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The Battalion
Thursday - July 17, 1997
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When it comes to weekend activity, students put down the books and pick up the bottles
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By Keith McPhail
The Battalion
t is no secret that some Aggies like their liquor. And
none is more popular than bourbon. While the
amount of booze consumed in Bryan-College Sta
tion is hard to quantify, one thing is certain — a lot of
Iquor bottles are emptied in Aggieland.
Bobby Lee, a local bouncer and senior accounting
major, said he believes the popularity of liquor in Col
lege Station is related to is soothing effects and the lack
of alternatives in the Brazos Valley.
“It’s a way to relax,” he said. “It’s pretty much the only
way to chill out in College Station when your not work-
; or studying. There’s not a hell of a lot else to do —
is, it is fun, if you take it in a moderate amount.”
Brooke Eoff, a College Station self-described social
g and senior accounting major, enjoys the "57
Chevy” at Fitzwilly’s.
“I like it because its a big-ass drink with a lot liquors
it I can enjoy slowly,” she said. “And I love margari-
— I am the margarita queen.”
Another popular Aggieland drink is the “Flaming Dr.
Pepper.” Jason Kempenski, a bartender at the Ptarmi
gan said they sell 250 on a good night.
It is difficult to add up the number of shots people
take on Northgate, but it is considerable, claims Corey
Dukes, a Dry Bean bartender and senior health major.
“There is no way of telling how many we sell —
there’s so many,” Dukes said. “I can sell 30, 40 or 50
shots in five minutes.”
“We spend at least $2,000 a week ordering liquor in
the summer. In football season, that number is double.”
Few know more about hard liquor consumption in
Aggieland than J.J. Ruffino, owner of J.J.’s Package stores
and class of ’73 marketing student. January will mark
the silver anniversary (25 years) of Ruffino’s entrance
to the Bryan-College Station liquor business.
“Crown Royal is by far the biggest seller in College
Station,” Ruffino said. “Bourbons are our number one
distilled spirit.”
Bourbons comprise 37 percent of the total liquor
sold at J.J.s stores. Crown Royal takes 11 percent of the
total bourbon market, almost double its nearest com
petitor Jack Daniels, which finishes second with only
six percent.
While Bacardi rum has led the United States in sales,
Crown outsells Bacardi three to one in Aggieland.
Other spirits that are popular liquor store pick ups
in College Station include Jose Cuervo Gold, Smirnoff
Vodka, Tanquerey Gin and Bacardi rum.
Ruffino feels that most college students are pre
mium buyers. Over the years, he has noticed that
people tend to buy what is well-marketed, and that,
he said, tends to be the premium brands. At the
liquor store people tend to buy image. The image as
sociated with a certain spirit plays a significant role
in selection. Buyers tend to choose a bottle that is line
with their image of themselves, and the image they
would like others to perceive.
“It’s a lifestyle thing,” Ruffino said. “I think it’s the
way most people think.”
Recent months have seen a rise in the popularity of
premium “trade up” liquors. This trend is especially
strong in tequila and whiskey. Selections include the
upscale tequila Sauza, small-batch bourbons and sin
gle malt scotch. This trend goes hand in hand with the
rise of premium cigars. Or in most cases, goes in the
other hand.
Well drinks seem to be more popular at the bars,
claims Mike Moore, a bartender at Shadow Canyon and
senior marketing major.
“I think it is just a money thing,” Moore said.
Some of the most popular well drinks include
Bourbon and Coca Cola, Bourbon and Sprite, and
Vodka and 7-Up.
While well drinks are more popular, when Aggies go
premium at the bar, their spirit of choice is again Crown
Royal. Moore said he also gets many requests for Jack
Daniels, Jim Beam, Absolut, and Jose Cuervo.
“We sell quite a few shots of straight tequila,” Moore
said. ‘“Sex with an Alligator,’ a shot invented at the Dry
Bean, and margaritas are very popular.”
Students may be found draining a bottle of Crown
Royal at home, sipping a Vodka and 7-Up at Shadow
Canyon, slamming a Flaming Dr. Pepper at the Ptarmi
gan or sucking down Liquid Cocaine at The Dry Bean.
When the books are down, bottoms are up.
52,m
Percentage of alcohol sales in the Brazos Valley
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7%
17 % 20%
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Source: J.J. Ruffino
TE0U11A
Graphic: Brad Graeber and Tim Moog
Making Contact Star-studded science fiction
thriller lives up to viewers' expectations
By James Francis
The Battalion
I magine spending a lifetime in search of
life outside Earth. As a child, you would
make continuous efforts to communi
cate with people miles away on a short
wave radio. This small step in your child
hood would prepare you only for bigger and
better dreams — to one day send a signal
outside the realm of Earth and have a mes
sage sent back.
