One of BevReview.com's sister sites is ChefTalk.com, "a food lover's link to professional chefs." You may not know this, but BevReview runs a Beverage Reviews forum over at ChefTalk. Check it out if you got a chance!

Those of you who are foodies may be familiar with Italian Chef Mario Batali (yes, the Iron Chef himself!) Well, guess what? Our friends at ChefTalk are hosting a 1-day Q&A forum event on Tuesday, May 11. That means you can post any question for Mario that you want and he'll take a crack at answering it! Plus, if you post a question, you'll be automatically entered to win one of 5 copies of Mario's new book, Molto Gusto Easy Italian Cooking. Yup, free stuff!

You'll be able to start posting questions on Sunday, May 9… and then Mario will take a crack at answers on Tuesday, May 11. How do you get started?

Learn more about Mario Batali Q&A at ChefTalk.com

Post a Question!

Create a FREE account at ChefTalk.com (hey, you can even use your Facebook account to sign up!). Then you'll be all set to post questions. And while you are waiting, why not drop on by the Beverage Reviews forum and say "hi!" I'll be waiting for ya!

- Steve

We recently had over 120 entries in our Starbucks "What's Your Story?" Contest, with folks sharing some pretty crazy stories about coworkers in their workplace. If you haven't done so already, give them a read. Some stuff that will just make you laugh in there!

Winners get this Starbucks Prize Pack

For this contest, we randomly selected 5 winners of a Starbucks Prize Pack, which includes:

• Stealth Switch™
• $5 Starbucks® Card
• Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee coupons
• Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee-branded white board

Thanks to everyone who contributed stories and spread the word about the contest. After analyzing our large pool of entries, the official BevReview Random Prize Machine has selected 5 winners:

• Drew Bartell (Milwaukee, WI)
• Tracy Beckham (Fresno, CA)
• Alan Colgren (East Lansing, MI)
• Kate Davis (Council Bluffs, IA)
• Bryan Sampson (Chicago, IL)

Hear are some excerpts from their submitted stories:

Drew Bartell (Read Story)

The other day I left the fryer basket down while I finished plating up a lunch for a waitress. She looked at me completely aghast and asked, "Don't you think you should take the basket out of the oil if there's nothiong in it?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, isn't that going to ruin the basket?"

Tracy Beckham (Read Story)

One of our employees learned a special lesson on why you don't put naked pictures of yourself on your work computer. In doing a computer check, I discovered that, at least, I had proof that he had zero body fat… though, that wasn't a way I really wanted to find out. It was so difficult to look him in the eye after that, and not start snickering.

Alan Colgren (Read Story)

One of my co-workers found a bun that had fallen behind one of the tables and had turned rock hard. What does one do with a rock hard hamburger bun? Exactly! Play Frisbee. We had been throwing back and forth for a while, the manager was in the freezer taking inventory, when we decided to play long range. We had made a few successful attempts from the front of the dining room all the way to the back of the kitchen when the manager stepped out of the freezer right into the flight path of the rock hard bun. A bloody nose, split lip, and an exploded case of milkshake mix later, we both got written up and were put on cleanup duty for 3 weeks.

Kate Davis (Read Story)

I once had a coworker who could not figure out how to work the coffee maker in the office. You would think it was rocket science or something. She would always ask "where do I put the water again" or she would forget to put a filter in, or forget to put the carafe back on. There would be a coffee emergency/mess in the break room at least once a week. It got to the point where the management had to have a talk with her and tell he she was banned from touching the new machine (they had replaced several others she destroyed). She was bawling after that, dithering about how she was just trying to be helpful.

Bryan Sampson (Read Story)

In our office there was this particular email that had gone through several iterations so to hide its true purpose… to turn up your volume all the way and yell, "Hey everybody, I'm watching porn over here!!!"

I work in cubicle land with only half walls, so there is aboslutely no privacy around. Unfortunately, it was accidentally sent to someones boss instead of a co-worker. This was the nicest man I had ever worked with… an older man with high moral value that did everything by the book since his days in the military… yes, your picture perfect grandfather.

So you can imagine the surpirse from the floor when suddenly, out of nowhere, this loud vocie begins to proclaim that someone is watching porn. His response… how did you guys know? The email was retired after that day.

Read the rest of the stories by clicking here.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and to the folks at Starbucks for making this giveaway possible!

