Monday, June 29, 2009

How to avoid and get rid of a hangover

When you enjoy drinking, and especially enjoy drinking in excess with the techniques outlines below, it is inevitable that sometimes you will get the dreaded sickness know as the hangover. This is one thing that you cannot completely avoid though it is possible to make it more bearable. The first thing that I say before I even get to my list is WATER, drink plenty of it! Before, during, and especially after drinking.

Drinking at least one liter, (or quart for those of you still stuck on the obsolete system.) after drinking, before calling it a night will do a few helpful things for you. First it will put something else in your stomach to "push the rest along" and hopefully make sure there isn't any alcohol left come morning and hopefully will make you be able to eat in the morning. Second it will help to prevent waking up with cottonmouth, which always sucks because you never want to get up to get a drink. Lastly drinking that water will help to flush out your system, so expect to take a long pee at some point during the night, and when you wake up.

Now for a few tricks that I have learned that help sometimes, but as you have heard many times there is no fool-proof method of preventing a hangover.

1) I have found that taking a Vitamin B complex pill before drinking helps enormously with preventing a headache the next day, I have no idea why this works but for me and most of the people I have given one to, it sure seems to help.
2) Always eat something before drinking, every time you hear about someone being super sick they always tell you about how they didn't eat anything all day. Even though you may get drunk more easily and faster, drinking on empty always leads to being sick, so don't be that person.
3) Milk with salt. Pour yourself a nice big glass of milk, and shake a bunch of salt right on the top of it, immediately pound the entire glass. At first the salty milk will taste bad, but by the time you get to then end of the glass, the taste will be gone. This helps for 2 reasons: a major reason for a hangover is a lack of sodium in your blood, so this puts a little extra in(taking in a ton of salt wont help you however, your body will just flush it out, and it will be bad for you) and second the milk contains casian protein, which is very slow dissolving, which will keep something in you all night and help to avoid having a belly full of all beer.
4) If you have to puke, then do it. When your body wants you to puke it usually has a damn good reason for it, in this case there is too much beer in it and you will be even more sick if it has to digest all of it, so just get rid of it the easy way so you don't have to suffer.

Once you already have the hangover then you will just have to suffer. Try to take in as much water as possible and get as much stuff through you system as you can. Taking a hot shower will also help by making you sweat out as much of the bad stuff as you can. Also anytime you need to use the bathroom, do it, its all different ways for your body to clear stuff out. Also if you feel like you are going to need to puke. Try to drink as much water as possible and hold it off for a couple minutes after, but then let it go. This will make the puke less painful, and will help you body with getting EVERYTHING out at once.

Have fun with you beer and I hope that these few tips will help make you next day more bearable, so you can get back to it at night again.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

How to beer bong

The next technique that I would like to mention is how to do a proper beer bong, this one is pretty easy and foolproof, regardless, I have seen it done wrong far too many times.

1) get your beer bong, put your hand over end/thumb in end/ close valve. I would also like to add that I am a big anti-valve person, not only is it weak in my opinion, it also hinders the flow into your mouth and some of them can cause foaming.

2) now you fill the bong up with beer, pour it gently into the wall of the funnel trying to create as little foam as possible. more foam means it will take longer before you can actually drink that golden elixir.

3) once the bong is full and there is little foam left in the tube now you want to get the beer as close to the end of the tube as you can, this may mean lifting your hand slightly or venting with your thumb, valves tend to not need this because it is easy to fill the bong without having an air pocket. This is the part that people tend to mess up. any air that is left will be swallowed, and as with shotgunning, air pocket in the belly means beer will probably not stay down there.

4) now that you have this done you are to the easy part, grab the hose, put it in your mouth, unplug it and while someone gets the bong above your head, just let the beer flow down. If done correctly, with 2 beers or less you should be able to take it all down in 3 swallows or less. Experts at this can do 2 beers with one big gulp, keeping the throat open the entire time, it only will take about a second for it all to go away.


And now for a video example

Sunday, June 21, 2009

How to Chug a Beer

Of all beer drinking techniques the plain chug is probably the most common for obvious reasons but many people are still bad at it. In my experience I have seen that there are 2 good ways to chug fast, one with a can, and one by pouring it in a glass.

CAN

Often a can is the hardest thing to drink very fast out of because of simple physics, when beer is coming out air must come in so the beer flows in a staggered way and dosen't come out very fast, in order to fix this there is one simple technique that can be done. All you need to do is take a shap knife (be careful with knives when intoxicated) and cut a small hole at the top of the can on the opposite side of the mouth. This will allow air to come in so that the flow of the beer can be smooth and fast.

