Nominations have begun again for the annual Portland Phoenix Best of Portland awards. As always, I’m making a minor organic push for votes. If you’ve got a second — even if you’re not a local reader — please take a moment and click here (or on the 125 x 125 Phoenix banner you see on the right-hand sidebar) and enter “Blog About Beer.com” as your favorite local blog. Don’t worry, you don’t need to fill out every category to vote, only those you know/want to vote on. Don’t worry about leaving every other fill-in-the-blank blank. Thank you very much for your vote (and your on-going support), I appreciate it!

Cheers,
Luke

Just a quick note that a quote from yours truly was featured in a story on CNBC.com yesterday about the addition of beer to the menus of Burger King restaurants in Southern Florida and a Starbucks on 15th Avenue in Seattle.

Burger King says its decision to serve beer came from customer feedback. They’re specifically targeting touristy areas like Orlando and South Beach and serving up fanny-pack favorites, including Bud, Bud Light, Bud Light Lime and Miller Lite.

(“The only thing Americans like better than cheap, crappy food is cheap, crappy beer!” quips Luke Livingston, author of Blog About Beer.com.)

Starbucks, on the other hand, is selling microbrews and cheese in addition to its caffeinated fare at the “15th Ave Coffee and Tea” shop in Seattle, in what appears to be its latest diversionary tactic from America’s romantic breakup with the $4 latte.

Of course it wasn’t anywhere near my entire quote (but I guess that’s mainstream media for you) and they took probably the goofiest, least “intelligent” part at that, but it’s there nonetheless. For more on the addition of beer to the BK Landscape, check out the original CNBC.com article here.

First I want to apologize – the last few days have been MUCH busier than I expected and I have yet to have enough free time to compile all of the entries into the 2010 Mother of All Beer Blogging Contests and draw the winners (which was supposed to happen Thursday evening).

I do however expect I’ll have enough time later this evening to do just that. So my tardiness is your (possible) gain. If you yourself have been too lazy to enter the contest (which can be as easy as commenting on the original post) and thought you missed your chance, I’ll give you until 10 o’clock (EST) this evening to enter, at which time I’ll hopefully have the chance to compile the list of entries and select the winners. Good luck!

It’s been awhile since I’ve run any sort of giveaway here on the blog and I’m in the giving mood. Plus it coincides nicely with the recent redesign of the site, being a new year, etc. etc. I’ll go over how to win and the fine print and all that momentarily but first the good stuff, what you can win. There are eight prizes in all, here they are:

What you can win:

(1) A $50 gift certificate to the Cataqua Pub at Redhook Ale Brewery in Portsmouth, NH, two tickets for a Redhook Brewery tour & tasting and a Redhook skateboard (please don’t drink and skate!).

(2) A Jubelale gift pack from Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR. The gift pack includes Jubelale ornament, Jubelale long-sleeve T-shirt, Jubelale pint glass and a Jubelale poster signed by the artist.

(3) A Magic Hat gift pack from Magic Hat Brewing Co. in Burlington, VT. This pack includes a mini tin-tacker sign that reads “Drink Me”, a Magic Hat t-shirt, a bottle opener and a key chain.

(4) A Growler Kit from Kegworks.com, which includes glass growler, an insulator jacket and growler filler (a $44 value).

(5) An Allagash Brewing Co. t-shirt (Portland, ME) and a pint glass and poster from NorthernBrewer.com.

(6) A Shipyard Brewing Co. t-shirt (Portland, ME) and a pint glass and poster from NorthernBrewer.com.

(7) A Seadog Brewing Co. t-shirt (South Portland, Topsham & Bangor, ME) a pint glass and poster from NorthernBrewer.com.

(8) A t-shirt of your choice from beer clothing headquarters craftbeerclothing.com.

Alright, now here’s how to win these wonderful prizes. Like last time, each prize will be awarded to a random winner drawn from the radomizer at random.org but the more you participate, the more “points” you can earn, and each “point” is another entry into the contest (i.e. the more “points” you earn, the greater your chance of winning something).

How to earn points:

• Blog about this contest on your own blog with a link back to BlogAboutBeer.com (make sure your blog entry leaves a trackback on this post; if it doesn’t, please leave a link to your post in a comment) – 5 points
• Follow @livingstonmedia on Twitter and tweet about the contest with the following Tweet:
  

  Just entered to win a bunch of #craftbeer schwag from BlogAboutBeer.com. To enter, simply follow @livingstonmedia and RT http://bit.ly/7TVtIC

  (Tweet MUST be in this format and you must also be following me so I know you’ve entered) – 2 points

• “Stumble” this contest post using StumbleUpon (if you “stumble” the post, let me know in a comment) – 1 point
• Share the contest on Facebook (if you “share” the post, let me know in a comment) – 1 point
• Share the contest on any of your other favorite networking sites or forums (Digg, Reddit, Myspace, etc. If you share the contest anywhere, please specify in a comment) – 1 point
• Comment on THIS post (which you’ll have to do letting me know you stumbled, dug, etc. etc. so really it’s like a free point)- 1 point
• Subscribe to BlogAboutBeer.com Subscribe to blogaboutbeer.com by Email (by clicking the link) – 3 points
• Here’s my favorite part: Write a guest post for BlogAboutBeer.com. I’ll accept nearly all of the decent guest posts and they’ll appear here on BAB over the coming weeks (complete with a link back to your own blog or website, if you have one/would like the link). – 5 points (PLUS: a bonus of 5 points for best guest post).

The Fine Print:

You can only win one prize (one prize per person, per household). Once you’ve won a prize, your name and all remaining points will be removed from the rest of the contest. All directions in the “how to earn points” section must be followed. If they aren’t, your entry will be void. The contest ends at 10pm EST on Thursday, January 21st, 2010. That night I will email all winning parties; if a response is not received by 5pm (EST) on Monday January 25th, your winning point will be forfeit and the prize will go to the next winning name in line. If you have won an article of clothing in your prize pack, please include your shirt size in your response email. Important: in order to win the Redhook gift certificate, you must be willing and able to provide your own transportation to and from the Redhook Ale Brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. If you cannot do this or choose not to, please indicate that along with your entries. If you are awarded the “Redhook Package” and are unable to get to & from Portsmouth, you will automatically win the Jubelale gift pack from Deschutes and the “Redhook Package” will go to the next winner in line. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask them by filling out the form on the BAB contact page. If you represent a brewery or beer-related company and would like to include prizes to be part of this contest, please email me ASAP and I will add them to the contest. Thanks for playing, thanks for reading and good luck!

New Year's Eve - Times Square, NYC 1907

Wanted to wish everyone a happy, safe, fun and beer-filled New Year’s eve this evening (and New Year’s Day recovery tomorrow). I hope you are able to spend this holiday with friends, family and those you love. It may be a good day to think about pulling that special bottle you’ve been waiting on out of the cellar; it’s time.

I also wanted to thank the many thousands of people that stopped by BlogAboutBeer.com in 2009. Some only came once but lots & lots of you chose to stick around, and for that I can’t thank you enough.

In a way, I’m sad to see the Aughts go, it was a pretty big decade for me — high school graduation (early in the decade), college graduation (later), turning twenty-one, getting into better beer, etc. — but I sure am happy that 2009 itself is nearly behind us. And I am VERY excited for the year ahead. I’ve got some big plans on the horizon which will be shared soon enough. But for now, check back to BlogAboutBeer soon (like this weekend) for a pretty fun little event I’m going to be throwing around here to kick off the new year.

Until then, be safe, be well & Happy New Year!

Cheers,
Luke