In Costco yesterday I saw a pallet of slabs labelled “Advent Calendar”. I got excited and went up and saw it was Asahi and it was just a variety pack of 6 or 7 different beers, the funny thing being that Asahi are renowned for having a tonne of different releases that invariably just taste like Super Dry. I failed to see what made it an Advent Calendar, and that’s a month of drinking I don’t wanna partake in. Points for trying to con people, I guess.
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No. Just no.
That stuff is mud.
It gets a little expensive at $120 a box. Plus if you get a poxy beer, then you’ve gotta get through 5 more.
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Where’s that from BF?
On my first trip to Vietnam in 1993, four of us met a group of teachers in Hoi An. It was what they called Black Friday, the last day of their summer holidays. We were having lunch and they insisted we join them. They then started buying us beers at the same price you mention $1 a bottle, but that was for a 750 ml bottle. So the local prices haven’t gone up all that much. The kicker is that the teachers were only making $10 US a month. At the same time a can of coke was also a $1, but a 500 ml bottle of Russian vodka was only 70 cents. God times.
l have managed to stay in contact with one of those teachers ever since then, and visit him and his family every time l go to Vietnam, he retired about a month ago. l returned to Vietnam in 1995 and tracked down my friend the school teacher. At his home were 2 girls from NZ. We agreed to go to his school the next morning and give some of the students a free English lesson. l was introduced to the principal ad asked if l remembered him, l didn’t. Apparently he and l had become good mates at the Black Friday beer session. At lunchtime, myself and another jumped on a couple of bicycles and rode off to a local grocery store, where we bought two dozen bottles. Since the beer hadn’t been in the fridge, we also bought ice. The dozen bottles quickly disappeared over lunchtime. The free lessons after lunch were a little sloppy to say the least.
Then there is beer hoi. This means, local beer. It can be found on the street in many of the cities, usually from a little stall or cart. l don’t know how often they clean out the pipes and tubes, probably not all that frequently. The taste is akin to a light beer, but l guess it varies a great deal from place to place. Since it it served at street temperature, more ice is needed. We bought a litre in Nha Trang for $1. In the hat of the summer, it did the trick quick smart.
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At Ms Vys Marketplace Restaurant in Hoi An
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l first Ms V in 1993, then followed up in 1998. By that time she had expanded her business from the restaurant, and had opened a hotel on the road towards the beach. She opened another hotel a few years later in a newly developed area. She had an interesting business model that she followed, namely that her hotel had to pay for itself in the first 3 years of business.
She is now a Mega business, 8 restaurants, number of hotels and all seem well run.
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No surprise. She has grown her business interests to keep pace with the development of Hoi An. l first met at the same restaurant you had the Larue beer in. We had dinner there and got talking with her. She is an interesting character. No surprise her businesses are well run. She was well organized and paid attention to meticulous detail, that was apparent from the first meeting.
Give in to the dark side!
Hop Nation have turned to the dark side with the their offering for Carwyn Canvent. A stack of hop bitterness and some roasted malts have been added to their smash hit Jedi Juice New England IPA to create the Darth Vader of NEIPA’s!
The result, a somewhat juicy black IPA rich in malty goodness and a delishiously refreshing bitter finish.
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I love dark beers, but I find they need to be lighter on the fizz to really enjoy. How was that one? Looks a bit too much, but would still put it away
Agree.
When I’m in Sydney, it won’t be long before I’ll turn to a Tooheys Old.
Can drink that stuff til the cows arrive. Very easy drinking brew.
Wasn’t too bad on the carbonation. Glass could’ve been cleaner.
But this is a Black IPA so it’s not gonna have the rich almost sirupy mouthfeel of a stout or Porter. I’m huge on this style, probs my favourite, as it gives the richness of roasted dark malts but balanced with lighter hop botanicals and crisp bitterness.
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Sipping on a Stone Xocoveza right now. Imperial Stout with chocolate, coffee, peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg. Like a decadent Mexican chocolate Christmas treat.
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Xmas trifle milkshake IPA.
I really like beers like this (in small doses). I’ve got a sweet tooth so this vanilla, jammy gem was a delight.
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Crafty Pint released the results of their NEIPA blind tasting:
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their last social media push was a complete disaster
They named their new peach beer ‘■■■■■ Juice’… and the interwebs got upset…
yep. that’s what I was referring to. Lotta garbage virture signalling going on though as well. Especially given the unreserved apology offered by the brewery.