Win this Starbucks Prize Pack

The kind folks at Starbucks dropped me a line the other day and asked me to spread the word about a new website they just launched called EnergyPlusCoffee.com. What's it all about? Well, it's a website designed for you to be distracted and entertained, keeping you from doing work while you are actually at work. (Wait a minute… isn't that why you are visiting BevReview? Hmmm….)

Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Cinnamon Dulce
(Click for review)

It's actually a pretty clever idea in that it looks like a standard news site, but has embedded features that do cool things (besides doing this beverage review thing, my "day job" is working with Web development, so I appreciate this stuff… trust me!) Of interest is the "Boss Cam" that activates any internal webcams you might have on your computer, creating an electronic "mirror" that you can use to see if anyone is walking up behind you.

Visit EnergyPlusCoffee.com

There's also some humorous video situations presented via webisodes (if you remember Sierra Mist's Summer 2007 campaign for Lemon Squeeze, you'll get the idea). You'll also find some embedded Flash games such as a version of Tetris called "Meeting Blocks" and a Breakout-clone called "CellBreak".

So, I know what you are saying to yourself. "That's great, Steve. But what's in it for me? And how come Starbucks hasn't gone after you like the folks at Monster?" Well, I'll just answer that first question, thank you very much. (We'll leave the 2nd question for our crack legal folks!)

Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Mocha
(Click for review)

See, here's the idea… You are at work, yet who really wants to work? One way to stay awake during this whole process is by partaking of a Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee beverage (ah, see that product placement there… and we're not even as bad as The Jay Leno Show on NBC!) If you recall, we actually have reviewed all of the Doubleshot Energy+Coffee drinks before… and I actually found them to be pretty good. Of course, as I mentioned, I'm not a coffee drinker, so if they're pretty good to me, I'm assuming someone else just adores them! To recap the flavors:

• Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Cinnamon Dulce
• Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Cinnamon Mocha
• Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Cinnamon Vanilla
• Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Coffee

So, combine these drinks with EnergyPlusCoffee.com and you'll have a grand ole time!

But wait, what if you don't have any of these drinks? I'm glad you asked, because I'd like to hook you up.

Prizes

Starbucks has provided me with 5 Prize Packs to giveaway. And when you are in a recession, what's better than free stuff?

The Starbucks Prize Pack includes:

• Stealth Switch™
• $5 Starbucks® Card
• Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee coupons
• Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee-branded white board

The Prize Pack is valued at $30, which isn't too bad given that you pay nothing to read this website, right? Oh, and you may be wondering about that "Stealth Switch" thing. I was too. Officially, it's "the World's first desktop cloaking device. StealthSwitch™ uses patent pending technology to instantly and completely hide applications with a press of the footswitch. The applications are not just minimized, they are made invisible." Seriously, go check out their website. (Note that it only works on Windows machines. Mac folks like myself are kinda out of luck, but hey, think of the profits you could generate on eBay!)

Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Vanilla
(Click for review)

So, I'd love to give you this stuff. But first you need to do something for me. Sounds fair, doesn't it? Let's get creative and go over the rules…

Contest Rules:

1. Reply to this post
   • Don't forget to include your e-mail address (which will be hidden) so you can be contacted should you win
2. Share an idiot-story about someone you have worked with
   • Obviously, you have, ahem, focused on work all the time, right? Others, not so much. So let the dirty laundry fly! Share the story of a coworker or boss that did something to just make your eyes roll. One story per post, please (which means you can share multiple stories, thus giving you multiple entries!)
3. Entries are due by Tuesday, November 3 at midnight CST.
4. Enter as many times as you'd like!
5. 5 winners will be announced no later than November 5
• We'll be using a random selection model, however you can improve your chances by being creative in your storytelling!
6. Contest limited to folks in the continental United States

Pretty easy, huh?

So, let's recap… new website to visit, opportunity to share funny work stories, and chance to win free Starbucks stuff. Sounds good!

Shameless Self Promotion
But wait, here's the plea from your humble little BevReview Editor. You see, the folks at Starbucks, they are kinda sneaky. Obviously, they want me to tell you about EnergyPlusCoffee.com and promote their energy drinks. But to sweeten the pot a bit, they've actually had the nerve to pit BevReview.com against other blogs in a blogger-vs-blogger contest to see who can get the most entries in our contests. (Those of you studying social media marketing, take note!)

Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Coffee Coffee
(Click for review)

So, for the 2 week period of the contest, the Contest Overlords at Starbucks will be watching the entries closely. Not only will they be providing you prizes for our contest, but they will also be awarding the Top 3 site owners with prizes as well based on contest volume. That probably doesn't mean as much to you, since you always have a chance to win. But as a person who runs these things, I always have to exempt myself from the prizes, so to get a chance to actually win something is rather cool. They're offering site owners the same Starbucks Prize Packs, along with a branded messenger bag and a pretty cool set of noise canceling headphones.

Care about the happiness and overall welfare of BevReview.com? Help us beat the pants off these other sites participating in the contest. Don't just do it for me. Do it for beverage-review-websites-that-always-feature-photos-of-trees everywhere! It's your duty (and thanks!)

The Fine Print
Believe it or not, sometimes review websites get into legal trouble. Thus, please pardon us while we rattle off this fine print that Starbucks asked us to post in regards to this contest:

• This promotion is solely sponsored by BevReview.com and has not been endorsed or approved by North American Coffee Partnership. By entering, you agree to look solely to Steve Tanner & BevReview.com for any claims in connection therewith, and not the North American Coffee Partnership.
• NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Subject to Contest guidelines. Open to U.S. residents only. Contest ends 11/3. Void where prohibited.
• Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee sent me samples of the Doubleshot Energy+Coffee drinks and here's what I think. All the opinions expressed here are mine.

Pepsi Natural "Au Natural" Giveaway Pack

The contest was advertised here on BevReview, as well as on our sister sites, ChefTalk.com and GlobalChefs.com (if you are into food and cooking, you may want to check those out!)

It was pretty easy to enter the contest. All you had to do was become a BevReview Facebook Fan, as well as list 3 words that came to mind when they thought of the phrase "natural." With 50+ entries, it produced some interesting comments. Here are a few:

• Green, organic, hippie
• Two gray squirrels chasing each other around a scrub oak on a balmy, summer morning, Those tan color t-shirts with little flecks of brown, Rainbows
• No HFCS, clean refreshing taste, no artificial colors or flavors.
• Waterfalls, Leaves, "The Natural"
• Pure, pristine, and perfect
• Untouched, unaltered, undisturbed

We put all the entries into Random.org to calculate a random winner of the great gift pack from Pepsi. The winner is Frank Tan (Beaverton, OR). Congrats Frank! We'll be sending out that Pepsi Natural Pack to you right away.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and to the folks at Pepsi for making this giveaway possible!

This is the paragraph I typically use to announce another contest here on BevReview.com. I usually write something witty and exciting. But let's be honest, you really want to know how to get free stuff, right?

This time, it's all about Pepsi Natural, which we first talked about back in March with our "Coming Soon" preview of the beverage. It was released to ten regional markets: Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, and New York. BevReview HQ is here in Chicago, so we got the chance to easily write a Pepsi Natural review.

You could win all these Pepsi Natural prizes!

But what about those of you who haven't had the chance to try this natural cola? Are you destined to drive long distances or use the powers of eBay to get your fix? Not if we can help it, which is why we're excited to launch a contest where you can win a Pepsi Natural "Au Natural" Giveaway Pack. This is all made possible thanks to the folks at Pepsi, who wanted me to let you know about a new site they launched called PepsiNaturalNews.com (yes, that was a commercial message… who do you think is providing the free stuff?). If you poke around in the News section there, you just might see a link to your favorite beverage review site (um, that's hopefully us!)

The "Au Natural" Giveaway Pack includes:

• Pepsi Natural Reusable Canvas Bag, made from 100% organic cotton
• Yoga Mat
• Yoga Mat Tote
• Pepsi Natural Canvas Hat, made from 100% organic cotton
• 4-Pack of Pepsi Natural

So not only do you get some Pepsi Natural to quench your thirst, but you can also look stylin' with your hat and tote bag… while you do the yoga thing. ("Do, or do not… there is no try" — oh wait, that's Yoda!)