GLASS

Drinking fast out of a glass is much easier and can be done much faster than a can even with the above trick.

1) First pour the glass as to avoid foam as much as possible, this will make is so you don't have to wait too long until you have to drink it.

2) If the beer is nice and cold then give it a couple minutes to warm up. Though everyone loves their beer cold (at least cheaper beers) it is much harder to chug a really cold beer, and can give you a painful brain freeze. Too warm is bad though too, it will taste terrible and will make a lot of gas while you drink it.

3) Once the beer is foam free and not too cold but still not too warm yet it is optimal to drink. This is pretty intuitive on the technique. Grab the glass, put it to your lips and tilt the glass up. The best way to drink it is to try and swallow just before the beer hits your throat, this way your throat will already be open and the beer will just continue its flow as it goes. Once you master this the only thing to do it just work to keep your throat open as long as possible, some people can do it for the entire glass, others have to take 2 big swallows to do it all, the idea is to learn to do it in one.

There you have successfully chugged a beer nice and fast. While the glass method is much faster, it is not nearly as convenient as the can so just do what you want and enjoy your time drinking. But enjoy intelligently, don't chug yourself to an Emergency Room.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

How to Shotgun a Beer Like a Champ

One thing I find that most people are terrible at involving beer is shotgunning, here I will explain the best technique possible to blow people away with you skills.

1) get s beer that is not too warm or too cold. too cold will hurt as you drink it and too warm will make you burp like crazy before you finish it, or possibly cause you to have an air bubble in you stomach which will most likely make you puke it all right back up.

2) hold the beer horizontally but on a slight angle, with the bottom being slightly higher than the top, then puncture the highest point with the tip of a knife/key and let the pressure escape, if you do this right no liquid will be spilled.

3) after the pressure escapes, make you hole bigger, i personally find it best to cut a triangle with the base at the bottom of the can, then push the triangle you made into the can, and remember the bigger the hole, the more beer will be able to come out per unit time.

4) at this point put that hole you just made to your mouth, while having your finger on the tab, put the can topside up and open the beer

5) the secret to a good shotgun comes at this point, granted that you do everything else correct. Take in one large suck like you are trying to chug water out of a bottle. After that gravity will take over and the beer will flow into you mouth and all you have to do is open your throat.

6) once you master the suck and opening your throat you should be able to do this in less than 2 seconds (and kick anyone's ass in a race.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Non-Alcoholic Beer???

Ok so there is such thing, there is even a Busch N.A. My question is why? What is the point of beer without alcohol, yes it is delicious but the alcohol is the real reason it is so popular, and the only reason people would drink something like Busch in the first place. I can understand this stuff if you have a health condition, but most people that drink it I am afraid don't. And I just don't see the point, what good is a gun without bullets? or an engine without gas? If anyone has a good reason why cheap non-alcoholic beers are made I would love to hear it, but until then I will continue my stance on why the stuff is pointless and hope that it goes away. Though I am sure it never will.

So what are your feeling on the stuff? For you does a nice O'douls hit the spot after a hard day of work?

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Best Place to Drink a Beer in Myrtle Beach

On my trip to Myrtle Beach, SC, USA of all the places I went to have a beer one definitely stood out among the rest. This place was Bimini's Oyster Bar and Seafood Cafe. Being on the beach we choose to go to a seafood oriented place in order to get good food and we discovered a gem. The place is not very big and was full of people having a good time. It was also nice and loud, not always what you want but it makes the atmosphere perfect here.

When we got there we all got a beer to drink while we waited for our table. The beer selection was not enormous but there was a nice array to choose from. I settled for the southern classic Yuengling as it was suggested to me by a local. One we got our table and sat down we looked over the menu and noticed that it advertised an "Oyster Slammer" which I wish I would have had a camera to take a picture of. We ordered a round and waited to see what it was when they came. It turned out to be a slammer glass with 2 raw oysters, hot sauce, and Bud Light. We all took ours down and to be honest it was much better than I expected. Finishing it by taking down 2 full raw oysters was a challenge but overall it was well worth the dollar I paid for it. I really can't explain the taste of it but I will suggest that anyone interested would give it a try.

