10 Museums Dedicated To Your Favorite Drink

When somebody mentions museum what is the first image that comes to your mind? Paintings, sculptures, ancient artifacts – been there, done that. But who says museum visits have to be all about the art? Our list of 10 museums dedicated to your favorite drink should make you stray off the beaten path and enjoy your favorite beverage at the place it was created.

Mind you this list might come in handy before you set off on your travels. And while we are all about being responsible if you fail to do so you might consider taking out a prescription for Drinkwel. If that is not an option food stuff has been known to help.

Vodka Museum, Moscow

Originally located in St. Petersburg Vodka Museum was moved to the Moscow’s Izmaylovo district. The exhibition is fairly extensive – did you know that Russian classes had different vodka preferences? Or that there is such a thing as an established vodka standard? There is an on-site restaurant where you can try out the local dishes and sample numerous brands of vodka. And to avoid any potential embarrassment in case vodka sampling gets out of hand make sure you know the local customs (hint – Na Zdorov’ye is not a toast!)

Wine Museum, Paris

Wine Museum restaurant is located at what used to be Friars of Passy Monastery while the wine exhibition can be found at limestone quarries dating back to 13th century. Owned by the Conseil des Echansons de France (an organization dedicated to the promotion of the French wines) Wine Museum offers interesting insights into the process of wine production. The restaurant on site offers tasty French fare but do not be surprised if waiters seem a bit stand-offish (has been known to happen). Museum also offers wine tasting classes. And being knowledgeable about wine can come in handy.

Schnapps Museum, Vienna

Schnapps Museum in Vienna is located in a factory that dates back to the end of 19th century and has been in the Fischer family for the past four generations. What is notable about Schnapps Museum is that it is still used for the daily production and their tipple includes Williams Pear Brandy, Wiener Blut Liqueur and Absinthe Mata Hari. Schnapps can be very tricky though, so make sure to line your stomach before you reach for your complimentary drink.

Scotch Whisky Experience, Edinburgh

What better place to learn about scotch than Scotland? You can find Scotch Whisky Experience located next to the Edinburgh castle (convenient that) and take a barrel ride that will lead you through the process of whisky production. Scotch advisor (off topic BUT how does one land a job like that I wonder?) will also be on hand to help you explore all the different whisky aromas. If that is not enough Scotch Whisky Experience boasts the world’s largest collection of scotch whiskies and there are samples available. Another option is a guided tour suited to your level of expertise (from novice to connoisseur) so take your pick.

Pilsen Brewery Museum, Pilsen

If you can manage to tear yourself away from Prague for a day one place that should be on any beer connoisseur’s list is Pilsen Brewery Museum. Dating back to 1959 Pilsen Brewery Museum offers informative guided tours about the beer history and the production process as well as beer tastings. There is a restaurant and a pub at the premises – latter gives you a unique opportunity to taste unfiltered beer as it was drank 100 years ago. Visit to Pilsen Brewery Museum is an all day affair but there are tours available from Prague.

Bacardi Rum Distillery, Cataño

Located some 15 minutes from San Juan Bacardi Rum Distillery offers an informative tour about the history of the Bacardi family, the details about the rum production process and extensive exhibition of Bacardi advertising through the decades. The biggest lure of the tour by far is the Lounge where you can enjoy your complimentary drinks and learn how to mix a mean Mojito, Cuba Libre and Daiquiri. Bare in mind the tour is free of charge so steer clear of potentially dodgy local travel agents that might want to charge you for it.

Sake Museum, Tokyo

What we know as sake is sometimes mislabeled as rice wine when translated to English (the process used to make sake has more in common with beer fermentation). But in Japan the term sake is used to describe any and all alcoholic beverages. What we actually drink when we order sake is known in Japan as nihonshu. If you are looking to get your sake on and find your favorite brand Nihonshu Center in Tokyo is the place to go – there are more than 6,000 different brands available to choose from.

Gin Museum, Hasselt

Did you know that gin is distilled from juniper berries? Juniper berries make for the basis of the distillation process and are then mixed with a number of spices to give gin its distinctive flavor. Gin Museum in Hasselt is located in what used to be a convent farm for the Franciscan monastery but got turned into a distillery at the beginning of 19th century. Biggest attraction of the museum (apart from the 145 different types of Belgian gin available) is the steam operated distillery that is still used to produce gin today.

