Beer
“4.9% ALC/VOL, APPROX. 1.4 STANDARD DRINKS”
At Liam’s 22nd I met an SCA member called Jamie. I had a short discussion with him on the merits of Australian beer, a topic broached as I had a Crown Lager in my hand as I tried to filch some of his Kilkenny (nice). This seems to be a common topic recently, as I’ve discussed it with people of British and other foreign extraction.
(Quite frankly, how the Brits can stomach warm beer is beyond me. OTOH they ask why we like beer cold. I suggested that our beer tastes like shit when it’s warm and the rejoinder was that our beer wasn’t good enough to be drunk warm. Fair enough.)
Crown Lager is quite lacking in flavor or texture. As are Light Ice, Ice, Coldies and several other notable Australian beers. Australians seem to like boring beer. I don’t think they can stomach the real flavour [1]. Even my favourite common Victorian grogs, VB and Carlton Draught, are hardly in the company of Guiness or Asahi.
There is, however, I ventured to Jamie, one great Australian beer. In fact, a family of Australian beers, but one would do to prove that we’re not all barbarians. Coopers Best Extra Stout. Our oldest indigenous beer. Of South Australian extract. Strong, dark, delicious.
British, said Jamie. He had a friend who grew up in Britain, used to drink it down the local.
Well, Jamie, you’re wrong. I looked it up. You had me worried. After all, CUB brew Guiness locally, Coopers could easily have expatriate breweries down here. They don’t. Jamie’s friend drank the product of Coopers-licensed breweries up there. Coopers is a proud, tasty Aussie beer. Lovely.
[1] Spelling. 
[2] It’s the 30th anniversary of the first internet packet transmission. So happy birthday.