phosfate: Ouroboros painting closeup (Epcot Food and Wine Festival)
[personal profile] phosfate
I normally ignore St Patrick's day, since as near as I can tell my ancestors spent several centuries persecuting the Irish, and appropriating their holiday seemed like adding insult to injury. Plus, I hate those fucking hats.

But this year, I thought, Fuck it. Try something new. So I decided I would try to get drunk.

I don't drink much. I'm not fond of booze, except for that red thing Sharon gave me to drink in Downtown Disney, which tasted like heaven, and the name of which she has never been able to remember. Besides, I'm supposed to avoid alcohol with my meds, and I'm usually the one driving. But fuck it. I am edgy and dark, as you know.

So, Saturday. Grocery had Guinness on sale. Beer tastes like horsey pee, but Guinness tastes like dietetic A&W Root Beer, so I can tolerate it. SERVE CHILLED, the bottle says, so I brough it home to put in the fridge, and gave half the six-pack to the neighbors because even in my most grandiose fantasies, drinking a six-pack of anything would make me die. Then I went to run errands and pick up a pizza. So far so good.

Put in Eddie Izzard DVD, ate pizza w/Diet Pepsi, then...showtime. Pause Eddie. Take CHILLED bottle from fridge.

Now, I swear to God, I know there is a bottle opener somewhere in my house. I know it. It's got a turqoise handle, and I absolutely recall seeing it as recently as 1974.

An hour later, I've found a rusty, magnetic Hide-A-Key box, a melon baller, those swell spaghetti tongs Susan gave Mom, lots of string and batteries, a shrimp fork, several nutpicks, a corn-on-the-cob handle, a wheat penny, and 300 wooden clothespins. Also, my sister was right and Grandma's cookbook is black and not blue. "Fuck!"

So, off to Target.

Our Target is remodeling. It is currently a retail Skinner box, with sudden walls of shoes materialising out of nowhere, phantom dairy cases, and sharp turns into vicious racks of bras. It takes half an hour to find the bottle openers, but the one I come away with looks like something James Bond would use to take a villain's eye out. And I got a nice bra for $3.00. On the drive back, I see a man in a kilt playing volleyball.

Back home, poor Eddie is still on pause, and probably in a snit about it. Bottle is no longer CHILLED, so I swap it out for another one. I pop that bad boy open, park in front of the TV, and prepare for an evening of hardcore substance abuse, the likes of which have not been seen since the days of some time when they did that sort of thing a lot.

An hour and a half later, Eddie's done his thing, and I have managed to drain the bottle to approximately an inch below neck level. I know this because I have got bored enough to peel the label off. My head feels like a dull game of Tetris -- the kind where you keep winning and don't want to shut it off, since after all you've spent a whole quarter on it, but at the same time you're kind of bored and wish that maybe Dig-Dug or one of the ships from Galaga would wander over and liven things up a bit. My arms are mildly numb, but otherwise, I feel no desire to wear a lampshade or drive into a shop window.

And the bottle is making a rattly noise. WTF?

There is something inside my bottle of Guinness. Besides the Guinness, I mean. It's white, shaped sort of like a duck call.

So I do what anyone would. I reach for the phone and text people:

My bottle of guinness has a whistle or something floating in it. Have i been poisond? I can't quite get the hang of capital letters on this phone.

Sadly, yes, comes a reply from Gretchen. I assume the rest of you were too debauched to reply. Bastards. You'll be dead by morning unless you get the antidote. Good luck with that!

Well fuck. Now I'm going to die. I'm only mildly inebriated and don't like it much. This is the worst St Patrick's Day ever! I watch a thing on the History Channel about the Spartans and wait for death.

Two hours later, still not dead. Gretchen, apparently, lied to me about the toxicity of the Guinness whistle. I still don't know what it's for. I have learned that the Spartans were fucking insane. They were also my high school mascot, which explains a lot about my high school.

