"He's bringing some hooch out of the back room!"

We went to la Estrella de Oro tonight, what we were told is the oldest cantina in Coatepec, about 120 years old. It was originally a train stop; the tracks ran right down the center of the street. Anyway...it was rustic, the people were rough-cut but friendly (especially when a bunch of gringos descended on their bar), and they had cold beer. They also had a folding table that had a top surface made of inch-thick stone, such a bizarre thing that I actually got out my notebook and wrote it down. I got an Indio, a FEMSA dark beer; it was fine, it was cold. I had some mezcal; I don't like tequila, but this I liked, smoky, not as vegetal.

And then I saw the bartender go into the backroom and come back with a big glass tumbler about 1/3 full of some not-quite-clear liquid, pour it in two guys' glasses, and top it with a bit of Fresca. What da hell? I leaned over to Sarah, one of the Pernod Ricard folks, and said, hey, the bartender's bringing some kind of hooch out of the backroom! Can we find out what that is? So she got our local guy, Pablo Zacarias (interesting dude who's planning on moving to Montreal and opening a Mexican/Veracruz coffee shop there; I need to get him in touch with the Mondial folks), to ask. Sure, he'll do that; do you want some? Well, hell yeah!

He's up there a long time, talking and grinning, and he finally comes back with about 1.5" of the stuff in a tall glass. What is it? "It's donkey herb," he says, with a big grin. "Yerba del burro. It's an infusion, in rum, sugar cane rum." Sarah asks him what it is, he says it's donkey herb -- good answer! -- and I'm thinking, I don't know what it is, but I'm sure as hell gonna Google it when I get back (and I did); meantime, let's get blind on this stuff! It had a kind of sweet tarragon aroma, and was quite sweet. Not surprising to find some kind of backroom rum thing in an area with all this sugar cane growing. It wasn't bad; we split on it, some liking it, a couple hating it as too sweet. I wonder what it was like with the Fresca.

Great little scruffy joint. I'd go back.

Slap the PLCB today

I just posted in my PLCB blog about a poll running in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I'd like to encourage you to go vote NO on the poll, saying you oppose the PLCB's automated wine kiosk and "boutique" wine store schemes. The reasons are here. This agency is out of its mind, and must be stopped. FREE THE BOOZE!

Update: YES! Results came in at 73% NO, 22% yes. I don't know -- or care -- how many "No" votes came from anti-alcohol types; we won this one. Wine kiosks and mini-wine boutiques...as if.

Google to Bleach Their Blue Noses

Wow, I guess all us beer/booze Bloggers can stop looking over our shoulders -- not that many of you probably were, but I'm paranoid -- because of Google's policy of keeping alcohol at arm's length. Buried in the small print on the "Yeah, I'm going to play nice in the Blogger sandbox" statement you agree to when you use Blogger is some language that seems to say you shouldn't talk about booze...but it's vague.

We can probably forget all that now, because Google has announced that they will "lift restrictions in the New Year, letting spirit brands run branded search campaigns tied in with overall marketing activity." This is in response to slowing "click rates" on AdWord, Google's money-maker. So they're throwing open the doors to spirits ads. About time. Liquor is legal, albeit with restrictions: much like automobiles, pool halls, firearms, marriage, and practicing law. Thanks for admitting it, Google.

Language

I see that Mt. Shasta Brewing has won a short legal battle with the fun-hating bureaucrats at the ATTTB. The ATTTB (apparently on the say-so of one employee's interpretation of the somewhat vague and arbitrarily enforced regulations; sound familiar?) told MSBC, which bottles their beer under the brand "Weed", which is the name of the town where the brewery is located. MSBC put the legend "Try Legal Weed" on their bottlecaps, and the ATTTB said that was a drug reference. And 420 isn't? Wiser 'heads' (hee hee!) prevailed, and the ATTTB backed down before the dispute went to trial.

Anyway, my real issue here is the use of the term "alcoholic beverages" in the story. I don't like it. I know, in the dictionary "alcoholic" has a definition of "containing alcohol." But ask most people what "alcoholic" means, and they'll start telling you about their uncle who drinks too much...and that kinda means that an "alcoholic beverage" is something an alcoholic drinks. I don't like it.

How about "alcohol beverage"? We call other soft drinks "fruit drinks" and "juice drinks," not "fruited drinks" or "juiced drinks." I write for a couple industry mags that insist on the term "alcohol beverage" instead of "alcoholic beverage."

Of course, I'd just as soon use the catch-all term "booze," even though some people think it's silly. Booze is so much easier than writing "beer, wine, and spirits" or "alcohol beverages" or "fermented and distilled beverages." It's a perfectly good word, and like Randall in "Clerks II," I'm taking it back. I'm gonna be using "booze" for that reference from now on. I refuse to let the New Drys define the discussion.