Beer (was Re: Worst Jokes At Oshkosh)

[Dylan Smith]

In article >, Anthony wrote:
> Now for a Brit joke. Why do Brits drink warm beer? Lucas refrigerators.

Seriously, it's because the beer actually tastes of something (all you
get with ice cold lager is the taste of the CO2 and alcohol and not much
else). Real ales have very varied and complex tastes. If you chill them
too much you don't actually taste anything. (As the poster says in our
local pub, "What's the matter lager boy? Afraid you might taste
something?".

This goes for American real ales too. There are quite a few of them
about. When I lived in Houston, our local Albertson's had quite a good
selection. Many were best enjoyed at room temperature.

As for Lucas the Prince of Darkness, I was slightly concerned when I
lifted the hood of my Audi to find it packed with Lucas electronics.
So far, they haven't actually failed...

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

[Orval Fairbairn]

In article >,
Dylan Smith > wrote:

> In article >, Anthony wrote:
> > Now for a Brit joke. Why do Brits drink warm beer? Lucas refrigerators.
>
> Seriously, it's because the beer actually tastes of something (all you
> get with ice cold lager is the taste of the CO2 and alcohol and not much
> else). Real ales have very varied and complex tastes. If you chill them
> too much you don't actually taste anything. (As the poster says in our
> local pub, "What's the matter lager boy? Afraid you might taste
> something?".
>
> This goes for American real ales too. There are quite a few of them
> about. When I lived in Houston, our local Albertson's had quite a good
> selection. Many were best enjoyed at room temperature.
>
> As for Lucas the Prince of Darkness, I was slightly concerned when I
> lifted the hood of my Audi to find it packed with Lucas electronics.
> So far, they haven't actually failed...



Of course there is the ever present Lucas Three Position Switch:
1. "Dim"
2. "Flicker"
3. "Off."

[James Robinson]

Dylan Smith wrote:
>
> As for Lucas the Prince of Darkness, I was slightly concerned when I
> lifted the hood of my Audi to find it packed with Lucas electronics.
> So far, they haven't actually failed...

It's one thing to have a failure in an Audi, quite another for an
Airbus. There are lots of Lucas contributions in the Airbus FBW
system. They seem to be successfully staying aloft in most cases.

[Anthony]

"Dylan Smith" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, Anthony wrote:
> > Now for a Brit joke. Why do Brits drink warm beer? Lucas
refrigerators.
>
> Seriously, it's because the beer actually tastes of something (all you
> get with ice cold lager is the taste of the CO2 and alcohol and not much
> else). Real ales have very varied and complex tastes. If you chill them
> too much you don't actually taste anything. (As the poster says in our
> local pub, "What's the matter lager boy? Afraid you might taste
> something?".
>
> This goes for American real ales too. There are quite a few of them
> about. When I lived in Houston, our local Albertson's had quite a good
> selection. Many were best enjoyed at room temperature.
>
> As for Lucas the Prince of Darkness, I was slightly concerned when I
> lifted the hood of my Audi to find it packed with Lucas electronics.
> So far, they haven't actually failed...
>
> --
> Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man

I'm not a beer drinker but I used to ride BSAs and Nortons. I have to admit
that's an old joke and I'm sure I heard it over 20 years ago. It's good to
hear that Lucas has gotten there act together... ;o)

[Jay Honeck]

> Seriously, it's because the beer actually tastes of something (all you
> get with ice cold lager is the taste of the CO2 and alcohol and not much
> else).

In a country that favors drinking the likes of "Bud Light" -- would you
expect anything else?

Shoot, if you were to warm a glass of Bud to room temperature you'd soon
realize what a skunky glass of swill you were drinking. Thus, it's best to
keep it really, REALLY cold.

;-)

And actually, on a really hot, sticky day, an ice cold glass of
Bud/Miller/Pabst/Grain Belt/Schlitz/Hamm's/Coors ain't bad. It just ain't
beer.

