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A gnat's pubic hair better than Castle but still pretty vile....
Spent some time on Tristan and the only beer on the island was Harp Lager. It's rare one finds something worse than Castle but needs must. The local blokes would swig a can in three gulps so I guess taste was merely a sideshow to the real business of getting ratted.
One of the joys/rituals of grilling is the application of a match to a well-soaked pile of charcoal and seeing if one is fast enough that the resulting "Whoomph!" doesn't get the eyebrows.
First trip to SA, met at bottom of airstairs @ Smuts by on Maj John Orr, ( RIP) Mirage mate, who proffered two tinnies ( AP days), one Castle, one Lion. I accepted the Castle. "Good " he said "t'other stuff is for feckin Browns, Recce Pukes and Gay Boys".
One noted that Castle seemed to be the tinny of choice in SWA's Ops Area too.
One supposes that since the "enlightenment" and Mandela's Y-Fronts etc, that there are better brews available?
One supposes that since the "enlightenment" and Mandela's Y-Fronts etc, that there are better brews available?
I think it all went downhill when they began using mielies to make Castle. Silly buggers even boasted about it on an advert. Ani fule no mielies are only used for sadza in order to grow rugby players to the proper size.
Lion no longer being made either. It was reintroduced for about six months using a "new, improved recipe" but the response wasn't good. Plenty of good brews around from smaller breweries now. SAB can't compete with their quality so they spend gazillions on advertising instead.
Windhoek and Tafel also reasonable brews if you can get the original stuff from Namibia, particularly the Tafel from Swakopmund (although it is filtered and pasteurised which detracts from the quality).
You could always keep up with modern management trends and outsource. We'd be quite happy to export all of our Fosters and VB - every last can - and then have VB sponsor your cricket team instead of ours.
If Castle is that bad, then there's a certain logicality to the proposal. We'd get rid of rubbish beers; you'd get beers that are less rubbish than your 'national brew;' you'd have a sponsor (Vomit Beer) that's more aligned to the quality of your team ; and, finally, you'd have beers that approximate to the quality of food produced by methods other than that delivered by the sacred (non-GAS) orb.
Not much to choose between Castle, Fosters and VB. Bit of a Hobson's Choice there. Perhaps CAMRA could mobilise their military wing to have a go at the factories that produce the stuff.
AUSTRALIA'S favourite beer is about to become lighter.
The alcohol content of Victoria Bitter will be cut by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6 per cent next month.
The price will stay the same, but the reduced alcohol content could save brewer Foster's tens of millions of dollars a year in beer tax.
VB spokesman Paul Donaldson said it was the only way the brewery could avoid raising the price.
"This is all about making VB better value so that when every other beer goes up in price this August, VB won't be," he said.
"The drought has started to really impact brewing. We've had ingredient costs go up 20 per cent.
"I think we buy 30 million kilograms of barley a year from Australian farmers so this is one way that we can keep the costs under control and keep the beer good value."
The change will come into effect on August 1 and applies to all full-strength VB products including stubbies, cans, long necks and on tap.
Punters were not fussed by the change.
Ben Ilett, 24, of Newport, said even a price rise wouldn't stop VB drinkers from buying their favourite beer.
"People who drink VB are diehard VB drinkers," he said.
Lauren Thermos, 21, of Carlton, said reduced strength beer was a good idea.
"If VB was my beer of choice I'd rather a cheaper price with a bit less alcohol," she said.
Malcolm Pfrunder, 47, of Brisbane, said only die-hard full-strength beer drinkers would switch off VB.
"If the taste stayed the same and I drank VB it wouldn't change my buying patterns," he said.
Brian Donnelly, 20, of St Kilda, doubted drinkers would notice the change.
"People aren't going to notice if it's a 0.2 per cent drop," he said.
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre said the change would not reduce beer sales.
One in four beers consumed across Australia is a VB.
The alcohol content was cut by 0.1 per cent two years ago.
The latest cut means the original 4.9 per cent full strength beer created about 50 years ago is now 0.3 per cent lighter.
Unfortunately the only ordnance that a decent weaponeer (in the widest sense of the term) would use - napalm - probably isn't in CAMRA's inventory.
As for you, JE, this has nothing to do with charcoal or BEagle's perverted proclivities. It has everything to do with your fellow travellers. While you may not be a VB devotee, and your likeness for Boag's attests to that, the fact is that GASSERS are compromisers willing to accept the second-rate, as are the punters who accept a watering down of something that tastes like P155 in the first place. In short, immediate gratification at the expense of quality; not that there is any quality when it comes to either VB or GAS.
All the fault of those who subscribe to the gas perversion.
How do you think they get the artificial fizz in the stuff anyway?
Now a good braai using ysterhout, a couple of skilpadjies sizzling gently on the side as appetisers while the world is put to rights and the main course marinates gently in red wine and rosemary. Can't beat it with a big stick.
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 15,668
Mate, you're welcome to your minced testicle and entrail appetisers! Only those who inhabit the barren wastes north of Watford eat such unmentionable parts of beasts here in the Mother Country!
Main course sounds lekker though.
VB sold over here is 4.8% ABV; will that reduce to 4.6% in future? Even 'Budweiser' is 5% - and that weasel wee called 'Coors Light' is 4.5%...
The nanny state is trying to make 4.3% the norm.....
I see there are more and more closet GASSERS here.... with their namby pamby 4.6%ABV Beer.
Real mean drink > 8.5 % beer, like this nice beer with the pretty pink elephants
(As an aside, you see more elephants after three or four of these puppies).
From Wikipedia
Quote:
Awards
Delirium Tremens was named as "Best Beer in the World" in 1998 at the World Beer Championships in Chicago, Illinois, USA.[1][2] Stuart Kallen gives it the number one spot in his The 50 Greatest Beers in the World.[3]
Etymology
Delirium tremens is Latin for "trembling madness", commonly nicknamed "the DTs", indicating a violent sickness induced by withdrawal after alcohol abuse.
Hmmm lets hope they have a better picture book Atlas than the boys who organize the World Series then*. You can spot the nGUs - they wear gloves to protect their scraping knuckles.
Of course viewing an Atlas in itself might be shocking to most nGUs - the world being round an all that.
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 15,668
Quote:
World Beer Championships in Chicago, Illinois
A beer championship....in America??
Riiiiiiiiggggghhht.....
We True Fuel users don't feel the same need to spot one another as you gas users. Presumably you need to be on the look out for people with a similar 'orientation' to yourselves....
I see there are more and more closet GASSERS here.... with their namby pamby 4.6%ABV Beer
I thought the issue is nGU's waxing lyrical about Green Label: once it became apparent that it is counter-productive to put the stuff in the freezer, that is
Herewith my preferred headgear for gassing and VB-ing. Note the return to normal Brit climatic conditions. Oz mate's 747 arrived late - now down to 36 hours before we pour him back down to Heathrow. Still, VB now well-chilled for him, albeit might have to forego barbie (mainly thro' need to maintain duration in pub).
Last edited by jindabyne : 4th July 2009 at 13:43.
What's the problem? They selected a European brew as the winner....
You should give some of the smaller breweries a try... you'll be amazed.
That all being said, I shall now be heading off to knock several dozen back in commiseration for the hiding that the bok's got today.
The Lions played very well, congratulations to them for winning, though one would be hard pressed to say the team they played against today were South Africa's finest.
I'm not sure I have it in me to light up the coals tonight...
; and, finally, you'd have beers that approximate to the quality of food produced by methods other than that delivered by the sacred (non-GAS) orb.
is 4.5%...
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