Posts by Tony Smith, Ed, Reg Hardware

Cakes'n'Ale

Re: 4 for £5.50 is considered inexpensive?

As opposed to the stuff micturated out of your average UK pub's lager tap, presumably...

Genuine US beer - even from the big brands - is better than the stuff sold under its name over here.

Same is true of Stella, Kronenbourg, Heineken, Grolsch etc.

Why do the Brits - well, the lagerboys - put up with this watery, no-taste stuff? Answer: they clearly don't care about flavour.

Re: 4 for £5.50 is considered inexpensive?

Maybe but you don't get taxed to buggery like we do over here.

Think the beer here is pricey? You should see what they charge for gas

Re: US hops over here on the cheap

Brew Dog now has a tied pub in Camden - corner of Greenland St and Bayham St.

http://www.brewdog.com/bars/camden

Their Punk IPA and 5AM Saint are both bloody good.

Über Alles

A trip to Morrisons this weekend furnished me with three genuine German weissbiers: Schneider Weisse, Erdinger Weissbier and Franziskaner Weissbier. I love weissbier, with its cloudy looks and cereal taste - though there's a bit of citrus in there too.

I have to mention that I generally have the latter when travelling in Germany, so it's a bit of a favourite of mine. Very smooth - nice and wheaty too. Just right, IMHO.

http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/04/04/beer_1.jpg

Of the other two, the Erdinger has a more 'organic' taste - the Schneider more 'industrial'. I'd recommend the former.

http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/04/04/beer_2.jpg

http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/04/04/beer_3.jpg

PS. Morrisons appears to be building a decent array of international bottled beers. Worth a look.

REJECT the 'Brewed in the UK under Licence' FAIL

Cakes'n'Ale

Pending the arrival of a Cakes'n'Ale section all of its own - there's more to life than all this technology nonsense - we'll start here... with Steel Toe Stout from the Ska Brewing Company (http://www.skabrewing.com/main.html).

Rather nice, slightly sweet American dark beer, brewed to an English Milk Stout recipe, apparently. Not as smoky as US dark beers sometimes can be - though that's not a bad quality IMHO - with some pleasant coffee flavours. Bit of chocolate in there too.

Tasted at Byrons Hamburgers, Haymarket branch (http://www.byronhamburgers.com/), which I'd recommend for its grub alone, if not for the excellent - and just revised - craft beer menu.

Anyone know of a UK distributor of Ska's brews?

Trivia Fact #99: Ska is based in Durango, Colorado. I once spent a night there when a blizzard stopped me reaching Denver across the Rockies. Pleasant town, I recall. But effing cold that night.

TV?

Re: Game of Thrones

Series two has definitely upped the sh*tting and f*cking quotient.

And my missus still refuses to watch it - insists it's just more hordes of Orcs.

Currently re-reading:

Iain M Banks? Strewth, can that guy waffle for his country.

Read Asimov or some such: twice as much plot in ten per cent of the pages.

Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels, in sequence at long last.

This week I have reading...

This week I have been reading...

Saga 02 - 8/10

Witchblade 155 - 7/10

Red Sonja 65 - 9/10

The Walking Dead 96 - 9/10

2000AD 1778 (digital as week behind paper) - 8/10 [but the current Dredd saga is 10/10]

Danger Girl Revolver 03 - 7/10

Vampirella 16 8/10

What about the rest of you?

Music and relationships

Re: Music and relationships

Separate collections. It's not that we don't have much in common, but the missus can't organise files to save her life. As for discs, she's the sort who leaves the price labels on, bless her.

Still buying CDs?

Re: Still buying CDs?

Probably not, but I gave up on music discs years ago. Downloads more convenient and, like CDs, no tape hiss or LP cracks and pops - the reason I went CD in first place.

I'd rip 'em anyway, and you don't have to replace broken cases with downloads. Leaves more shelf space for books. Audio quality of 256Kbps AAC good enough for my 45-year-old lugs and the audio environment of the trip to and from work.

Do vultures actually 'chew' the fat?

Re: Do vultures actually 'chew' the fat?

Who knows? Now, where did you put my Fusion pistol, D?

Warlord of Mars

Re: Warlord of Mars

Neither are the million-and-one Star Trek/Doctor Who/Halo/[insert franchise cash-in name here] books, but that doesn't stop folk buying them in droves and enjoying them too.

Bryan Talbot's...

Re: Bryan Talbot's...

Bloody right. Darn fine stuff in the Michael Moorcock tradition.

Cameron's attempt to cram a robot arm wearing a Rolex into his pristine bottom

Pose, of course. I have an Omega Speedmaster but I have bugger all chance of using it anywhere near the Moon.

As Dan Dare* once said: "A spacer's not a spacer until he's trod vacuum!"

*2000AD Annual 1978, if you want to check

I also rarely wear the Speedmaster on account of my unendearing habit of sooner or later breaking watches I wear - a Junghans Max Bill automatic at the moment, since you ask. Not suitable for deep water or hard vacuum.