(BTW: Considering the hardships endured to fetch beer at OSH, we ended up
with a nice collection of mostly good microbrews at the rec.aviation party.
Good job, people!)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Mike Patterson]

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 15:50:27 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
> wrote:

>> Seriously, it's because the beer actually tastes of something (all you
>> get with ice cold lager is the taste of the CO2 and alcohol and not much
>> else).
>
>In a country that favors drinking the likes of "Bud Light" -- would you
>expect anything else?
>
>Shoot, if you were to warm a glass of Bud to room temperature you'd soon
>realize what a skunky glass of swill you were drinking. Thus, it's best to
>keep it really, REALLY cold.
>
>;-)
>
>And actually, on a really hot, sticky day, an ice cold glass of
>Bud/Miller/Pabst/Grain Belt/Schlitz/Hamm's/Coors ain't bad. It just ain't
>beer.
>
>(BTW: Considering the hardships endured to fetch beer at OSH, we ended up
>with a nice collection of mostly good microbrews at the rec.aviation party.
>Good job, people!)

I've been to the UK for fairly long business trips 3 times, and was
astounded at how many people there drink Bud when there are so many
wonderful ales. Can't stand the stuff myself.

Mike
Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"G.R. Patterson III" > wrote in message
...
>
> My economics prof claimed that American beer companies were the best
marketing
> success story there was. He said that, prior to the 50s, nearly every city
with a
> population over about 30,000 had at least one local brewery. By 1965,
however,
> advertising had convinced most people that nothing made outside of
Milwaukee was
> worth drinking, and nearly all of the small breweries disappeared.
>

There isn't much made outside of Wisconsin that's worth drinking today.

[Brian Burger]

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004, Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

>
> "Bob Chilcoat" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > The problem here in the US is finding somewhere that serves ale that isn't
> > too cold. Bass, Bodington's, or any of the excellent US ales taste just
> > like Bud when ice cold. Ugh. We seem determined to standardize beer
> > temperature like the taste of what we call "beer" (Bud, Miller, Coors,
> etc.)
> > it all tastes exactly the same, because most of the "Joe Six-Packs" out
> > there want it that way.
> >
>
> Anybody that says Bud tastes exactly like Miller doesn't know beer.

Right, because neither is actually beer! <grin>

Brian.

[Brian Burger]

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004, Mike Patterson wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 15:50:27 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
> > wrote:
>
> >> Seriously, it's because the beer actually tastes of something (all you
> >> get with ice cold lager is the taste of the CO2 and alcohol and not much
> >> else).
> >
> >In a country that favors drinking the likes of "Bud Light" -- would you
> >expect anything else?
> >
> >Shoot, if you were to warm a glass of Bud to room temperature you'd soon
> >realize what a skunky glass of swill you were drinking. Thus, it's best to
> >keep it really, REALLY cold.
> >
> >;-)
> >
> >And actually, on a really hot, sticky day, an ice cold glass of
> >Bud/Miller/Pabst/Grain Belt/Schlitz/Hamm's/Coors ain't bad. It just ain't
> >beer.
> >
> >(BTW: Considering the hardships endured to fetch beer at OSH, we ended up
> >with a nice collection of mostly good microbrews at the rec.aviation party.
> >Good job, people!)
>
> I've been to the UK for fairly long business trips 3 times, and was
> astounded at how many people there drink Bud when there are so many
> wonderful ales. Can't stand the stuff myself.

I was in the UK in 2000; and Foster's was the beer of choice... OK,
"Australia's Finest" is slightly better than Bud, but not by much, and
there're so many good local beers - why Fosters, for Dog's sake?

Yes, I'm a beer snob.

Brian.

[CB]

"Bob Chilcoat" > wrote in message
...
> Just shows you the power of advertising. There is no beer better than a
> Wadsworth XXXX fresh from the pump at cellar temperature, but that's
> considered "local beer" in the UK.

Bob,
Wadworths 6X is my personal favourite too, I would travel a long way for a
decent proper pint (20oz) or two of the stuff.

[Jay Honeck]

> > population over about 30,000 had at least one local brewery. By 1965,
however,
> > advertising had convinced most people that nothing made outside of
Milwaukee was
> > worth drinking, and nearly all of the small breweries disappeared.

> There isn't much made outside of Wisconsin that's worth drinking today.

And, ironically, the big brewers have mostly left Milwaukee.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Ross Richardson]

There is a very good beer called Shiner Boch and it is made in Texas.

http://www.shiner.com/home.html After spending a lot of time in England
I started liking their beer. This is close.

