Urban Axes Lets You Channel Your Inner Axe Thrower

Get ready for a brand new social experience. Photo credit: Urban Axes Instagram

Have you ever had a long day at work or school, and when you're finally done for the evening, you just want to blow off a little steam? Sure, you could go out to a bar, or go watch the newest season of Bojack Horseman while lazing around on your couch. But if you're in Austin, there's a much better alternative.

Urban Axes just opened up its doors in good ol' ATX – there's also a Philly location and planned 2018 openings in Baltimore and Detroit – and they were kind enough to invite me out for a launch party. This is the first indoor social axe throwing experience in the city, and I must say, despite learning I'm really not too talented at throwing axes onto a target, it was still quite an enjoyable evening.

The space is BYOB, which I first thought sounded absolutely crazy. But I never felt unsafe at any point. There are always instructors around to make sure you're handling axes properly, not walking in the way of anyone throwing, or doing anything else you shouldn't be doing. Closed-toe shoes are mandatory, and only people 21 and up can enter. 

One of many, many bullseyes I threw during the evening.

A typical night at Urban Axes includes some instructional training, a round robin where you're trying to score as many points as possible, and then a tournament, where you only have one goal: beat the person next to you. There are bays all throughout the space for people to throw, with two targets per bay. 

Depending on how many people are in your booking (6-12 or 13-24), you'll get a set amount of bays, so everyone should have the opportunity to throw ample times. If you have fewer than six people, Urban Axes recommends walking in rather than reserving.

And if you can't get enough of throwing axes, both the Austin and Philadelphia locations offer eight-week leagues. Since axe throwing is an individual sport in a group setting, if you sign up with some friends, you'll be able to hang out while demolishing them in competition. It's a win-win all around. 

Urban Axes is at 812 Airport Blvd. One-hour sessions cost $22 per person or you can do a 2.5-hour session for $35 per person. Give it a shot and send me your best axe photos!

Please make them better than this one. Flannel optional.

Drink on the Go with Backpack Wine

Of all the alcoholic beverages one can enjoy, wine is among the least portable. It's pretty silly to bring a giant bottle and corkscrew with you, and yes, while boxed wine exists, it either gets warm really quickly or is tough to properly pour into your cup. That's a problem when you need wine RIGHT NOW.

Luckily, Chicago-based Backpack Wine is available for all of wine-on-the-go needs. The canned wine comes in Cheek Rose and Snappy White flavors, conveniently bundled in four-can packs.

Backpack Wines come from Wahluke Slope, a part of the Columbia Valley in Washington State. The cans are 250 ml apiece, which is about one-third a standard bottle of wine. As many restaurants fill four glasses per bottle, you're getting a very generous pour in each can.

The cans are unbreakable and completely recyclable, and the wine is tasty and refreshing. No longer do you need to lug out a big ol' bottle to get your wine craving while you're hanging by the pool, relaxing on a boat, mini-golfing, BBQing, playing whiffle ball, hosting a gala event, or whatever other summer activities you enjoy.

No matter the occasion, make like Backpack's advice: "Skip the Cork and Grab a Pack." Backpack Wine is available in grocery and beverage retailers all throughout the country, or you can do a lil' shopping straight from their website.

Breakfast Tea & Bourbon: A Novel That's Also a Treasure Hunt

Have you ever wanted to discover some buried treasure? Maybe as a kid, you'd take a prized possession, dig a hole in the backyard, and create an entire map to find it a few days later. Breakfast Tea & Bourbon by Pete Bissonette takes that to a whole new level. Not only is it an entertaining novel, complete with self-help tips and bourbon recipes, hidden inside the pages are clues to a treasure hidden somewhere in the United States worth $50,000.

"I printed out a big map, closed my eyes, twirled my finger, and pointed to a spot," Bissonette said. "That's where the treasure is hidden." 

For his part, Bissonette is not giving away any hints to where the treasure is hidden despite people's best attempts to get the truth out of him. He's enjoyed seeing how people have gone about searching for the treasure, which also includes a $5,000 donation to their favorite charity and 100 bottles of wine delivered to their door.

"A class of fifth graders is reading it as a class and sharing where they're going through the book," Bissonette said. "I've also heard from a North Dakota nursing home. If they figure out where the treasure is one of them will send their son to dig it up."

The novel is an entertaining read in and of itself – Bissonette suggests reading it at a leisurely pace the first time around, then go back and look for clues – but it also provides a few life lessons that we could all benefit from. It's something Bissonette has been practicing and advocating with his company Learning Strategies for more than 30 years. The company teaches people all over the world a number of things, including ways to improve memory, enjoy more success in your career, and eliminate behaviors like procrastination or self-sabotage.

