Crave

This guy could probably have used some help from Whiskipedia to learn just how much that J.D. would knock him out. (I took this photo in college.)

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/Long Before CNET News.com)

Confession: I don't know a whole lot about alcoholic beverages. I'm that girl who pours blue Curacao into stuff simply because it turns your drink a cool color. I don't actually know what it is. That's probably not a good thing.

My cluelessness is starting to give my friends headaches--literally. I read in The New York Times that rose champagne was going to be really trendy this season, so I got some for a New Year's Eve party, only to learn that the stuff tastes even worse than regular (cheap) champagne and makes you feel even worse the next day. (And it's pink, so guys won't touch it.)

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 2008 will shape up to be the year of the booze industry's full-out digital debut. We're off to a good start. On New Year's Day, as many of us were still whimpering about hangovers, Whiskipedia launched. It's exactly what you think it is--a wiki about whiskey, or whisky, or however you spell it. Like its namesake Wikipedia, user contributions will keep the site's content flowing, but the site has expert oversight from administrator Ian Buxton (of The Whisky Channel) and the preliminary content was derived from the book Whisky: A Book of Words.

Of course, it's just about whiskey, so it couldn't help me learn how to avoid crappy champagne. But maybe it's a start. Here's to hoping that Whiskipedia sets a fine new precedent for online booze information dissemination. Because, really, I can't be the only clueless person out there.

(And ideally, perhaps better education will lead to more responsible drinking.)

(Credit: buyyourfriendadrink.com)

This post was updated at 1:04 PM PT to clarify the launch date of the Drink Card program.

Forget your run-of-the-mill Best Buy and Barnes & Noble gift cards. I know more than a few people who think a gift card that you could redeem for whiskey sours or Stella Artois would make a way better stocking stuffer.

Meet the "Drink Card" from BuyYourFriendADrink.com (BYFAD). The ambitious little start-up allows you to pay a dollar amount by credit card that a friend can then redeem for a drink at a participating bar by showing a text message code, has continually been one of our favorites to cover. Perhaps it's because a benevolent editor used the service to remotely buy me an apple martini that I then ordered at a local bar by showing the bartender a code in a text message--at 3:00 in the afternoon.

The service has expanded quite a bit since our initial test run, including launching a partnership with party-hearty social network Going.com and expanding beyond its original home base of New York to more than 120 bars and restaurants in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, D.C., New Orleans, and Biloxi. (Sorry, San Francisco. You got one-upped by Biloxi.)

On Thursday, BYFAD will officially launch the Drink Card, which is exactly what you think it is: a credit card-sized piece of plastic that the bartender can swipe like a credit card to deduct the proper amount. You'll be able to fill one up for yourself or a friend with anywhere from $5 to $250, which means that won't cover anything really expensive. But here's the cool part: not only will each card come with a free $10 right off the bat, you get a 20 percent bonus, so that if you add $25 to a Drink Card, you get an extra $5. As a release from the company read, "It's a cool way to get a free round before you even leave for a bar or restaurant." Well, not really, since it can't magically make a Hoegaarden appear in front of me (complete with lemon slice), but I guess it does still constitute free drinks.

Sure, the whole process is a little complicated, especially if either party is under the influence, but it's a cute gimmick, and the fact that BYFAD takes a small commission from each purchase means that with a critical mass of eager drinkers, the company could actually be profitable. It's hoping to continue its expansion, too, with upcoming features including mobile ordering and a revamped bar search. And let's hope they add some San Francisco bars to their roster (a company representative has hinted that this is on the way). I want to buy my lovely West Coast colleagues some beers soon.

On a closing note, it goes without saying: please drink responsibly.

The more Microsoft events CNET sends me to around New York (the Windows Vista launch weekend, Halo 3's raucous little debutante ball), the more I realize one thing: No matter how much Gates, Ballmer, & Co. seem to always have issues (like that "Zune" debacle), that company knows how to throw one hell of a party. I'm not kidding. It even has its own wine now.

Created by South African winery Stormhoek especially for Microsoft, the "Blue Monster Reserve" sauvignon blanc is accompanied by the tagline "change the world or go home." It's only available to Microsoft employees, members of a "Friends of Blue Monster" Facebook group, or Stormhoek insiders. The cute little logo was designed by Stormhoek marketing strategist Hugh MacLeod of gapingvoid.com.

This, for the record, furthers my speculation that Microsoft is actually the Dharma Initative.

But, that said, this really isn't that big of a surprise. I speculate that Google has a half dozen tasty custom microbrews on tap in the Googleplex at all times. I've also heard this rumor that Steve Jobs has commissioned a wheatgrass-infused organic sake that was uncorked shortly after the iPhone launch. Don't even get me started on the juicy gossip about Mark Zuckerberg's plans to make Facebook-branded Smirnoff Ice as iconic a part of his image as those Adidas sandals.

And here at CNET, you might not know that we have our own private-label scotch! It has been absolutely instrumental recently as Craver-in-chief Mike Yamamoto attempts to deal with Tim Moynihan's robo-hellraising.

(Via PSFK)

(Credit: Fabstuff)

As fellow Craver Caroline McCarthy is off on other assignments, we've been asked to fill in on some of her regular beats. No, it doesn't involve wine or beer. Or still more wine and beer.

