DailyDirt: Just Add Alcohol...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The new year is just around the corner, and the New Year's Eve parties wouldn't be complete without a few alcoholic beverages. But if you want to try something a little different, here are some other ways to imbibe ethanol.

• Making alcoholic ice cream isn't as simple as it might sound because the freezing point of alcohol is much lower than water. Add some gelatin to your concoction, and you can get a full cup of 80-proof alcohol into a quart of ice cream. [url]
• Bartenders are catching on to the molecular gastronomy fad with canisters of nitrous oxide and rotary evaporators. The laughing gas is not to be inhaled but used in flavor extraction processes... [url]
• Add vodka to gummi bears, refrigerate and wait. Eat. Repeat. That's a pretty simple recipe for getting some people drunk. [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: alcohol, alcoholic, drunk, gummi bears, ice cream, molecular gastronomy, nitrous oxide

Sex Pistols Claiming Trademark Infringement? Because Selling Out Is So Punk Rock

from the god-save-the-cream dept

I first heard about the Icecreamist's "Sex Pistols: God Save the Cream" ice cream + absinthe monstrosity (served out of an IV drip?!?) a few weeks ago when my friend Jean had one for breakfast (wait... breakfast?!?). Either way, it was amusing to see ice cream go punk rock/extreme. However, apparently the rights holders for the Sex Pistols are none too pleased. Lawrence D'Oliveiro (without a link!) alerts us that the Sex Pistols are threatening legal action over the ice cream. Now, my guess is that the Pistols have a decent enough trademark claim here. The menu in Jean's photos clearly show the drink called "The Sex Pistol" with the tagline "God Save the Cream" (a play on the Pistol's "God Save the Queen"). However, it doesn't seem particularly punk rock to be filing trademark infringement lawsuits, does it? As the Icecreamists are saying:

"We are a bit dumbfounded that a group that made its reputation for being banned is trying to ban one of our ice creams and claim copyright over the national anthem and the Queen."

Filed Under: ice cream, sex pistols, trademark

Eating Ice Cream Causes False Breathalyzer Positive Test Result

from the oops dept

Paul Brinker writes in to let us know of an odd case in Australia, where a man who had a breath-testing device installed in his car (presumably due to previous DUI convictions) asked a court to remove it after he was unable to start his car one day after eating some ice cream. Curious as to whether or not ice cream could actually set off a breathlyzer-type device, the court ordered a test, whereby the man breathed a 0.00 blood-alcohol level, then took a few bites of the same exact ice cream (Bubble O'Bill, for those wondering) and was then tested again, showing a 0.018 blood-alcohol level. The guy won the case, and was allowed to remove the device. While I'm all for getting drunk drivers off the road, it is at least somewhat troubling that just a few bites of a non-alcoholic food could lead to false positives on such testing devices.

Filed Under: australia, breathalyzer, false positive, ice cream