A Trip to England

I went over to visit a friend and while doing so had the opportunity to drink a few beers, which they call "pints" in that country.

A pint is different over there and comes to a neat 20 ounces.  One might suspect that 20 ounces of the golden nectar would give a person a true case of the "feeling unnecessaries," but the beer there is pretty weak stuff.

The high alcohol level is 4.5 or so, usually found in a bitter.  The normal stuff is less.

The idea is that you can hang out with buddies and drink all night and still pass the driving limit.

All of that is fine, it's kind of a nanny state and they like to make it impossible for someone get drunk.  But what I would object to is the lack of variety.

As my blog readers will note, I'm a fan of heavier and darker brews.  The stuff in the UK is neither.  The darkest you can get is Guinness, but with its low alcohol, it tastes like water.

Maybe, this just occurred to me, that they like their beer like their tea, a bit weak and a bit warm.


I spent some time in the UK in the mid 70s and I remember darker beers and bitters.  I was looking forward to doing some sampling.  But they were just not to be found. 

Thus, no details for the readers to guide them to in a trip across the pond.

An N of One! Ice Cream Sandwich Conundrum

For the first time in my life I've had an ice cream sandwich whose cookie "bread" was actually crunchy!

The whole box seems to be this way.

I'm guessing that the box had never warmed up to the point where the moisture from the ice cream softened the cookie.

This box of bars was IMHO, a whole new taste sensation.  I loved the crisp crunch from cookie.  This provided a nice contrast to the softness of the ice cream.

These were from Walmart, their Neapolitan flavor.

Barb, on the other hand, likes the cookie to be soft.