There's probably some sort of moral here, but I'm damned if I know what it is.

Sorry, it's really not much of a story, but life's like that sometimes. Okay, most of the time.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 04:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ex-londonso.livejournal.com
I hate Guinness. I loved this story.

Guinness Whistle

Date: 2007-03-19 04:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] danakate.livejournal.com
Oh, hey, I remember the Guinness whistle. I don't drink (gives me hives) but when I interned in Stanford, the house drank a lot including Guinness. I think someone had a Guinness draught and when it was done, we busted it open to look at the rattly thing. I forget what it's for...to help with the draughtyness, I think.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 04:11 pm (UTC)
ext_8718: I made this! (call him stevesie)
From: [identity profile] ginnytonnick.livejournal.com
I like Guinness in stew, and that's about it. But now that I know they include prizes in the bottles, I may make another pass. Hopefully there's a decoder ring in the one I try. Those are awesome.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 05:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tikistitch.livejournal.com
I have to agree, delicious in a beef stew, miserable out of a bottle, and especially bad lukewarm, the way they serve it in the UK.

Moose Drool--now, THERE's a beer. Mmmmm.....

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 05:10 pm (UTC)
ext_8718: I made this! (Default)
From: [identity profile] ginnytonnick.livejournal.com
When I was growing up, there was a train that separated the downtown from the lower edge or the 'wrong side of the tracks.' But you see the town baseball diamonds were on the other side. So the town built this big covered walking bridge that went over the tracks, and people used that to get back and forth. Except at night. At night the homeless would sleep there. Well, after several years the smell of urine was so incredibly strong, that one would have to take a deep breath and hold it the entire length of the bridge. If you actually breathed during the walk, most would get dizzy and some would vomit actually adding to the smell.

To me, all beer tastes the way that bridge smells.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 05:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tikistitch.livejournal.com
Mike Royko's comment about American beer (made circa 1972, prior to rise of the micros), which I still think is pretty awesome:

"And regardless of what label or slogan you choose, it all tastes as if the secret brewing process involves running it through a horse."

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 04:14 pm (UTC)
birdsflying: (Default)
From: [personal profile] birdsflying
The rattly thing is what's known as a ' (beer) widget' and is there so that one can theoretically pour your bottled Guinness into a pint glass and still get the layered top.

it comes in pints?

Date: 2007-03-19 04:22 pm (UTC)
ext_6373: A swan and a ballerina from an old children's book about ballet, captioned SWAN! (K9 by martoufmarty)
From: [identity profile] annlarimer.livejournal.com
Thank you!

But...then why does it very explicity instruct us to DRINK FROM THE BOTTLE on the label?

Re: it comes in pints?

Date: 2007-03-19 04:27 pm (UTC)
birdsflying: (Default)
From: [personal profile] birdsflying
Ours is not to question why, I think.

Personally, I don't drink much beer but when I do, I avoid the bottled stuff like the plague. Draft on tap all the way!

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 04:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cocoajava.livejournal.com
Best Story EVER! I needed this on a day when my office is being so irritating.

GO SPARTANS. We are Spartans here at Moo-U.

Re: Sorry, but:

Date: 2007-03-19 10:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cocoajava.livejournal.com
I love your icon too! *happy sigh* Sam and Gene make me all wiggly.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 04:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ahli.livejournal.com
Guinness is like drinking a woolly sweater. It is the only beer i truly love.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 05:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] theodicy.livejournal.com
Heh. These things can be overcome, you know. You must Press Forward with wee drinkies, the sweetish kinds with nasty fruit-flavored liqueurs as main ingredients. A few weeks dizzy and puking will have you set up real good. (I should know.)

'Course, I stopped drinking under Bush I, so my memory may be...damaged faulty.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 06:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lots42.livejournal.com
I drink in Applebees, not under shrubbery.

Getting your buzz on under sun-faded pictures of celebrities you've seen naked is fun.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 06:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lots42.livejournal.com
Whistle? Don't people get sued over this?

