I So Want a Coke Freestyle Machine

Let me say this first: I know coke is bad for me. I know it like I know my own name. In fact, I know that when I drink too much of it, or depend on it to keep me awake, I can get very, very ill. I’ve even seen family and friends experience ill health effects from too much soda. It’s bad, it’s not an everyday drink, and I just shouldn’t love it…

But I do!

And not just any coke, but fountain coke. I can’t stand the stuff in aluminum or bottles—I can taste both. Glass is okay, but what really tickles my fancy is a nice, freshly iced fountain coke (or cherry coke, or any other flavor available) when I’m craving it. And no, I don’t drink coke every day; I usually reserve that experience for the one, maybe two times a week we eat outside the house. (Or if we order in—one of my favorite pizza companies delivers fountain sodas.)

I really like to add fresh flavor, too. Cherry and vanilla coke is okay, but when you can actually add your own splash of flavor in it—like you can at Rallys or Sonic or any gas station that does flavor shots—it just tastes better for some reason. Fresher. And lo and behold, there is now a new, flavor shot extravaganza that I. Really. Want. To. Try.

It’s called the Coca-Cola Freestyle Beverage Machine, and I heard about it from the Sweet Tomatoes (one of my absolute favorite restaurants) blog. This machine—this glorious invention!—dispenses over 100 flavors by letting you select what flavor shots you want in your Coke products. From Orange Diet Coke to Grape Sprite, Peach Vault to Raspberry-Orange Fanta, Hi-C with Cherry to Orange Lemonade—the possibilities just go on and on! I so want to try this, but alas, the trial machine is not in my area. Maybe someday.

And the thing is, I’m pretty much against this! I don’t like how Coke markets its products in schools, bottles water, and doesn’t produce anything resembling something healthy. So I know I’m an absolute hypocrite when I say—can I please just try this thing? Just once?

Of course, I could just do the decent thing and buy a few bottles of flavoring agents online (I’ve looked them up, since my absolute favorite is blackberry and not many places carry it) and then mix my own at home. Then I’d have complete, 24-hour access… Yeah! I mean, no!

No, of course not.

The Texas Rangers 'Brand' (1)

=== What's In A Brand, Dept. ===

A few months ago, we did a seminar on the concept of "brand" in Corporate America. 

How much do you think you know about branding?  Test yourself with a question first:  what would you estimate that the Coca-Cola "brand" is worth, in cash money?

In other words, supposing Coca-Cola had to change its name to Zesti-Cola, use green instead of red, and change its font and swirl and contour bottle.  It did get to keep all of its factories, distribution lines, management, etc etc.

The "brand" is completely intangible.  It is a reputation, a set of associations that the human mind makes when it sees the Coke bottle.

.................

What's the intangible "brand" worth?

$67,500,000,000.00 USD.

Right after them, Microsoft's brand at $59.9 billion -- that's not what its software is worth, dude.  That's what its name is worth.

Disney's brand -- not its cruise ships, not its movie industry, not its amusement parks, but its name -- is worth $26.4 billion.  McDonald's golden arches are worth $26 billion, etc.

.................

ML teams speak in terms of brand constantly, if you listen to them.  It's in the way that free agents look at them, it's in the way that corporate sponsors work with them, it's in the TV and radio and the people they can hire and everything else.

It's no good to say, "The TV deal isn't up for four years."  In four years, the Rangers and Mariners will have a brand -- a set of associations in peoples' minds when their names are mentioned.

.

=== Revisionist History Dept. ===

Here is Seattle Sports Insider's 4-part article estimating what the Mariners would gain in a Cliff Lee trade.  Here is a fangraphs article "calculating" Lee's value to be about 30% of what we estimated.  The actual return?  Higher than SSI's estimate.

That's okay :- ) but we does peeve us a bit to see guys go back later and say, "no, Smoak and three guys is pretty much within shouting distance of what we thought...."   C'mon now.  Justin Smoak is a whale of a lot more than I thought the M's would get.

Prospect Insider manned up big time, and simply said hey.  We had no idea Jack would cash in like that, our bad.  Great!  So let's all move to the afterparty.  Capt Jack kicked tail and took names.

.............

And the Mariners kicked tail sooner rather than later.  Cliff Lee's radio interview spit all over the Seattle Mariners' brand.  Zduriencik, cutting his losses, changed the subject and Right. Now. 

Like we sez, the man can do it all.

.

Part 2

The Texas Rangers 'Brand' (2)

=== Hidden Dynamics ===

When the first concrete rumor came up -- Hicks and Ramos -- cyber-Seattle's reaction was that this was (1) misinformation, no way Lee is worth that, or (2) Zduriencik better take that within 24 hours or it proves he's a moron....

