Pre-Feasting Friday Links

by | Nov 22, 2024 | Cocktails, Daily Links | 96 comments

I doubt any of you saw me on Amazon Prime last night (if you were willing to watch a Browns game to begin with), but I was there (OK, one of the jokes don’t age all that well). It was a glorious snow globe game. The good guys won, the bad guys lost, and George Pickens is a whiny little bitch. On the work side, I’ve been stuck in ASR [Automatic/Advanced Speech Recognition] hell this week, I give you some very clear vocals. But you don’t care about my work frustrations or Browns news, so let’s get going with some links.

In beer (and more sports news), a local brewery is bringing back a Sloopy favorite. For some reason, he was less of a fan of the spring version.

Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t appear that this will be released in Ohio. I’m not sure it’s worth a trip up to Michigan for either. Their old Beer Barrel Bourbon was a pleasant surprise for me.

Continuing with the alcohol, I’m a big hop head (although I’m done with hazies) and love Celebration, but even I’m not sure I’d go out of my way for this.

I remember thinking this was going to be a win for Stone the first time I saw my first “Stone” beer billboard. Surprised that it’s still being litigated at this point.

There are some traditions that I’m very happy to see returning. Bierstacheln is one of them.

Speaking for myself, it’s probably because I’m not seeing reports of shadow bans, account suspensions, or demonetization happening on X under Musk.

Steam continues making decisions I’m perfectly OK with.

As this is the last post before Thanksgiving (which honestly, is one of my favorite holidays), let’s go with some batch cocktails (AKA punches). One more modern, the other traditional.

Orange Sherbet Mimosa Punch

  • 1 chilled bottle (750 ml) of sparkling wine
  • 4 cups of OJ (freshly squeezed if you can be bothered)
  • 2 cups ginger ale
  • 1 1/2 quarts orange sherbet

You’ve seen this before, It used to be common (at least I remember cylinders of sherbet surrounded by punch from my childhood). Get your punch bowl, put in the liquid ingredients and put in some big scoops of the sherbet.

Garrick Club Punch

  • 4 lemons
  • 1/2 cup superfine sugar
  • 1 cup lemon juice (points up to the four lemons as to where to get the juice from)
  • 1 bottle (750 ml) of gin
  • 4 ounces Luxardo maraschino liquor or Grand Marnier
  • 24 ounces club soda

Get the zest of the lemons, and muddle them with the sugar in the bottom of a punch bowl. Let that sit for 30 minutes or so (the sugar will help pull the oils from the zest). Add the lemon juice and stir until dissolved. Add in the liquor, and stir. Add ice to fill the container about halfway (I would recommend larger blocks, as they’ll melt slower). Top with the club soda and give a gentle stir to combine.

Before we get to the fun, if any of you have been thinking about submitting a piece, more content will always be appreciated. Now, let’s go out there and enjoy the weekend (or not, I’m not your supervisor, but enjoying life seems a better use of time than hating it).

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

Nephilium is a geek of multiple types living in the vast suburban forests of Cleveland.

96 Comments

  1. The Late P Brooks

    Go fake Browns!

  2. Mojeaux

    Fixed.

    Jameis Winston was just adorable. He’s like the anti-Mahomes, just saying any ol’ thing and having a good time doing it.

    • Nephilium

      Did you see him lead the crew of TNF out onto the field to make snow angels and get involved in a snowball fight after the game?

      • B.P.

        It was a fun game to watch in all respects.

      • Nephilium

        B.P.:

        There was plenty of mood whiplash going on in the stands. By the end of the game, the more obnoxious Stillers fans were getting hit with snowballs, as were some of the players when they were close to the Dawg Pound.

    • Ted S.

      Did he ask for crab legs?

    • Tundra

      Oh, that’s just perfect!

    • R.J.

      That’s great.

    • MikeS

      Stolen:

      Jaguar’s pronouns are Was/Were.

  3. Tundra

    I’ll pass on the Mimosa, but the Garrick sounds delicious!

    I am with you on Thanksgiving – terrific holiday, particularly since I refuse to cook a turkey anymore. Fuck that noise.

    I’m not your supervisor, but enjoying life seems a better use of time than hating it

    Amen. Have a great weekend, Neph!

    • juris imprudent

      Mrs. Imprudent has requested spare ribs for Thanksgiving, though the weather is not conducive.