I can't leave you alone for a minute

Date: 2007-03-19 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cybertardis.livejournal.com
Firstly, Guinness is mana from heaven.

Secondly, the widget (as someone already said) is a small piece of plastic with a teeny tiny hole in it that is placed in the can during the beginning of the packing process. Once the beer is in there, the pressure causes a small amount of Guinness into the widget. When the can is opened, the attempt to equalize the pressure causes the beer in the widget to come out into the beer in the can in teeny tiny bubbles so you get the lovely, creamy head on the beer like you do when you get a Guinness on tap. Guinness spent a small fortune developing the widget for the canned and bottled beer.

Thirdly, beer should always be consumed at the appropriate temperature, from a glass (not ice cold). You probably don't want me to get into the whole "glass with a handle vs. glass with no handle" debate.

I am back from Florida and alive, but my phone is dead. Your St. Patrick's Day was actually more interesting than mine.

Re: I can't leave you alone for a minute

Date: 2007-03-20 01:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] finabair.livejournal.com
You probably don't want me to get into the whole "glass with a handle vs. glass with no handle" debate.

Sure we do!

Re: I can't leave you alone for a minute

Date: 2007-03-20 01:51 pm (UTC)
ext_6373: A swan and a ballerina from an old children's book about ballet, captioned SWAN! (black books which one of you bitches wan)
From: [identity profile] annlarimer.livejournal.com
Hey, I just follow the instructions on the bottle, man.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 09:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] darthfi.livejournal.com
a) Guinness can be really good, but speaking as someone born and bred in the country where it is really good, I tend to avoid it outside Ireland. I know of three pubs where they serve it well - in all of London.

b) If in doubt, go for a "foreign export" (aka "ludicrously high alcohol percentage") bottle. I like Nigerian Guinness, my husband likes Belgian.

c) Hell, I married an Englishman. He alternates between apolgising for 800 years of oppression and prodding me with his finger, while saying "I'm oppressing you!" As you can no doubt appreciate, there are an infinite number of reasons why I love this man.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 09:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lavendertook.livejournal.com
Aww, but that was a good story!!! But then, you can tell how my weekend was.

I still like their TV ads though

Date: 2007-03-19 10:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kosher-jenny.livejournal.com
Hee! Good story.

I'm surprised that you went for Guinness if you weren't much of a beer and booze drinker to begin with. Maybe something like a Mike's Hard Lemonade would have been more to your taste, since it's very yummy and doesn't have much of an alcohol taste to it at all, or perhaps some form of a sweet cocktail. They put the widget in the cans too. I swear I've seen them in other brands of beer before, but after skimming through the wiki entry on it, it sounds like Guinness has a patent on it, so I must have been mistaken.

Also worth knowing: American Guinness is actually brewed by Coors. Yup. Which is what I drank for St. Patrick's day. Yeah. The only one of us in the apartment who can actually buy booze has terrible taste, so right now there is a bunch of cans of Coors and bottles of Corona taking up space in our 'fridge. :\ Come next January I am going to lay down some serious cash on some quality booze, I swear.

But I only had one this year, because 1)I'm not much into celebrating St. P's day, what with being Scottish and all and 2)it was pisswater and I don't have the "anything is good as long as it gets you hammered" mindset some of my peers have.

Re: I still like their TV ads though

Date: 2007-03-19 10:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kosher-jenny.livejournal.com
This entry also made me miss pubs for some reason. When we stayed with one of my uncles who lives near Manchester last summer my dad and I would walk from his house to the local pub. It was a really nice place, though the fact that I was legally allowed to drink there may have colored my opinion of the place somewhat. I want to say I prefer pubs to bars, but I haven't really been in many bars so I can't really compare the two.

Sadly I didn't really go to any pubs when I stayed with my other uncle outside of Inverness, but he's a really nice man who kept offering to bring me another Stella Artois* as soon as my glass had emptied, so it worked out okay.


