A Pedal Tavern Without Any Alcohol

A few days ago, I was enjoying an outside dinner along the Milwaukee River when I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. After a double-take, I realized that it was a 16-person bicycle of sorts, which was filled with a rambunctious group of 20 somethings who appeared to be drinking and whooping it up as they cycled down Water Street.

While I must admit that this Milwaukee Pedal Tavern looked like fun, all of these questions popped into mind. Like, is it legal to drink and drive? What happens if everyone on board gets drunk? And, do you really want to work that hard when drinking?

Alas, these questions took me to the Milwaukee Pedal Tavern's website so I could learn more about this innovative new portable bar. I was relieved to discover that an employee of the tavern actually drives and steers the bicycle, while the patrons merely relax. But, here was the shocking revelation - passengers cannot drink while on board. Evidently, the tavern is currently in talks with the city of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin to persuade them that passengers would not be drinking-and-driving and, therefore, it would be totally safe transportation. (Hmmm ... what about the drunk passenger that falls off the bike into traffic? Although the same could be said about a passenger on a Harley-Davidson.)

I must admit that I really felt let down when I discovered that no drinking was allowed. They call themselves the Milwaukee Pedal Tavern, but in reality they aren't a tavern at all. Deceptive advertising? Heck, yeah.

So, basically, this bicycle built for 16 represents an alternative to a relaxing horse-drawn carriage ride throughout the city ... without the brown presents deposited by the horse.

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Please check out my Health & Wellness blog at: http://thought4foodblog.blogspot.com/

Scottish beer packaged inside dead rodents. Is this a new SNL skit?

Dom Perignon has got nothing on BrewDog, a Scottish craft brewery that just launched a taxidermied rodent beer. This beer is hard to believe on so many fronts:

- Contains 55% alcohol
- Comes packaged in a TAXIDERMIED RODENT
- Costs about $760 per bottle

Beyond the fact that this idea is outright bizarre and creepy, I can't for the life of me figure out who would want to drink their beer from a dead rodent. Most people run shrieking in fright when a dead rodent shows up in their house.

I just had to check out BrewDog's website. The opening line says, "Beer was never meant to be bland, tasteless and apathetic." I think I get how a rodent would make your drinking experience less bland and less apathetic ... on some level anyway. But, just how does drinking beer out of a rodent make it taste different? And how the heck do they preserve that rodent anyway?

I have to admit when I first saw this ad I thought it was an SNL spoof. I was waiting for an ad to pop up and say "Laughs ... compliments of SNL."

Thanks to Ad Freak for this strangely bizarre story.