      • Tundra

        I’m going to do a rib roast on the rotisserie.

    • Nephilium

      I went with modern and traditional for a reason on the punches.

      I enjoyed cooking the turkey, especially getting everything timed out when I was hosting. But now that the girlfriend’s remaining family doesn’t travel, and my family’s all on the other side of town, it doesn’t make sense to make all of them travel to my place.

      • Tundra

        Before we moved I regularly hosted 30. Two turkeys and all that. I just don’t like turkey either lol.

        Now we have 4-8 people and I can do what I want!

      • Nephilium

        Tundra:

        My mom decided to host again, but her food is… not the best. I was thinking my sister would step up, but she wants to host Christmas only (as she’s got the kids, there’s no argument about where Christmas should be held). If we’re lucky, my niece will step up in the next couple of years.

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      I refuse to cook a turkey anymore

      Look at this free rider over here!

      I’m taking our turkey ($0.88/ pound!) out to thaw tonight. Once thawed it will get a wet brine injection, then wet brined for a couple days.

      • R.J.

        It’s a pork loin for us this year. No turkey. This is fine.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      We bought two ginourmous pot pies from a local farm, and they have been a success at every party we have brought them too.

      Winning!

  4. Sensei

    I remember thinking this was going to be a win for Stone the first time I saw my first “Stone” beer billboard. Surprised that it’s still being litigated at this point.

    The typical deep pocket play. Grind down your opponent and hope they give up.

  5. JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

    I’m pretty sure I saw you at the game. You were the guy all bundled up and covered in snow, right?

    • Nephilium

      By the time I got to the stadium, I was wishing I had gone with a warmer hat. On the plus side, the club section finally has a hot chocolate stand (in an insulated mug, optionally spiked or topped).

  6. The Late P Brooks

    This reveals the issue wasn’t a matter of principle; it was a matter of party.

    Oh, lordy. Fetch the smelling salts.

  7. Shpip

    Instantly, a frothing, writhing cloud started to bubble—as if an underwater volcano might emerge from the beer’s malty depths. Drinking the now creamy, toasty liquid, the happy drinker moved on, and someone new took their place….

    And here I thought that *we* knew how to euphemism.

    • Nephilium

      There’s also the literary allusion, going all the way back to the Canterbury Tales.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Before, we were told that White House officials’ merely reaching out to social media companies about election misinformation was a democracy-ending threat. Now, the world’s richest man has openly used his platform to boost one candidate, ridden that campaign’s success into the White House himself, and … crickets. The silence is deafening.

    Wake me up when we get to the part where Musk is banning people who disagree with him.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      “Merely reaching out”

      “Nice business you got there. It would be a shame if someone decided to regulate it harder.”

      • Sensei

        Merely asked to step out of the vehicle.

    • Suthenboy

      The true believers still have no idea why they lost.

    • The Other Kevin

      I skimmed that story, I feel like I lost 10 IQ points.

  9. cyto

    Remember the Jaguar rebranding commercial? Of course you do. Did you see the Porche commercial that came out the same day?

    Well, Volvo put one out about the same time too.

    Compare and contrast.

    https://youtu.be/cQX-QXxwGvA

    • Evan from Evansville

      I don’t get any of these car ‘ads.’ Tell me about the car. Why are they short movies with supposed ‘plots’ and ‘stories?’ Again… tell me about the fucking car. I again long for the burger chain in Korea with the brutally honest, persuasive, and truthful slogan of “Good enough.” I just want a burger/car that will get the damn job done for a low price. That’s what (The Little) People want.

      Cheap. Reliable. Enough.

      • Don escaped Memphis

        Tell me about the car

        you will get a lovely vignette about an interracial couple who are relieved that they don’t need to know how to parallel park anymore

        and you will like it

      • Sensei

        Perfect Don.

        Mind you 80s Big 3 ads weren’t exactly awesome either.

        Lots of white men with golf clubs. Stills makes me want that Oldsmobile. I might have to see what they make now. I feel like I want something more luxurious than a sporty Pontiac.

      • Sensei

        Oh shit, I remember watching that live!

        Literally decades since I’ve seen that.

      • slumbrew

        I don’t even have to click through. 👍

      • Evan from Evansville

        I am not their market demo. Humans are human, but I still don’t understand the idea of a purchase ‘representing’ you and your ‘image’ or whatever. I get having a nice (enough) and clean car I you’re in a high-profile gig, as some image matters, but idealization through inanimate objects? Me no get.

