The RumRunner holds its Saturday Sippers event from 2 to 4 p.m., tomorrow (Saturday, May 7). This month’s event will feature three tasting stations where you can try a few sangrias and about a dozen other wines.

The best part: It’s free!

Tom Smith from the RumRunner tells us Savida Sangria will be available for sampling, and that all of the wines featured at the event will be available for purchase at a 15 percent discount. I think they serve cheese and crackers, too.

First up, beer, wine and cocktails are on the way for the café at 415 N. Fourth Ave. Owner Sabine Blaese said today that there will definitely be German beer — “I’m from Germany, and I think it’s the best beer,” she with a hint of a giggle — maybe a Portugese pilsner and Guinness, although nothing is final yet.

There will also be a brief, yet ample, wine list, champagne, champagne cocktails, Bloody Marys and several specialty cocktails. Blaese is also crafting a new late-night menu to go with the libations.

Café Passe is also getting a remodel, and will be closing for a week beginning Monday, June 6. They’re expanding the counter and tidying up a few other things, said Blaese.

By the way, have you seen what they’ve done with the courtyard at the little café? New lighting and a bit of reorganization have made it one of the loveliest spots on the Avenue.

And don't even get me started on their onion-and-blue-cheese scones. I wish my whole life tasted like those.

More over here.

Yes, the all-you-can eat pizza place at 914 E. Speedway Blvd. serves beer and wine now, but that’s not the best news. The really good news is that it’s always happy hour—from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.—which translates into $1.25 bottles of domestic beer and killer deals on wine all the time.

I don’t know about you, but all-you-can-eat pizza and cut-rate beer are the things happy days are made of. I hear the place’s boneless-hot-wing pizza is out of sight, too.

You spent time at Plaza Liquors evaluating your options, thinking of what would compliment the meal you plan to prepare, paid for your purchase, but when you get to your bicycle, you realize: where am I going to put this bottle?

Thankfully, Etsy user "Oopsmark" has this handcrafted leather and brass solution. Just make sure you face the label outward so people can bask in your excellent taste.

I was eating fried lamb testicles at a dinner party a few weeks back when a tall man at the end of the table raised a bottle overhead and roared: "AHHHH! Bacanora! It tastes like the deserts of Meh-he-co!" The bottle then made its way around the table, eliciting both grimaces and nods of approval.

I had to drive back to my hermitage out of town, so I did not partake. But it’s been nagging me since: What is this bacanora, and why do men drop forkfuls of lamb testicles to sing its praises?

The answer came today when I read up on Hotel Congress’ third-annual AgaveFest, which takes place from 6 to 9 p.m., Thursday, May 5. It will include tastes of more than 40 different tequilas, mezcals and sotols and a cocktail competition, among all sorts of other revelry.

And bacanora will also be available for tasting. It is apparently an "agave-derived liquor made in Sonora that was illegal to distill until 1992," according to the Hotel Congress website. Sounds pretty interesting, and well worth checking out this Cinco de Mayo.

Tickets to the event are $25, and that includes tastes of 12 different liquors. There’s more information over here.

If it wasn't enough that the powers that be decided we couldn't have our Four Loko, now Tom Horne and 17 other state attorney generals have petitioned Pabst to take Blast, the flavored version of Colt 45 off the market.

With an alcohol content of 12 percent in a 23.5-ounce container, and a recommendation to enjoy it cold, the stuff is like a "binge in a can," the AGs say. Shotgunning one of these babies could deliver nearly five times that of a normal serving of alcohol, according to the letter.

While other beers contain less alcohol, (especially if you're in that state just north of Arizona where a good portion of the population wears special undies,) some contain between 6 and 7 percent go-juice. While high-octane beer gets promoted in newspaper reviews, the flavored Blast by Colt 45 is treated like heroin by the AGs.

The campaign smells like nothing more than a grab for attention at the expense of Pabst, which has amped up its marketing in the past year.

You know what promotes binge drinking? Idiots who enjoy drinking lots of booze until they black out. You know what will happen if Blast gets knocked off the market? Binge drinkers will go back to drinking fifths of vodka straight from the bottle. Ridiculous.

[Phoenix New Times]

[Note from Dan Gibson: Alex Budish is a senior at the University of Arizona. Who better to check out the first Thirsty Thursday and review it from a drinking perspective, right?]

What an awesome city we live in. There’s great people, amazing weather, the Tucson Padres, and, oh yeah, their $1 beers. On Thursday, the Padres had the first of their nine “Thirsty Thursday” nights at Tucson Electric Park, and it was definitely worth checking out.

That’s right folks, just $1 got you a smooth 12-ounce plastic cup of that sweet, sweet nectar you all love, Budweiser or Bud Light. A difficult decision for sure, but most were going for the Bud Light (it is beach season, after all).