Jay Honeck wrote:
>
> > > population over about 30,000 had at least one local brewery. By 1965,
> however,
> > > advertising had convinced most people that nothing made outside of
> Milwaukee was
> > > worth drinking, and nearly all of the small breweries disappeared.
>
> > There isn't much made outside of Wisconsin that's worth drinking today.
>
> And, ironically, the big brewers have mostly left Milwaukee.
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:S0MSc.274000$JR4.69128@attbi_s54...
>
> And, ironically, the big brewers have mostly left Milwaukee.
>

I took the Miller brewery tour last month. Seemed pretty big to me.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Javier Henderson" > wrote in message
...
> "Jay Honeck" > writes:
>
>
> > And, ironically, the big brewers have mostly left Milwaukee.
>
> Where are Laverne & Shirley working now?
>

They moved to California in the sixties.

[Dillon Pyron]

On 12 Aug 2004 11:10:12 -0700, Javier Henderson >
wrote:

>"Jay Honeck" > writes:
>
>
>> And, ironically, the big brewers have mostly left Milwaukee.
>
>Where are Laverne & Shirley working now?
>
>-jav
They're in a home by now. That was 40 odd years ago.

--
dillon

When I was a kid, I thought the angel's name was Hark
and the horse's name was Bob.

[vincent p. norris]

>> > > advertising had convinced most people that nothing made outside of
>Milwaukee was
>> > > worth drinking, . . .
>
>One word on the label had something to do with that. If you shipped your
>beer out of state, there was an extra tax levied on it. This tax was known
>as a "premium". So, beer shipped from Wisconsin was marked "Premium" beer.
>Joe Six-Pack thought this meant it had to be extra good. Doh.

Sorry, but that sounds like an Urban Legend. Can you please cite a
source?

vince norris

[G.R. Patterson III]

Dillon Pyron wrote:
>
> They're in a home by now. That was 40 odd years ago.

So? *I'm* not in a home, and I'm older than they are.

George Patterson
If you want to know God's opinion of money, just look at the people
he gives it to.

[Jay Honeck]

> There is a very good beer called Shiner Boch and it is made in Texas.

Agreed. It's not bad for a lighter beer.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Russell Kent]

Ross Richardson wrote:
> There is a very good beer called Shiner Boch and it is made in Texas.
That would be "Bock" and I agree it's quite nice.

Jay Honeck responded:
> Agreed. It's not bad for a lighter beer.
"Lighter"? Good God man, most Americans consider it rather heavy-ish
(although Porter and Stout are both heavier). Perhaps you are thinking of
Shiner Blonde (one of my favorites)?

BTW, hope you like the package.

Russell Kent

[Bob Chilcoat]

Right, I couldn't remember how many X's, but I knew it was more than two
(Dos Equis is from another country entirely). Definitely my favorite,
although I haven't had a pint in years. Tough to get here in the US. Years
ago I was cycling between Cardiff and Reading with a couple of clubmates
when we passed a Wadsworth pub. Very rare. The brakes went on instantly
and we consumed a couple of pints before continuing our (now less stable)
journey. Ah, the memories.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love
America

"CB" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Bob Chilcoat" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Just shows you the power of advertising. There is no beer better than a
> > Wadsworth XXXX fresh from the pump at cellar temperature, but that's
> > considered "local beer" in the UK.
>
> Bob,
> Wadworths 6X is my personal favourite too, I would travel a long way for a
> decent proper pint (20oz) or two of the stuff.
>
>

[vincent p. norris]

>> >One word on the label had something to do with that. If you shipped your
>> >beer out of state, there was an extra tax levied on it. This tax was
>known
>> >as a "premium". So, beer shipped from Wisconsin was marked "Premium"
>beer.
>> >Joe Six-Pack thought this meant it had to be extra good. Doh.
>>
>> Sorry, but that sounds like an Urban Legend. Can you please cite a
>> source?
>
>A tour guide at the Coors brewery. Or. . . you could try to look it up
>yourself and cite a disclaiming source. :o)

I did. I checked with a guy who makes his living writing about beer.
He disagreed. He said, "No "export" tax involved, just marketing."

vince norris


>
>Rich S.
>

[Jay Honeck]

> BTW, hope you like the package.

Uh oh. Should I open it under water?

