Out-There Drink News

Most of the time a truly bizarre story can stand alone. But, sometimes bringing together a few really out-there pieces can underscore just how much crazy news is really going in the world. A number of recent drink-related events have warranted such a round-up. 

• Fine Wine Fisasco: While transferring a shipment of Mollydooker's Velvet Glove Shiraz from Australia to the U.S., a forklift dropped a container carrying $1 million worth of wine. Most of the bottles (which sell for $200 a pop) in the container holding 462 cases were destroyed. 

• Russia Declares Beer to be Alcoholic: Last week Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed a law that classifies beer as an alcoholic substance. Previously any items containing less than 10% alcohol were considered food; therefore the sale of beer was relatively unregulated. Under the new law, beer sales will be controlled similarly to the way spirits are sold. 

• Swiss Judges Taste-Test Canned Alcoholic Beverages: In order to determine whether a manufacturer's line of canned cocktails are sweet enough to be sold as alcopops, a group of judges at one of Switzerland's highest courts did a taste test. The court officials tried each of the five products twice for good measure before deeming them as alcopops. 

The Daily Byte is a regular column dedicated to covering interesting food news and trends across the country. Click here for previous columns.