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Posts Tagged ‘drinking’

Source: Freep.com

By: Christ Christoff and Kathleen Gray

September 30, 2010

For drinkers, it was Christmas in September when Legislature voted to allow liquor sales Sunday mornings and Christmas Day.

Now, the question is: Will Gov. Jennifer Granholm be the Scrooge? Her spokeswoman Liz Boyd said the governor has concerns to resolve before she would sign the bill. It would also allow wine and beer tasting at grocery and party stores and others with package liquor sales licenses.

The changes had been sought for years by owners of bars and liquor retailers. Alcohol could be sold from 7 a.m. Sundays to 2 a.m. Monday mornings with a special $160 permit. Currently, liquor sales are banned Sundays until noon.

The bill also would allow beer, wine and liquor sales up to midnight Christmas Eve and after noon on Christmas Day. Liquor sales are now prohibited after 9 p.m. Christmas Eve and all day on Christmas.

Ellen Belanger, manager of the Park Bar near Comerica Park and Ford Field in Detroit, said the new law could be a boon for business on game days. “They’d be in here early for their Bloody Marys and mimosas,” she said.

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Scientists recently announced that drinking during pregnancy can result in lower sperm counts for sons. The study was conducted in Denmark. More than 20 years ago 12,000 pregnant women answered questionnaires about their health and lifestyle. Researchers tracked down 347 adult sons (18-21) of those women and tested their blood and semen. Sperm concentrations were 32 percent lower for sons whose mothers drank 4 to 5 alcoholic beverages a week during the pregnancy. Dr. Cecilia Ramlau-Hansen, lead study author, also acknowledged that more research is needed to confirm these study results as it was just an observational study.

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More and more women are joining the field of beer tasting, and excelling at it. SABMiller, the brewer that makes Miller and Coors as well as Pilsner Urquell, Peroni and Grolsch, has said they have evidence that women are better at detecting undesirable chemicals in beer. Today 30% of SABMiller’s tasters are women. Research from a research institute in Philidelphia supports their claim, showing that women have a better sense of smell which is critical in identifying flavors in beer. Not all brewers agree. Carlsberg and Anheuser-Busch inBev have both stated that they do not believe there is a significant difference between men and women tasters.

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Hermosa Beach City Council members are working to end the Ironman drinking event. They met recently to discuss ideas on how to end the 32-year-old tradition. The event, which included around 500 competitors last year, has the participants run a mile on the beach, paddle on their surfboards for another mile then finish by chugging a sixer on the shoreline. Whomever finishes first without vomiting is declared the winner. City officials say that the excessive drinking and rowdy behavior scares families away.

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A local study group compiled a list of recommendations for legislators and municipalities to change the drinking culture in Wisconsin. The list includes introduce sobriety checkpoints, prohibit parents from buying alcohol in bars for their underage children, doubling the fees for alcohol licenses and more. The State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse workgroup plans to show the document to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.

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