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Rich S.]

"vincent p. norris" > wrote in message
...
>
> >A tour guide at the Coors brewery. Or. . . you could try to look it up
> >yourself and cite a disclaiming source. :o)
>
> I did. I checked with a guy who makes his living writing about beer.
> He disagreed. He said, "No "export" tax involved, just marketing."

So, I guess "a tour guide" and "a guy" must be offsetting citations.

Draw.

Rich S.

[vincent p. norris]

>> >A tour guide at the Coors brewery. Or. . . you could try to look it up
>> >yourself and cite a disclaiming source. :o)
>>
>> I did. I checked with a guy who makes his living writing about beer.
>> He disagreed. He said, "No "export" tax involved, just marketing."
>
>So, I guess "a tour guide" and "a guy" must be offsetting citations.
>
>Draw.
>
>Rich S.

Well, Rich, surely you realize a tour guide is a salesman.
I'd be inclined to favor an autonomous writer.

vince norris

[Paul Sengupta]

"Brian Burger" > wrote in message
.tc.ca...
> I was in the UK in 2000; and Foster's was the beer of choice... OK,
> "Australia's Finest" is slightly better than Bud, but not by much, and
> there're so many good local beers - why Fosters, for Dog's sake?

People drink Fosters because it's pretty much the same as any
other lager and it's cheaper.

The UK has gone through a bit of a crisis a "real ale" over the past
few decades. It's still happening and getting worse. It's like how
someone described the large breweries taking over due to their
marketing in the US. A lot of the smaller breweries here have been
taken over by the big ones and either completely closed or their
most popular brews discontinued.

Young people now drink lager. Real ale has an image problem, it's
seen as the drink of old men sitting around in a near empty pub.

A lot of advertising is done by the lager producers and as a result,
pretty much all young people, and many older people drink either
Carlsburg or Stella Artois...traditional but "trendy" foreign lagers.
Stella, in particular, has a good advertising campaign where the
lager is portrayed to be very expensive and highly prized, coupled
with its Belgian heritage. You can see their latest ad here (which
brings this back on topic if you watch the ad!).
http://www.stellaartois.co.uk/ and click on "advertising".

As far as I can recall, the only television advertising I can remember
for "real beer" was for John Smiths and for Worthingtons but neither
are/were very consistent.

Guinness advertising is another matter entirely.

Paul

[Damian]

<snip>
>A lot of advertising is done by the lager producers and as a result,
>pretty much all young people, and many older people drink either
>Carlsburg or Stella Artois...traditional but "trendy" foreign lagers.
>Stella, in particular, has a good advertising campaign where the
>lager is portrayed to be very expensive and highly prized, coupled
>with its Belgian heritage. You can see their latest ad here (which
>brings this back on topic if you watch the ad!).
>http://www.stellaartois.co.uk/ and click on "advertising".
>
>As far as I can recall, the only television advertising I can remember
>for "real beer" was for John Smiths and for Worthingtons but neither
>are/were very consistent.
<snip>

For a summary of the triumph of advertising over taste buds (in the UK
at least), see here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3188382.stm

I only drink bitter (except in emergencies, usually on vacation :-) )
and have no problem getting decent beer where I am.
In the US I am frequently found in San Francisco, and have frequently
found oodles of deliciousness there as well (Half Moon Bay on a Sunday
afternoon, with somebody else driving - heaven !! at least when the
weather is non-flyable).

Damian

[Paul Sengupta]

"Paul Sengupta" > wrote in message
news:cfq3r6$lf1> As far as I can recall, the only television advertising I
can remember
> for "real beer" was for John Smiths and for Worthingtons but neither
> are/were very consistent.

Oh, and Boddingtons...

[Dylan Smith]

In article >, Paul Sengupta wrote:
> Young people now drink lager. Real ale has an image problem, it's
> seen as the drink of old men sitting around in a near empty pub.

It depends. I've never been a fan of lager. My local (The Bay, Port
Erin) is a real ale pub.

I see plenty of teenagers/early 20s in there.
Drinking real ale.

Of course the pub itself caters to a young audience - there's live
bands, the staff themselves are all young. (There's plenty of old farts
in there too, it seems to have this magical thing that's attractive to
all ages).

