Why, Bones, you know this stuff is illegal.



Last summer my sister and her husband went to Las Vegas for a few days. Of course they went to the Star Trek Experience while they were there; Nadja was only moderately interested but Bryan, I think, was keen to go. And they bought back presents.



Romulan Ale, for instance.



Flying back from Vegas into Canada, they could only bring back so much, so I got one bottle of Romulan Ale and one bottle of wine (the Sacred Chalice of Rixx Cabernet) plus a few other things, for which I was thankful. But what would be the right time to drink that one bottle of Romulan Ale? It's not like there was enough to share with several people, so the experience would be limited to Laura and me. And obviously Star Trek should be involved in some way. Well, I dithered and waited for most of a year. Then yesterday, while I tried to argue in favour of watching Annie Hall or Eraserhead or Doctor Who, Laura countersuggested the Star Trek VI Special Edition DVD, which we've had for months and haven't watched yet. And since Romulan Ale plays a key part in one scene, well, it was finally time.



I opened the bottle, which has been in the fridge for quite a long time now, and poured the contents into a Carlsberg Red beer glass. Very, very blue, with a good head of foam. I mean, really, outrageously blue. Nothing like the pale, flat blue concoction Kirk drank with Gorkon. In fact, some of the blue dye had settled at the bottom of the bottle. As for the beer itself... fizzy and bland. Not much flavour to it. Laura settled for one taste of it and let me finish the rest. (She's done the home brewing thing and likes beers like Kilkenny and Boddington's, so her reaction is worth noting.) She didn't dislike it, she just didn't find it particularly interesting or good. I wasn't too impressed, either. It was a plain, relatively flavourless, fizzy beer that wouldn't get a lot of attention without the excessive blue dye.



After the movie, when the lights were back on, Laura pointed at my face and started laughing. The beer had dyed my lips blue. I don't think I'd want to drink a lot of this stuff in public, if that's what usually happens. And in general I'd rather have a beer that I can taste.



Coming up, some day... our Deep Space Wine tasting.



(Now playing: Harmonia, "Watussi," Musik von Harmonia.)