Acronymphomania
MDM..."Yay?"
We lead this week with good news for our Miami readership: The world's first study into whether MDMA can be used to treat alcohol addiction has produced "incredibly exciting"results, according to British researchers. As reported in an article published last week in The Times of London researchers studied a group of people with severe alcoholism. Before their therapy, they had been drinking an average of about 130 alcoholic units a week. (British Alcohol units are a weird thing, but that's essentially eight and a half 12 oz beers a day, 7 days a week or about seven 1.5oz shots of 40 proof alcohol per day) All were put through intensive therapy and traditional alcohol cessation tactics. Half the patients received 2 therapy sessions under the influence of MDMA the other half did not. Nine months after the sessions, 21 percent of those who took part in the MDMA therapy were consuming more than 14 units of alcohol a week, compared with 75 percent for the group who had been given standard NHS care with no MDMA. These incredible findings support what bartenders at Club Space have been saying for a long time: "People on molly don't really drink that much." But, it's good to know that we can put this knowledge to good use and potentially help people in the process.
IHOPe You Have A Good Severance Deal
In a follow up to a previous breaking news story at Better Booze, shit is getting real over at IHOP. Long time readers of the newsletter will recall that the national diner chain decided to forgo this years national pancake day festivities, offering instead a one month IOU for a free short stack of pancakes anytime in the month of April. We at Unfiltered initially applauded their decision as a great way to get people to join their customer loyalty program and prevent IHOP's around the country from looking like the bathroom line at Coachella (Not a good scene RN, trust us). Now, the CMO who approved the plan has been fired and replaced effective immediately. We sincerely hope our coverage had nothing to do with their decision. In all fairness, this was the same CMO who was responsible for the launch of their IHOb burger campaign, all day burrito menu, and IHOPPY Hour promotion, sooooo maybe it was time to give someone else a crack at it.
Our Thoughts
When 2 things we love come together (spirits and education), we have to report it. This week DISCUS (Distilled Spirits Council of the United States) announced that they have launched a new program called the DISCUS Academy. It's the first ever online education program for individuals interested in owning or operating a spirits brand. It gets pretty granular too, covering everything from distillery fire safety and cleanliness standards to marketing and hiring brand ambassadors. It’s pretty crazy that nothing like this existed before given what’s at stake. Many spirits brand founders spend millions of dollars and potentially devote their life to getting something off the ground that they may have had only a passing experience before taking investors.
You know what’s funny? Not haha funny, but ironic funny? The same thing can be said of the restaurant business. Most new bar or restaurant owners may have worked in the industry or have a lot of friends in the business, but have no formal education on the subject before taking on tons of debt and making it their full time job. While we don’t provide a certificate in fire safety, we at Unfiltered do know a lot about running profitable, noteworthy bars. We offer real training and usable tools to help people not only get off the ground, but thrive in the bars world. If you would like to learn more about how we can help your business, drop us a line here. Or call Ben on his personal cell phone number.
Until next time, keep getting better.
What Else?
Also, check out this cool video we made about how to pour booze. And if you like that, subscribe for more cool Better Bar Basics.