Heineken Experience, Amsterdam

If you manage to tear yourself away from the nearest coffee shop and if you have already been to the Rijskmuseum why not pay a visit to Heineken Experience? Since this particular museum is more interactive than the rest you can get your own personalized bottle of beer and experience what it feels like to be brewed and bottled in 4D (one would advise to steer clear of the funny brownies before this particular escapade).

Guinness Storehouse, Dublin

It has to be said Guinness Storehouse is a bit of a tourist trap. But it is a fun tourist trap and well worth the visit. The building itself is shaped like a pint – you start at the lobby and end up at Gravity bar at the 7th floor that offers spectacular views of Dublin (and where you receive your complimentary pint). On the floors in between you will learn all about the ingredients used to make Guinness, the brewing process, about Arthur Guinness himself and you can see the exhibition about the world-famous (and quite effective) Guinness advertising. Oh and did I mention there is a taste laboratory on the premises?

Liked this? Check out these:
20 Beer Bong Fails (PICS)
The 13 Greatest Beer Commercials From The Past 15 Years
5 Ways to Piss Off Your Bartender
How To Win A Bar Fight (And Not Get Arrested)
429 Drunk Girls Kissing

18 Best Mindf**k Movies [VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE]

Christopher Nolan’s Inception is one of my favorite mindf**k movies ever. When it comes to mindf**k movies, forget going to the bathroom, forget going to the kitchen, a mindf**k movie makes you pay attention and it makes you forget there’s such a thing as a fast forward button. It can be any genre but every mindf**k movie has one common denominator – it will make you scratch your head and think WTF just happened here?

In no particular order, here is the list of some of our favorite mindf**k movies. There are SPOILER ALERTS everywhere, so if you still want your mind properly blown, tread softly. Remember to vote in our poll and leave a comment about your favorite below.

The Usual Suspects (Directed by Bryan Singer)

The story begins with the interrogation of a small time con man Roger Kint (played by Kevin Spacey). He tells a story of Keyser Söze, merciless and mysterious criminal overlord who hired a group of criminals to do his bidding. Criminals also include Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollack and Benicio Del Toro. On the plus side they do make Stephen Baldwin seem bearable. In the end it turns out… well if you haven’t seen the movie, you will just have to see for yourself.

The Game (Directed by David Fincher)

The Game tells a story of a wealthy investment banker Nicholas Van Orton (played by Michael Douglas) who gets an unusual gift from his brother Conrad (played by Sean Penn) – an opportunity to play an interactive game that soon starts to overtake his life. With plenty of twist and turns, it is in the last five minutes of the movie that all is revealed.

Frailty (Directed by Bill Paxton)

A psychological thriller starring Matthew McConaughey and Bill Paxton. It is a story about 2 boys and their father who claims God and his angels have ordered him to kill demons. Which involves getting people to his basement and chopping their heads off. With an axe. On the plus side Matthew McConaughey is shirtless in only one scene (which must be some kind of a record).

Fight Club (Directed by David Fincher)

The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club! So I can’t really. But it is based on the book written by Chuck Palahniuk who has been known to make people faint by the dozens at his readings.

The Crying Game (Directed and written by Neil Jordan)

The Crying Game tells a story of Fergus (played by Stephen Rea), a foot soldier with the IRA. His unit kidnaps British soldier Jody (played by Forest Whitaker). Jody and Fergus bond and Jody asks Fergus to take care of his girlfriend Dil in case anything happens to him. So Fergus does as he is told but he also falls for Dil. And Dil… well…  she isn’t what she appears to be.

Psycho (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

It would not be a complete list without at least one Hitchcock movie. And story about Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins) and his mamma is a classic.

Memento (Directed by Christopher Nolan)

Memento (or the backwards movie) is directed by Christopher Nolan and based on a short story written by his brother Jonathan. Memento is a story of Leonard Shelby (played by Guy Pearce), who suffers from anterograde amnesia and since his brain cannot store any new memories, he tattoos himself to remember to seek vengeance for the murder of his wife. Because it would be silly to write stuff down on paper.