Here are the Contest Rules:

1. Reply to this post and mention if you've tried Pepsi Natural. If so, tell us what you thought of the drink!
   • Don't forget to include your e-mail address (which will be hidden) so you can be contacted should you win
2. List 3 things you associate with the word "Natural" (keep it clean, this is a family-friendly site!)
3. Become a Fan of BevReview on Facebook
4. Tell me how you heard about this giveaway from BevReview… was it by browsing, RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, etc.?
• Entries are due by Wednesday, July 29 at midnight CDT.
• 1 random winner will be announced no later than August 3
• Contest limited to folks in the continental United States

So here's your chance to win some Pepsi Natural and other good stuff. C'mon, it's summer, why not live a little and see if you can win the giveaway? Enter the contest today, tell your friends, and thanks again for your support of BevReview.com!

We recently featured a $150 Pepsi Throwback Pack Contest from Pepsi. You had a chance to win great a nice combination of retro-themed stuff, including a lunchbox, CD player, lava lamp, trucker hat, and of course, cans of new Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback.

Pepsi Throwback Pack

To enter, BevReview.com readers had to mention a "long-forgotten beverage from the past". We had quite an interesting list of 160+ entries. Here are a couple beverages that caught our eye:

• Surge
• Mountain Dew Pitch Black
• Royal Crown Draft Cola
• Crystal Pepsi
• Josta
• Pepsi Blue
• Sprite Remix

We put all the entries into Random.org to calculate a random winner of the great gift pack from Pepsi. The winner is Jenn Cavallari (Mobile, AL)… who misses the original version of Clearly Canadian Cherry Soda. Congrats Jenn! We'll be sending out that Throwback Pack to you right away.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and to the folks at Pepsi for making this giveaway possible!

Voltage T-shirt

To enter, BevReview.com readers had to list the previous flavors of Mountain Dew they had experienced, along with using the word "Voltage" in a sentence. Here are some of the more unique entries

• "The voltage in that fence could hold the biggest T-Rex ever conceived and yet not harm an innocent 10 year old boy; we spared no expense."
• "I once licked a 9-Voltage battery. Bad times."
• "High Voltage software needs to stop already with all these Lego themed video games."
• "For years I've tried to understand the difference between amperage (amps), voltage (volts), and wattage (watts). Something to do with the size of the pipeline, the pressure in the pipe, and the speed in which is all flows. Or something like that…"
• "Voltage Monster was the latest (2006) release by Noisecore band Japanese Torture Comedy Hour, and is the one CD of theirs that I own, much to the horror of many of my friends."
• "The Voltage that his smile put through me was strong!"

Mountain Dew Voltage

We put all the entries into Random.org to calculate a 3 random winners of this Voltage Prize Pack. Those lucky winners are:

• Abby Guyton (Wendell, NC)
• Jackie Lai (Hanover, MD)
• Katie Nicholson (Mesa, AZ)

Your Mountain Dew Voltage "Prize Packs" are in the mail to you! Thanks to everyone who participated and to PepsiCo for offering up the prizes! Don't forget to drop by DEWmocracyVoltage.com for more Voltage fun!

I don't know about you, but it seems there's a lot of buzz now that Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback have been released. These drinks came out on April 20 and are only available for 8 weeks, thus there seems to be a lot of desire by beverage enthusiasts to track them down in a timely fashion.

Well, what if I told you that BevReview.com is giving away each of these limited-time flavors… along with much, much more! Yes, it's time for another contest!

You could win all these Throwback prizes!

For those new to the Throwbacks, they are sugar-sweetened versions of Pepsi and Mountain Dew that we've been talking about for quite some time. With their combination of cane and beet sugar, retro packaging, and amazingly good taste, I know personally it's nice to see them live up to the hype. You'll be able to find them nationwide in 20 oz. plastic bottles and 12-pack cans.

To catch you up on all the fuss, here's a look at our coverage over the past few months:

• Pepsi/Dew Throwbacks discovered via trademark filings (February 9)
• Unused prototype bottle designs leaked (February 19)
• Official Facts about Pepsi Throwback & Mountain Dew Throwback (February 26)
• Preview of another sugar-sweetened drink: Pepsi Natural (March 5)
• Review: Pepsi Natural (March 16)
• Review: Pepsi Throwback (April 17)
• Review: Mountain Dew Throwback (April 21)
• Tips in finding Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback? (April 21)

Well, thanks to the generosity of the folks at Pepsi — and because of your passion posting here and interacting with us on Twitter — we're giving away this Throwback Pack! It's rad. It's retro. It's valued at over $150. And it can be yours!

