Drinking, down under?

[Mike]

G'day to all of you on the bottom side of the equator. I was really surprised to see a newspaper article about the government stepping in to 'curb' drinking'??? In Australia? Is that possible? Who am I going to look up to now? )
I googled booze consumption per capita, and came across these nuggets:
Australia ranks 38th in alcohol consumption per capita, behind New Zealand and even Burundi? (1st-Luxembourg, 9th- Germany, 11th-U.K., U.S. down at the bottom somewhere in the 40's).
Things look a little better in beer consumption, where Australia comes in fourth, behind the Czechs and Germany. (U.K. is 6th...we don't have real beer in the States).
Is Kevin R. really going to be able to do this? )
I look forward to some 'explanatory' or 'enlightening' comments.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Mike, I think they are trying to "curb" binge drinking by teenagers of what is known as alcho-pop type drinks. I.E. drinks that taste sweet like a soft drink but are laced with alcohol. Cranberry juice and Vodka is an example.
Teenage girls particularly go for these type of drinks with their ears back and tend to lose inhibitions, clothing and virginity not necessarily in that order.
The Governments solution, tax the drink. What a surprise!

 

[David Morton]

Mike - you are so right. You do not have a real beer in the States.
Well,that is not quite true...... there are a few micro-breweries in a few city centers I could name but in general you make a very valid point.
Dave

 

[JimmyMac]

Mike,
In this bleak time, drinking for the holiday can deliver surprising benefits.
We can save money on Yuletide decorations and there is also less chance of losing an arm, cutting down the previously obligatory evergreen with a chainsaw.

 

[Ron Earp]

You do not have a real beer in the States.
Well,that is not quite true...... there are a few micro-breweries in a few city centers I could name but in general you make a very valid point.
Dave

Fellows, you might be surprised of the quality of beers in the US, a bit over 1400 small breweries that are distributed through some large scale so folks all over the nation can enjoy them:

Microbrewery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cities large and small sport them now and they turn out some good stuff. There are two in my relatively small town and they make some tasty brew. While not every pub offers some regional brews most decent ones do if you are near a town of any size.

R

 

[Jac Mac]

Mike, you have misinterpreted the newspaper article, It really means that the Aussie Government has adopted a 'If you cant beat em join em approach' and since there are not enough pub doorways in Aussie to accomodate both the existing drinkers plus their new Govt participants they have decided to all move from the doorways to the 'Curb'.
This has a double benefit since the streetsweepers will be able to eliminate two problems in short order--get rid of the problem drinkers who are too p****d to get out of the way and clean out the deadbeat politicians at the same time.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Ron, with the greatest respect, all of the American beer I have sampled, mostly in Colorado and California is like sex on the beach.......

F##king near water.
Including that vile concoction labeled Fosters which purports to be Australian. No self respecting Aussie drinks Fosters.

 

[Jack]

agree Ron, but you up there in NC can get some fine 'shine too!

 

[Keith]

Including that vile concoction labeled Fosters which purports to be Australian. No self respecting Aussie drinks Fosters.

Amen to that Pete. We have a sign in our local pub which clearly states: "WE DO NOT SELL FOSTERS"

Want to bet how many retards ask: "Do you sell Fosters mate"?

It doesn't bear thinking about. Mind you, I used to like Carlton.....

 

[Ron Earp]

agree Ron, but you up there in NC can get some fine 'shine too!

I've only managed that a couple of times via a friend of mine who is a doctor in the mountains (imagine that). He has patients who drop him some at Xmas and he shares - very nice stuff, especially the mixtures with a tint of a fruit. Funny, will burn easily but drinks easily - something wrong with that.

 

[David Sturch]

You got that right Pete. When we went down to Daytona for bike week in the late 70's and early 80's we used to bring our own. U.S. Customs used to charge us $1.25 for a case of 24 import duty. I could get four cases in the trunk of my Lancia Beta Coupe. I have now given up drinking beer. You don't buy it, you rent it. Besides I always used to run into a bad one after about the tenth one and it made me sick. I support the Scottish now and drink only single malts. It goes good with a nice Cuban.

Ron, the Scotch tastes the same as the stuff I have home when I was in Cornelus NC last year. I had a hell of a time finding a good cup of coffee though.
Dave

 

[Ross Nicol]

Pete you've done a wonderful thing. Just last night we were having a drink after work at Beer oclock. Light beer only of course (have to drive home) Cascade premium light, weasels p...s compared to the good stuff like Steinlager and Heineken ( note the xxxx omission). Anyway one of the guys said his mate reckons light bear is like 'sex on the beach', and if he included the tag that explains it, I didn't hear it but I laughed along thinking (whats funny about that?). So I turn the computer on today and pick up on this thread (GT40 and Beer beautiful combination) and see your post with the 'sex on the beach line' and I thought there it is again not funny, until I read the next line, once,twice and on the third read the penny dropped. Very funny I had a belly laugh and I'm here on my own. By the way has Di restored your slush fund for the 4x beer? I know you would have been thirsty last week. By the way there were 4 of us at the beer oclock session last night 2 kiwis (South Islanders of course,for you Jac Mac) and 2 Aussies. It was one of the Aussies that told the joke so I rang the other Aussie and he hadn't got the joke either. That's ok then after that phone call I was able to post this without feeling like an idiot.
Ross:drunk:

 

[Al Jones]

A bit of caution here:that " Yes,you don't have a real beer in the US" statement by David M could be a clever ploy to encourage the American contingent to send him various 'samples' of our crafter's products, resulting in David never having to buy another pint for the next few months! And Pete,you should have come a little farther east. A.J.

 

[Jim Cowden]

I have been told that some Countries on the other side of the world drink warm beer.

Jac mac you are correct.
I live 5min from the famous Manly beach (a huge tourist destination)In the morning I see the street sweeper sweeping up all sorts Poms ,Germans ,Asians, Yanks and even the odd Kiwi he is not discriminant God bless him.

Jim

 

[Keith]

A bit of caution here:that " Yes,you don't have a real beer in the US" statement by David M could be a clever ploy to encourage the American contingent to send him various 'samples' of our crafter's products, resulting in David never having to buy another pint for the next few months! And Pete,you should have come a little farther east. A.J.

Damn, Morty you've been sussed.... RUN!!! :uhoh2:

 

[Bill Musarra]

We have a plethora of beers in the U S. At a local franchise of Taco Mac there are many to choose from.

Taco Mac

And for you Ron, here are the tastings of beers in your area from "Fred" along with the "new" kegs they are expecting at various Atlanta locations.

Fred's Beer Page

Bill