The Sixth Sense (Directed by M. Night Shyamalan)

Remember back in the day when M. Night Shyamalan’s movies didn’t suck? This was the movie that got him six Academy Award nominations. You got one child psychologist in the form of Bruce Willis and one kid that can see dead people. Fun times!

Mulholland Drive (Directed by David Lynch)

Mulholland Drive stars Naomi Watts as young actress who just arrived to Hollywood. She becomes friends with a woman suffering from amnesia who cannot leave her aunt’s apartment. And that’s about all I got.  It is surreal, strange and confusing but menfolk might like to know it does have some girl-on-girl action. If you are still baffled by what Lynch was trying to say after you’ve seen the movie, you can read up on possible theories.

Fallen (Directed by Gregory Hoblit)

Denzel Washington stars as detective John Hobbs who, at the beginning of the movie, puts a serial killer behind bars. And then things start to unravel. It is best to know as little about this movie as possible but it does feature the creepiest rendition of a Rolling Stones song I have ever seen.

A Beautiful Mind (Directed by Ron Howard)

A Beautiful Mind is based on the life story of John Nash, who won a Nobel prize for economics for his game theory. But as brilliant as Nash is, he also has invisible friends.

The Others (Directed by Alejandro Amenábar)

Horror The Others stars Nicole Kidman as Grace Stewart whose two children suffer from photosensitivity. Which in turn means she comes up with number of neurotic rules to prevent them from getting exposed to the sunlight. In the end it turns out it’s not the other people who are the others, but her own family is. I know it makes no sense, but it wouldn’t be a mindf**k movie otherwise.

Identity (Directed by James Mangold)

A group of strangers get stranded in an isolated Nevada motel and get killed off one by one. For anyone who has ever read Agatha Christie the plot might sound familiar but this is another movie that has a rather surprising twist.

Just Cause (Directed by Arne Glimcher)

Sean Connery (sans his James Bond accent unfortunately) stars as Paul Armstrong, a Harvard law professor who goes to Florida to help a death row inmate convicted of a murder and rape of a little girl. It is a pacey little thriller and second movie Scarlett Johansson starred in.

Se7en (Directed by David Fincher)

A noir thriller starring Morgan Freeman as a veteran cop William Somerset and Brad Pitt as David Mills, his new partner. It’s Somerset’s last week on the job and serial killer with a penchant for Biblical quotes decides to strike. Seven will keep you focused on the screen and make you press the pause button if you have to go to the bathroom. Also it might make you nauseated since it is so oppressive.

The Life of David Gale (Directed by Alan Parker)

Generally panned by the critics The Life of David Gale stars Kevin Spacey as inmate awaiting his death sentence after his friend is murdered and he is accused of committing the crime. He is a former professor and opponent of death sentence. Few days before the execution journalist (played by Kate Winslet) comes to profile him for a newspaper and in a series of flashbacks he tells his story. Sure the movie is a bit smug and righteous but it’s nowhere near as bad as critics would like you to believe.

Primal Fear (Directed by Gregory Hoblit)

Edward Norton plays Aaron, a stuttering altar boy who kills an archbishop. In comes Richard Gere as a sleazy Chicago defense lawyer who takes on his case. Gere is Gere, but Norton – now he is an actor that does creepy so well.

Inception (Directed by Christopher Nolan)

Leo DiCaprio plays a corporate espionage thief who secretly extracts valuable commercial information from the unconscious mind of his targets while they’re dreaming. Unable to visit his children, Cobb is offered a chance to regain his old life in exchange for one last, almost impossibly difficult, task: performing inception, the planting of a commercially damaging idea into the mind of his client’s competitor. One object helps Leo’s character determine if he himself is dreaming or awake: a spinning top. If it falls, he’s awake. If it continues to spin, he’s dreaming. We wonder if that plays an important part in the movie.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE MINDF**K MOVIE IN THE POLL BELOW:

Liked this? Check out these:
6 Ways To Make Chick Flicks Watchable
COED Salutes History’s Hottest Hookers (Like Client 9′s Ashley Dupre)
The Most Ridiculous Movie Plots Ever
The Top 10 Movie Adaptations
COED’s All-Hollywood Football Team

8 British Shows That Should Be Americanized

Laughter is the best medicine. And nobody does humor better than the Brits. It’s the nation that has given us Monty Python, Blackadder and Little Britain. So here at COED we have decided to come up with a tentative list of 8 British shows that should be americanized. Tentative list since translating British shows for American screens wasn’t always successful. See what we mean? But we love British shows. And when there is will, there is a way, right?

