back to article Google hits the boozer with own brand of beer

Google's investments over the years have pushed the company's foot through many a door. However, its latest venture still comes as quite a surprise. The Internet tech-firm is now producing beer. Google has joined forces with brewer Dogfish Head to produce a Belgian Dubbel beer called Urkontinent. While the brewing company …

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  1. ratfox
    Pint

    Better than Carlsberg?

    Not taking risks, are you?

    Anyway, TGIF! I'm off.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      But how on earth is it "Belgian"??

      Beer can only be belgian if made in belgium I'd guess, or with an exact recipe exported possibly (like all those "export" beers, UK-brewed but costlier) at a stretch.

      But there is no "belgian style" --- there's blondes, browns, ambers; there's sour gueuze possibly sweetened like faro or with added fruits like cherrie; there's high or low yeast processes; even the lager goes from watery blonde stella to brown jupiler.

      And a Germanic name like "Urkontinent"? What does that even mean (Gondwanaland?)? It's certainly neither a Flemish nor Walloon word -- so even the name isn't belgian. Beer in search of a gullible public?

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        What else would you call a beer brewed in the style of a Belgian Dubbel?

        I'd call it a Belgian Dubbel.

      2. Patrick R
        Pint

        "Belgian Dubbel beer" just implies it looks like and probably the process is remotely close to those of double Westmalle, Rochefort 8 or the red Chimay. They just mean...it's brown.

        Where have you seen brown Jupiler lager?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shame. If Google truly did do beer, it would probably be… better than Carlsberg. ®

    ANYTHING is better than Carlsberg.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'd even consider *nothing* ahead of Carlsberg.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      nah, Fosters is worse than carlsberg

      1. Steve Lonie
        Pint

        You obviously havent tried Tennents Lager or the gnat p*ss that is Sol..

    3. Paul RND*1000
      Pint

      Keep in mind this is the USA market we're talking about, where 24-packs of fizzy urine are often mistakenly labeled as "beer". I can't imagine how Carlsberg could be worse than those.

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Thomas 4

      Well...

      It's got to be better than that soft drink they pushed out - "Mountain View".

  4. Andy ORourke
    Pint

    "It also packs quite a kick, with an alcohol content twice that of normal beer"

    is that twice the alcohol content of "normal" (UK) beer or twice the alcohol of the poor substitute for (USA) Beer?

    Obvious Icon really

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      there's a lot of good beer being made in the US of States these days.

      Of course there's a whale-drowningly quantity of absolute pish, same as ever but the good stuff really is very good indeed.

      1. Paul RND*1000
        Pint

        There certainly is a lot of good beer available in the US if you avoid the mega-corporate-breweries that sponsor sporting events and churn the stuff out by the tanker-load.

        The better known craft brands can even be found in the "beer" section of your friendly neighborhood megastore surrounded by the worthless pish you refer to.

    2. Steve the Cynic
      Pint

      Double normal strength

      Round where I live, lots of the beer is 7 or 8%, a fair amount at 9%, and Carrefour even sells some rated at 12%. Double that!

      Carrefour? Oh, sorry, "where I live" means "in northern France"...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Well brewdog are the people with the 40% beers

      2. Ramazan
        Pint

        I had my 1.5 litre of 10% faxe and 7.2% biere du desert, thanks. 12.5% bier du demon was absent from my supermarke though

    3. Andrew Woodvine

      The page linked to in the article confirms it's 8.1% ABV.

    4. John 104
      Pint

      Careful about that US beer lable...

      Granted, the shit beer from Anheiser Busch, et all is rubbish (see what I did there?), the NorthWest US is home to so many craft beers that you can't throw a rock without hitting a microbrewery. There are so many brews with so much flavor you couldn't possibly get tired of any of them.

      If you ever find yourself on the North West Coast, look for beer from any of these fine breweries:

      Lagunitas, North Coast (thier Imperial Stout is untouchable. Makes Guiness look like a childs drink) Ninkasi, Silver City, Pike, Iron Horse, Pt Townsend, Diamond Knot, Bear Republic, Stone, 7 Seas, BJs, Dogfhish Head (if you must, really they are overpriced and not any better than the rest of the lot). The list goes on and on. Most of these breweries average alcohol content is around 5-6%. The Imperials get upwards of 10-11% - no joke.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If Google truly did do beer ....

