Drink for a better tomorrow.

[davywavy]

Back in the goode olde dayes when I was heavily involved in the Cam*, several times a year I'd jet over the Atlantic to use my British accent to pick up American girls chat to the Board of Directors face to face rather than the unfriendly medium of email. On one trip I was staggering into my hotel after the general misery of a cattle-class long-haul flight when I bumped into riksowden. "Oh!", he said. "Hi, Dave. Look, I've got some good news for you."
"Good news?" I blearily asked.
"Yeah. They've got Sam Smiths on tap in the bar."
This was indeed good news as anyone who has ever drunk Budweiser or American-brewed Carlsberg will tell you. I checked my watch. "Well", I said. "The sun's over the yardarm. In England, anyway. Fancy a pint?"
The two of us retired to the bar and lined up a couple of drinks, at which point one of my online American chums wandered over to say hallo and clocked that we were drinking at lunchtime. I didn't twig the subtle change in attitude which came over them at the time, but later I learned they were very anti-alcohol and, because I was having a pint at lunchtime, they'd decided that I was obviously an alcoholic. I still laugh about this now.

Anyway, this got me thinking about attitudes to booze and what alcoholism is. I dont' know if you saw, but one of the most commented upon pieces of Tony Blair's autobiography is a confession that he relied upon alcohol as a crutch. He would drink maybe a glass of whisky and half a bottle of wine every day just to keep going. He was aware, he says, that he was "at the very limit".
At the very limit? I know people for whom a glass of whisky and half a bottle of wine are at the very limit of what they might notice. Unless that half bottle of wine was Buckfast I doubt anyone is very impressed. I suppose compared to teetotal George Bush Jr. Blair was a raging booze-hound, but Bush was a 'recovering alcoholic', which from what I've seen of polite attitudes to drink in the 'states means he once drank half a can of Bud Light and panicked. Back when William Hague was leader of the opposition he really should have made more of his claim to be able to drink 16 pints and challenged Blair to a drinking contest over an EU referendum.
History suggests that the more a politician drinks the better at the job they are**. Winston Churchill is famous for drinking at least two bottles of Champagne a day and then ringing Hitler to suggest they stepped outside and settled it like men - indeed, Hitler launched the Ardennes offensive in reaction to news that Churchill had been on a forty-eight hour bender and taken Juno beach singlehandedly. Further back in history, The Duke of Wellington killed Napoleon in a brawl outside the Lamb and Flag on St Helena dockside after tying one on and suggesting that Josephine could do with a bath. Margaret Thatcher kept herself topped up constantly for almost fifteen years with a two-litre bottle of Drambuie in her handbag at all times, and Pitt the Younger was getting served at his local when he was only eight years old. During the last election campaign David Cameron and Nick Clegg competed over claims of who could drink the most, with Cameron claiming to be able to sink eight pints without needing the toilet and Clegg riposting that anyone who drank only eight pints "is a bit of a puff, really". This led to people carrying "I agree with Nick" placards in the streets.
On the other hand, Sir Alec Douglas-Home believed anything more than a small sherry was an extravgance, Harold Wilson was so clueless he thought he could get tiddly off a pack of Maynards Wine Gums, and Neville Chamberlain became badly ill when he was only halfway down the glass of schnapps he was offered when visiting Hitler in 1937. Gordon Brown never drank a drop, but he at least made up for it with a prodigious intake of mescaline.

<sup>*One of the things I remain proudest of in my time running the CamUk was the international agreement I hammered out that travelling members were subject to the rules of their home country rather than the country they were visiting. I now confess I did this solely so I could get merrily stoked during events in the US whilst their own members were banned from doing so.

**Margaret "Bottle of vodka in my desk" Beckett being the honourable exception.</sup>

Comments

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

While you're making old-school Cam confessions, just who was Mr. Black?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

The 'Big reveal' was that he was Xav Luxembourg, although that was a serious bit of retconning to fit in with the end of the world. For the majority of the campaign, my understanding is that Mr. Black was just an ordinary human being - someone senior in the Civil Service or government. Torley said to me who it actually was but I can't remember off the top of my head - I'll ask him again next time I talk to him.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

Bah. I was briefly operating under the theory it was Edwina Currie.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I was working on the theory of Roy Jenkins.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

In contrast to this strange turn of American bar-events, a 'Bar' which my friend insists on drinking in, has an 'American Craft Beer' as its £4 alternative to Lager. I find this confusing and somehow Ironic.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

The Us appears to be catching up fast with microbrewing and making proper drink, but it was a flavour-free wasteland for many years.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

I'm waiting to be impressed. After being quite impressed at the 'New York Microbrewery' (or words to that description) I was presented with a lovely array of quarter-pints of slightly different flavoured lagers.

