Q: How is a hurricane like Christmas?
A: You get a tree in your living room.
Helping ugly people find romance for centuries (beer, that is)
From time to time in the Journal's Readers' Forum I have suggested that we look for topics on which to agree, rather than ceaselessly sniping re parties, Presidents, legislation, etc. I cheerfully note that some of us have found such a subject: beer. Continuing from the thread of the past couple of days, OT's last post of the yesterday evening:
If memory serves, it was Miller that got the license to produce Louenbrau in the US. I guess, like many in the business and political world, they thought that we were all stupid.Obviously, in most cases, they were right, because when the new Miller produced Louenbrau came out, there was no blink in the US sales of Louenbrau.
But I remember a friend of mine saying that he had had a Louenbrau at a local bar and that it tasted like "sh*t". Several of us investigated and quickly confirmed his diagnosis. At that point none of us even knew about the new licensing agreement.
Americans have a very high tolerance for garbage. As my grandmother used to say "The proof is in the pudding". OK, go ahead and add that to word watch, but she was most assuredly right.
What is the #1 selling beer in the US? For over a decade now it has been Bud Light. I guess that many actually consider that a beer. For me, it is something that should be flushed down the toilet, before it passes through the body of anyone.
Not too long ago I was sitting at the bar at Foothills. My companion said "Look down there," and directed me with her eyes. There was a guy sitting two stools down at the bar drinking a Bud Light. What was he doing in Foothills in the first place?
Hello OT,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, Miller license-produced Lowenbrau, in its plant in Eden, actually. It was differently flavored (probably used different hops), not for the better, and produced potent eye-watering morning breath.
Bud Light is popular among Latinos in Los Angeles. I find its taste, what there is of it, unpleasant. The Los Angeles Times ran a feature story re Latinos who guzzled beer in an East L.A. park after playing soccer. One fellow put away 60 cans of the stuff, a tidy afternoon's work.
As for the Foothills barfly who was drinking Bud Light, I can't say why he was there since I am not yet a habitue', but perhaps the barmaids are pretty.
Hurricanes can really encourage remodeling. When I had property in Carteret County, after a hurricane I would go check for damage. If I lost siding or the like to the wind, I just looked around the property to see what was there and put it to good use. Mine blew away and maybe somebody else could use it. Lowes did a booming business afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI tried to post a comment about the long lost John G last night around 7 pm on the lte tread. My post briefly posted as # 63 I think then disappeared.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else have problems? There seems to be about a 2 hour or more comment gap on the thread.
Hi Wordly!
ReplyDeleteI saw a post of yours in yesterday's TLL that showed up about 10PM last night, have noted no problems myself, though people continue to have sign-in problems.
No this was a fairly long post on the letters thread, and it was I believe comment # 63 for a brief period of time.
ReplyDeleteI'm not complaining. This is after all a free service, but I was just wondering if others had similar problems. Moral to story is save long posts in the future. Probably was just babble anyway, but it ended with Where are you JohnG?
Wordly, I saw that post. You analyzed two Johns' writing styles. I have no idea. Odd.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the confirmation.
ReplyDeleteThere is a long gap in the posts from 6:18 to 9:34. My missing post was sometime around 7 pm
ReplyDeleteI have yet to encounter problems, but I don't sign in, I use the name/url option. The gap might be to high server load or maintenance but I am definitely not an IT guru.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the Latinos in LA. Wonder if Bud is large in Mexico and other Latin American countries? It does qualify as a session beer( if you believe bud is beer) because of the low ABV. But 60 is alot.
OT before your expose on the local seen, I did not know about Citybeer. I feel so lame being a discriminating beer drinker. Thanks for that tidbit. I had been going to Total Wine on stratford because they have a better selection than Harris Teeter and it is quite close to my apartment. I intend to hit citybeer when I need to reup my fridge.
Has anyone tried a rice beer from Japan or China? I am quite curious about them and I haven't found one in a single yet, don't want to waste a whole 6 pack.
Tsingtao (China) was originally made to the German standard and was an excellent lager. Now it contains some rice, but is still a pretty good brew.
ReplyDeleteKirin, Sapporo and Asahi are all Japanese rice beers and all quite good. Most Harris-Teeters should have all four. My favorite is Sapporo.
The best Japanese beer that I have ever had is Suntory, made by the famous whiskey company that used to have cheap bars all over Japan, especially near colleges, universities and military bases. Unfortunately, I have never seen Suntory east of Hawaii, where it is very popular.
