Escape From the Scooby Doo Mansion

You wanted the awesome, you got the awesome!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Hey, guess what we're drinking at the Scooby Doo Mansion this summer!



Yessir, nothin' goes with a bucket of fried chicken like some syrupy semi-carbonated Lambrusco from a screwtop bottle. Unfortunately, this ad forgot to show the breakfasty side of Riunite - Riunite with french toast, anyone?
The ad also forgot to show how awesome Riunite is with half-eaten, two-day-old Taco Bell leftover chalupas that you picked up while on your previous Riunite bender.

Oh crap, they've got a website even! Even more exciting, they've got an archive of all their old TV ads. Damn.

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Sunday, March 16, 2008

Weekend Beer Reviews (AKA learn from my mistakes, grasshopper)

Y'know what? I like beer. I like beer a lot. I also like, to much lesser extent, tomato juice. Furthermore, I like clams. So when I was at The Boyfriend Store on Saturday and I saw this product in the cooler,
I said to myself, "aw, what the hell?" That's right my friends, some crazy bastard in St. Louis (and here I thought that Springfield was where I could find all the crazy bastards in the Show Me State) decided that what Budweiser beer was truly missing was the addition of tomato juice and clam broth. Naturally, I couldn't say no. And ya know what? It wasn't that bad. Ever have a bloody mary with a beer back? Well, imagine if the proportions were reversed and you mixed it all together... and then added clam juice. Not for everyone, but I found the first few sips to be fairly enjoyable. And then I just got tired of it. My biggest complaint is that the 24 oz. can is just waaaaay too much Chelada for one session. I think this is a beer-like product that is best consumed at about 8 ounces at a time.

Final Grade: C+ (I'll probably drink it again if somebody else pays for it and my only other choice is lukewarm Sunny D)

Every beer-loving instinct in my body told me that buying a 4-pack of Horny Goat Wheat tallboys was huge mistake. But dammit, I love me some tallboy drinkin', and I love me some beer that may be underpriced for its value (as my friend Ugly Juice is on an eternal quest for the perfect $10 shiraz, so am I on a ceaseless journey for some underappreciated brew that I can get for less than $10 a twelver - it's never going to happen, but that doesn't stop me). So, at $3.99, a 4-pack o' tallboys sounded like it was worth a gamble. Well, like Kenny Rogers taught us so many years ago - ya gotta know when to walk away, know when to run.

I should have ran.


My first warning sign should have been the use of a cartoon character to market the brew. We all know that the only beer that can or should be marketed via cartoon is Hamms, as demonstrated below:





See how it works? You watch those crazy "from the land of sky-blue waters (waters)/comes the beer refreshing/Hamm's - the beer refreshing/ Hamm's!!!!" commercials during a North Stars game when you're nine years old - and 25 years later, you're smashed out of your gourd at Grumpy's, being embraced by a large man in a bear custom. It's quite simple, really.

If you think some effing goat is gonna compete with that, you've got another thing coming.

Now, I can forgive a crappy marketing technique if you've got a decent brew. Horny Goat claims it is "a Belgian-Style white beer, craft-brewed with wheat, malted barley, hops, and a bit of orange peel and coriander." My guess is that the alleged "orange peel" is actually powdered Tang, which unless you're an astronaut, is not exactly a flavor you're looking for in a beer. After that initial blast of powdered citrus noxium, the beer settles into a general state of funkiness reminiscent of the backstage restroom at the 7th Street Entry, followed by a cloying, hey-is-it-just-me-or-is-something-burning? aftertaste. Learn from my mistake, friends, and avoid the Horny Goat at all costs.

Final Grade: D- (What's that? You're offering a jar actual goat urine rather than this wretched brew? Why, don't mind if I do!)

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