...News & Views...
Sip of the month
Mickey’s Hand Grenades (aka Mickey’s Big Mouths)
Oops! We messed up! The March issue of Shout! Magazine included an article regarding Mickey’s Hand Grenades, which claimed that the beverage was available at Peabody’s Wine and Beer store. Peabodys has never carried the 12-oz. bottles of Mickey’s, as their distributor only offers the larger sizes. The magazine apologizes to Peabody’s and its loyal readers, and regrets the error.
Boone is a haven to the beer connoisseur. Most local grocery stores have
a great variety of microbrews, imports and many varieties of macro-brews.
Perhaps the only good thing to come from the lack of liquor at local bars
is a guaranteed extensive selection of brews. My only complaint: where are
the Mickey’s Hand Grenades (aka Mickey’s Big Mouths)? Up until
recently, it has been impossible to find the wide-mouth, bee-adorned, 12-oz
green vessels of malt liquor joy. But now, thanks to Peabody’s, it
is possible for Boone residents to wrap their fingers around the ergonomically
pleasing bottles and sip the 5.7% abv delight contained inside.
Now, I do not make the claim that malt liquor is good beer. In fact, I think
malt liquor is generally terrible beer. But Mickey’s takes malt liquor
to a different level. Its smoothness is unrivaled, it carries a hint of
sweetness, and a minute amount of hops is detectable upon swallowing, which
is a rarity in the world of the cheapest brews. Of course, the 12-oz glass
bottle is much slower to go warm than the standard 40-oz.
Perhaps much of my enthusiasm for Mickey’s comes from early memories
of my first endeavors into the world of alcohol. However, I am not the only
one that sees Mickey’s as miles above the standard King Cobra and
Colt 45. In fact, G. Heileman Brewing Co., the producer of this fine nectar,
won awards two separate years at the Great American Beer Festival. In 1990,
Mickey’s took home the bronze in the malt liquors category and in
1996 Mickey’s Ice received the silver in the American specialty lager
category.
For those who missed Mathew Lillard’s classic SLC Punk! and never
gave House of Pain an arguably undeserved chance, it is quite possible that
you have progressed thus far through your existence altogether unaware of
Mickey’s. Do yourself a favor next time you are considering a macro
domestic: save a few bucks, grab some little green bottles, and relive the
most pleasurable aspects of malt liquor consumption. If you’ve sworn
off malt liquor it’ll remind you why the stuff exists in the first
place, and if 40’s are your forte you’ll never go back to a
larger size or different brand.