New in GTA IV: Driving Drunk

Grand Theft Auto - especially the latest version, GTA IV - has experienced its share of criticism for its realistic violence and excessive profanity but a new portion of the game, in which the sensation of driving drunk is simulated, is raising even more eyebrows, especially with the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The drunk driving portion occurs as part of a mission where Niko has to drive Roman home. Even the task of walking is made challenging by a wavy camera angle and overly sensitive controls. When in the car the same, shifty camera angle and twitchy controls lead to further difficulty.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving - know as MADD - says it is extremely disappointed by the decision of the game’s makers. They say drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke.

Some defend the drunk driving portion of the game, claiming that might actually discourage people to drive safe in real life. A recent post in a GTA IV forum reads: “to anyone who hasn’t driven drunk, it exaggerates the effects to a degree that I’m sure would scare someone from ever trying to really drive drunk, so it’s actually helping their cause.”

We haven’t had a chance to test out the game, so we can’t comment about the drunk driving experience. Is there anyone out there who has seen it, and what do you think?

Your Cheap Booze– Older!

Hate the taste of Busch and Natty Lite? Want to do something about it? Now you can!

Using a luminous transformer that he found in his basement, VOLT/AGED’s Jon Sarriugarte decided to test what would happen if he pumped 15,000 volts into a bitter brandy. What he found was that, after the treatment, the brandy was considerably smoother and seemed to have aged a great deal.

Expanding on this idea, Jon and friends threw on some copper pipes, a safety cage, a timer (so you can see how many years you have aged your alcohol), and gave it the name VOLT/AGED, essentially creating their own “boiler bar.”

A machine that can age brandy, whiskey, beer and maybe even wine? Now that, my friends, is something every College Drinker needs.

See how it’s done here.

7yo in Foster Care after Dad “Mistakenly” Buys Him Booze at Ballgame

Father claims he “didn’t know” Mike’s Hard Lemonade was alcoholic

7 year-old Leo Ratte was taken from his parents custody after his father “mistakenly” purchased a Mike’s Hard Lemonade for him to drink at a Tiger’s game. A Comerica Park security guard noticed the bottle in young Leo’s hand and notified police after confronting the father.

The father, Christopher Ratte - 47 years-old and a tenured professor of classical archaeology at the University of Michigan - said that he did not know the drink was alcoholic when he purchased it for his son. “I’d never drunk it, never purchased it, never heard of it,” Ratte told reporters. “And it’s certainly not what I expected when I ordered a lemonade for my 7-year-old.”

The Comerica security guard estimated that Leo had drunk about 12 ounces of the Mike’s Hard Lemonade, which is 5% alcohol. Leo was taken, by ambulance, to nearby Children’s Hospital where, 90 minutes later, an ER physician performed a blood test that found his BAC to be normal.

The kid was discharged, but it would be two days before the state of Michigan allowed Ratte’s wife, U-M architecture professor Claire Zimmerman, to take their son home, and nearly a week before Ratte was permitted to move back into his own house.

What do you think?

Should the Michigan cops have cut Ratte a break? Or should he have known that Mike’s Hard Lemonade was alcoholic?

Rising beer prices squeezing customers

Industrialization has its perks, such as greater demand for exports and more choices for consumers. Except when that demand causes prices to rise on commodities that people hold dear.

The rising costs of grain, fuel and even water are pushing up the price of beer between five and ten percent this year. So far this year, hops alone have risen between five- and eight-hundred percent due to bad weather and the increased planting of corn for ethanol in the United States. Supplies of hops are down six percent this year alone.

This crunch for brewers is passed on to the consumer, either at the liquor store or the bar. The average price bars pay for a bottle of beer has risen from $1.12 to $1.18 and kegs have risen 20 percent as well.

When the price of a premium pint reaches $6, it might be too much for consumers who look for other alternatives, which again hurts smaller producers who are feeling the commodity price surge the most.

Without a substantial drop in fuel costs or a good harvest, the price of that amber nectar of the gods will continue to rise, potentially forcing consumers to forego the bar and drink Busch instead of Samuel Adams.

Bottle service banned in Boston

For groups of guys looking to get into a hot club, shelling out bones for the VIP-section and bottle service is a must. Unless you happen to be going out in Boston.

The city’s Puritan roots have returned to squash the luxury service most clubs offer. The bottle service phenomenon, where a waitress sits by your table to help pour drinks from high-end bottles of liquor and non-alcoholic mixers, is under threat by the Boston Licensing Board. Board Chairman Dan Pokaski said that the service violates Massachusetts’ happy hour law that prohibits the sale of more than two drinks to any one customer at a given time.

Club owners say that customers buy bottles not for excessive libation, but as a less hectic method for a group of clients to get drinks without having to fight the crowd at the bar.

There have been several crackdowns at Boston-area clubs, but recently club owners are obeying the ban and losing out on their lucrative high-end service.

VIP service in Boston clubs is still allowed, but no bottles of liquor are allowed, helping to depress waitresses’ tips and force serious club-goers away.

So next time you are in Boston, make sure to leave the bottle at home.

Beer Cupcakes = Neat!

Alright kids, I love beer, and I love cupcakes. Let’s combine them! Thanks to the brilliant minds at City Pages, now we can.
Ingredients you will need:

• A stick and a tablespoon of unsalted butter
• A bottle or can of Guinness (go for the best, but if you aren’t a fan of Guinness, well, first you should probably rethink your life, but next you can probably substitute a similar, not-too-hoppy dark stout)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/3 cup milk (optional)
• Muffin tin
• Bowls
• An oven (no shit, Sherlock)

Instructions:
(Here I’ll try to be as simple as possible, in case you’re baking and drunk. Really though, please don’t bake while drunk. That’s bad.)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°
2. In a saucepan, melt the butter. (or nuke it if you’re lazy, like me)
3. Add a cup of Guinness to the butter (here the author warns us to be wary of the smell: “pretty strange… though not entirely unpleasant.” Ok then.)
4. Turn off the heat (or remove from the microwave) and add the cocoa and the brown sugar. Wisk that puppy up real good.
5. Eat mass quantities of the uncooked batter you have created, yet save enough to make actual cupcakes – at least one or two. (optional)
6. In a separate bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
7. Combine your two mixtures. Go ahead and eat mass quantities of this batter too, you know, as long as you don’t mind salmonella.
8. Sift (what a cool word) in the flour and the baking soda. For the culinarily-challenged, this means “to scatter or sprinkle through or by means of a sieve.” (thank you, dictionary.com) Colanders work too.
9. Stir away all clumps.
10. Pour the batter into the muffin tin. Bake for roughly 25 minutes or, until you can stick a knife in (the cupcake. please, please don’t hurt yourself) and it comes out clean.
11. Frosting time. ☺ Warm up the cream cheese a little so it is soft, and whip it together with the confectioners sugar.
12. Add the milk. (City Pages added Guinness instead. WOAH! What a rebel.) The amount of milk (or beer) added will determine how thick/thin your frosting is, so pour wisely.
13. If the cupcakes are cool, frost away!
14. Aaaaand you’re done! Eat, and enjoy.

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