SSI's and MC's reaction was that Zduriencik should turn it down.  Neither Hicks nor Ramos were likely to be difference-makers.

We're not going to google it but let's not quibble.  Those who recommended passing on Hicks-Ramos were rebuked, sharply, for "not understanding" the real trade market.  It says here that the chastised rightfully get their one post to mark down the score as to who understood the real trade market.  :- )  

Sell the sizzle, not the steak.  Cliff Lee is a difference-maker, squared -- a guy that teams know will win them playoff games.  Teams in other cities prioritize the World Series very, very highly.  That was understanding the trade market:  understanding other teams' thirst for victory.

............

It doesn't do any good to say that teams should realize that the playoffs are a crapshoot, and should stick to their spreadsheets.  Most teams just don't agree that the playoffs are beyond their control.  Even if the playoffs were beyond their control, the sincerity of a team's effort to win it all matters in its brand.

.

=== Lesson Learned Dept. ===

Let's get closure on this 3-year debate.  You can't use this 2-D paradigm to project "correct" and "incorrect" trades because there is a 3-D world that GM's live in.

A shot at winning the World Series, a chance to leverage your franchise's "brand," a chance to prove that you are selling a quality (sincerely competitive!) sports product -- that is the strategic concern that CEO's and GM's must attend to.

The Rangers did not trade Justin Smoak for 12 starts' worth of Cliff Lee because they could make the $/WAR balance out.  Any attempt to $/WAR-balance Justin Smoak against 12 starts of Cliff Lee is a rationalization. 

The Rangers did it because the value of making an impact in the World Series, and the value of proving beyond any doubt that you are sincere about competing -- especially if you've never done it before -- is incalculable.

Run the $/WAR numbers.  We need to have them as one piece of the data picture.  But don't publish them as the "correct" paradigm and criticize the Rangers and Yankees for veering off.  Fan enthusiasm is the correct paradigm; they're not selling widgets out there.

.............

You might say that the Rangers' "brand" and the Coke "brand" is baloney and speculation.  Forbes, however, will be glad to value it for you.

.

Cheers,

Dr D




Strawberry Margaritas

I'm a devout admirer of the traditional Margarita made with fresh squeezed lime juice, quality tequila, and Grand Marnier.

But at this time of year, with all the lovely fresh locally grown strawberries that are available just about everywhere, it's time to think about a hand-made strawberry Margarita. If you're going to do this right, it means getting the highest quality ingredients that are possible. To begin with, that means fresh, ripe, sweet strawberries that taste fabulous on their own. If you wouldn't eat them, don't use them in a Margarita. The tequila needs to be something along the lines of Cuervo 1800, if possible. If not, make sure it's 100% agave. There are some very good imported tequilas from tiny labels, and they're worth trying, but always check to make sure it's 100% agave.

You'll see a lot of recipes, and a lot of restaurants, using Triple Sec, or Cointreau; either work, though I prefer Grand Marnier. That said, Triple Sec is much more affordable than either of the other two orange liquers and the slight bitter edge it has can play especially well with ripe, sweet strawberries. The lime juice really needs to be fresh-squeezed, and if you spot them, genuine key limes can be a lovely treat. This is a margarita that needs to be served with thoroughly crushed ice, and a blender can be awfully handy for crushing the ice and pureeing the strawberries. Traditionally, Margaritas should be served in a coupette or Margarita glass, but I rather like using a chilled rocks glass.

Strawberry Margarita (Serves 2)

Ingredients

    2 rocks glasses
  • 1 cup ice
  • 1 cup strawberries
  • 2 oz lime juice
  • 2 oz tequila
  • 2 tablespoons orange liqueur
  • 2 whole strawberries (for garnish)

Procedure

  1. Chill two rocks glasses
  2. Wash and remove the stems from the strawberries, reserving two fine specimens to use as garnish.
  3. Cut the strawberries in two, and puree in a blender.
  4. Add the ice, tequila, lime juice and orange liqueur to the puree in the blender, and blend until smooth.
  5. Pour into the chilled rocks glasses, and garnish each glass with a whole strawberry.

There are of course several other methods. You should experiment with the ingredients and the proportions until you've found the combination for your perfect strawberry Margarita. If the strawberries are a little less sweet, you might want to balance the sourness of the lime juice with a tablespoon of simple syrup. Here's a recipe for making a pitcher of quite strong strawberry margaritas. It's also possible, and sometimes far more practical, to use canned frozen strawberry puree, or even to puree frozen strawberries—especially if you're entertaining company and serving Margaritas by the pitcher. If you use a mix, or one of the bags that you freeze and then add tequila to the contents, I don't want to know about it.

