Rancher Arrested for Selling Snake Vodka

[Mugu]

Santo, Texas (AP) --

A rattlesnake rancher who calls himself Bayou Bob found a new way to make money: Stick a rattler inside a bottle of vodka and market the concoction as an "ancient Asian elixir." But Bayou Bob Popplewell's bright idea appears to have landed him on the wrong side of the law, because he has no liquor license.

Popplewell, who has raised rattlesnakes and turtles at Bayou Bob's Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch for more than two decades, surrendered to authorities Monday. He spent about 10 minutes in jail after the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission obtained arrest warrants on misdemeanor charges of selling alcohol without a license and possessing alcohol with intent to sell.

If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines. Popplewell said he will fight the charges. His intent, he said, is not to sell an alcoholic beverage but a healing tonic. He said he has customers of Asian descent who believe the concoction has medicinal properties.

snip

But alcohol commission agent Scott Jones pointed out that investigators confiscated 429 bottles of snake vodka and one bottle of snake tequila. At $23 a bottle, that's almost $10,000 worth of reptilian booze.


Complete article at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/26/international/i134447D05.DTL

[mitchum]

1. When I first read the headline, I thought it meant the snake was underage

nevermind...

[Smith_3]

2. Damn. That was a good idea.

If he had aquired the license, he might have made shitloads of money off of that.

[KamaAina]

3. "Bayou Bob's. The one with bite."

:evilgrin:

[rateyes]

4. A drink like that would rattle your bones. nt

[lebkuchen]

5. reminds me of habu sake

[MADem]

8. Bwahahahaha! I remember that crap! Yuck!

[lebkuchen]

9. remember how the mongoose was introduced to the island to kill the habu

only to find out the two species slept during different parts of the day so never saw each other, allowing the mongoose to over-multiply.

That's what ya get when messing w/nature! :)

[MADem]

10. But you could go to a habu-mongoose fight at the tourist trap!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPB5NwLNW3M

[lebkuchen]

13. What can't You-tube provide?

LOL

Not a fair fight since that was the snake's sleepy time, right?

I'll bet you found a few treasured glass balls on those unfortunate beaches during your stay (along with golf balls, rubber stamped-out shoe soles, and light bulbs). :)

I collected a large jar of broken pottery pieces and have them in my bathroom. Even broken, Japanese pottery is so beautiful. My favorite beer glass is an Orion, which I found on the beach.

[OwnedByFerrets]

6. Bayou Bob should

put miniature B*sh dolls in each of the bottles. Much more deadly than any rattlesnake ever was.

[aikoaiko]

7. Bayou Bob probably watched the same food show I did where they showed various animal infused wines

The baby bear wine looked weird.

[Wizard777]

11. This isn't marijuana. So I doubt the medicinal claim will help him any.

[tomreedtoon]

12. Conclusion: Texans will buy anything that seems tough!

We should send our old shoes and boots down there, label them "Texas Steak" and sell them in the supermarkets. We'll clean up. Also sell them old wire coathangers and call them "Texas String Candy." The kids will go for it like crazy.