        I will purposefully not like their car out of spite. I have before and I will again. I denounce your creation. I also can’t dream of affording it, so there! This is more honest than ugly chicks refusing to have sex with men for P̵r̵o̵h̵i̵b̵i̵t̵i̵o̵n̵ whatever it is they’re doing. I do with to find where all the non-insane women are at, if they aren’t already taken. Stability and apt first, but I do wonder where folk are.

      • slumbrew

        It’s a reoccurring Corolla rant – car commercials are about “vibes” these days and not what they can do.

        Thing is, there’s not that much to differentiate most of the cars these days, so they’re pitching intangibles.

      • Sensei

        Hence the distinguishing feature being the “tech” and interior design.

        Otherwise they are similarly shaped FWD based CUVs and mid sized SUVs. Powertrain and shape being dictated by safety and fuel and emissions regulation.

  10. Sensei

    JFC. I’m sure with defined benefit retirement and full healthcare too.

    The 37-year-old Thomas, the target of Musk’s viral repost, works for a federal agency that partners with private companies to finance ways to improve living standards in developing countries.

    With engineering, business and water science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Oxford, Thomas spent years doing field work in Africa and writing research papers such as one on a technology that can help extract water from air in arid countries, according to her past tweets.

    She eventually went to work as the agency’s director of climate diversification in 2023, when federal personnel records show she earned $172,075 a year.

    https://www.wsj.com/tech/musk-unleashes-online-army-on-federal-workers-a-tough-way-to-find-out-shes-losing-her-job-f57a2e94?st=kzmxK5&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • slumbrew

      With engineering, business and water science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Oxford

      She’ll have no problem finding a job in the private sector, then.

      • Sensei

        Exactly. Those “private companies” can directly employ her.

        They also don’t need the US taxpayer financing the green debacle either.

      • rhywun

        Won’t someone please think of the non-diverse climates?!

    • juris imprudent

      $172k is off the chart for base pay anyway for a CS15 (top of civil service). Of course living in DC has an add-on, but there is no way she started at that high a pay as a CS, so I’m guessing she is an Senior Exec Service (yep, almost an exact match for bottom level SES).

    • juris imprudent

      Oh, the defined benefit retirement for federal workers has been gone for years. They have a 401K equivalent called the Thrift Savings Plan. I only knew a few people that had the old retirement benefit, and they had barely been grandfathered in 25 or 30 years ago.

      • Sensei

        There is hope! Is healthcare coverage “free”?

    • R C Dean

      “partners with private companies to finance ways to improve living standards in developing countries”

      Tell me you have a foreign bank account full of graft without saying you have a foreign bank account full of graft.

  11. Shpip

    Get the zest of the lemons, and muddle them with the sugar in the bottom of a punch bowl. Let that sit for 30 minutes or so

    I’m lazy, so instead of zesting and muddling, I’m reaching in the fridge for my oleo saccharum.

    (BTW, these guys’ whole lineup of mixers make great gifts to the cocktail enthusiasts out there. I particularly like their King Cake syrup.)

    • Shpip

      And of course, the syrups themselves can be an interesting source of humor if you look hard enough.

      Jokes about refined sugar are pretty common. But jokes about brown sugar? Demerara.

      • Aloysious

        Let’s ask Mick Jagger about brown sugar.

      • Tres Cool

        “We couldn’t exactly call it “Black Pussy” now could we?”

  12. Muzzled Woodchipper

    Have a quick break before going back to work. Hopefully these games go smooth.

  13. rhywun

    “The blatant hypocrisy is staggering.”

    /MSNBC

    *spits coffee*

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      These people have no shame. I’d normally be ashamed for them, but not today! Fuck TMITE. May MSNBC be sold off and buried in a crater.

      • kinnath

        I want them to sold to Elon. I want every “talking head” to be forced to acknowledge every single lie they told over the years to be able to keep their jobs.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I’ve been enjoying those legal notes that Sunny has to read on The View. It feels like they are going to keep forcing her to read those until she quits.

      • MikeS

        I want them to sold to Elon.

        I want hem sold to Alex Jones

      • rhywun

        There it is.

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      Needz moar gunz

    • Shpip

      I thought the Frying Pan was on the other end of Carolina.

