Now drinking - the revival

[Albie]

Cobra beer and a lamb madras - what a combination.

Of late, aside from the odd beer with my curry, I have mainly been drinking white wine - predominately a good buttery Chardonnay. And to make the Euro wine makers slightly disgruntled, I tend to choose wines from the New World. I don't have any snobbish attitude to wine as my thoughts are there are two types of wine, wine you like and wine you don't. Simple as that. For example, if I see an Australian wine I have had before and enjoyed priced at £3.99 and a decent French wine priced at £5.99 - guess which one I will choose?

 

[siebo666]

Saturday night's tipple was Tiger beer at a chinese restaurant.  Also developed a liking for White Russians - largely influenced by the Big Lebowski!

I tend to sicken myself of drinks and move on to the next - can't touch Jack Daniels or Southern Comfort these days - prefer a dark rum or vodka

 

[Back in the Village]

Cobra beer and a lamb madras - what a combination.

Of late, aside from the odd beer with my curry, I have mainly been drinking white wine - predominately a good buttery Chardonnay. And to make the Euro wine makers slightly disgruntled, I tend to choose wines from the New World. I don't have any snobbish attitude to wine as my thoughts are there are two types of wine, wine you like and wine you don't. Simple as that. For example, if I see an Australian wine I have had before and enjoyed priced at £3.99 and a decent French wine priced at £5.99 - guess which one I will choose?

er, is that trick question???

Seriously you are right, I am not in the slightist bit snobbish and will quite happily quoff a £2.99 bottle of Tesco's own if I lke the taste. Paying over the odds for a bottle doesnt necessarilly mean you will like it any better

 

[Dr. Eddies Wingman]

How about Ringnes Pilsner? I used to drink that all the time when a friend of mine who worked in Norway bought it for me. Now, THAT is one great lager!

Really? Well, actually I don't like it very much. I drink it if I'm offered one, but I rarely buy it myself. When regarding Ringnes, I think their different variants of Christmas Brew are excellent, but when it comes to lagers I prefer several others.

What you also need to know if we're discussing Ringnes is that they own several of the smaller breweries in Norway, like Dahls (Trondheim), Arendals Bryggeri (Arendal, a small town on the south coast) and Nordlands Bryggeri (Bodø, at the same latitude as Gällivare and at the coast). The problem people have with them is that they have closed down several local breweries, like Tou (in Stavanger) and the mentioned Nordlands Bryggeri (the brands from NB are now produced in Trondheim, and Tou in Oslo). Therefore, many people outside Oslo boycott them. For me, it's not as much about boycotting as in taste - I simply like Dahls better - but I also think it's important to drink beer from the local breweries to make sure the big guys don't close down more breweries. Of course, if the beer is good ...

Actually, nowadays there are two big brewery companies in Norway; Ringnes and Hansa Borg. Ringnes is part of the Carlsberg group while Hansa is independent. Hansa Borg is the result of a fusion between Hansa (in Bergen) and Borg (in Sarpsborg). In 1989 Borg fusioned with Fredrikstad Bryggeri and the production in Fredrikstad was moved to Sarpsborg. This caused negative reactions in Fredrikstad, because there is a certain degree of rivalry between the two cities. (Both have clubs in the Norwegian Elite League in ice hockey, and earlier Sarpsborg FK were the main rivals of Fredrikstad FK). Having our beer produced in Sarpsborg doesn't feel that good, but the beer still tastes good.

There are a few independent local breweries as well; Mack (in Tromsø) and Aass (in Drammen).

But my point was, Ringnes isn't that popular outside Oslo. Maybe not as much because of its taste as because of other reasons.

My oh my, another EW digression ... and now I became seriosly thirsty. Give me a beer, someone!

Now drinking; black coffee from the coffee machine right outside my office 

 

[Warhurst]

@ Albie: perfect score. Either you like the wine or you don"t.

Many new world wines are very good price-quality. If we keep it to Australia, I like both the McWilliams shiraz and the Tempus Two shiraz (btw coming from McGuigan). But many of the lower priced offer a one dimensional taste. The wines I mentioned above are a bit more expensive (costing about 8 to 12 euros) but offer a way more complex taste.

I am a real french wine adept. So most wines for special occasions (christmas, friends over for dinner, two weeks before getting married) will be french. If it is not a special occasion, I will open any bottle I like. Be it french, spanish, chilian, australian or whereever. One exeption, wines from South Africa have not yet been able to impress me much. But that is more my taste as it is their "fault".

 

[Anomica]

Actually, nowadays there are two big brewery companies in Norway; Ringnes and Hansa Borg. Ringnes is part of the Carlsberg group while Hansa is independent. Hansa Borg is the result of a fusion between Hansa (in Bergen) and Borg (in Sarpsborg). In 1989 Borg fusioned with Fredrikstad Bryggeri and the production in Fredrikstad was moved to Sarpsborg. This caused negative reactions in Fredrikstad, because there is a certain degree of rivalry between the two cities. (Both have clubs in the Norwegian Elite League in ice hockey, and earlier Sarpsborg FK were the main rivals of Fredrikstad FK). Having our beer produced in Sarpsborg doesn't feel that good, but the beer still tastes good.

In Sweden we used to have lots of small breweries, but these days one of the best, Falcon, is owned by Carlsberg and if I want Carlsberg's products I buy a Carlsberg. In my hometown, Halmstad, we have a fairly successful brewery called Krönlein's but I find their beers hard to drink. Unfortunately.