Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Difference Between Drinking Beer In the UK and In the US...

...illustrated:



The point bein' that you would have consumed three US beers by the time you finished your second pint at the pub.  That's a 12-ounce beer (an Abita Turbodog, in case you was wonderin') poured into my sole remaining pint mug.  When I left Ol' Blighty nearly 30 years ago I had at least a dozen pint glasses and mugs.  But, alas... they all got broken along the way except for the one you see above.  You'll note that there's a logo on that mug and I've chosen NOT to display same.  Mainly for the embarrassment that would be in it.

4 comments:

  1. And the ALL-IMPORTANT temp, Buck. IIRC the standard is 54 degrees--"coolish" (we say "warm" lol)They claim that US cold standards destroy the true taste. There's some truth in that--I got quite used to beer at that temp, although it seems more drink cold US beers now. In my day it was impossible to get a US beer other than on a US base. Last time I was back Bud (and Coke) were everywhere..and of course you couldn't get British beers in the US then, either..."globalization" and "convergence" with a vengence..

    PS I also got quite used--liked it really--to drinking brandy & soda neat at room temp..."lol, "When in Rome"..

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    1. The Brits are right: temperature IS important. One of my pet peeves is being served beer in a frozen glass and I ALWAYS specify "a room temperature glass, please" when I'm in a bar or restaurant. Even then I have to let my beer sit for five minutes or so before I take my first sip.

      Bud has just begun their "British Invasion" as I was leaving the UK in '83; my subsequent trips back to Ol' Blighty showed me they (Bud) had been wildly successful... and I just scratched my head. Fosters was big in the '90s, too... go figure.

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  2. I prefer room temperature mugs, too. It was very amusing to see that the number one beer in London was Bud. Followed by their version of Miller Lite. (WTF?!) Finally, another top beer was Carling's Black Label.

    My favorite was London Pride/ESB or any other local brews. My cheapy brew was Grolsch (Of which I kept cases of the cans in the bilges of our boat!)

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    1. My go-to beer while I was home in High Wycombe was either Brakspeare's Best Bitter (brewed just up the road from my house in Henley-On-Thames) or Courage Directors. But I always drank something local when TSMP were traveling about the countryside, the end result bein' I drank some really, rilly GREAT beer while I was there.

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