You’re not worthy. None of us are.

It might surprise you to know that I have travelled to 32 states.  By travel I don’t mean pass through.  By that definition, I’ve been to over 40.  In that time, since I’ve been an adult at least, there has been one thing that comes up up from time to time, is some states are shall we say, lacking.

This is my review, of Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale.

Where were they lacking?  At 7.2% abv this is over twice what some states will allow for sale in grocery stores.

Thankfully, Arizona does not participate in such asshattery.  As it turns out Arizona has lax laws regarding alcohol with the exception of hours when you can purchase:  6AM-2AM the next day, 10AM-2AM on Sunday, but nobody seems to enforce Sunday. They also defer to Federal laws as far as what you can purchase. So anything approved by BATFE is legal for sale at a grocery store.  Drive through liquor stores are also legal.  Some restrictions were in place in terms of the volume a local brewer could produce and distribute but was lifted a little over a year ago.  Overall, not bad for a state overrun by socons who kept John McCain in office for over 30 years.  See how your state compares, here.

Other states?  Some of them are pretty weird.

The fourth Friday of every October is dedicated to teaching kids about the dangers of overindulgence in the Palmetto State.  They do this in honor of Frances Willard. She was a temperance reformer who helped pass the Eighteenth amendment to the Constitution.  I’ll give her some credit though, as she at least recognized an amendment was necessary for her to impose her stupid ideas over everyone.  I will concede, some of her stupid ideas included allowing women to vote.  Thankfully, the Air Force moved me when they did, because among other reasons, had I stayed there I’d have no money on account of putting three kids through Catholic School.

Not to be outdone for stupidity.  Colorado where you can’t make it over a mountain pass without tripping over another brewery does not allow the sale of beer in grocery stores.  Well, it does but it must be 3.2% or less, which explains Coors light.  It has spawned a common practice of having a liquor store on nearly every corner.  Which  is convenient when you run into your squadron’s Chief Master Sergeant and he says something to the tune of, “yeah, I got a….retirement to attend.  Need to bring a gift.”  I can reply with, “you don’t need to explain anything to me, Chief” and find a new booze merchant.

Yes, I will mention Utah.  Do you ever plan to go to Utah? No?  There, I mentioned Utah.

Finally, the dumbest alcohol law comes from where else?  Florida.  Where  after a week of Silver Flag the blonde bartender asked, “So, you boys from Silver Flag?”

“Oh yeah.”  Where she immediately went from bubbly girl from the panhandle to scaring the hell out of five guys that spent the last week running around with guns, training in MOPP4 and building a BEAR base in the woods in the middle of June.

“You’re not EOD are you!?”

See! Look how much fun they are having.

I replied, “Can I get the shrimp po-boy?”  I woke up a few hours later on the bus back to Hurlburt. In Florida, establishments selling alcohol can be fined $1000 for allowing or participating–in a dwarf throwing contest.  Well done, Florida.

This beer has the distinction of quite literally, telling it’s customers not to buy it.  Reading the back of the label brings to mind Larry Correia’s infamous rant about the German arms company, Heckler and Koch.  Click at your peril, it is a tad dated and Larry is a professional rant artist, so this will take a while to read.

They are right though, its not for everyone.  It has a high malt complexity and is balanced out by an obscene amount of hops.  It is as about as balanced and flavorful as it gets without going into the barleywine category.  Once you get past the stage where this is truly intense and it begins to be just another beer, Stone has you covered with the Double Bastard.

Arrogant Bastard Ale: 3.9/5

Comments

142 responses to “You’re not worthy. None of us are.”

  1. It’s strange, adding how sauce made the chicken more bland. I’m confused. I baked some chicken breast, it came out at the near optimal doneness, so one of them I sliced up and tossed with hot sauce to make imitation buffalo chicken. It had less flavor than the piece I merely sliced up and ate.

    1. Just Say’n

      Good job staying on topic

      1. Buffalo chicken is beer food.

        1. Just Say’n

          Well played

        2. juris imprudent

          In fact a spicy chicken would complement the Arrogant Bastard quite nicely.

    2. Rhywun

      Did you add butter?