The Royle Family

The Royle Family is a mix of Seinfeld (show about nothing) and the Office (the awkward pause). Arguments, meals, breastfeeding, grooming and plenty of farts – it all happens in one family’s living room. And always (ALWAYS) with the television on. Written by Caroline Aherne (who plays the character of Denise) and Craig Cash (who plays the character of her husband Dave) the series centers on Royles, a working class family living in Manchester area of United Kingdom. J. K. Rowling is a big fan.

Possible spin-off – the concept would stay the same but it would be down-on-luck family in Pittsburg or Detroit.

Watch Clip

Come Dine With Me

Reality show produced by Channel 4 sees four amateur cook (or amateur celebrity cook around Easter and/or Christmas) take turns to throw a lavish dinner party one night of the week and compete for the prize of 1000 pounds to spend (or donate to charity in case of celebrities). Things burn, people bicker, cheat and snoop in other people’s closets. Food gets eaten (eventually) and then bitched about (profusely).

Watch Clip. And another one. And one more.

Possible spin-off – keep everything the same including the narrator Dave Lamb because even though there are plenty of characters on the show it’s the voice-over that will leave you snickering.

Fawlty Towers

The customer is king, right? Not for Basil Fawlty. If there ever was a fictional bed & breakfast owner that hated his guests with a fiery passion of thousand suns then it was Basil Fawlty. What is even better he didn’t even try to hide his contempt. Written by John Cleese and Connie Booth Fawlty Towers followed the escapades of Basil Fawlty, an owner of a small B & B located in Torquay (aka the English Riviera). His wife Sybil terrifies him while Polly, the maid and Manuel, the bumbling waiter from Spain try to help Basil when things go wrong. And things wrong. ALL. The. Time.

Possible spin-off – after Sybil leaves Basil for her golf instructor Basil decides to move shop to Santa Barbara and take Manuel with him. Much to Basil’s chagrin his American customers do think the customer is king.

Watch Clip. And another one.

Inbetweeners

Skins has already been snapped up by MTV and Inbetweeners has been snapped by ABC. Written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris (both have also written for Flight of the Conchords) it follows the story of a group of suburban teenagers who are not cool enough to hang out with the cool crowd and not geeky enough to bond with the geeks. Main character is Will McKenzie (played by Simon Bird) who moves to public school from a posh private school after his parents divorce and his mum cannot longer afford the tuition. While Skins is a bit wanton and not really realistic Inbetweeners hits more closer to home (and is hilariously funny).

Possible spin-off – already in the works.

Watch Clip.

Are You Being Served?

Are You Being Served? is a British institution. Written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft the series was set in the ladies and gentlemen clothing section in posh department store Grace Brothers. Are You Being Served? was known for taking the mickey out of British class system (hierarchy was strictly observed at Grace Brothers), plenty of innuendo, ridiculous costumes and tons of one liners. And regarding the clip below – get your mind out of the gutter, Ms Slocombe is talking about her cat.

Possible spin-off – sit-com about ladies and gentlemen department at Macy’s. They have no qualms about stealing each other customers but they always have lunch together. And never sit with the perfume ladies (they are so common).

Watch Clip. And another one.

QI

A panel show hosted by Stephen Fry where guests (usually comedians) show off their knowledge or (more often) ignorance on a wide variety of topics. Since questions are always obscure panelists are given points if a) their answers are correct (which doesn’t happen often) and b) if their answers are interesting (happens all the time). Also points can be deducted if the answer is both incorrect and horribly obvious. But good luck in trying to figure out their points system, it makes no sense at all.

Possible spin-off – fashion panel show hosted by Tim Gunn. He does have a) encyclopedic knowledge of fashion and b) sufficient vocabulary to puzzle the panelists

Watch Clip.