Not your taste? No problem. For just $1 more you can get yourself 12 ounces of “premium beers.” Those include: 90 Shilling Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Hefeweizen, or Tucson Blonde.

With all these amazing prices on so many good beers, what more could be better? Getting to watch some great Triple-A baseball with your friends. The most expensive ticket is $10.50, and being the baller-on-a-budget I am, I began thinking, is it all about the beer? Let’s take a look at some of the other items for sale at the Padres game.

For $33, a young man or woman can purchase a fitted cap ... but wait, that’s 33 beers. You can get a T-shirt for $17, but that’s eight premium beers, and a Bud Light. If you like pompoms, those can be yours for just $5 ... or you can get five more beers.

All right, that’s a little bit extreme. The pompoms are actually really cool, as are the hats and shirts. I must say the overall experience was truly special. It’s a great feeling to be able to enjoy a ball game with your friends. Perhaps the best quote I heard all night was, “Baseball and alcohol, the two go hand in hand,” said David Blattman, a senior at the University of Arizona. Maybe he was right, for the youthful spirit that drives Tucson.

Can $1 beers revitalize the game of baseball this city has loved in the past?

So that brings us to perhaps the last question of the article. (I’ve asked so many after all). Why should the citizens of Tucson, and maybe more importantly, the students at the UA, care about going to a Thirsty Thursday event at a minor-league baseball game?

It’s a question that can really only be answered by going to the game and seeing it for yourself, but let me try and paint the best picture I can for you. Regardless of the crowd, the air is always filled with excitement and fun, that, and the booming voice of Homer Simpson echoing, “Mmmm, beer.” Maybe it’s just my nostalgia kicking in, but as a graduating senior from the UA, just taking a minute and skipping the bars one day a week, and enjoying a classic American pastime with your friends is exactly the type of thing everyone needs to really get the full experience of Tucson.

A Thirsty Thursday at the Padres game isn’t just a chance to get some cheap beers with your friends, but it could be the best way to get those summer vibes rolling.

Oh, and Jack-in-the-Box gives free tacos our every time the Padres win, so you can eat for free after spending all you money on beer, and a cab home.

I get it, kids in restaurants are generally a pain, probably especially for the waiters, but slipping a toddler a margarita isn't exactly the best way to handle it.

Police are investigating after a toddler was mistakenly given an alcoholic beverage at an Applebee’s.

It happened Friday around 4:30p.m. at the restaurant on 14 Mile Road in Madison Heights.

Fifteen-month-old Dominic Dill-Reese’s mother ordered him a kid’s meal and asked for apple juice as the beverage.

His mother began to get suspicious moments after he started drinking it. “We took it from him and he kind of laid his head on the table,” said Taylor Dill-Reese. “He dozed off a little bit and woke up and got real happy.” Dill-Reese also said Dominic refused to eat when his food arrived.

Before leaving, Dill-Reese tasted the toddler’s drink and got a big surprise. Instead of apple juice, alcoholic margarita mix was in his cup. “The manager came up to me and he smelled it and he was like, ‘I am so sorry ma’am, I just don’t know what to do,’” said Dill-Reese.

She demanded the manager do something. Madison Heights police was called to investigate the incident and the boy was taken to the hospital.

[HT: GQ]

From Josh Brodesky's column in the Star this morning:

We drove (uneventfully and separately) to nearby Barrio Brewing Co. and sat down on the patio. Rothschild skipped the local suds and ordered a Budweiser.

"I'm a Budweiser man," he said to the surprised waitress.

While I'm not the biggest fan of Barrio's beers, if you're running for mayor, wouldn't it be a smart idea to support the local economy in any visible way possible?

I'll get a comment from A. Greene, Tucson Weekly intern and possible mayoral candidate, when she gets to the office after her school day.

The combination coffee joint/cocktail spot is popular in Seattle, where perpetual sunlessness makes one crave massive doses of caffeine and/or alcohol on as regular a basis as possible.

Having made the move from Seattle (actually, Bremerton, but close enough) to Tucson more than a decade ago, I still find myself pining for the strange buzz of strong coffee and cognac on a dreary afternoon. It’s a fine feeling when it all hits the central nervous system in one big surge, and about as close to an out of body experience as I ever want to come.

The Edge Bar at the Java Edge at Bear Canyon will soon offer Tucsonans such an experience. The new bar — expected to open next week — will offer Nimbus on tap, an ample wine list and a selection of cognac and other spirits alongside the regular menu of coffee and sandwiches. Cigars from the Tinder Box will also be available, for those who like to throw a bucket of nicotine into the mix.

As for food, small plates of cheese, crab dip and other snackables will be available when the bar opens next week.

A tasting and grand opening is scheduled for Friday, April 15. It costs $15, and RSVP is required. More on that over here.