A Cocktail Is Born-The Gringo De' Beaner!

It's just another Sunday, (well, OK, it's November 5th-write this date down in you cocktail manual), and the boss and I are headed out for a couple of quick ones at the Dead Rock Stars Happy Hour at The Monkey Bar, located in trendy midtown Sacramento, CA. Turns out most of the guys we hear on the jukebox are still living and only occationally do we notice a dead guy singing or doing a solo. We've decided not to pursue it this time around because we're on a mission: create a new alcholic beverage, one that NAFTA would be proud of. Sam McKinney (I did mention he's my boss, right?) has got the name for his new concoction, but the actual mix needed to be narrowed down, not an easy task since he's trying to make the first Mexican/American libation. Eddie, our bartender for the evening, was willing to pour us what we needed; Sam had just got paid and the large bills were burning a hole in his pocket. Me? I was there for my years of experience in cocktail field research. So, we threw down the quantlet, along with several gin and tonics to help us get started. So, what exactly do you put in the first Mexican/American cocktail? This much we know: it's got to have tequila! The next booze choice had to be an American drink and frankly, there really isn't that many to choose from; Rye Whiskey or Bourbon. We decided to go high-end, starting out with a shot of Woodbridge Bourbon. Smooth and silky, it goes down easy by itself, so it should prove to be perfect as a base for our drink and we were absolutely right. Petron was the natural choice for the tequila, itself a thing of beauty and one of the best tequila shooters around. To jazz it up, we decided to add Creme de Menthe, but too much of a good thing turned out to be just that, so another try at the mix put us with a ratio of one shot each of tequila and bourbon, a float of Creme de Menth, and then the next decision was the mixer; soda? Collins? Coke? Hey! Coke always sounds good when your thirsty, so we gave it a go. Once again, too much of a good thing turned out just awful. It was almost painful having to dump all that expensive booze down the sink, but I'm pretty sure The Monkey Bar wasn't going to need to call a plumber to clear any clogged drains that night! Instead, we finished it off with just a splash of coke, garnished it with a red maraschino cherry and, Ouila!, we now had our cocktail: The Gringo De' Beaner!

So, in short, start off with a highball full of ice and have the following ready:

High-end bourbon (Woodbridge this time around).
Petron Tequila.
Creme de Menthe
Coca-Cola.
Red maraschino cherries.

Pour one shot each of bourbon and tequila,
Float about a quarter shot of creme de menthe over a spoon,
Just a splash of Coke, and
Top it off with a cherry.
Drink Up!

Sacramento D.U.I. Checkpoints

Isn't it interesting that the Sacramento Police set-up their latest D.U.I. check-point on Franklin Blvd. about a 1/2 mile south of Curtis Park, where the neighborhood income levels drop significantly, and somewhere along Curtis Park where they can snag some of our more wealthy citizens along with the remaining drunken population. Maybe they should put a check-point on Sutterville Road, that way those folks who are returning home to Land Park or Hollywood Park would have a chance at some jail-time, increased insurance rates and less money in their checkbooks. Did I mention that if you turn off the road before the check-point, even if it happens to be one leading to your street, that they can pull you over for possible averting the check-point? I know our streets need to have less drunk drivers on them, but surely we can be a little more fair and balanced in the placement of these inspections locations.

City of Sacramento vs. Liquor Stores

It's time for some real science in regards to crime, poverty and the relationship of corner grocery stores which sell booze. The article in the Sacramento Bee had taken in to account the number of stores in several geographic areas, and the number of crimes permitted within a specific distance from said stores, but why no mention of population density? The maps in the paper seemed to indicated that where there were fewer store locations, the number of crimes in that area was significantly lower. However, the maps also seemed to indicate a decline in population density. I also find it telling that no mention of local major grocery distributors, such as Raleys, Safeway and Albertsons were targeted as trouble makers. Why not just pass loitering legislation and make the local police and sheriff departments enforce it? If our government really wanted to rid our neighborhoods of problem corner-grocery stores, they should have put in to place a system to prevent the change-of-ownership. This would have alleviated at least one store and possibly a couple of others. They could also require owners to post security personnel outside the premises to deter crime. Using eminent domain to quell problems like this doesn't seem fair to new business owners, and the lack of city notification during the exchange process is simply unfair. If the city is going to allow you to buy a business and then immediately attempt to shut you down without ever bothering to tell you that was its intention from the start, there should be a significant grace period allowing you to try to fix the problem they are attempting to solve by shutting you down.

Levees and the Sacramento Bee

Why is that the Sacramento Bee has had several articles regarding the dangers of the Sacramento/California levee system, yet when there is an actual levee breach-like the one that occurred in Sonoma and forced the temporary closure of route 121, it wasn't front-page news?
Certainly, our local paper can do better than this, don't you think?

Intelligent Design 1 - Bush 0

Knock it off already!

For those of you who are clueless: yes, I know there's a problem with my photo and my staff is trying to work it out with the legal departments of the various entities involved. And anyone who is privy to inside JBGDCI info can tell you that computer technology and Johnny B. just don't work that well together. So, to make things short-we're working on it.