Imbiber Beware

It's a Thursday night at Bear's Place and in the dimly lit backroom, karaoke tunes are crackling through the microphone as countless numbers of IU students powwow with their closest friends over drinks. There is one cocktail in particular that seemingly every person in the joint seems to be sipping with caution -- the Hairy Bear.\nThe Hairy Bear is one of many drink exclusives available to Bloomington bar-goers. Several places in town serve drinks that have garnered praise from the student body. Some have been around for years, while others have just merged onto the scene.\nJim Reef, manager of Bear's Place, said the Hairy Bear was created by original owner Jim McCoon approximately 20 years ago. "It started out as a joke. It was a way that some of the barflies would get drunk quick," said Reef. "They put six shots of liquor into a 12-ounce mug, threw a little fruit juice in there and some grenadine." Since then, the drink has been upgraded to a larger 32-ounce container and Sprite has been added into the original mix of ingredients. Reef would not reveal the potent liquor combination. "It's a secret recipe," he said. \nAlthough the pinkish tint of the drink may infer smooth sailing, students find consumption of the Hairy Bear to be a bit of a challenge. "It tastes like poison," said senior Meaghan Heffernan. "The trick is to add lots of sugar." \nThe staff at Bear's is well aware that consuming a Hairy Bear is no easy feat. They sell T-shirts that proudly read, "I survived a Hairy Bear." Even Reef has tried the drink, "I myself have survived a Hairy Bear and I don't personally see the need to drink one again."\nSo why are students lining up through the door at Bear's for a taste? "It gets you drunker, faster," said Heffernan. \nReef says customers are getting more bang for their buck. "You're paying $8 for a strong drink compared to $16 for five or six beers." \nHowever, some students mirror Reef's sentiments on the Hairy Bear and would rather venture to Kirkwood to indulge in Upstairs Pub's AMF drinks than attempt to survive the Hairy Bear. Senior Jeff Holland, who has 3 to 4 AMFs a week, prefers the electric-blue 32-ounce exclusive because of its sweeter taste. \nUpstairs night manager Erik Duvall said the AMF drink has been around since the late '80s when the bar was called Hooligans. "It was a result of a contest between the bartenders to come up with different kinds of long islands," said Duvall. "One of them was the AMF, and one was the Pink Floyd. The AMF is the one that has endured over the years." \nThe ingredients for the AMF include four shots of vodka and gin (two shots for the smaller version), sour mix, Sprite and blue curacao. The Pink Floyd, which is still served upon request, has similar ingredients consisting of vodka, gin, sour mix, pineapple juice and grenadine.\nThese specialty drinks are often the sole associations made with certain bars in town. "If they (Upstairs) didn't have AMFs, I probably wouldn't come here," said senior AMF lover, Holland. \nKilroy's on Kirkwood and Kilroy's Sports Bar are constantly creating new drink exclusives to entice customers. Their newest invention is called the Hoosier Lunch Bucket. "We use half a can of Bud Energy (B^E), drop in a shot of amaretto and put in a little bit of grenadine to make it look red," said Sports employee Roxy Geyer. \nBoth bars offer 10 original martinis, including a cucumber-melon martini comprised of Hendrix gin, watermelon Pucker and sour mix garnished with a cucumber slice. \nGeyer said the bar's original top-seller is the tye-dyed long island. "The only reason people know about it is because it's so colorful," she said. The ingredients for the concoction consist of rum, vodka, Triple Sec, Sprite and sour mix. To obtain the blue, green and pink-red tye-dye look, blue curacao, melon liquor and grenadine are added. \nSenior Ashley Henson says that the easiest way to indulge in a Hairy Bear is to do it quickly. "The faster you drink it the better it goes down," she said. \nHenson isn't the only student that believes in this theory. However, when dealing with highly potent drink concoctions, especially when they're consumed quickly, there is potential for negative side effects. IU alcohol assessment consultant Walt Keller works for the Dean's office and has seen many cases where students run into trouble with the law after consuming loaded drinks like the Hairy Bear and the AMF. Keller said the problem for many students when they consume these drinks is that they don't realize how much alcohol is actually in them.\n"You have a natural built-in protective mechanism that is designed to keep you safe and give you internal warnings to tell you when to stop," said Keller. "The problem with speed drinking, which is what drinking a Hairy Bear too quickly would be, is that it bypasses that mechanism." \nKeller says many students on campus engage in binge drinking. "Probably over 50 percent of our students drink excessively," he said. While some students don't think rationally about how much alcohol is in the drinks they are consuming, others realize that one drink is enough. "It's a world of your own making," said Keller. \nManagers at the establishments that serve these beverages are aware of the possible dangers associated with over-consumption, too. At Upstairs, Duvall said they generally don't have too many problems with people drinking too many AMFs. "As a bar, we generally are responsible for those that drink in our bar and when we believe somebody has had too many, we cut them off," he said. \nReef said Hairy Bears are primarily consumed on Thursday nights when drinks are on special for 6 bucks. "There are concerns about over-serving Hairy Bears," he said. "Its pretty much for most people a one-drink drink. If you get a Hairy Bear, you don't really need anything else." \nThe staff at Bear's is instructed to limit Hairy Bear consumption to two per person. Although the staff tries its best to enforce this policy, people find ways to get around it by sitting in a different section or ordering from a different bar, said Reef. The staff at these establishments said a lot of the time over-consumption occurs with those who are underage. Therefore managers like Reef maintain a good relationship with the town's excise police or undercover police officers. "We try to keep the peace as much as we can," he said.