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The Horrible Angostura Bitters Shortage of 2010

I thought it was just a neighborhood thing where I live but it's sadly true--there has been a worldwide Angostura Bitters shortage. I've never encountered such a thing in my 20 years of buying this product. I haven't had any at home in a couple of months, since my last bottle ran out. For a long time, I though I was just having bad shopping luck, and I've been relying on my back-up bottle of Fee's Bitters*, but they're just not the same.

With any luck, our long national nightmare will end soon, and we can all go back to being civilized mixologists and imbibers.

*They have an "Old-Fashioned Bitters" that's close, but no cigar. However, they are the source for the formerly elusive Orange Bitters and Mint Bitters. And to make a Sazerac, you need to get yourself some Peychaud's Bitters.

Inaccurate History in Copywriting, Part 43

"Dude, I'm smokin' through this ad copy"

Revue Retro 210 Eyeglasses

Model: 210

Product ID: 4071250002450732c199

Description:

It was the late 1970's and Andy Warhol dominated the New York art scene. Millions were learning the "twist" from James Brown. These vintage glasses were all the rage in that era, with the thick, cartoon-like rims.

I have no idea what era they're supposed to be talking about here, unless this is on some alternate Earth. I won't even do a point-by-point on this because just about every 'fact' is wrong. Yikes!

Here's another one that I found in my kitchen, courtesy of Morton Salt:


1933
In the post-Depression years from 1933 to 1941, jazz was king. And as it reigned, our little girl kept pouring.

I think a lot of people would have liked to have known the depression was over in 1933! It would have saved them a lot of trouble with joblessness and hunger. Also, saying "Jazz is King" has a distinctly 'roaring twenties', Gatsby-esque tone.

Poorly-written copy and wrong history are two of my big pet peeves (out of many), so these blurbs really get my goat.

Know your Christian Militia

Aren't they a charming bunch?

This combo of eight photos provided by the U.S. Marshals Service on Monday March 29, 2010 shows from top left, David Brian Stone Sr., 44, of Clayton, Mich,; David Brian Stone Jr. of Adrian, Mich,; Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio; Tina Mae Stone and bottom row from left, Michael David Meeks, 40, of Manchester, Mich,; Kristopher T. Sickles, 27, of Sandusky, Ohio; Joshua John Clough, 28, of Blissfield, Mich.; and Thomas William Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind.,. Nine suspects tied to Hutaree, a Christian militia that was preparing for the Antichrist were charged with conspiring to kill police officers, then kill scores more by attacking a funeral using homemade bombs, federal prosecutors said Monday.

(AP Photo/U.S. Marshall)

Shopportunity

While on vacation in Alabama, we stopped a couple of times at Target ™ stores. For most people, this is a pretty mundane experience, but since we live in the heart of the city and don't have a car, it was a treat for us. I got a pretty major clothing score from Target's new line, Liberty of London. They've licensed some pretty far-out patterns from this famous British store and produced tham at Target prices (i.e. cheap!).
At first, I was fairly amazed to see such bold, flowery designs at such a major discount chain, but apparently, the clothes have been selling out in the first day in places like Manhattan and San Francisco. Fortunately for us, we were shopping in Alabama (Mobile and Foley, to be precise)! So I had the pick of the line. I bought three ties ($17.99 each), three pairs of boxers ($5.99 each), and a really suave fitted dress shirt ($19.99). At the kind of stores I usually have access to in the city, these items will usually cost about three times that amount. (Or even more at the real Liberty of London). Everything I got had a sort of sixties-hipster British psychedelic look, which makes me think of the Beatles' PR man, Derek Taylor, one of my role models of coolness.

My enthusiasm for the patterns may have also been influenced by seeing Elvis' sartorial splendor at Graceland a couple of days earlier.



The prices and the quality of the stuff really points out the big lie that clothes have to be expensive to be good. Hurray for style democracy!

Back from Vacation

Time to unpack!