In this case, it's something that combines two other of her favorite topics, stuffed animals and planetriums. (We don't ask questions.) The "Twilight Turtle" looks like a regular plush by day but, by night, its plastic shell turns into a planetarium that projects the night sky onto any ceiling.

It comes in white, green or blue, colors that researchers say have "relaxing, rejuvenating and calming qualities," according to Uber-Review. If only they came in 'gwins, we'd have a trifecta.

I hear Mike Yamamoto has one in his basement.

(Credit: LiveJournal user SCAScot)

This contraption looks to me like something that the Beverly Hillbillies would hitch to the back of their car, but trust me, it's way cooler than anything that Jethro Bodine could scheme up. It claims to be the world's fastest margarita mixer. We talk a lot about booze gadgetry here, but this one really takes the (tequila-infused) cake.

(Credit: LiveJournal user SCAScot)

According to the LiveJournal user who documented it, this contraption made by "Uncle Don" (no, no joke) is made of "a small-block 400, a trailer, assorted parts and the ability to custom fabricate a 6-inch tall replica of a blender blade out of stainless steel." The tasty treats are mixed in a 25-gallon stainless steel tank, and in 10 to 20 seconds, "Dirty Don's Margarita Machine" can turn six bags of ice and 18 bottles of ready-to-drink margarita mix into some yummy frozen drinks.

"Uncle Don," for the record, is now officially invited to CNET's next office happy hour, as long as he brings the Margarita Machine with him.

Sorry, Make types, but there are no instructions for building your own; and sorry, booze snobs, there's no indication as to exactly how much Cuervo and triple sec you'd have to pour into this thing to make margaritas the "real way." It also looks so complicated that you might not want to operate it once you've had one of the drinks it produces. Nevertheless, it's certifiably awesome. Plus, it can probably mix daiquiris and pina coladas, too.

But can it automate the process of putting salt around the rim of your glass?

(Via Boing Boing)

(Credit: Barstools & Barstools)

Sometimes on Crave I talk about my dream office. This would undoubtedly be a part of it. I think it might be the most beautiful bar ever; yes, even cooler than the inflatable one. This is, like, the iPhone of bars. Crafted out of a combination of brushed and polished stainless steel, it comes with a bottle cooler and a sink that you can connect to your water supply. They really thought of everything.

Additionally, the panels on the front are luminescent, so this is guaranteed to look extra awesome after dark. At the (discounted!) price of $7,365, that's about as much as slightly over 12 iPhones. I say it's worth it. Very worth it.

(Via Uncrate)

(Credit: Scandinavian Design Center)

Boxed wine: it's the punchline of so many jokes and the drink staple of so many low-budget sorority parties. Once you're a "real" grown-up, it's more than a bit gauche to actually serve this stuff without some kind of forced hipster irony--and in case you didn't get the memo, that faux-cheapo attitude is so out. Nevertheless, if you're on a budget and need to serve a lot of beverages to a lot of people, boxed wine is still a tempting choice. So how can you make it a little bit sexier?

Leave it to the Danish to come up with a solution. The VinUno, designed by Lars Erdman, is a boxed wine dispenser made of--we kid you not--polished steel and lacquered wood. You can choose from red, white, and black options, and there's some way to insert a cooling element into it so that you can keep that white wine nice and chilly.

Sure, it'll cost you $132, which ostensibly defeats the purpose of being cheap with your booze selections, but it'll probably pay for itself in the long run since now you'll be saving money by serving Franzia instead of that horrifically overpriced Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's. (Actually, where I live, it's Three Buck Chuck because of our liquor tax, but you get the idea.)

(Via CubeMe)

(Credit: Solutions)

So, I'm not quite able to visualize exactly how this gadget works, but I kind of want one. It'll cost you $10. I really like pineapples, and this is supposed to work like a corkscrew for them. Apparently, you get yourself a pineapple, chop the top off, and then core and slice it with this wacky little tool. Then, presumably, you can eat the pineapple slices.

But here's the best part. After coring the pineapple, I can use the empty hull as a (one-time use) vessel for my favorite tropical drinks. I'd go for blue whales, mai tais, hurricanes, or (of course) pina coladas. Please drink responsibly!

Yeah, a pineapple cutter that doubles as a way to make awesome tiki barware. Don't leave port without one.

(Via 7 Gadgets)

(Credit: Cap'n Scurvy's Treasure Chest)

Here's a story for you. I recently invested in a cell phone with a QWERTY keyboard, and one of the things I love about it most is that there's no more need for triple-tapping or that whole T9word thing. The thing I hated most about T9word was its tendency to say "car" instead of "bar" when I was trying to text my friends and say "We're at this bar..." (Yes, I know there's a "next" key. That's way too complicated after midnight.)

That was more or less irrelevant, but it's what came to mind when I saw a post on Boing Boing about a bar made from a car--more specifically, the front of a 1961 Ford Econoline van repainted in "Flame Yellow." Unfortunately, it's a work by one very skilled person with a lot of time on his hands, so you're not going to be able to buy this anywhere unless you manage to commission the guy to make another one for you (or figure out how to do it yourself). But I'm impressed. This is, I must say, a way better car-furniture mashup than the Mini Cooper desk. First of all, the headlights and parking lights still function. But even better, there are speakers built into the grille.

All that and it still manages to look awesome. Perfect for all those parties you hold in your garage.

(Originally posted at Cap'n Scurvy's Treasure Chest, a blog with a name that gets major Crave approval)