The Throwback Pack includes the following:

• Pepsi Throwback Trucker Cap (with a very familiar logo)
• Retro Pepsi Tin Lunch Box (just like this one!)
• Retro Clock Radio/CD Player
• USB-powered Lava Lamp
• Pepsi Throwback & Mountain Dew Throwback

Seriously, a USB-powered Lava Lamp? C'mon, you know it's totally worth it just for that! But hey, you get the lamp and more if you win, so how can you go wrong?

Here are the Contest Rules:

1. Reply to this post and mention if you've tried Pepsi and/or Mountain Dew Throwback yet. If so, tell us what you thought of the drink(s)!
   • Don't forget to include your e-mail address (which will be hidden) so you can be contacted should you win
2. List a long-forgetten beverage from the past that you wish you could drink right now
3. Tell me how you heard about this giveaway from BevReview… was it by browsing, RSS feeds, Twitter, etc.?
• Entries are due by Thursday, April 30 at midnight CDT.
• 1 random winner will be announced no later than May 2
• Contest limited to folks in the continental United States

So if you are having a hard time finding Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, here's a way you can try to get some for free. Plus, you have a chance to win a pretty nifty Trucker Cap, something that plays tunes, and yes… the Lava Lamp (I'm jealous, seriously!). Enter the contest today, tell your friends, and thanks again for patronizing BevReview.com!

Let's "Dew" it again!

Mountain Dew Voltage

The folks at Mountain Dew launched this minisite at DEWmocracyVoltage.com. Once you register for the site (it's powered by Yahoo!) you have a chance to play a bunch of minigames and other activities that earn points.

Play games, win points!
(Source: DEWmocracyVoltage.com)

You can use those points for a chance to win stuff in a weekly sweepstakes. What kind of stuff? Shirts, video game equipment, snowboards, etc. It's a pretty interesting combination that's worth checking out.

To give you a taste of what you can win, here at BevReview.com we're going to be giving away 3 Mountain Dew Voltage "Prize Packs", each consisting of 3 bottles of new Mountain Dew Voltage PLUS a black Dew Voltage T-shirt. (I've got mine, and it's printed on an American Apparel shirt, so nice quality!) We've got to thank the folks over at Mountain Dew for these fun giveaways.

Win this Voltage T-shirt!

But now, the real question you are asking is… how do you win?

Here are the rules:

1. Reply to this post and list all the flavors of Mountain Dew you have tried before. Can't remember? Here's a list to get you started:
   • Mountain Dew
   • Mountain Dew Code Red
   • Mountain Dew LiveWire
   • Mountain Dew Baja Blast
   • Mountain Dew Pitch Black
   • Mountain Dew Pitch Black II
   • Mountain Dew MDX
   • Mountain Dew Game Fuel
   • Mountain Dew Supernova
   • Mountain Dew Revolution
   • Mountain Dew Voltage

   Don't forget to include your e-mail address (which will be hidden) so you can be contacted should you win

2. Tell me how you heard about this giveaway from BevReview… was it by browsing, RSS feeds, Twitter, etc.?
3. Use the word "Voltage" in a sentence that doesn't relate to Mountain Dew
• Entries are due by Tuesday, April 21 at midnight CDT.
• 3 random winner(s) will be announced by Thursday, April 23
• Contest limited to folks in the continental United States

How can you go wrong with this contest? You might get some free soda and a T-shirt! Plus, we're BevReview.com… you know that we'll keep all your information private and won't sell it off to third parties, so c'mon, what are you waiting for?

Please spread the word via e-mail, Twitter, Digg, or by yelling at the person who sits next to you! You can Dew it!

No Fear Gift Pack

To enter, BevReview.com readers had to list their biggest fear. We had come pretty interesting ones, including:

• Being irrelevant
• Throwing up
• Being pooped on by a bird
• Republicans
• Spiders
• Blood & Needles
• Swimming in the ocean

We put all the entries into Random.org to calculate a random winner of the great gift pack from No Fear. The winner is Tim Walston (Kirksville, MO)… who by the way, had a fear of failure. Congrats Tim! We'll be sending out that Gift Pack to you right away.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and to the folks at No Fear for making this giveaway possible!