What Type of Wedding Meal Suits You?

The wedding reception is a time for the bride, groom and guests to mingle and unwind
after the ceremony is finally over and the knot has been tied. Of course, socializing
can never be properly done without the right assortment of food and beverages, which
is why proper planning is required when choosing the reception meal. There are some careful
considerations to make before deciding on a particular meal type which will suit your
requirements, budget and the style of wedding.

The timing of the wedding and the length of the reception will determine what
type of meal you serve to your guests. Morning weddings tend to be followed by
light brunches or afternoon teas, while lengthy formal dinners or buffets usually
accompany afternoon ceremonies. Sending your guests home filled to the brim with
food and drink after an evening reception is acceptable but will not be appropriate in
the middle of the day when they may have other things planned.  Evening or “twilight” weddings can be followed with a buffet, canapes or a light meal.

It also pays to consider the size of your wedding reception. Larger venues will be
suitable for buffet-style meals where the food stations are located within the hall or
dining area itself. If your venue is smaller, you may like to consider a formal sit-down
dinner where the food is stored elsewhere. In this case, the number of guests attending
the reception will determine both the size of the venue and ultimately the choice of
dinner which you decide upon.

Budget, of course, will play a major part in deciding on the type of wedding meal that you choose.  However, don’t think that buffets need to be cheap and cheesy or that formal meals are expensive and stuffy.  There are plenty of creative ways to stretch your budget for either option, and add personality to your dinner.  Try serving a tapas meal, or perhaps making the starter and desert courses “sharing platters” on each table.  These options let people eat what they want and can save you considerable amounts of money.

The style of wedding reception should match that of the ceremony itself. Fortunately,
it is simple to achieve a specific dining atmosphere. A sit-down dinner will be elegant
and formal, and will give you the chance to easily control your guests during speeches
and for photographs. Buffet dinners are much more casual and give your guests a
better chance to mingle as they get up to fill their dishes and glasses from the various
food stations around the reception hall.

Regardless of the style of dinner, there are a few other things to think about during
the planning stages. You should make sure to include some catering options for vegetarians and those allergic to certain foods.  Also, make a firm and clear decision on alcohol - will you serve champagne, have an open bar, or provide wine on the tables? Last but not least, consider any smaller mouths that you have at your wedding dinner - children are much more likely to behave if you can give them a meal that they will enjoy!

New Belgium 1554

This is one of the beers

that came in the New Belgium Folly Pack, and of the four beers in the pack, this one is definitely my favorite. It's a dark, sweet, malt beer, not too heavy, and though it's not a session beer, it's a reasonable 5.6 ABV%, which means if you're having friends over for a barbecue, you can have a couple or three over the course of the evening. Note, by the way that this is a Belgian style ale; it's a bit lighter than a traditional Belgian ale (Try New Belgium's Abbey Ale for a beer that's closer to the Belgian monastic brewing tradition). New Belgium is not kidding when they call it an "Enlightened Black Ale." That's a very good description.

New Belgium's 1554 was inspired by a flood in 1997 that destroyed the recipe found in a library by New Belgium's beer researcher, Phil Benstein. So naturally, Benstein and brewmaster Peter Bouckaert traveled to Belgium for hands-on primary research.

It's a very dark beer in the glass, with a thin but bright head, and lovely deep red highlights. The aroma is malty, with a hint of chocolate, and grain. It's one of those dark beers that makes me think of brown bread made with molasses. There's a hint of hops in the finish; just enough to make it clear that this is a beer. This is clearly made with dark, roasted malts, but it's not at all heavy but it's rich with flavor. There's a reason the bottle suggests that it's served at 7 C / 49 F; the temperature makes a huge difference in both flavor and aroma with this style of brew.

You can find some other opinons here and here, and here. I plan on packing some 1554 in a cooler with some barbecue this summer, and I'm going to try pairing it with some slightly spicy ribs. I also think this would be a fabulous chili pairing.

Collins Cocktails

Summer is really here, and it's perfect weather for lounging on a porch or a deck and

watching the sun go down while you sip a long cool cocktail. A Collins is a fabulous summer cocktail, and it's easy to make. It's served in a Collins glass, a long tall cylinder, over ice. The various versions of a Collins are largely variations in terms of the citrus, or other flavoring, and the spirit used. The first Collins appears to have been created in the mid-1800s, and was named in honor of a nineteenth century meme visible in various newspaper and passed by word-of-mouth. Someone would approach another person, often in a bar, and say that "Tom Collins" had been bad-mouthing them. There was no actual "Tom Collins," it was a practical joke (if not a hoax) along the lines of calling a Tobacconist on the phone and inquiring if they "had Prince Albert in a can," and, on receiving an affirmative, suggesting they let him out.

