Beer Me!

The subject of beer came up at work yesterday. It was slow and three of us were standing around talking. One co-worker, G, brought up the subject. She said she would like to go back to Mexico, her native land, and open a bar. She wondered what our favourite Canadian beer was. K smirked and looked at me.

I hemmed and hawed a bit. Then I said "I don't really like Canadian beer. They are kind of boring." I prefer drinking European beers. Usually Irish, German, Czech, and Belgian. My beer of choice is Harp. I find most Canadian beers don't have much flavour when compared to the European ones. (I am talking about mainstream beers not the micro brewery stuff.) While it is better than the swill that comes out of the U.S. (mainstream companies) it isn't THAT good. Given a choice I will drink European beers.

Then I said, oh and Sol and Corona. (I should also give honourable mention to some Philippino beers like Negra Modela.) Those are good beers too. K started laughing. He knew that I would say that. We have had similar conversations in the past. He likes to brew his own beers and is fussier than me.

G NEVER expected us to praise a Mexican beer. She figured we would blindly push Canadian beers. It was an interesting conversation.

As I write this I am drinking some Harp. :)

Thirsty Traveler

I downloaded all 4 seasons of the Thirsty Travel and have started season 3. every episode has to do with some type of alcohol and the area it is from. In season 3, episode 4, the Thirsty Traveler goes to South Korea and looks at soju.

Unlike Cooking in the Danger Zones South Korean episode, it was an interesting show. I found the guy who did cooking in the Danger Zone to be a prat. The Thirsty TYraveler actually looked at a lot of aspects of drinking and soju in South Korea. Drinking customs and etiquette and original compared to modern soju. Keving Brauch, the Thirsty Traveler, wasn't condescending in the least. He gave a view of South Korea and Soju that touched even my jaded sensibilities. I recommend watching it if you haven't.

It also made me miss South Korea. I love being home but there is nothing to compare with a night out with friends in South Korea for soju and samkyubsal. Whether you go for the Korean drinking etiquette or not. I had a fantastic dinner with familty followed by a great chobia and some corona with lime. But I would kill for galbi and soju with friends.

The show also has me kicking myself for not going to Andong when I had a chance.

Tomorrow my niece is trying out a Korean restaurant with some friends. I gave her some tips. if it is any good I will be visiting. :)

Rum

My poison of choice is rum. I like a good scotch, especially if I have a good cigar to go with it. But my first love was black rum. Not white rum, it tends to be shite. Amber ... ok. Spiced, good at Christmas. Black rum. now that is good drink. Goes well with cigars too.

Growing up we used to eat molasses from time to time. Mom would give us some molasses in a bowl and a few slices of bread. Mmmmmmmm. My brother liked, well still likes, it on his pancakes. Good black rum should have a molasses flavour to it. It always reminds me of the childhood treat.

It is hard to get good rum in Korea. Hell they consider Bacardi to be a quality rum! Bacardi!!! Good god you know someone has been deprived of good rum if they think Bacardi is a quality rum!!!

There is some palatable rum to be had. Cheaply too. In Korea I would recommend Captain Q. It isn't bad. Quite palatable. But it is hard to impossible to find Captain Morgan or better. I could find good rum in China and Japan. but not Korea.

Now that I am home I still get goosebumps when I go to the liqour store. The choice of rums is great in the regular LC. In the big stores it is AMAZING.

Just take spiced rum as an example. There only used to be ONE kind of spiced rum. Captain Morgan's Spiced. Now there are at least 8 different kinds I have seen. Regular dark rum? Great googily moogily! There is SO much choice now. The big LC has a shelves running down one side of the store that is all rum! And I want to try it all. :)

My favourite rum, since I was first introduced to it, was Goslings Dark Navy Run. It is GREAT with ginger beer. When mixed together the drink is called a dark and stormy. I am imbibing one as I type. :)