hardest by the recession. [NYT]
• A few more gloomy indicators: High-end eateries are allowing diners to bring their own wine and Daniel will host a beer-tasting next month. [NYP, CNY]
• The dining crime wave may be over: Cops have nabbed two suspects. [NYP]
• Sad news for hot dog fans: The original Nathan's may be forced to close as part of the plan to "revitalize" Coney Island. [NYP]
• Emeril Lagasse will guest-judge the final two episodes of Top Chef. [Eater]
Awesome dude Matthew MacConaughey is a man of simple pleasures. He likes to smoke a little something, enjoy a frosty beverage, play some bongos, and ride some tasty waves. So why are his Malibu neighbors getting all, like, uptight and totally hassling bro in the press? His surf buddy fans already did them all the favor of clearing the beach of pesky paparazzi by handing the shutterbugs some righteous beatdowns. Well, it seems the no-fun-loving neighbors are worried about the children. Won't someone please, please think of the children?
OK, Facebook is bringing Beacon back in the next 6 to 12 months, with plans to charge advertisers when Facebook users buy their products. We're sure social-graph enthusiasts are enthused. But for those trying to make money with Facebook widgets now, there's better news today. With the launch of a new "Demographic Restrictions capability" that can tell under-21 users from over-21 users, Facebook has decided to allow itself and widgetmakers to sell ads to the alcoholic-beverage industry. You know, the one known to spend as much as $915 million a year on beer ads, and which might be keen to reach Facebook's college-and-after demographic
You may be surprised to discover that people are still remarking upon the existence of Tucker Max, the prototypical ex-frat boy who likes to drink beer and bang hot girls and then write a crazy blog about the aforementioned banging that will make you lose your shit, bro. I would have guessed that Tucker would have settled down into a quiet job selling insurance by now after either being disabled in a bar fight or having his genitals bitten off by an undercover feminist. Instead, somebody foolish is paying him actual money to make a movie called I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, scheduled for release next year. More importantly, a blogger who read the film's script is calling it one of the most unfunny productions in years, and has nailed Tucker Max to the wall so deftly we just know he's home right now trying out comeback lines in the mirror while flexing his biceps and getting progressively drunker: The personality summary:
A Yale professor of physiology has scientifically proven that's impossible to get drunk on beer. It's true! The numbers don't lie! So drink away, citizens—at work, at home, at breakfast, anytime! Of course, there's a catch: this scientician decided this in 1955, when things were simultaneously much more uptight and also sooo much cooler.
Activists in Philadelphia are upset about an ad campaign for Colt 45 malt liquor—specifically, its cartoonish wall murals in poor neighborhoods showing party people living it up while swilling 40s, with the slogan "Works Every Time." One woman tells the AP she wouldn't want her daughter looking at it because "She might think it's cool." Which is a reasonable response from a parent to ads for everything from malt liquor to Bratz dolls. One would think that companies in the vice industries would have learned from Joe Camel that there is nothing to gain but backlash from cartoon-style ads, but apparently not. Colt 45 has an equally objectionable website full of cartoons, which also shows a fundamental disconnect with the rotgut company's own customer base; bird watchers (educated guess, here) are not really a cost-effective target audience :
