I have to admit that while this month's topic is apparently about beer I am not sure that I am about beer in relation to this topic. Because when it is stinking hot, I do not crave beer. Let's be frank. Real beer is good for up to about 25ºC. Over that your need cold light beer to about 29ºC but then the arse it out of it. You need to move to the clinky clinky. Cocktails. Admit it. And there are certain mixed drinks on ice that I have moved to over time:
- Pernod and water - blame my Hemingway years. Drank it in the 80s. The problem with this drink is you wonder how much licorice one man can take. Upside? Takes a little orange peel very nicely.
- Gin and tonic - I used to relapse into a days of the raj mood once in a while in the 90s. Came by it honestly with a Sgt Major posted in India in my gene pool. Not that he was of the gin on the lawn class so much as the shouty a lot class.
- Cinzano and soda - I moved to this at some point after Polish vodka was banned from the freezer as it is lighter and you can drink buckets. The problem with this drink is you pee a lot. Upside? Cheap yet tasty.
- Manhattans and Mint Juleps - Recently, Lew implicitly goaded me into getting into bourbon and the mixed drinks followed. Trouble is, unlike gin, the given bourbon makes a huge difference. And I started with the one I like best, Woodford Reserve. That's the downside. Because it's hard to find here. Upside? Yum.
There - that's it. I will hunt out a weisse bier like Weihenstephaner and fill hours under the mid-day sun in its thrall. And I will load up on Miller High Life at a ballgame when it is stinking hot given half the chance. But when it is my backyard and it is 34ºC or over... I need ice and something that goes with it. A drink with a clink.
Learn how to make custom mugs for all seasons.
Comments
Paul Ennis - September 4, 2009 10:03 pm
I had to laugh reading your blog today. Where I come from 28ºC is cool and people shut off their air condition and fling open their windows (well, unless the dew point is 22º+C, which unfortunately is not uncommon). I find a refrigerated Sam Smith Old Brewery Pale Ale or Fuller's London Pride works quite well for me. Just for reference we hit 40ºC in the summer 2007. A tad warm but those English Pale Ales quench the heat and thirst.
The Beer Nut - September 5, 2009 5:36 am
You're missing a treat by avoiding chilled foreign extra/imperial stout. If it's good enough for Africa and the Caribbean it should be good enough for you.
Alan - September 5, 2009 9:13 am
"Avoiding" not so much. "Unaware" and "inaccessible" is more like it. Our government betters do not provide a supply of foreign stout in this district.
Paul Ennis - September 5, 2009 11:12 pm
As Alan says there are a few limitations here in the US. It took me three months to get Black Sheep Ale. Does chilled Fuller's London Porter count? It's one of the best I've ever tasted, period.
Andy - September 11, 2009 11:10 am
... Woodford, in a Manhattan? That is criminal. All Manhattans should be made with American Rye whisky (or whiskey, which ever spelling you prefer). For Manhattans I recommend Richter's Single barrel rye or Ri2.