*Aside: you gotta love a beer company that creates it's own fake wikipedia article as part of a marketing campaign.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-19 10:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] comice.livejournal.com
Death by widget!

Hey, it's something to aspire to.

From: [identity profile] kissoflife.livejournal.com
Killer just-kill-me story. I... had a whistle-type gadget in my pork chop meal a week back-- saw it at the very end. *gkjjkl* They plied me with free Baked Alaska & meal, I agreed to keep my voice down...

My Day-After-St.-Patty's found me co-hosting a Drag Show called "Erin Go Braless." I was not in drag. BUT $3 green & yellow bras were featured as throw toys as I 'sang' "June Green is Bustin' Out All Over." They deigned to tip, yeah. No- No, really, Annie, you're not still plastered, honest...

Good thing that great idea is over.
I made "Lucky Charms Treats" for da boyz. Drag queens gotta eat too, ya know.

Rules

Date: 2007-03-20 05:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susanmgarrett.livejournal.com
1. Ann should not drink alone. This is not only for reasons of safety - because her arms go numb and I know this from the Boston Worldcon where we were seated in the restaurant after "Jesus - party of 13" - gotta love the Costume calls Worldcon used to have - but because (stick with me here) the loss of entertainment factor by only having the story and not having a living witness makes me weep. The story - rocks the world. A living witness - particularly had it been me - would have rocked my world more.

2. Ann + beer = no. I like Guinness on tap while in the UK or on tap in the Rose and Crown in Disney World (where I've been told it is almost as good as the UK). I can also manage Caffrey's in that fashion for a lighter choice. However, being that my choice of beer runs toward Barley wine (like Thomas Hardy ale, which my brother has declared is the foulest substance on the face of the earth, or Sam Adams Triple Bock), I have not the beer genes to make a good beer choice. But Ann normally does not like that kind of taste.

3. I would suggest a cider. Something not too bitter and not too sweet.

4. Ann does well with cocoa based drinks, like brandy in cocoa. That limits to winter drinking, but she does live in nebraska.

5. Ann does not appear to like girly mixed drinks. I don't know how she'd do with a real Irish coffee or Irish tea (note - do NOT try to order an Irish tea from room service in a non-Disney hotel in Florida).

6. Ann should not drink with only Tommy to look after her because after Ann has three sips, Tommy is out the door with Ann's ATM card and Bob's your Uncle Ann starts receiving massive numbers of packages containing sexy doll underwear and plastic molding forges so that Tommy can reproduce herself and create an army of Tommettes to take over Nebraska.

7. God only knows what the Izzard would think of the whole debacle. I suspect he would assist Tommy in her overthrow of Nebraska through the use of a plastic army of sexily attired dolls. And he was a perfectly lovely Chaplin. Charles, not collar gone backwards.

I have said my piece.

Re: Rules

Date: 2007-03-20 01:45 pm (UTC)
ext_6373: A swan and a ballerina from an old children's book about ballet, captioned SWAN! (All this will be yours by Sepiamagpie)
From: [identity profile] annlarimer.livejournal.com
I love you, you strange, strange girl.

The Worldcon thing doesn't count. I asked for half the alcohol, and those dimwits gave me double. I wasn't drunk -- I was poisoned. Also, I saw someone wearing one of those fucking CHEERS sweatshirts yesterday, and had a bad flashback. Boston was our 'Nam, man.

Irish coffee is fucking awesome.

(no subject)

Date: 2007-03-20 05:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] melisangels.livejournal.com
Great story! And what is too funny is hubby and I decided to go get some Guinness on St P's Day too and we do not like beer, but both have quite a bit of Irish blood so it's like we are supposed to! Well, the only thing worse than Guinness out of a bottle is Guinness out of a can - Yuck! (and all they had left at the store). It also had a "widget" inside which scared us at first. ~__^

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