Collectible Beer Steins

Putting The Home Bar Together The Easy Way

When you have your bar and your cabinets built, you’ll want to get to drinking in it…Now.  But, I’ve seen some make shit jobs that aren’t really all that great.  Then, I’ve seen some expensive setups that are way out of the reach of most of us.

So, here’s the home bar the easy way:

The kegerator is the first thing you put in your bar.  It keeps your keg cool and it adds style in an inexpensive way.

This kegerator can actually make the entire bar.  If you choose to use a kegerator like this to hold your kegs, you can make it a part of the bar’s counter top.  Then, you only need counter space on each side.  That’s a setup made easy, as easy as it gets. 

Grab a tap handle of your favorite beer and now you’ve got something to really get you bragging.  There are tap handles of all kinds, from your favorite domestic to your favorite import.  As a promotional tool, every beer you can think of has a beer tap handle for commercial uses as well as the home bar enthusiast.

But, just in case you have a beer of your own or some other “unrecognizable” libation, get the beer tap handle you can write anything on that you want. 

Tell people, “Try Me!”  Give your concoction a name.  Have fun with it and write, “Make Your Own Beer…” or whatever else you might come up with to prank your friends.

You’ve got the bar.  Dress it up in style.  The kegerator and a beer tap handle can turn any room into a bar.  Your bedroom, your dorm room (oops), your garage, your basement, your tree house…

Anywhere!

Details Of A DUI

Today it seems that you hear the abbreviation constantly. DUI task forces are constantly on the news. However, not everyone understands the basics of a DUI are or even what DUI stands for.

Basically, the abbreviation DUI stands for “driving under the influence.” Typically, this means that someone has gotten behind the wheel of a motor vehicle and has driven while being under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. Each state has different requirements regarding DUI’s, but in all of them driving under the influence of a substance is illegal.

When you are 21 or older consuming alcohol is legal, yet driving when your blood/alcohol content is above the limit is not. This also includes illegal drugs (which is a crime itself) but also includes prescription medication as well.

Today many police officers are on the lookout for people who might be driving under the influence. Often, it is their erratic driving that will originally draw the officer’s eye to their vehicle. Typically, this is because when someone is driving under the influence of a substance their focus and reaction time may be significantly diminished.

Once a law enforcement officer has pulled over a suspect that is possible driving under the influence, they will start off by asking the driver about whether or not they are under the influence of any substance. Once that is done, the officer will then ask the driver to go through and complete a field sobriety test which consists of tests that check the coordination and reactions of the person in question. Tests like walking in a straight line, standing on one leg or touching the nose with each of the hands are done. If there is still reason to be suspicious of a DUI then other tests that are more exact will be requested from the driver, such as the breathalyzer test or a blood test and these will tell exactly what the blood alcohol levels are.

Since the laws vary according to the state, the driver may or may not be able to decide what kind of advanced testing will be done. Every state, though, has so-called implied consent rules and that means if you accept your driver’s license then you also consent to any testing if you are suspected of driving under the influence of any substance. The reasoning is that driving is both a responsibility and a privilege, but as soon as you decide to drive under the influence then you put yourself and others at risk.

There are many consequences for DUI depending what state it occurred in. Jail stays, community service, fines, suspension of your driver’s license and probation are the more common and which depends on the severity of the infraction. Needless to say if your levels were way over the legal limit or this is not your first time for being charged with DUI you can expect to be punished more severely than a first time offender.

Wine Goblets – A Diverse Range of Ways to Serve Up Your Wine

You can get wine goblets in a variety of different sizes, shapes and made out of all kinds of different materials. They have been produced for hundreds of years and the older glasses from Europe which conform to the shape we see today with a stem dates back to the fifth teen-hundreds. Towards the end of the fifth teen-hundreds century saw wine being enjoyed from decorative glasses.

The oldest glasses from Great Britain had engraved stems. These were later replaced by plainer stems, and then by twisted stems. High quality crystal wine glasses were used in France in the late 1700s. Throughout the ages wine glasses made from all kinds of different materials from pewter to gold have been used.

When you are looking to purchase wine goblets or any other kind of stemware you want to get something that will really make a difference the wine you are enjoying. To define, a wine goblet it is really a wine glass that is able to hold a larger amount (over four ounces) of wine. How large, the shape and the coloring of the wine goblet can of course have an impact on how the wine appears.

Luckily, there are really no “rules” about serving wine: no correct way to serve it and no official sizes or shapes, shapes or colors of wine glasses. Use common sense and a sense of flair to choose how you serve wine. Often people will also serve water at a dinner party in glasses that look like wine glasses, but they are usually larger.

In the early 19th century, wine glasses began to be produced in sets. By the 1950s, manufacturers began to make stemware a different size and shape for just about every type of wine. Part of the allure of wine is not just the taste and smell, but the presentation.

