In my personal life, I’m something of a gadget guy.  In my RSS feed, just below my “BOOZE” category sits “TECH”, filled with gadget and tech blogs near and far.  So it seemed natural to me when the Bierstick arrived on my doorstep this evening to follow traditional gadget-blog protocol with a ceremonial unboxing.

To the uninitiated, the unboxing video provides a few things.  First, it gives a hands-on look at a product that’s usually not widely available, so you get to see what it looks like and how it works without having to buy one yourself.  It also gives a look at the packaging, any assembly required, and in this case, a world premiere exclusive look not available anywhere else.

I don’t think I’ve seen it anywhere before in the booze-blog world, so you may be witnessing a WORLDWIDE FIRST EVAR EXPERIENCE.

So without further ado…The Bierstick

We’ll be sure to have more coverage and reportage once we have a chance to put it to use.  And yes, I am a child who can’t help but make lubrication and in-and-out jokes.  Apologies.

Know what this is?

That’s a Bierstick, just begging to be used…more coming soon!

This is, by far, the most elaborate beer pong table I’ve ever seen. LEDs sparkle and shine in time to the music. A swirling blue-light cauldron built in to the table de-crapifies your balls. For the right price (read: somewhere over $1000) they’ll even build one for you. Behold:

(You should also know that it was a Herculean feat of strength to hold back and not make about 700 ball-washing jokes while writing this.  This is a family drinking site, after all)

via :: Gizmodo

Stand-up comedian Zach Galifianakis (of Out Cold and Bubble Boy fame) was tasked by Absolut vodka to make some commercials for them. Their only stipulation: it had to feature Absolut vodka. His only stipulation: he could do WHATEVER he wanted, no restrictions. They all agreed.

So Zach enlisted the help of his friends Tim and Eric (of Tom Goes to the Mayor and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! fame) to help him. What resulted are probably the most bizzare and absurd alcohol ads ever created. You may question the soundness of Absolut’s decision once you’ve seen it, but remember…Absolut ran what may be one of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time.

The first one came out in March, and the second was just released. Here’s the second one, and I’ll put the first behind the cut. Let me just warn you, these are quite strange, and not everyone’s type of humor. I think they’re hysterical. Possibly slightly NSFW.

Zach Galifianakis’ Second Absolut Vodka Ad featuring Tim & Eric

Read the rest of this entry »

Hot on the heels of our Black & Tan post on Friday comes this offer for a free “brolly” from Bass ale, which appears to be a tool similar to a pouring spoon meant to be used to properly layer a Black & Tan.

So go right here and give them your precious information and get a brand new shiny brolly for your efforts!

Now you don’t have to ask for one for Christmas.

Pop quiz!

Group of people sitting around a table, each with cards in their hands, and there’s a pile in the middle. If I throw a card down on the table from my hand and it’s a 4 of anything…what happens next?

If you said “Social!” then take comfort, you’re among friends. If you didn’t know, drink 2 for not knowing…and go get us some more beer.

Today I came across something that I couldn’t believe someone hadn’t done before, given how huge card-based drinking games are (and have been for YEARS). I found the well-designed packs of cards offered by Drinking Decks, which offer decks of cards that are all-in-one good for games of Asshole, Circle of Death (aka Kings or King’s Cup), Ride the Bus…and probably for whatever other drinking game you could think to use them for. Honestly, these are some good looking cards, and very reasonably priced for cards this specialized and sexy. Your friends are sure to oohh and aahh the first time you slap these down on the table, checking out the baddass custom designs for each number and face card.

It’s genius really. I mean…what more could you ask for? The card for “social” says social. The card for “give 8″ says give 8. They’re stupid-easy, which is important when you’re playing a drinking game. They look great, and best of all, if someone spills a beer on them (I’m looking at you Amber), they’re cheap and easy to replace.

We here at DrinkPlanner Headquarters are definitely looking forward to ordering a few packs of these and sitting down with some beers and some friends and getting tore up for a few days hours.

Drinking Decks via Jake

Venerable gadget-blogger and man-blogger extraordinaire Joel Johnson had a chance to put the fancy-schmancy Krups Heineken BeerTender through it’s paces. Even though he was forced to stomach Heineken to complete his challenge, he does get drunk in the process and (bonus!) gives himself a dapper new haircut. The video don’t lie…

You’d have to really love Heineken to throw down the $300 for something so specialized. If they ever opened it up so that you could use any mini-keg with it, it might be worth it in some way, but as is it seems pretty useless. Funny video though.

via:: BoingBoing Gadgets

This being the internets, there are many many dubious products that I see every day and just don’t understand why anyone would ever buy them, or who honestly thought they could make money off of whatever it is they’re selling (I mean iPhone? Really? Is anyone actually buying these things?). I certainly have plenty of single-purpose doo-dads and whatsits cluttering my desk (and car and office and house and pockets) that I never thought I’d use or need, but turned out they’ve integrated quite nicely into my life.

That said, I’m on the fence about the Lime Bomber, a new product designed to create high-powered military-grade explosives out of ordinary household citrus. Hmm…that can’t be it. Ok, looks like the website says that it’s meant to…wait…really? Put a lime in a beer? That’s it? Oh wait, I see here that they say you could also use it to put an orange in your other beers, or possibly even a lemon in your water.

Maybe it’s just me, since I’m not a Corona drinker (and I rarely see Sol sold around here), so perhaps I’ve misunderstood the plight of the Mexican-style beer drinker. I have plenty of friends who are, but I can’t recall seeing any of them in any sort of prolonged struggle to deal with the task of inserting a wedge of lime into their beers. I’ve also noticed many of them sticking a thumb in the top after and turning said beer upside-down to make sure the lime flavor was properly sloshed around, but it doesn’t look like the Lime Bomber has any features to deal with that though (for example, a lime insertion implement that pushes the lime all the way to the bottom of the bottle). So…it looks like it only halfway does the job you never really needed it to do in the first place.

So I take it back, I’m not on the fence at all, this seems like a largely useless product. I’m all for innovations and creative thinking when it comes to booze and new ways to get it in me faster/better/sexier, but I can’t see how this product solves a problem or fulfills a need for pretty much anyone. The one thing I CAN appreciate about their site is that their little cartoony flash animation plays “You Dropped a Bomb On Me” by The Gap Band in the background. If only their product was equally as satisfying.

What do you guys think? Anyone think they’d use this on a regular basis? If so, let us know in the comments.

via:: Uncrate