The basic Tom Collins calls for gin, lemon juice, simple syrup (made by boiling two parts sugar to one part water until it's syrupy), and soda water. It's a very close relative of the Whiskey Sour.

  1. Add 2.0 ounces of gin, an ounce of lemon juice, and 0.5 ounce of sugar syrup to a Collins glass with ice cubes.
  2. Stir thoroughly (or use a mixing glass on top of the glass and pour the ice and liquid from one glass to the other).
  3. Top the glass with club soda.
  4. Garnish with a cherry and an orange slice.

Now, at a lot of bars, they'll used pre-made "sour mix"; this is not acceptable, and it really won't taste the same. You can very easily squeeze lemons ahead of time and store the juice in the refrigerator (or even use bottled pure lemon juice). The average lemon renders about 2 ounces of juice. You can adjust the amount of gin, juice, syrup and soda water to taste, which means you can make a lightly alcoholic summer sipper, for sipping over the course of several hours, or a genuine end-of-the-day-watch-the-sun-go-down-on-the-deck cocktail. I note that there are those who are partial to a Collins made with lime instead of lemon juice, and make no judgement as to whether or not they are engaging in cocktail heresy.

Other variations include the John Collins made with bourbon, the Ron Collins, made with rum, the Juan Collins made with tequila, and of course, the lovely vodka Collins.

New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale

This is the first New Belgium beer

I ever tried, and their flagship brew. New Belgium's Fat Tire is one of those beers that's reliably good, though I'm still hoping to try it on tap. When founding Brewmaster Jeff Lebesch began New Belgium, he was inspired by a bike trip through Belgium to create Belgian style ales, and Fat Tire, named after the bike he rode, was one of his first two brews. Jeff expected his second brew, the Abbey Ale would be the "Big" ale in terms of making his mark, but it's Fat Tire that's become one of the most widely recognized craft brews in America—in no small part due to the fabulous label art showing a Fat Tire cruisingbike, deftly created by watercolorist Ann Fitch.

Fat Tire is a light middle-of-the road beer; slightly malty, slightly bitter/citrusy hops. It's a golden brown in the glass, with a creamy head. There's an interesting caramel hint in the flavor, with a citrus hop finish. This really is a go-to beer for those spur-of-the-moment decisions to spend an afternoon at the park, or at the beach, or walking along a tree-covered bike trail. At a a nice light 4.2 % ABV, this is a super session beer. New Belgium Fat Tire goes with almost anything, and it very much affected by the food it's paired with. Believe it or not, I heartily recommend Fat Tire with oatmeal cookies, or oatmeal and fruit bars, as well as brats, Cajun-spiced chicken sausage on a grill, turkey burgers (regular burgers!), grilled portobello mushrooms, and fresh locally caught fried fish. For some other takes, see Robert Mancini's review, The Beer Snob, and The Drunken Polack.

I note that from now until September, residents of most states can enter a daily drawing to win a Fat Tire cruiser bike like those given to New Belgium employees after a year at the brewery. No purchase is required, though you must be over 18 to enter here.

Re-Embracing the Cocktail

I've been on record as saying that I generally disapprove of the cocktail as anything but a concept. If I'm going to drink, I generally go for spirits that haven't been augmented beyond recognition. Maybe it's just because I'm an inveterate lush, but nothing agrees with me more these days than straight liquor. I'll admit that most of my casual drinking habits still surround whatever comes out of the bottle unmolested by fruit juice, specialty liqueur or other esoteric ingredients. That doesn't mean I'm ready to take up the mantel of the purist. I've come to appreciate the cocktail as a novelty, something one drinks on special occasions or on nights dedicated to such tarted-up concoctions. I still have rules, though.

Rule #1: A Cocktail is Not a Drink

This rule requires some qualification. Yes, a cocktail is a drink in the same sense that a milkshake, a slurpee or a float is a drink, in that it is at least semi-liquid and consumed orally. A cocktail is not, however, the same as a glass of bourbon or a shot of vodka. A cocktail is an invention of flavor that only makes a quick stop at intoxication the way families driving cross-country make stops at the World's Biggest Ball of Yarn. Drunkenness is incidental to cocktails, but it's not the point. If you drink cocktails with the purpose of getting drunk you'll spend more evenings than any respectable adult ought to hunched over a porcelain bowl cursing whatever entity you believe created you. Cocktails are for fun and for experiencing unusual flavors. For instance, a cocktail may be designed to mimic the flavor of a key lime pie, right down to the crust. This is acceptable, if only because it's a pleasant distraction from the harsh, honest flavor of straight liquor.