      1. Ach, No, I forgot.

    3. AlmightyJB

      My recommendation. Use boneless thighs cut into thirds. Cook in smoker using hickory or combo of hickory/apple. One to one melted butter and hot sauce. Make your own blue cheese dipping sauce.

      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004SZ9D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_HpAKAbR7ESNHD

      1. I spent my cookware budget on ordering an instant pot.

        It’ll be a shame when I exercise poor person habits and throw it all away after the first meal

        /throwback to old link

        1. AlmightyJB

          Yeah my wife bought one of those a couple months ago. She used it a lot when she first got it but I usually do most of cooking and I really haven’t started playing with it yet. I’m sure I will at some point.

        2. They only do that in Southie.

        3. AlmightyJB

          I’d also recommend starting with a nice spice rub. A good base for that is salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder. Can add from there if you want. Cuman, coriander, cayenne, rosemary, etc.

          1. AlmightyJB

            Looks yummy thanks!

          2. Do they have meth chicken, too?

          3. Playa Manhattan

            Yes. You skip the meal entirely.

      2. AlmightyJB

        You can use greek yogurt and a little buttermilk as the base for blue cheese sauce.

    4. Suthenboy

      “I baked some chicken breast”
      I think I see the problem
      Repeat after me: boneless, skinless thighs

      1. How’s he going to make stock? Buy a whole bird learn how to cut it up, it’s cheap and forces one to learn good uses for all parts. Buy one bird a week and you will always have plenty of stock on hand.

        1. I used to do this weekly, but my wife doesn’t have the patience to wait for a whole bird to cook, nor does she like dark meat. We still do it on occasion, though, and making cock-a-leekie soup with the bones and scraps of a roast chicken you ate the day before is pretty damned clutch.

          1. Should have been more exact, cut up the bird first then you can cook one meal with the breast meat another with the thigh etc,etc…

      2. Playa Manhattan

        Each part of the chicken is good, but I wouldn’t do buffalo using breast.

        I did breast filets last night, and they turned out great.

        Marinated in Wishbone Italian dressing for 2 hours, grilled on high heat for 2 minutes a side, sliced, and then dusted with butter, lemon, and parmesan. Perfect served with noodles or pasta.

      3. Suthenboy

        I would say to each their own, tastes are subjective and so on but I wont. Y’all are just wrong. It is a scientific fact that the only dish breast meat is good for is chicken and dumplings.

        1. Meh, I like to use the breast meat in stir fry, the high heat/fast cook helps avoid overdoing it breast meat seems to take on the marinades well.

      4. Boneless? Skinless??

        Bone-in, skin-on. Heat butter and olive oil in large pan to just under smoking, and skimp on neither. Salt/pepper thighs, cut slits in sides to bone in order to get them to cook faster and more evenly. Put thighs in skillet, skin down, and ignore for at least five minutes. Flip when the skin is a nice, crisp, medium brown, cut the heat down, cook to done. Once done, remove the thighs, toss in some mushrooms. When the mushrooms are about done, deglaze with red wine.

        Plate the thighs, taking care to remove the skin and eat it yourself in the kitchen. Sauce. Tell dinner guests they were skinless to begin with, because they weren’t the ones slaving away in a kitchen and certainly don’t deserve to eat the crispy, delicious goodness that is fried chicken skin.

        1. Suthenboy

          Bill gets it.

  2. Just Say’n

    We had a Sunday blue law in Illinois. There is nothing more embarrassing than trying to buy booze before 10 am on Sunday and being turned away. Those judgemental stares as you step out of line

    1. You can get booze with Sunday brunch in NY now — the law was only changed in 2016.

      Liquor stores still can’t open until noon on Sunday. (And you can’t get beer in a liquor store, only wine and spirits.)

  3. Yusef drives a Kia

    Fun read as usual MS!
    as for AB, Meh, most of what Stone puts out is Meh, IMO
    This was good,
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/VhjudVRAsRAsF4n72

    1. DEG

      That looks interesting.

    2. mexican sharpshooter

      I don’t think its availble here, but I’ll look.

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        Redlands Ca.

        1. mexican sharpshooter

          AZ is the secondary market to everything CA.

          Unless its firearm related.

