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Stranger in a Strange Land


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On 14/10/2020 at 03:37, Ed Rooney said:

 

Those drinks sound like liquid desserts, Betty. Ultra light? Light wasn't light and tasteless enough? I drink only beer, wine, coffee, and water. The last time I had a soft drink was 1952 in the Mojave Desert. 

 

The whole object is to not taste the beer. I hate the taste. Usually the only way I can drink it is:

 

1 Has to be a hot day, out in the sun, boating/fishing/yard work

2 Chug-a-lug it while it is so cold my esophagus spasms into a hiccup.

Of course, the alcohol hits my bloodstream all at once so I have a 5 minute tipsy party then it leaves as quick as it comes.

The Michalob beer actually tastes decent. Or...not so bad. I don’t have to chug it. And no liquid desert. No sweetness whatsoever.

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15 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

True English beers have to be drunk warm.

 

Allan

 

Actually CAMRA say a cask ale should be kept and served at about 12C. But the conditioning is finished at a lower temperature than the fermentation. Fortunately our garage is probably at about 12C today.

"Cool" here is relative as is "warm". I think a real ale served at anything above about 15C would be quite unpleasant.

It's only those taste-free American concoctions that should be drunk anything near 5 or 6C. Not even Guinness in my book.

Edited by spacecadet
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Just now, spacecadet said:

Actually CAMRA say a cask ale should be kept and served at about 12C. But the conditioning is finished at a lower temperature than the fermentation. Fortunately our garage is probably at about 12C today.

"Cool" here is relative as is "warm". I think a real ale served at anything above about 15C would be quite unpleasant.

 

Thanks Mark. I did not know the exact temperatures.

I was replying to Betty's post really in that she is saying their beer she has to drink ice cold. It is all relative.

 

Allan

 

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6 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Thanks Mark. I did not know the exact temperatures.

I was replying to Betty's post really in that she is saying their beer she has to drink ice cold. It is all relative.

 

Allan

 

Forgive me, brewing does get a bit technical.

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Allan, nobody here or anywhere has ever served me a warm beer. Cellar temperature, which used to be the standard for real ale, is 13 C or 55.4 F. In the States we use Fahrenheit. When I got to Liverpool, over a year ago now, I found they were serving everything including Guinness much colder. For me, the Irish and English brews seem to work either way. Lager is now the most popular beer in the UK, they say. Really? Hmm. 

 

Betty, like many Americans, is looking for a very cold drink in hot weather, not really interested in beer. Mexican beers are nice served cold. I prefer Negra Modelo. A visiting Forum member introduced me to John Smith's Extra Smooth. It says to serve cold on the label . . . but it doesn't say what cold is. 

 

For a while now, craft beer has been popular in the States, and there are a lot of tasty ones. 

 

I will tip my hat to Mark. He brews this stuff. I don't brew any better than I would wrestle an alligator in the mud. I'm just a consumer. 

Edited by Ed Rooney
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3 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Allan, nobody here or anywhere has ever served me a warm beer. Cellar temperature, which used to be the standard for real ale, is 13 C or 55.4 F. In the States we use Fahrenheit. The I got to Liverpool, over a year ago now, I found they were serving everything including Guinness much colder. For me, the Irish and English brews seem to work either way. Lager is now the most popular beer in the UK, they say. Really? Hmm. 

 

Betty, like many Americans, is looking for a very cold drink in hot weather, not really interested in beer. Mexican beers are nice served cold. I prefer Negra Modelo. A visiting Forum member introduced me to John Smith's Extra Smooth. It says to serve cold on the label . . . but it doesn't say what cold is. 

 

For a while now, craft beer has been popular in the States, and there are a lot of tasty ones. 

 

I will tip my hat to Mark. He brews this stuff. I don't brew any better than I would wrestle an alligator in the mud. I'm just a consumer. 

