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Showing posts from June, 2014

Foster’s Lime and Ginger Radler (beer review)

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Radler. A traditional German beer based mixed drink. It comprises of a 1:1 or 3:2 ratio of various types of beer and some form of fizzy drink, like lemonade. It’s basically a shandy, really. I have fond childhood memories of going away to terrible holiday parks and enjoying the even worse nightlife while drinking cans of Bass Shandy, with a straw hanging out. It’s odd how we have the same things in different countries, yet they’re seen in different ways. In the UK, a shandy is something you give to kids to make them feel like they’re drinking beer like dad. Here a shandy is mainly made with bitter, or at least some form of ale. It’s brown, like the ale dad is drinking. In Germany, a radler is commonly seen as a sports drink… hell, Radler basically means “Cyclist”. Anyway, I’d tried the original Lemon Foster’s Radler when it was released last year and I liked it. It was basically 2% ABV cloudy lemonade, which I’m not sure anyone could hate; unless, of course, you hate

#DawgDay (Dawgocalypse 2) - The Aftermath

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On Saturday 31st of May, the day arrived. The one that we had been waiting for, for months. DawgDay - my 25th Birthday pub crawl in Norwich! I arrived at The Compleat Angler at about 12:20pm with Rob after a horrible bus ride, to find friends already there, drinking pints. There was Jay & Alec, my two good friends, as well as Chris & Katie who had come from London. I got a pint of Adnams dry-hopped lager, which is always delicious and reliable! Steve then rocked up, and to my surprise he'd brought me the gift of a Franziskaner glass that he had promised me a year ago, but we'd not had the chance to meet before now! Chris kindly gave me a cans of Fourpure IPA & Pale Ale, which I consumed late at night with KFC, they were amazing! Soon, David arrived as well as Kat & Yvan, then Andy in all his glory! Another half was consumed, this time it was Green Jack Orange Wheat; a beer I once disliked, but am now a fan of. Yvan and Kat also came bearing gifts, 2x 3 differe

Harry Brompton's London Ice Tea (booze review)

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Alcoholic Ice Tea. Why the hell is this a new thing? I mean, when you think about it, alcoholic ice tea has always made sense but we never seemed to have thought about it before. I mean, when you look at summer beverages you think of Ice Tea when you're talking about alcohol free drinks, but drinks with alcohol are basically Pimm's and beer. I've always been a fan of ice tea, when I can get the good stuff. You can forget Lipton's. It needs to be properly brewed ice tea. So when I heard about Harry Brompton, I just needed to try it! Harry Brompton's London Ice Tea is the world's first premium alcoholic ice tea. It's 4% and made with ethically sourced Kenyan Black Tea as well as craft-distilled grain spirit and infused with citrus. It sounds perfect for the summer, right? Well it is. It's absolutely perfect the way the citrus flavours play with the delicious icy cold teas, without being able to taste the alcohol. You get some of the grain, which

The Two Types of Premium

These days I usually don’t bother with posts like this, but something is frustrating me. That something is people complaining about prices of beers they don’t drink. Complaining about prices of a beer you have no intention of drinking is like complaining that your cock has been chopped off when in fact it hasn’t. It makes absolutely no sense at all. It’s got me thinking though, because the same people who are complaining about the price of ‘craft’ (which they don't want to drink - i.e. really hoppy or strong beers) are the same people who are complaining about the price of mass produced beers (that they don't plan on drinking) and this all boils down to not understanding why some beers have a premium price. Why mass produced beer costs more: You can make a completely valid point in saying that in theory, mass produced beer should in fact be cheaper than ‘craft’ because it’s made on a massive scale and bulk buying cuts the costs of the already relatively chea