        2. C. Anacreon

          We were just in Redlands last weekend, looking at Univ. of Redlands with our son.
          Seems like a pretty cool college actually.
          And now a good brewpub nearby! Even more reason for him to attend there, so Dad can visit.

    3. Chafed

      I agree. They are overrated.

        1. There we go. That’s my future ex-wife.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Mercy

    1. That can isn’t open.

      1. DEG

        Shh…. you’re ruining it.

    2. J. Frank Parnell

      “beer”

    3. Gustave Lytton

      Beer and [bearded] clams. Yum.

    4. Chafed

      You sir are a legend.

  4. DEG

    I liked Arrogant Bastard.

    Pennsylvania has been “modernizing” its booze laws. You don’t have to buy in bulk from a beer distributor. You can buy six packs and 12 packs now. Grocery stores can sell beer, but only in a cafe area with its own check out. But don’t you dare try to buy more than 192 ounces of beer at once from a bottle shop or grocery store.

    The Live Free or Die State allows grocery stores and specialty shops to sell beer, but don’t do you dare sell something that isn’t on the state liquor commission’s approved list. No sales between 2 AM and 6 AM, but there’s no distinction between Sunday and other days.

    1. juris imprudent

      I live close enough to MD that it makes more sense (and less dollars) to buy there and bootleg it home.

      Does that convince you how fucked up PA liquor law is – that MD is actually better.

      1. Caput Lupinum

        They are very fucked up. They are slowly getting better, but Pennsylvaniagas a long way to go. Problem is they broke up the market into so many pieces, whenever they try to undo the mess the rent seekers that rely on the market being broken up lobby hard to keep it that way.

      2. Maryland sucks for many, many, many reasons, but watching the Prohibition documentary by Ken Burns the other day I was reminded of how decent the liquor laws are. Not perfect, but better than our neighbors. During Prohibition, Maryland effectively said, “Yeah…no, we’re not going to enforce any of these laws, nor will we help the feds do so.” It was the only state in the union to not pass an accompanying state law to enforce prohibition. In those days especially, Maryland was full of ethnic groups famous for booze: Germans out west, Poles in Baltimore, Italians, Greeks, and Irish throughout. It was formed as a Catholic colony and has always been heavily Catholic, so they really didn’t even need to run the “sacramental wine” scam.

      3. Hyperion

        MD liquor laws aren’t bad. You can buy beer on Sundays, except in Baltimore County. You can buy a growler of beer almost anywhere and walk out the fucking front door with it (TN, looking at you). only issue is that you cannot buy in grocery stores, etc. Cronyism 101 covers the last one.

    2. Hyperion

      “Pennsylvania has been “modernizing” its booze laws. You don’t have to buy in bulk from a beer distributor.”

      Interesting. Last time I was up there, I could only buy a freaking case of beer. I was staying at a hotel and I didn’t want to have to drive back to MD the next day with 18 beers in my trunk, so I had a few at the bar and called it quits for the night. I just wanted to buy a 6 pack, bastards!

  5. AlmightyJB

    I’m not an IPA guy but thought it was cool when Stone did this.

    http://www.stonebrewing.com/beer/stone-seasonals/stone-pataskala-red-x-ipa#ageGatePassed

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      That looks Good!

  6. Sean

    https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/by-state/?state=PA

    Pennsylvania ranked 1st for barrels of craft beer produced in 2016.

    1. AlmightyJB

      I’m a big fan of Victory.

      1. Sean

        These folks offer some cheeses finished in Victory beers.
        http://www.chestercountycheese.org/the-farm-at-doe-run/

        1. AlmightyJB

          Oooooo. Thanks! Need to look for that Storm King.

      2. Michael Caine was good, but Pele couldn’t act.

    2. juris imprudent

      This was the most pleasant surprised about PA, that craft brewing is doing so well here. Leaving San Diego was like leaving Mecca.

      1. DEG

        A town near where I grew up, which used to be a run-down, dumpy, economically depressed place, now has:

        2 breweries with tasting rooms/food. Both are good.
        1 pretty good brewpub
        At least 3 bars serving and excellent and varied selection of beer
        1 distillery

        The place has transformed.