      (Going out there is a bucket list trip for me, because I’m weird like that.)

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Tragic

    Claire “Grimes” Boucher is getting personal on Elon Musk’s “everything” app as she opens up about how the right-wing billionaire has affected her and her art.

    The Canadian-born artist and mother to three of Musk’s ever-growing litter of children suggested in a lengthy post on X-formerly-Twitter that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is no longer the man she fell in love with.

    Boucher wrote that among the life experiences going into her next project, “detaching from the love of my life as he becomes unrecognizable to me” is chief among them.

    Though not explicitly stated, that sorry statement seems like a certain reference to Musk’s rightward turn that led him to disown and disavow Vivian Jenna Wilson, his estranged transgender daughter, as part of his transphobic crusade that Boucher once said was “not [his] heart.” Over the summer, Boucher publicly shared her support for Wilson and said she is “endlessly proud” of the 20-year-old.

    Beyond the bigotry, the billionaire has also become a newly-minted politico during his crusade to get Donald Trump back into the White House — though given that Boucher has claimed she’s apolitical, that may not matter all that much to her.

    She might not be willing to say she hates Musk because of politics, but we all know it’s true.

  15. DEG

    Sometimes, brand mashups can feel forced, yet other times, they can feel inspired like we have here. New Holland Spirits, home of Dragon’s Milk Beer and Dragon’s Milk Origin Bourbon, has teamed up with Hasbro and their Wizards of the Coast division to celebrate the tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons’ 50th anniversary.

    The beer sounds interesting, but fuck WoTC.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    “And this is only what can be said publicly,” she continued cryptically, “since most of my experience these last years should remain behind closed doors.”

    Oh, come on. Write a book. Go on the circuit. Spill the beans. The world wants to see your dirty laundry.

  17. ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

    I am surprised that a holiday beer that Sloopy is a big fan of isn’t pumpkin spiced…

    Also, if you are drinking a Sierra Nevada that isn’t brewed in Chico California, then you are living wrong.

  18. DEG

    At Pour Man’s, Foltz only does Bierstacheln when he has the proper beers on tap—malty amber or dark lagers. You can bet that winter in Pennsylvania will be a better chance to find the custom playing out in the brewery’s Ephrata taproom. While Foltz currently has a homemade setup with chafing burners behind the bar, he does hope to set up fire pits with s’mores stations outside the brewery at some point. “It’s tricky to have two open flames sitting behind the bar,” he says. “You just have to remember they’re there and not knock them over!”

    I think I’ll have to trek out to Ephrata next time I’m in PA.

    Another beer tradition

    • Nephilium

      It popped into mind for me because a couple of local breweries have started doing it, and one of them was scheduled for this afternoon.

      They do the stein holding competitions at our Oktoberfest every year.

  19. DEG

    Pam Bondi on Red Flag laws.

    • Sean

      Ugh. I couldn’t even finish it.

      • Sensei

        Remember, he at one point was considering Christie in his first term.

    • Don escaped Memphis

      MLPE: first we take the guns……………………

    • juris imprudent

      Any surprise when it comes to Trump – even before he got shot?

    • MikeS

      Wait…Donald J. Trump may not actually be a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment? Where’s my shocked face?

  20. Evan from Evansville

    I remain in Kidney Stone Purgatory, the less exciting, alcohol-free malted state my calcification resides.

    I suppose I feel ‘ill,’ from what people say. Sleep didn’t come easy. Certainly uncomfortable, but nothing has yet barked. I confidently feel my hour of reckoning will come, but no fireworks, yet. I feel sluggish and at times feverish and just ‘off.’ I can feel its progress, though no blatant corners have been turned. My last couple streams were clear and well-hydrated. As I type I may feel my cargo descending some inner gully.

    We’re going on a 36-hr trip with family tomorrow morning. Going to Louisville to see SiS’s sister, including a 1yo for my 4yo nephew to mingle with. The Mega Caverns will be involved. I hope I don’t have my stoney moments while in the car. I’m upset I ‘m missing 1.5 days right as I was getting into the rhythm of things. ‘Tisn’t good for me to have idle factory hands. Muscle memory swiftly fades.

    • DEG

      Sorry. Hopefully it passes soon.

    • R.J.

