Friday, January 14, 2005
Id Versus Ego
Mr. Id speaks:
Mr. Id speaks:
The electric light bulb.Mr. Id, meet Mr. Ego:
The automobile.
The airplane.
The computer.
All great inventions that have changed the destiny of humankind. But friends, I have learned of a new invention that will make them all seem the puny work of weak minds. It represents the fusion of two of the very staples of life into a single, powerful entity for which, I now realize, I have been waiting my entire adult life.
It bears the unwieldly name of B-to-the-E.
It is beer. With caffeine.
Anheuser Busch launched it last October, but it's newly available in my area. Hot damn.
Don't get so excited. Anheuser Busch describes the beer's taste this way: "Well balanced with select hops and aromas of blackberry, raspberry and cherry, B-to-the-E will offer a lightly sweet and tart taste." Not that there's anything wrong with that--both Mr. Id and Mr. Ego like beers with a slightly fruity character--but given that this is Budweiser we're talking about, the flavor is not likely to be complex or subtle. Which makes Mr. Ego think that B-to-the-E is probably closer to a fruit-flavored malt beverage like Smirnoff Ice or Mike's Hard Lemonade than it is to beer. Indeed, a Pittsburgh newspaper columnist, writing about B-to-the-E, says it "tastes like someone dumped a shot of Mountain Dew into a beer." The columnist also says that B-to-the-E resembles Hop 'n Gator, "the original lemon-lime lager" from 35 years ago that has been relaunched recently. Mr. Ego thinks that the word "lager" should probably not be appended to "lemon lime" under any circumstances.Whoops, here's Mr. Id again:
It's beer. With caffeine.I think he's going to want to go out for lunch today.