The food was excellent. A popular item on the menu, which I split with one of my companions that was there is the Steamer Pot, which consists of 6 oysters, 6 clams, and 6 mussels, 1/4 pound of shrimp and a pound of crab legs, all steamed. It also came with corn on the cob, hush puppies, and cole slaw. A very full meal, even when split by 2 people. This entree would probably go best with a lighter beer, maybe a wheat beer would be perfect, but the Yuengling that I had with it was a good complement in itself.

Overall the experience of Bimini's was a great one indeed and the next time I go to Myrtle Beach I will definitely visit there again. I would also suggest it to anyone who plans on visiting there.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

America's Oldest Brewery

Well for anyone interested my trip was awesome. Had a great time and would encourage anyone interested to visit Myrtle Beach, only be warned it is more family oriented than I expected. Still great golf and some good places to have a drink

While on my trip I discovered what people in the southeastern US "the south" love to drink, Yuengling. Yuengling is the oldest brewery in America, established in 1829. It is also quite a large volume brewery, though I never see the stuff where I live in the Midwest. They make around 8 varieties but the only one that you will find without searching is the lager. It is actually quite a good beer too, and down there it is generally cheaper than bud light or other common American beer. It is brewed in Pennsylvania where it has always been located.

My main experience with this medium bodied lager with a clean hop finish was golfing. It was a great addition to golfing as it is satisfying and not so light that you drink so much that you can no longer swing right. When I golf though, I like to have the taste of beer in my mouth a lot, and Yuengling was the answer to that need.

So if you are even in the eastern or southern US I would suggest that your first beer you order at the bar be a Yuengling, as it is the perfect beer to be having there, and at How to Drink a Beer we are always about having the best beer for the situation, or 10. For more information about the brewery visit their website at http://www.yuengling.com/

What are everyone else's experiences with Yuengling, or drinking in the southern US in general? I would love to hear what you have to say.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

New posts to come after the weekend, but for now....

Well with my golf trip I am on now and a lot of drinking that I am getting done here I have a few posts that I will be writing soon. I would make one now but this hotel has terrible internet and you don't want to write a post and not get it saved right? But in the mean time I will just post a couple more links for your entertainment. Read up on them and have a beer for me, I will definitely be having one for you.


How to Chug a Beer

How to Drink Beer


How to Shotgun a Beer

Friday, June 5, 2009

Drinking Trip

Well currently I am on a golfing trip in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA. Expect a new post related to this trip soon. It should be up by Tuesday. Have a good weekend everyone and have a beer for me.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

How to Drink a Beer News Reel

Top 7 Beer Movies Very similar to the list I made a few weeks ago

6 Stages from Fun to Death
Good post from BeerBeer.org about the levels of drunkenness

Beer Sales up in Bad Times An article about how MillerCoors has seen an increase in sales, despite the bad economic times.

Fisker Karma This isn't beer related, I just can't get over how awesome this car is... Anyone want to buy me one?

Monday, June 1, 2009

Blogging Tips and Tricks

Well I now have been writing How to Drink a Beer for 3 months or so now so I felt that I should have a post to reflect on the experience and to share my blogging advice for others to learn from.

From what I have learned people like list formats of things so that is how I will do this.

1) Write about what you like - I like beer so that is why I write about it. Writing about something you do not truly like will most likely cause you to get bored and stop.

2) Don't get discouraged - At first you will find very few readers and it will take a lot of time and work to get your blog out there, but don't give up. Take your time and write interesting content and people will read it.

3) Keep new content up consistently - This does not mean you have to do a new post everyday (though that is good) but don't go a long period of time without a post, even if it is just a short little post your readers will appreciate it and it will help you grow your blog.

4) Don't blog to make money - I use adsense ads on my blog but that is just in hope that someday I will make money, but I do not get many clicks at all and really don't expect to ever get that many, but it would be nice. Still money is not the reason I blog, it is because I enjoy what I write about, you should write for that reason too.

5) Network with other bloggers or guest blog for another blogger - This can get you a good amount of traffic for the day the post is put up and can get you a few legitimate returning readers, which should be your ultimate goal

So those are what I have found helpful with creating How to Drink a Beer. I would love to hear what everyone else has done to help build your own blog. What has been you key(s) to success?

Working on a Post

Sorry for the delay between posts, after moving across the state this weekend I haven't had the time I thought I would to finish my next post. It is in progress though and should be up soon.

In the meantime everyone enjoy your beer and have another. Anybody have any comments or anything about beer they would like to say?

And for now a good pic I found of the Anheuser Busch line