Warm beer

I always thought of warm beer as being an English thing. Well, that's the stereotype anyway, isn't it? So I laughed out loud when I saw this sign in a supermarket in Maine:

And yes, they did have another aisle with a sign that said 'Cold Beer'.

Where in the USA is . . .

Massachusetrts?



More to the point, where in Massachusetts is Massachusetrts? You see, unlike in the UK, where we put the name of the county followed by a postcode that includes the abbreviation for the county (Cheshire, CH . . .), here in the US, there is no need to write the name of the state out in full. Assuming the zip code is correct (checks on Google, yes it is), the beer label should read "Ashland, MA 01721".

Actually, I am sure there are many, many, Americans, even in Massachusetts, who could not spell Massachusetts if their life depended on it. So I really shouldn't expect someone in the UK, where it is extremely unlikely to be included in the spell-checker, to get it right!

Wordless Wednesday - Magic Hat #9

Tonight's beer:
Tonight's beer cap:

Scratch Art

DD brought this piece of art work home from school last week. She likes doing scratch art projects like this and over the years she has become much better at them. This one has nice strong lines, with little evidence of any indecision as she scratched the black layer away to create her design.

But on looking more closely, I wondered if her teacher realized the significance of the item to the left of the flowers. I'm pretty sure that if she wore a T-shirt to school that advertised alcohol she would be asked to change, and I'm sure if the teacher had realized what UFO is she might have been asked to alter her design (or sent to the school counselor!) Well, maybe not, but I still thought it was an 'interesting' choice.


UFO - Unfiltered Offering. A Hefeweizen beer from Harpoon Brewery.

Beer and pubs

When my parents first came to visit me in the US back in the early 90s we did some travelling around the northeastern United States. Everywhere we went, my dad asked what the local beer was. He was often greeted with a blank look. The only beer anyone ever seemed to suggest was Sam Adams. He was rather disappointed.

Last summer when they came to visit he had much more choice. There are far more microbrews available now - we have not one but THREE brewpubs practically within spitting distance. (Well, within a reasonably short drive anyway.) The Beer Advocate says:

Brewery and brewpub-wise, rough numbers show that ...

- Connecticut has 5 breweries and 12 brewpubs
- Maine has 14 breweries and 16 brewpubs
- Massachusetts has 18 breweries and 18 brewpubs
- New Hampshire has 6 breweries and 9 brewpubs
- Rhode Island has 3 breweries and 4 brewpubs
- Vermont has 14 breweries and 11 brewpubs

What's really cool is that these 130 breweries and brewpubs (give or take) in New England are making upwards of 2,000 different beers, within roughly 90 different styles of beer!

DH loves the fact that I do all the driving when we go to the UK. Having one beer with lunch and driving is not usually a problem for him - but when driving on the 'wrong' side of the road it would not be a good idea. He buys the latest version of the Good Pub Guide and spends a lot of time planning our itinerary around where he would like to have lunch and dinner. There was a wonderful place we had lunch the very first time he came to the UK with me. I was the one who had researched it that time as back then he didn't even know that such a thing as the Good Pub Guide existed. Sadly, we will probably never manage to find it again. He was convinced I was nuts as we drove what appeared to be miles out of our way to a tiny village that didn't look as though it could possibly support a decent pub, only to have an extremely enjoyable lunch. (Come to think about it, it was one of those pubs where children are absolutely not welcome, so it'll be years before we could go there again anyway!)

On our last trip we had dinner at The Mole and Chicken in Buckinghamshire which was a lot easier to find, even in the dark. They had fairly recently won the Buckinghamshire Dining Pub of the Year award, and we were not disappointed. The menu was excellent, the beers good, the attention to detail outstanding, and they were definitely a child-friendly place early on a quiet Sunday evening. Although obviously the designation of "Dining Pub of the Year" is likely to ensure that a pub is very busy, it's one that we will look for on our next trip to the UK.

What to drink when you don't want a beer

I opened the fridge at my parents' house on my first day back there to discover there were several cans of Budweiser. (Don't try asking for a 6-pack of Bud in the UK by the way - beer's sold in fours over there.) I turned to my mum and said, "You didn't have to buy American beer for me - I'm quite happy to drink Heineken or Stella." "Oh we didn't buy it for you," was the response. "That's for your father when he doesn't want a beer."

There's a big conference of beer producers in the most beautiful town in the world: Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

At the end of the day, all of the presidents of all beer companies decide to have a drink in a bar. The president of 'Budweiser' orders a Bud, the president of 'Miller' orders a Miller Lite, Adolph Coors orders a Coors, and the list goes on.

Then the waitress asks Arthur Guinness what he wants to drink, and much to everybody's amazement, Mr. Guinness orders a Coke!

"Why don't you order a Guinness?" his colleagues ask.

"Naah. If you guys won't drink beer, then neither will I."