    1. Gustave Lytton

      The ADA is one of the worst pieces of federal legislation that continues to destroy society. Fuck GHWBush.

      (lumping the Air Carrier Access Act, which is the actual law allowing this and is more generous with definitions of service animals, in with the ADA)

    2. Suthenboy

      Bit the girl’s head. Hmmmm. Some female dogs will carry small children as if they are puppies. They will try anyway. They carry them by the head. I wonder what the chances are that that is what happened here.

    3. Heroic Mulatto

      It is a scam, but I lost all sympathy for the family at this point: “Southwest spokesperson Melissa Ford tells Bloomberg the girl, who is around 6 years old, approached the dog despite being told to stay away by the dog’s owner.”

      1. I hate people who assume any dog they see is the inbred, retarded Golden Retriever of their imaginations, like a big, walking stuffed animal. These types are often also horribly irresponsible dog owners. I just think it’s strange that if you saw a shotgun sitting next to a person they wouldn’t send little Susie over to go play with it, but they’ll absolutely let her go stick her face inches away from a strange animal with large teeth.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    goddammit

  8. DOOMco

    arrogant is a little much.

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      Their “Sublimely Self Righteous” Ale might be more your style.

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        I just saw Crime Ale and Punishment Ale at Bev mo just now, I bought an Imperial Frambozen By New Belguim, looks interesting.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Usurpers. Anarchists. Crackpots.

    In an article about Cliven Bundy:

    Andy Kerr, a longtime environmental activist and consultant in Oregon, is among those angered that Bundy cattle are still grazing within the boundaries of the Gold Butte National Monument President Obama designated in 2016 about 90 miles (140 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas.

    “Now free of the threat of federal criminal prosecution, the Bundy boys are getting some speaking gigs to tell their story, brag about how they beat the feds and how they are continuing to do so by not paying federal grazing fees,” Kerr wrote on his Public Lands Blog on Friday.

    But he said there may be a silver lining for conservationists.

    “The more the Bundyites spread their bunk about the illegitimacy of the federal public lands … the more the overwhelming majority of Americans remember they love America’s public lands,” Kerr said.

    “You can’t go in there. That’s public property.”

    1. Civil disobedience by the wrong people.

    2. Number.6

      Andy? His name should be Wayne.

      1. What if his name is pronounced like Deborah Kerr?

        (Deborah Kerr, rhymes with “star”.)

    3. mexican sharpshooter

      The more the Bundyites spread their bunk about the illegitimacy of the federal public lands … the more the overwhelming majority of Americans remember they love America’s public lands,”don’t care because they don’t understand how this might affect their lives but will accept the medias portrayal of the Bundys as a bunch of idiots with guns that think they can fight off the all powerful government. Kerr said.

      That’s better.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Here’s a shitty editorial cartoon for your perusal.

    Call me crazy, but I don’t think it makes the point the “artist” thinks it makes.

    1. AlmightyJB

      What’s funny about that is that it’s easier for “actual kids” to buy drugs than it is to buy alcohol because drugs are prohibited i.e. readily available on the black market.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Is he renting the gun?

    3. Suthenboy

      They are really gonna run with that? I will bet 20 bucks it is a hoax. I do know for sure that none of that is legal. There is no legal buying of guns by anyone under 18 anywhere in the US and every sale from a vendor requires a background check. That is just a heapin’ helpin’ of bullshit.

  11. AlmightyJB

    “to pay their share for activities the union undertakes on behalf of all workers”

    http://nbc4i.com/2018/02/24/unions-fight-legal-battle-over-fees-at-ohio-statehouse-rally/

    You mean to pay into the DNC for the “right” to work.

    1. I don’t believe the bullshit the union spews about “collective bargaining”. The last couple of round of that, they did jack shit about the excplicitly illegal negotiating tactics the governer’s office was using. If it was actual give and take, I’d contemplate giving them the benefit of the doubt, but their effort was spent entirely in trying to badger the membership to accept whatever the governer put on the table. So they are not doing the job they’re claiming, while actively advocating policies I’m opposed to.

      1. Winston

        Why would the Union accept whatever the Governor is proposing?

        1. AlmightyJB

          They can always just buy a new Governer.

