THE BRITISH THREAD II

John Smith's Extra Smooth is not the real thing. The real thing has no frothy top on it and I don't like it.

I hate being called "Sir" too. It's so patronising. In my pub I'm either "darling" or "love" or "captain".

Have you heard Mac that we now have a Minister for Pubs. His name is John Healey. His task it seems it to save our pubs which are closing at an alarming rate considering that no pubs means no freedom.

2,365 pubs closed last year.

Maybe it's a joke. Tax on beer never stops rising to help to pay for scientists to find out what happened "just" after the Big Bang. And every time you turn around around there's another item about the perils of the Demon Drink.

But you guys should beware of admitting being a drinker. Setanta will start calling you a drunk or a dipsomaniac. It's his standard manner of responding to any post of mine he can't answer properly.

I can't understand why Americans continually allow him to present the male of their species in the way he does. I think they must be frightened of him. Which is very odd seeing as what a silly moo-cow he actually is.

That's because he does not partake of strong drink, as he constantly reminds.


To which Americans are you referring? In any case, he's become a Canadian.

I know that we Germans have no idea at what temperature a beer should be served.

When I still was drinking, I hated a "Durch" (= a Pils/Lager, which came straight from the tab, instead of waiting the obligatory seven minutes to finish it .... and at a temperature of around 4°to 6°C!). Usually, beer here has a temperature of about 8° to 10°C.
In summertime, when served directly from the barrel in the beer-gardens, it's usually warmer ...

What?

I think this is one of your arsy-versy jurisprudential arguments, is it not. No offence, of course.

Are you advocating serving chilled beer because at low temperatures the consumer has no way of telling properly what he is drinking? Surely not.

I've never seen blindfolds handed out at a lapdancing club.

No, I'm suggesting that if serving it extra cold makes bad beer taste good, it must make good beer taste even better, and therefore all beer should be served ice cold for optimum taste. Are you suggesting you see a flaw in my logic?

In any case, I like both kinds: cold and cellar. It's a win-win for me.

I think a popular beer like John Smith's is the best choice if the % OH v £ equation is standard. The brewers respond to popular choice and drinkers are not mugs. Well not on beer selection. And the brewers tell the landlords how to keep it.

A bit like the grass that all the cows eat first.

All this la-di-dah stuff about the bouqet is like the dance of the sugar plum fairy.

PS. I seem to remember that Setanta admitted being a drinker in his younger days. I may be wrong.

PPS. If you "become a Canadian" do you stop being American. My eldest sister became a Canadian a long time ago. If she and the two husbands she has had and visited us with are anything to go by I would think twice about becoming a Canadian.

It would take me too long to fully answer this.

I think the "Cold" sensation has been skilfully marketed as a replacement for taste. People can be made to believe anything. (Except perhaps that Watney's Red Barrel was an improvement).

Anyway, it does not follow that if serving it extra cold makes bad beer taste acceptable, that chilling good beer is a good thing. I suggest it is not. It would numb the lip and the belly as well as the brain.

But I'm glad you like both kinds.

Afterthought- l'esprit de l'escalier- you might mix cheap booze with Coca-Cola to make a palatable drink, but you wouldn't do it with a single malt. Likewise with chilling beers I would have thought, it's not appropriate in all cases.

Memories of the early 1960s- an advertising jingle (sung to the tune of "Landlord, fill the flowing bowl"

(or for Walter: "Nun Setzen Wir ins Hofbrauhaus"

What's the beer that's always best?
Watney's Draught Red Barrel!
The special brew that beats the rest-
Watney's Draught Red Barrel!
Draught Red Barrel near or far
In club, or pub, or any bar
It's always best wherever you are-
Trust Watney's Draught Red Barrel!

Which just goes to show what lying bastards advertising agencies employ.

Well, you're right, of course. On both counts.

Yes.

What sort of state do you have to get into to do a silly thing like that.

Let the record show, Tico said I was right.

This has got to be a first. Er....of Tico saying so, that is.

Let the record show that McT knows his booze.

Does anyone make an historic beer ? As made by the germans, celts or egyptians for example ?

I believe the Germans still make beer.

And coincidentally, between me and my VDU as I type, there is a beermat bearing the legend

PREMIUM BAVARICUM- WEIHENSTEPHAN- ALTESTE BRAUEREI DER WELT
BAYERISCHE STAATSBRAUEREI SEIT 1040
URSPRUNG DES BIERES

You've clearly had too much to drink. That ^ is something that will never happen.

Thanks McT but I was thinking pre-Roman conquest. I have often wondered what they tasted like.

http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.bier1.de/Weihenstephan%2520Bavaricum.htm&ei=A52HS7TVKIri7AP4ouyzDQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA0Q7gEwAQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522PREMIUM%2BBAVARICUM-%2BWEIHENSTEPHAN-%2BALTESTE%2BBRAUEREI%2BDER%2BWELT%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

tegestologically speaking a 1040 beer mat must be worth slops

the translation from german is somewhat amusing

Quite difficult: though they have been brewing beer non-stop for nearly a thousand years, four fires, three plagues and a major earthquake may have destroyed the old beer mats