Save the World!

Wine

I went camping for St.Patricks Day to catch up with a few mates  a few weeks ago. It was a little wet so most of the time was spent chatting, and while we were having a few beers a thought hit me like a lightning bolt out of the blue:

“As a Nation of Beer drinkers, we have it within our power to stop the collapse of foreign nations from national debt, by the simple action of…drinking beer”

Think about it. With the background of the group of people that were camping with us, I just about had the EU sitting around the table with me, and we talked it out. As I write this in early 2012 Greece is staring down the barrel of civil unrest; Ireland won’t be too far behind (heaven forbid if they run out of potatoes as well as money). Portugal and Spain, well I suppose there are worse things than 20percent unemployment…like being in a boat on a river near a sewerage outlet without oars, if you know what I mean.  And don’t think that Italy is off the hook yet either.

But if we switch over to drinking an imported beer, and a proper imported beer, not just one that is labelled imported and made in Sydney,  than we can make a difference.

I’m not suggesting that you make a permanent switch, just the next carton, or every second carton for the next few months; otherwise we might find ourselves in the same boat.   We’ll need a slogan of course,” Earth hour” is taken, ”Greenpeace” is well used, but how about  “Beer the World” (sung to We are the World) or “global beers for global good” , even  “24 ways to make a difference” perhaps.

When you  really start to look into it you can even start to tackle climate change with organic beers, and reducing carbon footprints with lighter beer packaging…..whew I’m going to need to sit down and work all this out over a cold one.

Saving the World’s economies one beer at a time?  I’ll drink to that.

Save the World:

Italy – Menabrea 1846 – Isabella Rossellini and fast cars are not the only thing that I’m fond off that’s come out of Italy in the last 30 years. Like many Italian beers, Menabrea owes its better qualities to the fact that it was perfected in northern Italy and was probably mostly influenced by the brewers in what is now Germany and Austria. Poured into the glass it was light in colour, almost as pale as a Scotsman in winter. It has a typical European Pilsener-ish taste and aroma, crisp and a light hoppy style. With a clean mouth feel and a slight bitter aftertaste. It had good bubbles that kept right till the end; it doesn’t finish off tasting like a flat beer. With the second mouthful I noticed the bitterness was a little stronger than I thought, nice, I liked it.

Greece – Mythos Hellenic Lager: Mythos beer as it turns out is Greece’s third highest selling beer; the brewery in Thessaloniki is the second largest in Greece. It hasn’t been available in Australia for that long, but it has a plenty of the qualities which should appeal to a broad beer drinking market. The beer, it seems, came about when people realised that drinking bucket loads of Ouzo or Raki with your moussaka didn’t improve either the drink or the moussaka. It’s got a good golden colour with a fine white head and is clean and crisp across the palate, a crispness that many beers claim to have but fail to create. There is just enough bitterness to draw you back in terms of quenching a thirst. It had a very refreshing taste, and at first, I thought it would only be a matter of time before the pleasure factor dropped, but it finishes just as nice as it starts. But I must admit my ninth or tenth one was not as great as the first eight, but still very good. It is definitely what I would class as a “cleansing beer”; it is super easy to drink and has great session-ability.

Ireland – Kilkenny Irish Ale – a creamy Irish Ale with a great reddish-brown appearance. It pours to form a beautiful thick creamy head due to the widget inside the tin. The widget is the little ball that looks like a ping pong ball and is packed with nitrogen, whose job it is to not only rattle in the tin, but also to release the gas and form a smooth head. There is a sweet aroma to it with slight roasted smell. The taste is smooth and creamy making it very drinkable. This must be served chilled and the can recommends for at least 3 hours prior to drinking. This is a great beer!

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