The IT Crowd

Written by Graham Linehan the IT Crowd is set in the IT department of a large corporation called Reynholm Industries. The sum of the department is two geeky (and a bit lazy) IT technicians and one «relationship manager» and the head of IT department Jen (who knows nothing about computers). The IT department is located in a dingy, horrible looking basement and the IT dudes are scorned and often ignored by the rest of the employees. Unless of course their computer is not working. But there is no love lost – Roy and Moss made reel tapes (one contains phrase have you tried turning it off and on again?) to avoid dealing with real humans.

Possible spin-off – pilot already filmed for NBC. And luckily Linehan worked on the script.

Watch Clip.

Him & Her

Meet Steve and Becky. They are in their 20s, have no ambition or career prospects, they live off benefits and all they are interested in is eating, sleeping, drinking and having sex. And not necessarily in that order. Latest sit-com by BBC Him & Her is funny, painfully honest and candid look at one relationship and two people who do not have much interest in anyone (or anything) else but each other.

Possible spin-off – given the current economic climate this series could be set anywhere in the United States.

Watch Clip.

10 Hottest Female Geek Characters On TV

Geeks have come a long way since the days of Revenge of the Nerds. Once Vogue declares that “geek is chic” you know you’ve gone mainstream. Since television executives are a bit slower on the uptake, it’s taken them a while to catch on. These ladies are hot, the kind of hot that’ll make your glasses steam up: brainy, geeky and ridin’ nerdy.

Dr. Temperance Brennan aka Bones
(played by Emily Deschanel) – Bones

Dr. Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist with a number of doctorates and can speak seven languages (and say ‘skull’ in almost every language). She’s a New York Times bestselling author. To top it all off she’s trained in three types of martial arts and holds a hunting license. Beautiful, smart and willing to handle a bone or two.

Veronica Mars (played by Kristen Bell) – Veronica Mars

How I loved Veronica Mars! Sarcastic, funny, heavy on the taser, gadget expert extraordinaire, and very nifty in digging the dirt on classmates she couldn’t stand. It’s now wonder she’s now the voice behind Gossip Girl.

Gwen Cooper (played by Eve Myles) – Torchwood

Since Torchwood is outside of government, beyond the police it does help to have a former police woman in their midst. Gwen’s transition to Torchwood might not have been smooth since one’s social life must suffer if one kills weevils on daily basis. But Gwen quickly rose through the ranks helped by the fact in Torchwood they kill one major character per season (at the minimum).

Pam Beesly (played by Jenna Fischer) – The Office

Pam might have started off as the quiet, shy, wallflower of a receptionist but she has come a long way since then. While before she might have been covertly sarcastic with Michael she has no qualms about being openly sarcastic with him now. She even dares to slap him. Geeky AND assertive now that is a winning combination, no wonder Jim is smitten.

Willow Rosenberg (played by Alyson Hannigan)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Dudes (and a healthy portion of dudettes) might have lusted over Buffy but the heart of that show was Alyson Hannigan’s character Willow. Shy, timid, and nerdy, Willow turned into Buffy’s most complicated character and went through quite a transformation – from geek to witch to one part of the first lesbian couple on American television.

Chloe O’Brian (played by Mary Lynn Rajskub) – 24

Woman is a wiz at computers AND she has Jack Bauer’s back. Through eight seasons! That could only be topped off if she started moonlighting for Chuck Norris. Although, I don’t think Jack would be pleased.

Caprica Six (played by Tricia Helfer) Battlestar Galactica

Can you imagine being so smoking hot you bring about the end of whole civilization? Ladies and gents – meet Caprica Six! Then again Baltar should have known something was wrong when her spine lit up during sex. Luckily since Cylons download into new bodies no matter how many times she died, viewers were not deprived of her hotness.

Dana Scully (played by Gillian Anderson) – The X Files

The original geeky girl Dana Scully really didn’t want to believe. FBI special agent also had a degree in physics and worked as a forensic pathologist on a number of cases. It might have been a while since we last saw Dana Scully (we will not talk about X Files: I Want to Believe, ok?) but her impact lingers on since she made Maxim’s Hottest Nerd Crushes list.

Liz Lemon (played by Tina Fey) – 30 Rock

What she might lack in social skills Liz Lemon makes up for in humor. Smart, sardonic, self deprecating and a Trekkie, Liz Lemon is modeled on Tina Fey herself. Her husband is one lucky man and even Askmen bows at the throne of this Alpha female.