          1. Not even close. The union-backed candidate lost the primaries.

        2. Because the officers are simpering toadies more interested in collecting their extra salary and playing petty office politics than fulfilling the stereotype of a pubsec union.

    1. AlmightyJB

      I suppose it depends on to what extent the union directed the illegal activities. The vandals would obviously be liable for their actions. If the union directed, coordinated, or assisted in any way that seems that they would be liable as well.

    2. Suthenboy

      From what I have seen of unions, go ahead and cut their balls off.

  12. Yusef drives a Kia

    Sierra Nevada Hop Bullet Double IPA,
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/P98sgY44MNq3vPf22
    Not very Hoppy, smooth at 8% Abv, 9$ at Bevmo, Cheap!

  13. Tres Cool

    So, based on my typical announcements to YUSEF (hey Yusef!) about what Im drinking, plus too much experience with 12% ABV sludge known as EARFquake, I’ll defer to my betters, my Glibs: a buddy of mine that keeps bees diverted some of his honey into a small bactch of mead. This afternoon, he dropped a bottle off. Any ideas on what I should expect?

    1. Tres Cool

      *batch

    2. Yusef drives a Kia

      You are a Lucky Man, Catch a Buzz, it’s Alcohol!
      If it’s Large, Drink it like Brandy, of just Chug it!

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        Or

      2. trshmnstr

        Catch a Buzz

        Hopefully it’s not worthy of a stinging rebuke.

    3. mexican sharpshooter

      Unbearable sweetness followed by a skullsplitting headache–like a good booty call.

      1. Tres Cool

        Well, Im not known for making good choices. So…..

    4. DEG

      It depends.

      The worst mead I’ve had tasted and felt like slightly watered down honey. Syrupy yuck.

      The best mead I’ve had had reminded me of Riesling.

      1. ^ This. I suppose it goes without saying that unless you really like honey you’re not going to enjoy mead. There are a few local wineries that do a mead and I’ve had a few. It’s…ok, I guess. One was like DEG said and had a very delicate flavor that I enjoyed, but most were overpowered by that musky taste that a lot of honey seems to have.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Why would the Union accept whatever the Governor is proposing?

    I’ll go out on my limb and suggest it was a pre-packaged deal, made collegially in a nice cozy back room, intended to be rubber-stampeed by the rank and file, no questions asked.

  15. juris imprudent

    Hmm, I have an empty growler, and time to get over to the brewery.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Any ideas on what I should expect?

    I’m not a fan of mead, so…

    Cheers!

  17. Playa Manhattan

    I didn’t get to the store in time, so this will be dinner tomorrow.

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      Tasty…

  18. Drake

    So you’ve traveled to 32 states. How many have you had sex in?

    1. Tres Cool

      There’s 57 states, so he still needs to bang in the remaining 25.

      /B.H. Obama

    2. Mad Scientist

      Do flamingos count?

    3. mexican sharpshooter

      Now thst I think about it…8. I need to stop taking my kids everywhere.

      1. That hasn’t stopped OMWC.

      2. mexican sharpshooter

        I forgot about KS. 9.

      3. DEG

        Translation: “Not enough”

  19. Chipwooder

    While bowling this afternoon, I enjoyed a pitcher of my favorite semilocal beer, Devil’s Backbone Vienna Lager.

    1. Oooh, that’s good stuff. I like DB, they have a very good stable of beers.

    2. trshmnstr

      Sounds like an awesome bowling alley if they serve anything better than Bud Light!

    1. Gilmore

      As for weird misspellings, I blame the up/down arrows which block the text box on.my phone

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        What was that Thing next to the Blonde?

  20. Drake

    Trudeau is a the comedy gift that keeps on giving. The video is hilarious too.

    I hope India does send somebody to Canada dressed a drunk lumberjack carrying a 40oz Labatt Ice and waving a hockey stick.

    1. Gilmore

      I was thinking something more like “Putin visits trump dresses as Roy Rodgers, tv-cowboy”

  21. Gilmore

    Drinking yingers

    1. Don Escaped Texas

      Sam Adams Winter Ale was in stores for it’s brief, annual run; I like to sip on it while reviewing incredibly dangerous legal documents that I need to sign.

