Today we’re travelling to Germany, the country that gives you 1,500 choices of beer, and a standard drink size of a litre. No wonder they have places called Assmanhausen (House of the “Ace” man), Titting and the Volkhof (pronounced with an “F”) River – I dare you to keep a straight face saying those out loud.
Today’s German selection is a brew called “Bitburger Premium”. It smells just like XXXX out of the bottle – no fancy “floral notes”, just beer. Very little froth on pouring, and looks like it’s been sitting on the bar for too long. It is quite smooth, but does taste watered-down – kinda like when you have ice in your drink, and it melts, leaving you with something that looks like your drink, but tastes like your mum’s put tea in the scotch bottle.
 |
| It may look like I’ve left it sitting for an hour, but this is freshly poured. |
Apart from that, it’s quite easy to drink, and went well with my steak sandwich. I’m not a huge fan of it, but it’s light and smooth with lots of bubbles. I prefer something heavier. At $13.99 for a 6-pack, I’d go a XXXX instead.
Before I go on, I must confess to a little bit of an easy way out with my beer-drinking to get a bit of a head start. Two weeks ago when I went to Dan Murphy’s, my wife pointed out a boxed set for Father’s Day, containing 10 different beers – one Aussie made and the rest imports. I figured how can you go wrong with 10 beers in one box. Afterall, you only need one beer to taste test, and that would get me 10 weeks ahead, so I could be a little more choosey inbetween with my local beers. Well, I took a couple of those beers to a friends place the next day to console myself after losing the soccer semi-final, and forgot to write down what I thought of them.
And I think I may have consumed the best of them – without reviewing, I drank Sapporo, Oettinger and Lowenbrau. From my hazy memory, they were all quite good, but I couldn’t tell you with any clarity what they actually tasted like. I also had the Chang last week after a heavy day at work, and only got half-way through it. Not entirely sure why – maybe I thought I wanted a beer but needed a much stiffer drink instead. It’s not like me to not finish a beer even if it tastes bad (though I do make an exception for VB), so either the Chang was crap, or my taste-buds were. Might have to try it again, just to make sure.
Now that I have that little confession out of the way, it’s on with the show.
I didn’t want to talk about the same stuff as last weekend, but I can’t go past Mike Hussey and Shaun Marsh hammering the Sri Lankans. Marsh scored a cracker 141 and Hussey, always good for some runs, chimed in with a handy 142. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, things are looking good for the coming summer.
From the funny files, and where else, but Britain, comes the story of a man who blew himself up with his home-made vodka still. I always stayed away from vodka because it could pack a punch, and leaving you wandering around in your underwear dazed and confused is almost a given. But I always thought that just came with drinking it – obviously there’s risk in making it as well. Trust the Russians to come up with a spirit that’s just as dangerous to make as it is to drink. And trust the British to stuff it up spectacularly.
Heard around the ridges is a rumour that Big Brother will be making a comeback on channel Nine. I enjoyed the first couple of series, when Big Brother was just watching the contestants, rather than sticking his nose into their business. I think they should go back to the original format, make sure they have real people with real shit to deal with, a couple of crazies you know are going to cause controversy and let them at it. Oh, but also include Friday night games – I totally enjoyed watching grown men riding kid-size tricycles around a miniature race-track to get immunity.
On the home front, I’m in the market for a new phone – though truth be told, there is still some negotiating to do with the wife. But in preparation for when I finally get the go ahead, I’m trying to decide on (a) which network is going to get my hard-earned each month, and (b) which smart phone I’m going to play with. I’ve come up with a short-list of phone brands – Apple, Samsung and HTC – and will be having a closer look at them all over the next few weeks. Hopefully, by the time I’ve decided on one, wifey will have given in to my constant whinging, and let me get one.
Finally, and most importantly, we have a real live Sunday Sesh happening at Casa del Sel this afternoon. It’s currently a little windy and cool, but I’m hoping the prospect of so many beer-drinkers in one place at the same time will convice Spring to come back.
As always, I value your opinions and feedback. If you have any suggestions on brews to review or you have the low-down on something you want covered in the Sunday Sesh, let me know.
til next Sunday’s Sesh,
Cheers!