      Good! Fever means it is almost time to go. Pain is not necessarily a component as much as fever and sweats and sluggishness.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Please, do tell. From Dad, reading and logic, I expect to painfully piss out a calcified rock. I’m all over the sluggishness. I had sweats last night but still no fever. Minor hot flashes and chills. Nothing even resembling a bark of pain. Uncomfortable squenches, more like. It’s 5mm and I’m tiny.

        I just feel Blah, dreary and overcast. I fully expect it to shift up in gears, but I can’t simply summon the bastard. The worst time so far was when I was at work and I actively felt I needed to shit or puke Something out, and I did have smelly piss at the clinic. (Even I had a sharp enough nose for that, but I didn’t detect the blood they did in their tests.)

        As for now, this Li’l Slugfoot zones out, free-flowin’ clear piss aplenty.

      • R.J.

        Yep. Right before you will want to lay in the couch and wallow about for probably 4 hours, cursing your low water intake and swearing to the Lord you’ll drink cranberry juice every day. I suggest you focus on a movie you never want to see again, since watching it after that will always remind you of the moment.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Atrocity

    Since the conversation, if you can call it that, about trans people always seems to come down to bathrooms, I am sure of one thing.

    I would much rather share a ladies’ room or a locker room with Sarah McBride than with Nancy Mace.

    McBride, of course, was just elected to Congress and, in January, will be the highest-ranking elected official in America who is transgender. The 34-year-old comes to the US House of Representatives after serving in the Delaware legislature; before that, she was the national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign.

    Mace, a member of Congress from South Carolina since 2021, has been on an ugly campaign in recent weeks clearly intended to belittle and marginalize McBride – and to get on TV as much as possible doing so. She has filed a resolution, and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, has given it his nod of approval, that would somehow force trans people to keep out of the congressional bathrooms that reflect their gender identity.

    Nancy Mace is the worst person ever. Why does she insist on clinging to outmoded notions of gender and sex?

    Embrace the dictatorship of the miniscule minority. Kowtow to the one per cent.

    • rhywun

      I would rather share the ladies’ room with people who aren’t out to tear the country apart over bullshit non-issues like tRaNsPhObIa.

      • R.J.

        No one should ever have to share a locker room with me.

  22. juris imprudent

    He’s doing it again, almost like he was one of us.

    We all have to make fun of them, every time they open their worthless mouths, relentlessly, with real contempt behind every word and gesture. We have to attack on all fronts, with a culture of loathing for people who are always wrong and always completely self-assured, simultaneously illiterate and pretentious.

    Note in particular about mimetic societies, item #16.

    • rhywun

      We can’t stop them from firing at ships in the Red Sea

      Well… we could if we really wanted to.

      • slumbrew

        I mean, we know where the misses are fired from, right?

        And we have bombers and cruise missiles.

        What am I missing?

      • Sensei

        Slumbrew, that would escalate things…

      • slumbrew

        Well, we can’t have that, then.

        Fire away, Mohammad.

      • juris imprudent

        It’s almost like we just can’t figure out the connection of Houthis to Iran.

    • rhywun

      But yeah, the deeply unserious everything is amusing and/or alarming.

    • slumbrew

      If something sounds too good to be true…

  23. Sensei

    Sometimes it’s the simplest explanation.

    A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug “then entered the market through illegal channels,” he said.

    The alcohol “was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles,” Li said. “The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample.

    Noodles and wine are the secret ingredients for a strange new twist in China’s doping saga

  24. Sensei

    Notice anything different in one of these headlines?

    NYT
    Guard at U.S. Embassy in Norway Accused of Spying for Russia and Iran
    8 hours ago
    By Henrik Pryser Libell & Michael Schwirtz

    CNN
    Norwegian guard at US Embassy in Oslo arrested over allegations of spying for Russia and Iran
    3 hours ago

    The Independent
    US embassy security guard arrested in Norway on spying allegation
    41 minutes ago
    By Katie Hawkinson

    ago

    The Independent
    US embassy security guard arrested in Norway on spying allegation
    41 minutes ago
    By Katie Hawkinson

    The Associated Press
    Student is arrested on charges of spying on the US for Russia
    8 hours ago

  25. Tres Cool

    “We are a comparative steal, and we want to help clean it up too,” said Kelley, a former Army sergeant. “The people I represent have been called names like deep state, but they are working people just like you and I.”

    Exactly what an agent of the deep state would say.