  22. trshmnstr

    Question for my homebrewing friends. I have an amber ale that has been sitting in bottles for 3 weeks now. I made 2 case + 3 bottles, and left the 2 cases in the cardboard boxes the bottles came in. The extra 3 went on top of the boxes, and everything went in a corner of the dining room. After 2 weeks (13 days, actually), I tried one of the extra 3, and it was perfectly carbonated and tasted great, so everything went into the fridge. I’ve noticed that the bottles in the boxes were undercarbonated. I pulled them all out of the fridge to try to rectify the issue, but the result has been slow to fizz up.

    Actually 2 questions:
    1) I’m guessing that having those extra 3 exposed to some level of light caused them to carbonate more quickly. Is that right?
    2) Bread yeast will keep fermenting, albeit more slowly, in the fridge. Since I removed the bottles from the fridge, can I expect them to continue carbonating?

    1. 1. Not necessarily because of exposure to light. In some cases heat just warms up the yeast and makes them boogey down more, but in other cases it can be a function of how you did the carbing sugar. If you did sugar in the bottles, it could just be that some had more than others. And in some cases it’s just the vagaries of yeast behavior.

      2. Brewing yeast will ferment until there’s nothing left to eat. Once it runs out of sugar, it goes dormant. They’ll totally keep fermenting out of the fridge so long as there are still sugars for them to eat.

    2. I’ve noticed differences in carbonation in batches where there was no difference in storage. In fact the last time I helped my brewing mentor he grabbed two bottles that were side by side in the case an one had a nice head the other was not even close, and we add the sugar to the bottling bucket not per bottle. He just shrugged, ‘That’s how it goes.’

  23. My brother-in-law lives out in San Diego and he’s a big Stone fan. I’ve had Arrogant Bastard before, and I liked it, but it’s not something I liked enough to seek out.

    Also, I think I’d like Arizona, provided there are parts of the state that a.) aren’t desert, and b.) have something like seasons. I would probably love Utah, but, man, those liquor laws. Plus, if someone young Mormon came sniffin’ around my daughter in her teenage years I’d see him off with a shotgun. I respect Mormons and all, but in this family we marry one person and drink booze and caffeine, as God intended.

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      The northern half of Arizona is mountains. The populated areas are desert though.

    2. trshmnstr

      I respect Mormons and all, but in this family we marry one person and drink booze and caffeine, as God intended.

      Haha!! My best friend from high school and college married a Mormon, including converting to Mormonism, forsaking booze and caffeine, and plugging into the Mormon social cult. His parents and I had an intervention with him, because a socially-awkward agnostic/atheist has no business becoming a Mormon just for some low grade pussy. He was predictably fatalistic about it: “This is my one chance” and all. Anyway, they lasted a couple years before she got heavy into Mormon feminism (which is fuckuppedness to the second power), got into a power struggle with him because her career was more important than her marriage, and divorced him. Of course, he’s not the same person he was before this whole debacle, which put a huge strain on our friendship.

      Anyway, beyond my theological disdain for Mormons, that whole incident has made me dislike them as people. They worship American culture with a slightly traditional bent. They don’t worship any God that I recognize.

      /rant

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        One of my best friends is LDS. I find they vary by the induvidual to their adherence to the church are often misunderstood as a group, but thats just me.

        1. Gilmore

          I find they vary by the induvidual to their adherence to the church are often misunderstood as a group, but thats just me.

          I grew up with a bunch of LDS families in my hood. (which ended up being 3 or 4 kids in every grade. boy did they breed like rabbits)

          yes, they probably do vary widely, but i’d probably say it probably varies by the family rather than the individual. within their family-clan they tend to be pretty much on the same page. i’ve never met a single one of them that “rebelled and and rejected the church” until they were fully-grown adults. compared to, say, hasidic jews, of whom i’ve known a half-dozen who basically ‘escaped’ in their teen years and never looked back.

          the weirdest reaction to ‘mormons’ i ever encountered was in college, where there were lots of bible-beating evangelical types, one or 2 of whom tried to assure me that Mormonism was akin to satanism and i should treat them as extremely dangerous, basically insane people. I of course thought this was as hilarious as the time a kid from alabama told me all jews looked like Leonard Nimoy.