 

I've always found US beers to be bland and watery, plus I'm not really a fan of traditional Canadian mass-produced beers (Molson, Labatts, etc.) either. I do like beer cold, especially in summer. Fortunately, Vancouver has a thriving craft beer scene, and there are some really tasty brews available. Not surprisingly, I guess, the best selling Mexican beer is Corona, which IMO is the country's worst beer and the one that tastes the most like US beer. I too am a fan of Negra Modelo. Dos Equis Ambar is a favourite as well. Don't know if you've tried it.

Edited by John Mitchell
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18 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

I will tip my hat to Mark. He brews this stuff. I don't brew any better than I would wrestle an alligator in the mud. I'm just a consumer. 

Appreciated, however in truth I merely found a 35-year-old can of beer concentrate as a by-product of looking for the winemaking equipment, so it may be a one-off unless it's really nice.

You know how they tell you to throw away old food cans if the ends are bulging? It was like that. But it smelt fine, so I though, in for a penny, it's only a bit of sugar, water and electricity.

Then the OH got serious and bought some Citra hops so it's no longer exactly free, but she has a state pension that Midas wouldn't have sniffed at, and still works, so that's fine. And we can't go to Croatia this year, or France, or Germany, so we've (ok, she's) got to spend it on something. My income has gone through the floor.

We do our best to be consumers, Ed;)🍷🍸🍻

Speaking of mud, the wine looks a bit like that at the moment. We have to wait a bit longer for that.

Edited by spacecadet
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I'm glad to hear you didn't just chuck that can of beer concentrate. So much food is wasted because of a bit of nonsense on a label. My nose will tell me if anything is off. I suppose I really should take up brewing or winemaking. This house was once The Falcon a good many years ago. There were even Falcon tokens but sadly we don't have any. There was a brewery attached out the back. We still have the brick floor which makes a generous patio. Years ago there were pubs or alehouses in abundance. Now we only have two pubs open in a village of over a thousand.

 

Mark, I just had a peek at your collection. My family used to run Citroens. An ID in blue like the one you show in yellow. Later we had one with the swivelling headlights There were many things about those cars, some weird, but mostly in a good way.

Edited by Robert M Estall
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27 minutes ago, Robert M Estall said:

I'm glad to hear you didn't just chuck that can of beer concentrate. So much food is wasted because of a bit of nonsense on a label. My nose will tell me if anything is off. I suppose I really should take up brewing or winemaking. This house was once The Falcon a good many years ago. There were even Falcon tokens but sadly we don't have any. There was a brewery attached out the back. We still have the brick floor which makes a generous patio. Years ago there were pubs or alehouses in abundance. Now we only have two pubs open in a village of over a thousand.

 

Mark, I just had a peek at your collection. My family used to run Citroens. An ID in blue like the one you show in yellow. Later we had one with the swivelling headlights There were many things about those cars, some weird, but mostly in a good way.

It was just the one can of concentrate 35 years on. Seemed a shame to ditch it, I was more concerned about the soldered can! Still I assume it was lead-free even in the 80s.

 

Oh the ID has the swivelling lights IIRC! It's like the Space Shuttle under there. A cousin has to have a very smooth car ride for medical reasons and they've been through all the newer Citroëns over the years and finally got back to what is a DS in all but name. Watching it drive towards you over a rough track is extraordinary- straight as an arrow. I even had a GSA myself in the 80s.

 

Edited by spacecadet
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Our first one would have been bought over here in 1961 and taken back to Canada after Dad's sabbatical year. It caused quite a lot of comments. I remember the chap who came up to me and said: Son you have four flat tyres there. Radial tyres hadn't arrived. The front seats were like a mushy armchair, very comfortable but nothing like a normal car seat. Thankfully it didn't have many problems because finding a mechanic to work on it was not easy. I was never up to speed on the model numbers but the second one had the swiveling headlights. A little more power I think. One little bolt removed and the whole back wing came off before you could get at the wheel which had just one locking central nut. The jacking system  used  a prop and the hydraulic suspension to get the wheels off the ground. When it came to the Canadian winter, it was in a different league to everything else on the road. I even raced it once on a circuit we laid out on a frozen lake. I forget how long I got grounded for that.