Pete Bissonette

One practice that Bissonette really emphasizes is how to savor the moment. Taking a walk in the woods is one such way to just appreciate the beauty around us, but even more common things like really engaging in a conversation or not letting a distraction – say, people holding up their cell phones to record a song at a concert – prevent you from enjoying what you came to see. The book also provides the "Meaningful Rule of Toasting." If you've ever been to a wedding or other gala event where you need to clink glasses, you can relate.

"It's always so quick. We clink our glasses and we're already moving on to the next glass to clink. We don't make a connection with anyone," Bissonette said. "It can be uncomfortable, but make eye contact with who you're toasting. It makes it much more special. I like to bug my eyes out really wide – the person on the other side will then similarly bug their eyes out as a natural response and then we've made a connection."

Want to see some lessons from Learning Strategies in action? Once you purchase your book, share the proof of purchase on their website and you can get one of their "Paraliminal" releases, a technology that helps you make changes, whatever they may be.

Check out a copy of Breakfast Tea & Bourbon – who knows? You may just find yourself digging up a treasure worth more than $50,000. And if you want to send a few dollars or a bottle of wine my way, I certainly won't complain. Cheers! 

Drunk Acting With Chris Pratt

GQ, my favorite way to take a picture, has a feature on Chris Pratt in their most recent issue. And as a little bonus for us video-watching types, he released a heavily-branded-with-Fireball-whiskey snippet of acting lessons. Said lessons are given to us while Pratt is drunk off said Fireball whiskey. In typical Chris Pratt fashion, it's fantastic. Well done.

Beer Prices Around The World

With the World Cup going on, countries everywhere are on full display. Since most fans are actually incapable of playing high-level soccer for a full 90 minutes + injury time, they can turn to the next best thing: beer. And David Adelman of FinancesOnline has come up with a pretty nifty infographic about the prices of beer throughout the world. Check it out below:

Blue Chair Bay Rum Launches 25-City Spring into Summer Sampling Tour

Blue Chair Bay Rum recently announced the ‘Nowhere to Be But Here Tour,’ visiting over 25 US cities from April through August.  Starting in Texas, Blue Chair Bay is offering consumers of legal drinking age prime opportunities to experience the rums that multi-platinum singer-songwriter Kenny Chesney created to celebrate the anywhere, anytime spirit of the islands. 

 

Blue Chair Bay’s three premium rum flavors – White, Coconut and Coconut Spice – are all 100% beach made, mellowed in casks at one of the oldest, most storied distilleries in the Caribbean, located literally one hundred yards from the beach.  Blue Chair Bay White Rum recently earned one of the industry’s highest honors: a four-star, Highly Recommended rating from leading spirits arbiter F. Paul Pacult.  

 

“This tour is part ‘thank you’ to our great fans who made Blue Chair Bay Rum the fastest growing new company launch in the history of wine and spirits, and part ‘welcome’ to those ready to discover what made it so,” said Mark Montgomery, CEO of Fishbowl Sprits, parent company of Blue Chair Bay Rum.  “With spring heating up and summer on the horizon, it’s about time to give people that toes-in-the-sand feeling our rums have a way of bringing on,” said Montgomery.

 

After visiting Dallas last week, the tour continues throughout the country. Fans can check out the Rum Locator to find out...well, where the rum will be. Dates are below, and are subject to change:

April 29-30               San Antonio/Austin, TX

May 1-3                  Houston, TX

May 7-8                  Tampa, FL

May 9-10                Orlando, FL

May 14                   Destin/Panama City, FL

May15-16                Pensacola, FL

May 16-17               Gulf Shores, FL

June 4-7                  Nashville, TN

June 10-11              Champaign, IL

June 13-14              Chicago, IL

June 17-18              Angola/Ft. Wayne, IN

June 20-21              Indianapolis, IN

June 24-45              Buffalo/Rochester, NY

June 27                   Syracuse, NY

June 28                   Albany, NY

July 1-2                   Boston, MA

July 3-5                   Cape Cod, MA

July 8-9                   Hoboken/Point Pleasant, NJ

July 11-12                Wildwood, NJ

July 15-16                Annapolis/Baltimore, MD

July 18-19                Ocean City, MD

August 5-7               Sacramento, CA

August 8-9               San Francisco, CA (at Outside Lands Festival)

August 12-13           Fresno, CA

August 15-17           San Diego, CA (at Tiki Fest) 

 

Fans visiting sampling tour stops can enter for a chance to win a flyway trip to the first show on Chesney’s next tour along with picking up a variety of exclusive BCB swag. And I'm all about swag. Fans not in a tour town can enter the promotion through the Blue Chair Bay Rum Facebook page starting today. 

Man's Drunk Wife Tells Him a Joke and Then He Animates It

This is just about the greatest thing ever. If there's one thing I love, it's corny puns. And if it involves talking chips? Even better! Adam Patch took a joke his wife told him after downing a bottle of wine and animated said joke. Fantastic.

[Via Gawker]