A true wine lover wants to see the “legs” of the wine as the wine is swirled in the wine goblet. The swirling also is the best way to display the “nose” of a fine wine. All things are considered when choosing just what glass would be perfect for the wine being served. A somewhat large glass is best used for wine at dinner.

Wine glasses with large mouths (open tops) are great for show and harnessing the scent and aroma of the wine. Smaller tend to be for white wines. As for champagne, tall flutes are used to keep the bubbles flowing, and these type of glasses have an elegance all of their own.

It can be expensive getting a range of different wine goblets for the wide range of wines you could possibly serve. They also take up a certain amount of storage area. To make the easier for your pocket and available storage you may want to opt for wine glasses that can be used for more than one type. In California, the wine institute has developed a glass that can be used for all types as it’s size and shape lends it’s self to getting the best out of any wine.

Garrison Keillor – View of Cincinnati, Love of Beer

Cincinnati Poem

We’re in Cincinnati and it’s good to be here
In a city of pork and a city of beer.
Old beer signs everywhere you walk:
“Good Old” Brucks, Brenner’s XL Pilsener, John Hauck
Barbarossa, King Gambrinus, or Crown.
You eat you some Pork hocks with leeks and garlic cloves, you need beer to wash it down.
Similarly, to go along with a pint of beer, you need more than a pretzel
You need Pork Meatloaf with brown gravy and spaetzle.
A big pork sandwich and something to drink,
Geisbauer, Bierbrauer, Linck.
Nothing chintzy
Here in Cincy.
Like it or not, Cincinnati was not vegetarian.
It went for pork shanks with bread dumplings and a pitcher of Bavarian.
No lemonade, no cranberry juice, no apple cider,
But a big mug of Weber’s, Lackman, Jackson, Mohawk, Gerke, Burger, or Foss-Schneider.
And all of the pig was used, even the snout
To make Bierwurst, Mettwurst, Bratwurst, piled high with sauerkraut.

Beers with distinguished names like Butcher & Weidmann and Windisch-Muhlhauser
To give a sense of dignity to the drunken carouser
City of suds and city of swine,
Some greasy goetta sausage and a glass of Christian Moerlein,
Or Little Kings cream ale

Beer by the bottle, the barrel, the hogshead, and the pail,
Golden brown glasses of beer with nice big heads
And Hudepohl-Schoenling, Cincinnati’s finest, hu-dey “Hu dey think gonna beat them Reds”
It was the national capital of beer.
In 1890, they produced a million barrels a year.
Old breweries along McMicken Avenue on the hill north of Liberty Street,
Making beer out of water, yeast, sugar, plenty of hops, and wheat.
Oh in Cincinnati there was lots to do:
You had a Hudy and a Pork cordon bleu.
Cincinnati was a regular culinary riot.
How sad to be on a diet.
What a terrible loss.
To miss out on the roast pork loin with beer sauce.
And it is politically incorrect
And you may object
To my saying so, but I suspect
Something joyful and boisterous and profane
Was lost when we decided to abstain.
A man sitting down to pork braised, roasted, fried, boiled, battered, with a glass upraised,
A man who is a little fried himself and his eyes are glazed.
That may have been the night he became your daddy
Here in Cincinnati.

_____

If you ever find a place that you want to call home

and you can name off the reasons why,

then you’ll be as lucky as this guy!

How to Get Your Drink the Right Way

Ah, the bar. It’s the perfect social setting. It’s the place where you can have either the best or the worst time.

Strolling up to the bar is no problem – you know you got it. But the bartender doesn’t seem to think so. There’s definitely something wrong with that.

The wallet comes out, and you pull out your bills. You hold them up in clear view. This is accompanied by shouting out their name.

This won’t help you whatsoever. The whole world doesn’t wait on one person. Have some consideration and wait your turn.

And when you stand behind the bar, everyone is pretty much equal. Finishing your first-ever open mic set doesn’t guarantee a drink straightaway. You will have to wait your turn like everyone else.

And please don’t start whistling. Bartenders are humans, not canines. If you need to whistle for anything, go outside and whistle for a cab.

In order to speed up the process, remember that there are certain rules to abide by. “Oh woe is me” never got anybody anywhere. You’re still waiting, and sometimes the wait can be longer than usual.

Speaking of losing out, try not to be the “polite one” and offer that the cute boy (or girl) behind you should order first. He or she probably had no idea what to order in the first place. Looks like you just lost your place in line.

So be patient, and try to wait it out. The more you accept it, the better your mood will be. The drink will come eventually – promise.

Leave a tip when that long-awaited drink comes. In fact, doubling that tip might make them notice. Bartenders will most definitely remember you the next time.

So don’t forget to tip. And put on something hot. Bartenders will notice the attractive people.