      2. Mojeaux

        They don’t worship any God that I recognize.

        I like Him. And His Wife.

      3. Playa Manhattan

        Mormons make great neighbors. Over there. On the other side of the property line.

      4. trshmnstr

        I don’t want to give the wrong impression. I grew up in a community with a strong LDS contingent (for the midwest). Heck, I went to Mormon prom one year (because I had the hots for an atheist girl who went with her Mormon friend). I’m still acquaintances with the girl who invited me, 15 years later. There are very nice Mormon people, and I enjoy their company.

        However, I found that as I have met and grown to know devout Mormons over the years, there is a categorical difference between devout Mormons and devotees of other faiths (Christian and otherwise). My devout Catholic and Protestant friends tend to de-emphasize the American Dream and focus on things like charity, self-sacrifice, and spiritual maturity. My devout Mormon friends and acquaintances, over the years, have seemed primarily focused on being the spitting image of a 50s Beaver Cleaver family. More recently, as my generation has started making their own families, they seem more focused on being 70s latchkey families. It’s like there’s a concerted effort to live exactly like mainstream culture was 40 years ago.

        I’m sure I could ramble on in a drunken bigoted rant, but I’ll stop while I’m behind.

  24. That list is out of date. NM legalized Sunday sales several years ago.

    We used to have drive-up windows. When the push come to close them due to DUI I rhetorically asked if we would get them back if it was shown that there was no effect on DUI rates. There was zero effect and we never got them back. Ratchet of freedom and all that.

    Been in 46 states. By the time they were teenagers my girls had been in 38. We like to travel.

    … Hobbit

  25. Hyperion

    My son is a big fan of the Arrogant Bastard. Oddly enough, I’ve never tried it.

    Here’s my selection for this evening:

    Beer

    Didn’t we have a post about the Southern Tier? Was it you, MS? I can’t remember now, but it seems awfully familiar.

    The Celebrator, I’ve yet to have anything from Ayeinger that I don’t like. Their Heffe is the best. And what’s better, it has a little goat and I’m supposed to have a goat. But I’ve never had a goat until now. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside… or maybe that was the bottle of Stout I just drank in like 2 drinks.

    1. DEG

      Good selection.

      I remember we’ve talked about Southern Tier in comment threads, but I don’t remember if Mexican Sharpshooter put together a post involving their beer.

      1. Hyperion

        It’s a good stout. Haven’t opened the Celebrator yet.

  26. TrueNeutralPaladin

    Wow, that’s weird: I just started reading the first book of Monster Hunters International last night… Get out of my head, you damn psychic!

    It’s good fun so far. Six chapters into it.

    1. TrueNeutralPaladin

      Did you watch listen to Tom Woods’ discussion about school violence with Larry Correia, too?

  27. Trigger Hippie

    *glicks on state laws link, checks out home state*

    ‘There are no state open container laws, no blue (sabbath) laws, public intoxication laws, and absinthe is not prohibited. There are no dry counties, and prohibiting off-premise sale is illegal. State laws preempt local laws. Grocery stores and gas stations can sell liquor with the only limitation being operating hours. Parents and guardians may give their children alcohol. There is no prohibition of consumption by minors, though purchase, possession and intoxication by minors is illegal.’

    I guess we still have a few things going for us.

  28. Not an Economist

    Democratic response to the Republican House Intelligence Committee memo has been released.

    1. Gilmore

      “…the document seems to be composed entirely of the phrase, “Nuh uh”, repeated for 100 pages, with occasional redactions to add the appearance of importance”

    2. Gilmore

      in slightly more-seriousness:

      if this were some really big bombshell stuff, they’d not have released it on a fri/saturday. they’d have dropped it midweek.

      what they want is the sunday talk shows to spin it as some big deal, without anyone ever actually reading it.

      1. Not an Economist

        I glanced through it and was even less impressed than the Republican memo. Seems to try to rebut it by saying what you said was accurate but this other stuff you didn’t talk about — relating to other things — made it okay.

        1. Gilmore

          “When you’re getting owned, complicate the topic”

          /standard leftist field manual