Next time I'm over I'll have to make more of an effort to seek out some real beers.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Go to Seattle, they're doing quite well there.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I've had some fine microbrews on my last US road trip so the situation has definitely improved.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a homebrewer - the US is way ahead of us for domestic brewing :/

From what I can tell, most towns seem to have a homebrew store, whereas we have a few online UK suppliers who can ship (and even then, they can be funny about glassware, so if you want a batch of bottles, you have to drive to some lurking depot on an industrial estate in Teddington - and even then, the range is limited, compared to the ingredients listed in brewing books. Which are largely written by americans.

Prohibition encouraged homebrewing stateside, and I think the same love of heritage and independence that leads to people doing their own canning etc has kept it alive since. In the uk, it seems to have mostly died out with growing our own veg & baking our own bread - in that a few still do, but most don't have the time or inclinatin.

We do have some excellent microbreweries in this country, but they're getting shafted by the business practices of the brewery giants.

I've heard a lot of good things about the best of American craft beers - but the fact remains that beer is expensive to ship simply due to bulk and weight, and does have a shelf life - the 'American' beers we get in the Uk are mostly brewed in the uk (there's a huge place down in Wales that churns a lot of them out) - I rather suspect we never see the best American brews this side of the pond.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Yes, American attitudes to alcohol still seem very influenced by the temperance movement and prohibition. The realisation that having a pint at lunchtime meant that some people over there would see me as having a drink problem rather than just being a completely normal thing to do still strikes me as odd.

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

From what I can tell, homebrewing took a real hit in the mid-80s as it stopped being a 'cool' thing to do (pretty much everyone my parents know brewed their own beer at one time or another). This is a largely unevidenced hypothesis but it does fit with the prevailing cultural trend at the time of shifting to a heavily commercial attitude with displays of wealth being the mainstream demonstration of status.

I'm very happy to say that local breweries in Cambridge are still getting their oar in and from some very suprising sources. The local Budgeons has several shelves purely for local beers, there's a fairly high proportion of CAMRA pubs, some of which have their own festivals. There are at least 2 decent size beer fests in non-pub locations. Wierdest of all, the local Wetherspoons always has real Ale on tap.

But the transportation does seem to be a big sticking point. I was a huge fan of the local brews down in Falmouth, but unless you're ordering a barrel especially, they can't be found at this end of the country. That probably makes the chance of getting decent American beer somewhat remote.

In terms of buying bottles, have you tried contacting local small breweries? They might be willing to sell on some of their stock.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have enough now (fortunately hubbie worked near the depot when I was staring out, and houseguests are well trained in leaving my bottles to be washed rather than chucking them) - it's more that it makes it difficult when folks are starting out.

I think it's safe to re-use bottles from commercial bottle-conditioned beers as well - but you have to be careful to identify them correctly, because beer that is just carbonated with a blast of CO2 when bottling (when you bottle/cask-condition, you add a little extra sugar when bottling/barrelling, and the secondary fermentation creates the CO2) uses thinner glass, which can shatter under the pressure from fermentation.

(La. Hobby that keeps the old chem & phys knowledge ticking over, while makig me whimper at lack of microbiology!)

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

(oh - and fortunately my parents were never cool, so I grew up with homebrew at Christmas & helping to mash elderberries for wine in the autumn...with the way booze is taxed though, and a vague upper middle class swing towards all things wellie boots, I wouldn't be surprised to see it making a come back!)

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

And that's why I've never stood for parliament.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

You don't drink? That explains so much.

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

Indeed I don't. No drinking of smoking for me. I am officially not cool.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

But do you sit at the back of the bus?

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

Only once...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

And that was a very short bus.

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

I think they called it a car.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

One of the biggest shocks I had at my first ICC was wandering into the Cam only area with a bottle of beer in my hand and almost being expelled for it as if I had committed a serious offense.
Not to mention having to go back to my room for my ID when the guy at the door of one of Succubus Club wouldn't believe 31-year-old me I was over 21.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

And that would be why I got the rules changed. I had someone complain about me because I was drinking during the game at the ICC once. Ah! I planned ahead well on that one.

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

Ahhh yes, international members drinking at ICC... fond memories... :D

[moomin-puffin.livejournal.com]

I never understood why the Lib Dems got rid of Charles Kennedy. He was keeping up strong and honourable political traditions of booze

[danfossydan.livejournal.com]

They get rid of good people asap. It's one of the party features I think.

[hareb-sarap.livejournal.com]

A couple of other big drinkers in the C20th, Asquith or "Squiffy," and George Brown.

[vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com]

I feel it important to note you can now drink at US Cam games if you are of the appropriate age.

I find this news excellent.