Tesla launches $250 tequila online, quickly 'out of stock'

MEXICO CITY— Tesla Inc on Thursday launched its own brand of tequila on the electric car maker's website, making good on a promise by CEO Elon Musk with a $250-per-bottle experience that was unavailable within hours of the product's lift-off.

Pictures of "Tesla Tequila" on the website revealed a sleek, lightning-shaped bottle, a bit different from what Musk had once touted. The product was quickly listed as "out of stock."

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk tweeted the idea of "Teslaquila" on April Fool's Day 2018, which many of his followers considered a joke. However, Musk's efforts to trademark the drink in October of that year were frowned upon by Mexico's tequila producers.

Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council then argued the "name 'Teslaquila' evokes the word Tequila ... (and) Tequila is a protected word." Under the new name, it had no qualms.

"Tesla is now a certified brand of tequila under the strict regulations regarding our national drink," the council said in a statement, saying it would be made by Destiladora del Valle de Tequila, a major producer of tequilas and other spirits.

Tesla's website said the beverage will be made by Nosotros Tequila, which is one of Destiladora del Valle de Tequila's more than 100 labels, according to online tequila database Tequila Matchmaker.

Also known as Casa Maestri, the producer already makes a wide range of tequila brands, as well as bourbon, vodka and Canadian whisky, according to the company's website.

According to Tesla's website, the new alcoholic venture will be available only in selected U.S. states, including New York, California and Washington.

The Silicon Valley billionaire is no stranger to selling quirky products in limited one-time sales.

He sold flamethrowers at $500 apiece in early 2018, raising $10 million for his high-speed tunnel venture the Boring Company. Musk also sold 50,000 Boring Company hats previously.

Independent industry consultant Clayton Szczech said that without tasting the Tesla liquor he could not evaluate its quality. But he observed that celebrity products on the whole were not aimed at tequila aficionados.

"I tend to doubt that this tequila is significantly different from everything else they are putting out," Szczech said, referring to Destiladora del Valle de Tequila.

The website of the new drink describes it as agave tequila añejo aged in French oak barrels, "featuring a dry fruit and light vanilla nose with a balanced cinnamon pepper finish."

-reuters-

Corona beer producer halts brewing over coronavirus

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican brewer of Corona beer said Thursday it was suspending production because of the health emergency in the country over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grupo Modelo -- whose brands also include Pacifico and Modelo -- said the measure was in line with the Mexican government's order to suspend all non-essential activities until April 30 to slow the spread of coronavirus.

"We are in the process of lowering production at our plants to the bare minimum," the company said in a statement, adding it would complete the suspension in the following days.

Mexico's government has said that only key sectors such as agribusiness will be able to continue to function.

Grupo Modelo said it was ready to operate with 75 percent of its staff working remotely to guarantee the supply of beer, if the government agreed.

Mexico's other major beer producer Heineken -- which makes the Tecate and Dos Equis brands -- could also stop activities on Friday, the Reforma newspaper said, although the company did not confirm the report.

On Wednesday, the northern state of Nuevo Leon, where Heineken's Mexican operations are based, said it would stop the production and distribution of beer, which led to panic buying.

Since the start of the virus crisis, Corona beer has been the punchline of jokes and memes, and an online rumor said sales in the US dropped by around 40 percent after the outbreak.

However, in late February, Constellation Brands, which owns the Corona label, denied the rumor and said sales had stayed strong in the US even as the virus has spread internationally.

Mexico has so far registered over 1,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 50 deaths.

Agence France-Presse

Can drinking a little bit help you live longer?

Having a little wine or beer to unwind most days may help lower the odds of a premature death as long as that drink or two doesn’t routinely turn into more, a new study confirms.

Researchers examined health survey data on more than 333,000 U.S. adults, following them for an average of about eight years to see how their drinking habits influenced their survival odds.

Compared with people who never had a drop of alcohol, light to moderate drinkers were more than 20 percent less likely to die early of any cause, or of heart disease in particular, the study found.

Heavy drinkers and binge drinkers, however, were at least 10 percent more likely to die from any cause during the study, and they had at least 20 percent higher odds of an early death from cancer in particular.

“If alcohol is consumed, it should be consumed in moderation,” said lead study author Dr. Bo Xi of the School of Public Health at Shandong University in China.

Heavy drinking has long been linked to a variety of medical problems including liver disease, heart disease and certain cancers. But previous research has offered an inconclusive picture of the survival odds associated with light or moderate drinking.

The current analysis attempts to tackle two issues that have contributed to inconsistent results in much of the earlier research: `abstainer bias’ and `sick quitter bias.’

Many other studies compared moderate drinkers to people who currently didn’t drink, making it impossible to separate people who stopped drinking due to addiction or other health reasons from people who were lifelong abstainers.

To exclude `sick quitters,’ the current study left out people who died in the first two years of follow-up. To avoid `abstainer bias,' researchers created separate categories for adults who never drank at all and for ex-drinkers.

They sorted adults into six categories for the current study: lifetime abstainers; people who have always had alcohol on rare occasions; ex-drinkers; current light drinkers who have fewer than three drinks a week; moderate drinkers (more than three drinks a week but fewer than 14 for men or 7 for women); or heavy drinkers (more than 14 for men or 7 for women).

During the study period, 34,754 people died, including 8,947 fatalities from cardiovascular diseases and 8,427 from cancer, researchers report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Male heavy drinkers had a 25 percent increased risk of death during the study and 67 percent higher odds of deaths from cancer than men who never drank. These differences weren’t statistically meaningful for women, however.

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how heavy drinking might hasten death or light to moderate alcohol consumption might help people live longer. Researchers also relied on survey participants to accurately recall and report how much they drank.

Scientists aren’t sure why light or moderate drinking might have a protective effect, said Dr. Eugene Yang of the University of Washington School of Medicine.

“It may improve the health of your blood vessels by reducing inflammation and your ability to form blood clots, increase levels of good cholesterol, and promote antioxidant pathways,” Yang, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

Even if it doesn’t explain why drinking a little might lead to a longer life, the study does confirm that the risk of death tied to alcohol use increases sharply when people regularly drink more than they should, Dr. Giovanni de Gaetano, author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed in Pozzilli, Italy, said by email.

“The clear message is to avoid excessive drinking, either on a regular basis or even on any one day, to reduce risk,” Dr. Gregory Marcus, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “Those prone to alcoholism or addiction are also likely best served with alcohol abstinence.”

source: news.abs-cbn.com