This would be the greatest achievement
in science and technology ever document
ed. So you stretch out on the roof of your
parents’ house, sleeping bag secure around
Contact
Starring Jodie Foster and
McConaughey
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Rated PG-13
Playing at Hollywood 16
★★★★ 1/2 (out of five)
Wmm
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your body and eyes staring up into the night
time sky. You focus on constellations and
dream about life beyond the black-shadow
atmosphere. Then you close your eyes and
count: three ... two ... one ... Contact.
Summer always is the season of science
fiction and special-effect films. Rarely do we
see a film as intelligent and thought-pro
voking as Contact. In the film, Jodie Foster
portrays Ellie Arroway, an astronomer
whose love for the stars and galaxies beyond
leads her to the discovery of a radio message
sent from the star Vega. After her ground
breaking discovery, Contact takes a truthful
look at the battle between science and tech
nology and religion. The message received
contains instructions on building a trans
port. But the question remains: Where will
the machine take the individual lucky
enough to embark on the historical journey?
Please see Contact on Page 4.
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Matthew McConaughey and Jodie Foster star in Robert Zemeckis' Warner Brothers film Contact, based on the book by Carl Sag;
Anderson movie sets
offer Hope for Humanity
By Wesley Brown
The Battalion
R esidents of Anderson may
still be feeling the impact
of Hope, the made-for-TV
movie that Goldie Hawn recent
ly filmed there.
Though the makers of Hope
were only in Anderson for eight
days, they left quite an impres
sion, according to Grimes Coun
ty Judge Bud Haney.
“They brought a lot of visitors,
who just came to watch, and they
brought a real spirit to the commu
nity,” he said. “We were quite excit
ed that they were going to film here.”
Of course, there were more
practical advantages to having a
film crew around. There were
about 175 people working on the
movie and spending money in
Grimes County.
The film production includes
some big names. Hawn is at a ca
reer apex after her performances
The First Wives Club and Every
one Says I Love You. Also starring
was J.T. Walsh of Breakdown and
Nixon. Hawn’s live-in compan
ion Kurt Russell was not a cast
member, but was nevertheless a
constant present on the set.
The film may have already es
tablished its legacy in the Brazos
Valley. Paradise Pictures, that is
producing the film, has donated all
the lumber used in set construc
tion to the local chapter of Habitat
for Humanity. Donations such as
these are extremely helpful, espe
cially for training efforts, according
to Habitat organizer Jim Davis.
“There are city ordinances in
Bryan-College Station preventing
us from building homes with used
lumber, but we can use this lum
ber as part of our training pro
gram,” Davis said. “It will save us a
lot of money and translate direct
ly into more housing in this area.”
Most of the donated lumber
comes from a large theater that,
in the script, is burned by arson
ists. In reality, Davis said most of
the structure was left intact.
“They used jets of propane
gas, and they had a tin roof on it
that they cut all up,” he said.
“Flames were shooting up into
the sky, no doubt about that. It
appears in the movie that the
place was destroyed, but in real
ity, 95 percent of it was un
touched by the flames. It’s sur
prising what they do to create an
illusion like that.”
The theater was tom down with
help from inmates at the Navasota
PAC One prison, and the lumber
will be used to build forms and
small, portable buildings on which
Habitat volunteers can practice.
Hope is the story of a southern
teen-age girl in 1962 who watches
as racism tears her town apart. The
name is taken from Hope, Mo., the
town in which the movie is set. The
film is Hawn's directoral debut; she
now becomes the third prominent
feature film actor to make such a
debut on TNT. The first two were
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Christ
mas in Connecticut) and Tommy
Lee Jones (The Good Ole Boys).
Bryan-College Station got a
closer look at the stars involved
with Hope when the entire pro
duction stopped off at Bullwin-
kle’s Bar and Grill for a wrap par
ty. Owner Charlie Cain managed
to accommodate his guests
while keeping his business open.
Filming will go on for several
more weeks in other locations,
Haney said, but a great deal of
footage was shot in Anderson.
“They had an entire court
room scene to film here, and they
did a lot of shooting on the
streets. And, of course, they
burned down the movie theater.
That sort of thing attracts some
attention, and we were happy to
have had this experience.”