 

Rule #2: If You Don't Like It Outside a Cocktail, Don't Drink It In a Cocktail

I despise cinnamon-flavored alcohol. So, I don't care if you can make me a drink that tastes just like a freshly baked apple pie, it still involves cinnamon-flavored alcohol so I'm avoiding it. This is just common sense. It doesn't matter how intriguing a combination of cocktail ingredients are. You wouldn't eat a green bean casserole if you don't like green beans on their own, so don't drink some gin-based cocktail if you don't like gin just because it's supposed to taste like a garden salad.

 

Rule #3: Cocktails Don't Pair Well With Anything

Cocktails are necessarily designed to have strong, complex flavors. Nothing you can chew is going to complement your cleverly-named cocktail. Alcohol pairing with food should be reserved for beer, wine or straight liquor because none of those things are attempting to dominate your palate. Whatever you eat with your cocktail, either the food or the drink is going to dominate the combined flavor. Let the cocktail shine for what it is. Some bartender carefully constructed this drink to have a very specific flavor. You're not doing it any favors by asking it to mingle with something arbitrarily.

 

Rule #4: Don't Order Something You Can Mix at Home

I've come to the conclusion that no bartender can make me a martini better than the one I make for myself and nobody is going to make a White Russian with the exact proportions that please me. If you must drink a cocktail, go to a bar that specializes in them and order something you'll never have the desire to mix at home. These drinks usually have odd, obscure names and use esoteric ingredients like a specific kind of bitters or a variety of vermouth only made by one lonely monk in Switzerland. Give that monk his moment in the sun and treat yourself to a flavor you'll likely never capture on your own.

Shot Roulette

I'm more likely to turn my nose up to a drinking game than indulge in it. Most drinking games are at best an excuse to do something you were going to do anyway and at worst an ill-advised collection of bad ideas that will almost certainly result in porcelain worship. Really, the majority of drinking games are just logical conclusions of bad drinking behavior. Take beer pong, for instance. It's a game that takes the inherently vile experience of chugging cheap pilsner and makes it somehow more disgusting by adding a dirty table, a wet ping pong ball and the hands of drunk strangers. People ought not to drink cheap pilsner anyway, but beer pong just makes it worse. Movie drinking games are only marginally less stupid. Sure, taking a shot every time Character X says Catchphrase Y will get you drunk pretty fast, but this seems like a classic case of the whole diminishing the parts. This game both distracts from the movie by reducing it to the search for a single component of it, as well as distracting from the (potential) pleasures of drinking. If you want to do shots, then just do shots. The game seems both unnecessary and less fun than it ought to be. But there is one drinking game I'm willing to endorse: Shot Roulette.

So, the biggest problem with Shot Roulette is that it requires some extra equipment and a fairly extensive bar to do it right. Perhaps this is why I approve of the game. It's not some stupid, on-the-fly drinking game that college kids play because they don't know better, it's a drinking game for people who have the will and know-how to actually enjoy alcohol. Here's what you'll need:

  • A roulette wheel
  • 18 shot glasses
  • A bar with at least 18 different kinds of spirit
  • At least three participants
  • 18 pieces of Scrap paper

On your 18 pieces of scrap paper, write two of the numbers on the roulette wheel of the same color. Assign each participant an equal number of glasses then set them loose on the bar. You can set extra rules, such as "red numbered glasses are for liqueur, black numbered glasses are for liquor", but that's up to your discretion as host. The aim here is to get a wide variety of different shots on the board. Play consists of going around the room in whatever order you choose, giving each player one spin per turn. Wherever the roulette ball lands, that's the numbered glass the player has to drink.

Naturally, as the game progresses it'll be more likely that the ball lands on the number of an empty glass. You could just let that count as a free pass, but you could just round the number up to the nearest full glass if you're feeling particularly thirsty or malicious. As for the 0 or 00, I recommend calling one or both a "spinners choice", allowing the player to pour a shot of his or her choosing from the bar.

Shot Roulette isn't a game you win or lose, it's just a way to bring some variety and adventure to a party. I'm a bigger fan of a good-natured version of Shot Roulette than the mean-spirited cruelty of concocting shots that are actively unpleasant (tequila topped with cinnamon, 151 with hot sauce, etc). If the point of the game is to get drunk, which let's face it is exactly what drinking games are for, then a proper rendition of Shot Roulette does the job with the added potential of discovering some new flavors.

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