    ..... they remember exactly how much you drank, where and with whom!

    1. Elmer Phud
      Pint

      Cloudy beer

      When you pee it out does it go back to the cloud?

    2. John Brookes
      Joke

      I wonder which side....

      ...of the creepy line they'd think they were on if - after drinking it - all the ads google sent you were for prostate exams....

  6. James Hughes 1

    Better than Carlsberg?

    Not the most difficult task in the world.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Funny, thought Google was more in the kool-aid business.

    Now that I think about it with all the crap they've been pulling, I can see they need something even stronger these days.

    I guess we'll get Google whiskey next.

  8. JimC

    Ig Google did beer it would probably...

    be shipped in a bottle that would accidentally record your fingerprints and report yuour consumption habits back to Google HQ...

  9. Titus Aduxass
    Pint

    Erm.. they've called the beer "incontinent"...?

    Good grief.

  10. Alain Moran
    Pint

    Caution!

    "Myrica gale is listed as an abortifacient and, therefore, should not be consumed by women who are, or might be, pregnant"

    Hmm ... enough alcohol to open the legs, and enough added ingredients to ensure you get away with it too :o

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Googale's candroid.

    Will we see Apple do cider next? (iCder?)

  12. swisstoni
    Pint

    Free Beer!!

    Will this lead to free beer, all supported by ads? I think I could go for that.

  13. Ian Ferguson
    FAIL

    Food miles?

    "Other ingredients, sourced from every curved-corner of the Earth include wattleseed from Australia, amaranth from South America, rooibos from Africa and myrica gale from Europe."

    Delightful. Possibly the highest carbon-footprint beer in the world?

  14. Chris Miller

    That ain't beer

    "honey, wattleseed from Australia, amaranth from South America, rooibos from Africa and myrica gale"

    That's cold soup.

    Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalt's!

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Other ingredients, sourced from every curved-corner of the Earth include wattleseed from Australia, amaranth from South America, rooibos from Africa and myrica gale from Europe"

    This is exactly why the Germans came up with Reinheitsgebot. To stop people from ruining good beer with random ingredients that have no place in it.

    1. Chris Miller

      Pedant alert

      Actually the Reinheitsgebot was introduced to stop people brewing with wheat and rye, which were supposed to be used for bread. And it (originally) forbade yeast, which rules out most modern beers. Much more here:

      http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/reinheit.htm

      1. Charles 9

        It forbade yeast...

        ...because yeast wasn't properly understood until the middle of the 19th century. Once Bavarians had a handle of just WHY wort fermented, the law was amended to account for the newfound knowledge. These days, the adherence to the law is seen as a sign of regional pride and tradition, but they don't look down on people who experiment elsewhere and come up with something good. After all, Weissbier (wheat beer) is brewed in Germany, just not in Bavaria.

  16. disgruntled yank

    another possibility

    Would be to team up with Depends in case Ur not.

  17. JDX Gold badge

    @Andy ORourke

    US beer is about the same strength - 4-6% as the bulk of what we drink. They have that light beer muck but only as part of their fascination with choice, not as a replacement.

  18. mraak
    Thumb Up

    Is good

    Is good to have your company pay for your hobbies. Is good.

  19. Paul RND*1000
    Happy

    Someone was putting their 20% time to good use I see.

  20. Captain DaFt
    Coat

    Missed headline opportunity

    "Google Offers Beta Beer"

  21. Old Handle

    What?

    I thought Google Gulp was a joke!

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Do no evil

    But do go ahead and put out thousands of tons of carbon into our atmosphere whilst we all enjoy increasingly screwed up weather all over the world in order to make novelty beer.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Thumb Down

      Great idea, beer with built-in pub conversation.

      When you and your mates drinking gBeer (tm) 1.0 (beta) have finished arguing over whether or not all those ingredients make it any good, you can move on to arguing whether or not moving all the ingredients around makes the slightest fucking difference to the planet's ecosystem, given the ever escalating megatonnages of crap being chucked out due to Chinese and Indian industrialisation.

  23. BatCat
    Joke

    Why is American beer like making love in a canoe?

    ...

    Because it's fucking close to water.

    Been waiting ages to get that old joke into an el-reg comment!

    :o)

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