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  • 1 month later...
Had an appointment at Aintree University Hospital Nov 24th to see about my broken arm. I was early, even though it was a 30-minute taxi ride. Going, we got stuck in traffic at one point. The ride back was only 20 minutes. The ride cost 15 pounds going, 12 coming back.
 
I was seen by a nice, very young Indian doctor, who had to order a second X-ray view like on my first visit at the closer hospital.
 
The prognosis is that it will take another 4 weeks for the break to heal itself and for me to be semi-normal again. I’m to continue wearing a sling and do one exercise the doctor showed me. 
 
He also said, that if I can tolerate the constant pain level, I should discontinue taking the codeine-paracetamol. I have another appointment with him in two weeks. After the long, stressful day, I had a bad night. 
 
Stay safe, people.
 
Edo
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Just now, Ed Rooney said:
Had an appointment at Aintree University Hospital Nov 24th to see about my broken arm. I was early, even though it was a 30-minute taxi ride. Going, we got stuck in traffic at one point. The ride back was only 20 minutes. The ride cost 15 pounds going, 12 coming back.
 
I was seen by a nice, very young Indian doctor, who had to order a second X-ray view like on my first visit at the closer hospital.
 
The prognosis is that it will take another 4 weeks for the break to heal itself and for me to be semi-normal again. I’m to continue wearing a sling and do one exercise the doctor showed me. 
 
He also said, that if I can tolerate the constant pain level, I should discontinue taking the codeine-paracetamol. I have another appointment with him in two weeks. After the long, stressful day, I had a bad night. 
 
Stay safe, people.
 
Edo

Ed, sounds rubbish, but at least you're on the mend. Good luck!

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15 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:
Had an appointment at Aintree University Hospital Nov 24th to see about my broken arm. I was early, even though it was a 30-minute taxi ride. Going, we got stuck in traffic at one point. The ride back was only 20 minutes. The ride cost 15 pounds going, 12 coming back.
 
I was seen by a nice, very young Indian doctor, who had to order a second X-ray view like on my first visit at the closer hospital.
 
The prognosis is that it will take another 4 weeks for the break to heal itself and for me to be semi-normal again. I’m to continue wearing a sling and do one exercise the doctor showed me. 
 
He also said, that if I can tolerate the constant pain level, I should discontinue taking the codeine-paracetamol. I have another appointment with him in two weeks. After the long, stressful day, I had a bad night. 
 
Stay safe, people.
 
Edo

 

I know you are very good at it and always keep your sense of humour (humor just for you), but if you can try and concentrate on the good side. When I was in a lot of pain after surgery, I kept saying to myself 'one less minute, one less minute'. You are on the right track for recovery. It will soon be a bad memory. Take care and thank you for the update. I was wondering how you were doing.

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3 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Rubbish, Steve? I'm impressed with the NHS. So far. 

Morning Ed,

I meant the arm and the pain. I've no doubt you're enjoying the 'free' healthcare compared to the insurance system in the States. Good that you're still able to get this sorted when Covid is sucking up so many resources.

 

Sun, what's that? The peculiar geography of where my village is sited, plus maybe the Danube not being too far away means that we've had days of mist and fog...... 🌫️

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6 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Ah, sorry for my misunderstanding. 

 

Have you read Alan Furst's novel, Dark Star? The last part is set alone the Danube. 

No, I haven't come across Alan Furst, just Graham Greene. I haven't even seen the Third Man. Obviously I'm culturally lacking!

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1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

My answer to most questions and suggestions is: thanks, I'm doing the best I can. 

 

Could one of you ask the sun to pop out for a minute? It never listens to me.

 

Some time tomorrow Edo, best I could get.  😉

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Codeine always knocks me out completely. My drug of choice is percocet. Effective and lets me function. I hope it's OK to take at least one pill to let you get some sleep. Time does pass though sometimes not fast enough!

 

Paulette

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