Bud, BTW, contains rice as well.
Andhowsyourbush spent millions fighting law changes in many states that allowed micro breweries to begin operation. That the tide turned against them is a tribute to the folks who wanted real beer in each state. Of course, they are not even American owned any more, having been gobbled up by the bigger European predator, InBev.
My friends and I have always said that Budweiser is made from Clydesdale piss.
I should add that for many years it was legal to make wine in your home, but beer was outlawed. So I made my own beer, better than any European brew, for years. As soon as it became legal, the fun went out of it and I stopped. Me and Junior Johnson, huh?
ReplyDeleteLol Andhowsyourbush. Junior has a legal moonshine available now. http://www.juniorsmidnightmoon.com
ReplyDeleteMaby it's time to break out the homebrew kit again OT. My Dad has 2 and wants another. Thanks for the the rice beer recommendations. I have worked across America and Europe. Getting into Asia now, have had a great stout and lager from Sri Lanka http://www.lionbeer.com/
God bless Wilkes County.
ReplyDeleteOne of my Dad's partners gave us some bottles of home-brewed mead once. I thought it was like beer, so I drank a whole bottle as such...I've never been so drunk, and I'm a martini person.
Re: beers, I really like Ommengang Brewery in Cooperstown NY. Their Three Philosophers beer is really good, and not so expensive.
Good evening, folks!
ReplyDeleteJust had a Belgian-style ShockTop White at Bibb's before coming to the ballpark. The weasel word is "style." Not very good.
Second the Wilkes County sentiment, and the same for Junior as well.
ReplyDeleteThe best moonshine I ever had, though, came from neighboring Alleghany County, made by a forest ranger who manned the fire tower adjacent to Roaring Gap. You'd take a little sip and it would be a minute or two before you could breathe again. No radiators in his set-up, just a copper coil and kettle.
The pen holder on my desk is a scrubbed out Lion Stout can, one of the most beautiful beer cans I have seen. The Ceylon Brewery is one of the oldest in Asia, having been established by a British citizen in the mid-1800s. Now known as Lion Brewery Ceylon Ltd.
Yeah, Stab, I made the mistake of buying a whole six-pack of that Shocktop schlock. Drank one and gave the rest to my neighbor, a young lady whose boyfriend will drink anything as long as it's free.
ReplyDeleteIve had shock top and raspberry shock top, fairly tasteless, though you'd think otherwise. I like White Zombie Belgian white. much better than shock or blue moon. I agree OT, I wish I could have kept the two bottles from Lion, very well done. Didn't have a way to do so at the time.
ReplyDeleteHi guys,
ReplyDeleteJason just enjoyed your conversation. I've been threatening to take him to Asheville, and now he's really keen on visiting! (Thanks from me!)
He wanted me to mention that he likes Belgian-style Triples and Stouts.
Right now he enjoys drinking the "DogFishHead 90-Minute IPAs" from the DogFishHead microbrewery originating in Rehoboth Beach (Delaware)... (also a great town to visit BTW).
He's also enjoying the Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout.
He has purchased both of them at Total Wine in Greensboro.
Hi Sharon and Jason!
ReplyDeleteNow home from the ballpark, tracking Irene (Dad owns a small condo at Atlantic Beach), and washing that Shocktop out with a Stella.
Interesting, Stella is a pedestrian popular beer in Belgium, not a premium beer. I'll look forward to trying some other Belge stuff as I encounter it.
Oooh, that 90 Minute Dogfish is some mighty good stuff. If Jason likes the Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout, he might like to step up to the next level, the Guinness Foreign Extra stout.
ReplyDeletePlain old Guinness stout on tap or from their widgety cans is creamy dreamy stuff. But for years I have preferred Guinness Extra Stout, available around here only in 12 ounce bottles.
It came about as a late development in the early 1800s when they found that much of what they were shipping out to India was getting a bit skunky because of the long sea voyage. Some genius back at St. James Gate figured that if they upped the hops, the stout would travel better, and he was right, thus Guinness Extra Stout, which was export only.
I learned to cook from my grandmother, and later from a great modern gourmet cook, who always said "There is no such thing as too much garlic."
Well, at some point, another genius at St. James wondered if there was such a thing as too many hops, so created Guinness Foreign Extra. He discovered that the answer was "no", no such thing as too many hops. Guinness Foreign Extra was a big favorite in the US until prohibition arrived.