Plenty still drink alcopops (which are evil) and lager (which doesn't
taste of anything but CO2), but that's up to them. Most seem to like
proper beer.

Of course, the Isle of Man isn't the UK, and Bushy's (IMHO the best
brewery out of the three we have, and it's not the biggest either) has
managed to project an image here that sells to the younger audience, and
have managed to get themselves strongly associated with the TT thanks to
their merchanidise (t-shirts and the like). It therefore doesn't have
the old-men-in-a-smoky-pub image. Somewhere like here, it's not too
expensive to market well to the locals. However, in the UK, how does
Archers of Swindon compete with the marketing muscle of Foster's? They
can't. But once you get someone drinking proper hand-pulled beer, they
often wonder why they ever drank lager. It's getting them that first
pint that's the trouble.

Most of our pubs have proper beer engines too, there aren't many places
(really just hotel bars and the like) that only do CO2-driven beer.
Chilled, fizzy bitter tastes like cat's ****, and if you're somewhere
where there aren't many pubs with proper beer engines, you'll wind up
drinking lager. There is no subsitute for hand-pulling proper beer.

The other problem with real beer is you have to keep it properly. Many
'non-real ale' pubs keep bitters improperly or don't know how to keep
them, and it tastes terrible as a consequence. Lager on the other hand
is difficult to screw up, so it's easy to get the same bland taste every
time and consistently.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

[Paul Sengupta]

"Dylan Smith" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, Paul Sengupta
wrote:
> > Young people now drink lager. Real ale has an image problem, it's
> > seen as the drink of old men sitting around in a near empty pub.
>
> It depends. I've never been a fan of lager. My local (The Bay, Port
> Erin) is a real ale pub.

Neither have I, though it's not bad if a) it's a hot day and you're
thirsty, b) you're abroad, and c) you're in an Indian or Chinese
restaurant and you get Cobra or Tsing Tao.

> I see plenty of teenagers/early 20s in there. Drinking real ale.

Ah. It's different in the country pubs, but go to any pub in a town
centre in Britain on a Friday or Saturday and you'll see a predominance
of lager and alcopops. At least in my (limited...ahem!) experience.

> Plenty still drink alcopops (which are evil) and lager (which doesn't
> taste of anything but CO2), but that's up to them. Most seem to like
> proper beer.

One of our pubs in Guildford (actually, two of them) opened as a
real ale pub. They had wooden barrels with a good selection of
beers, and every week they would have various guest ales. Great!
Guess what...a couple of years ago the wooden barrels went, to be
replaced with brightly lit glass shelves stacked with alcopops.

> But once you get someone drinking proper hand-pulled beer, they
> often wonder why they ever drank lager. It's getting them that first
> pint that's the trouble.

Who was it on here that quoted a poster : "Afraid you'll taste something
lager boy?"

> Most of our pubs have proper beer engines too,

Beer engines? Like this one?
http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/
:-)

> The other problem with real beer is you have to keep it properly.

Indeed. Probably the worst pint of Brains SA (Brewed in Cardiff) that
I've had was in Swansea. One of the best was down in a pub near
Guildford that had it as a guest ale. Mind you, that may have just been
homesick nostalgia! :-)

Paul

[CB]

>
> The other problem with real beer is you have to keep it properly. Many
> 'non-real ale' pubs keep bitters improperly or don't know how to keep
> them, and it tastes terrible as a consequence. Lager on the other hand
> is difficult to screw up, so it's easy to get the same bland taste every
> time and consistently.
>
> --

The other problem with real ale is that once it is ready to be drunk it
should be. Lager is sterilised and kept under pressure in it barrel which
extends its shelf life. Real beer needs to be drunk. Pubs with a good real
ale reputation earn it for selling beer in good condition. This is because
they have a good through put which means that the beer does not have time to
go off.
I am lucky the pub at the end of my road sells both draught Bass and
Pedigree via a proper pump engine.

I am spoilt for choice because after 6X these are my next two most favourite
beers.

cb

[Paul Sengupta]

"CB" > wrote in message
...
> I am lucky the pub at the end of my road sells both draught Bass and
> Pedigree via a proper pump engine.
>
> I am spoilt for choice because after 6X these are my next two most
favourite
> beers.

The Cricketers in Guildford serves 6X.

Paul