But once the "Great Experiment" ended, for reasons unknown, Guinness decided not to continue Guinness Foreign Extra exports to the US. Over the years some of us heard of this delectable brew, but knew not where to find it.
Then, last October, it suddenly appeared on shelves at Harris-Teeter, City Beverage and elsewhere. It isn't cheap. Comes in 4-packs at 6-pack prices, and only 11.2 ounces per bottle. So I only drink about 2 bottles a week, set aside for special occasions. But to me, it is the best of the best.
Stab, re other Belge stuff...be careful.
ReplyDeleteAt CB they have these wonderful monastery brewed Belgian ales that I would gladly drink exclusively except that some of them cost as much as $10 for a single 12-20 ounce bottle. Manna from the gods, but the gods are hard core capitalists.
And Russian Imperial stout. Fall on your knees and give thanks, but check with your broker before you commit to buy.
I have never cared much about money, but when contemplating the selections of such tempting delicacies I have to ask myself "Why didn't you go for the big bucks, fool?"
I went to a party a few months ago where no ale or stout served was under say $6 a bottle. Choked up and couldn't really enjoy it.
Hmmm, I think I'll stick with premium-priced popular Stella.
ReplyDeleteOT, are you familiar with 2nd and Green St. bar? We walked past it on our way back to the parking lot next to the condos on the former Modern Chev property when we left the ballgame. I'm sure it's no fountain of snob beers, but is it an OK place in which to stop. I also drink Coors Light.
Hi guys!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on the Guinness E. S. Jas is going to try some! Usually he'll only drink Guiness on tap, but he's always up for trying something if it's recommended. This beer discussion has Jas thinking he wants to stock up on brew before the storm hits us tomorrow afternoon, so he may try the G. E. S. as soon as tomorrow. (We go to Virginia for our alcohol shopping trips - more on that later.)
Stella is roughly equivalent to Coors in the US (in terms of target demographic)... The Bud/Schlitz of Belgium is a very non-descript "Jupiler", but it is an unmistakable beer to me because it's slogan is "men know why"... kind of in the "you women won't understand" tone. REALLY irritating slogan, the tv commercials for it are the worst.
Living in Belgium, Jas enjoyed the best of the best nearly every day, as a top-end monastery brew would typically run about $1.00 - $1.50 a bottle. (Explains why we lived there for so long!!!) Now living in MD, there's a restaurant near us that sells an impressive assortment of Belgian brews for rougly $20 a bottle. Needless to say we don't go there.
Well Staballoy, I hope the game was fun and relaxing! I hope your dad's condo is holding together. The weather radars look intimidating.
Talk to you all tomorrow, assuming I have power. Which I rarely do even in a little rain shower.
Sharon, you really didn't need to tell us that monastery brews go for a pittance in Belgium...now I will spend way too much time trying to figure out how to move there.
ReplyDeleteAs to your complaint about sexist advertising, the trend is to focus on male beer buyers, the assumption being that women are wine drinkers. That is not correct, in fact it is more sexist than the ads themselves, but that is what happens when people rely on "common sense".
My favorite beer ads of the 1990s were from Busch...the premise being that some dufus guys were on their way home from somewhere...decided at the last moment to stop and buy some Busch...and found that the result was a bevy of bikini babes waiting on their porch when they got home. Dumb? It seemed to work, because Busch never had higher sales before or since.
But here is one of my alltime favorite beer ads. At first blush, it seems sexist as hell, but wait until the end and look at the expressions on the faces of the "dates". Then check out that last shot. I think this is pretty clever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttjV2xf4j_g
2nd and Green? Or Second Chance, as they style themselves.
ReplyDeleteThey used to be right down at the corner of Second and Green. I walked by there (the old place) many times and wondered. Then one day on a whim I went up and rang their buzzer and went in. It was a private bar, but no problem joining. And had a good time. A classic "neighborhood bar". Nice people, mediocre beer. Blue collar. Went back a couple of times just for the atmosphere.
Have no clue about the new place. If I were you and felt the urge, I'd give it a try. Who knows? They're not going to kill you.
Neighborhood bars have never been much around here. That is one of the things that I have always loved about real cities, no doubt derived from lit stuff. We found some great ones around Wrigley Field in Chicago and Fenway in Boston, not to mention a fabulous place near Dupont Circle in Washington which we returned to year after year.
We now have some here...Swaim's in Washington Park and a couple in the Arts District.