Northsider Dave will immediately recognise this from the rear label of a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale. It acts as a temperature indicator, beginning to turn from white to blue below 12°C. I brought this in from the garage at around 6°C.
“Drink Cold” it tells us. Why cold beer? Some pubs serve it so cold it could give you brain damage. You cannot taste it properly. Is that because their beer is so awful they don’t want you to?
Not so Newcastle Brown. I don’t see why I should be told how to drink it by some Dutch outfit that bought out the company and don’t even make it in Newcastle any more. They can keep the cold for their disgusting pilsner.
I will concede it is now made in Yorkshire, and that they tried to keep pint bottles rather than the more usual 500ml. You cannot expect the Dutch to understand that an Imperial pint is 568.261 ml, not 550. Or do they diddle us a sip to refresh the profits other beers can’t reach? At least they are not American pints.
While we are on the subject, why is the temperature in °C rather than Fahrenheit? Imperial measures were invented to flummox the French, not the Dutch.
So, I drink it warm. If there is the slightest hint of blue on that label I put the bottle in the washing up water until it turns white. If I want to drink it warm, then I will, and if I want to swig it round my mouth while crunching up a chunk of chocolate then I’ll do that too.
Here is the star after it has turned white, now on the empty bottle. I apologise for it not being as good an image as the first. Dave and I will not be the only ones to appreciate that empty bottles are much more difficult to photograph than full ones.
Thanks Tasker. One of my highlights of my annual visit to Blighty is drinking English bitter and buying Newcastle Brown Ale from the supermarkets to take to the Prog Rock music festivals. Since Brexit happened I can only obtain it from an off licence in Tralee. They get it sent down from the north. Also in recent years Iceland, Debenhams and Argos have all left these shores. Brexit was a disaster for people like me who bought English goods.
ReplyDeleteEven many who voted for Brexit now think it was a disaster and that they were deceived. However, isn't it good of that Tralee off licence to get the shipments for you.
DeleteI recognised the star immediately from my reading list without reading a word. We never drank Newcastle Brown as anything but what would be considered warm, never ever cold. I once went for an interview for a job at the brewery in Newcastle, PA to the Managing Director. When asked if I had any questions at the end of the interview I flippantly asked as a 19 year old if there would be any free samples. Nobody laughed, and I didn't get the job. It is hard to imagine Newcastle without the Tyne Brewery.
ReplyDeleteIf the bottle feels warm, that's just right for me.
DeleteBigger, more centralized, might be more profitable and please the supermarkers, and make things cheaper, but it is our loss really. I wonder if it was possible to directly compare a Tyne Brewery bottle with one brewed today in Tadcaster, whether they would taste the same. Probably not. Lost of on other products too.
Alas, the Tyne Brewery site was redeveloped many years ago now, I believe that it became some kind of science park?
DeleteLikewise the Vauxhall Brewery site in Sunderland, that too has gone.
Damned autocorrect! Should, of course, be the Vaux Brewery in Sunderland.
DeleteI'm sure many Vauxhall drivers would like make good use of own brewery.
DeleteI'm not a beer drinker but still, an interesting post!
ReplyDeleteThanks you. As regards beer, I recommend it.
DeleteInteresting - I wonder what they poison the label with to make it change colour like that (and what that does to your dishwater). I have to admit that despite the British penchant for cellar temperature beer, COLD lager is a perfect antidote for labouring 10 hours in a shearing shed when the daytime temperatures are reaching into the 30's (Celsius)🙄😁
ReplyDeleteThe square on the label is fairly small, but I hadn't thought about what might be in it. I cannot tell you on an unrestricted blog what I think of cold lager.
DeleteI was looking forward to reading about the 2024 Indian Tamil-language sports drama film directed by S. Jayakumar in his directorial debut and jointly produced by Pa. Ranjith under his production banner Neelam Productions along with R. Ganesh Murthy and G. Soundarya - for that film is titled "Blue Star". Instead. I found you writing about Geordie rocket fuel.
ReplyDeleteHave any of your comments ever been submitted to Pseuds Corner in Private Eve?
DeleteNo...but they have been submitted to "Private Eye"!
DeleteThat may be why they are all rejected
DeleteI don't usually drink beer but have sometimes been tempted to try a Pale Ale during warmer weather.
ReplyDeleteI've given in to the temptation to try a Pale Ale in the coldest of weather.
DeleteWhat a funny thing to do to a label. It's not as though you can't tell the temperature of a bottle by touch alone, is it?
ReplyDeleteYou clearly have a greater capacity to hold your drink than I have.
DeleteAmericans often make a big deal about the British serving "warm" beer -- but I actually prefer the cellar temperatures here. As you said, you can't taste it properly when it's too cold. (Some American beer is not really made to be tasted, and I say that as an American.)
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the blue star/white star gimmick.
Someone who visited Australia said they thought he was trying to insult them when he asked if they had any unchilled beer.
DeleteI have never seen the star thing either. Pretty neat. I am not a beer/ale drinker. I think that is something Tim really likes. He always knows exactly how many beers are in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteOurs are in the garage. I only notice then there are not many left.
DeleteLet's agree to disagree on this, Tasker. Firstly, I am not a beer drinker, and secondly, on the rare occasions that I do have a beer, it has to be cold - and I mean COLD. Those rare occasions are very hot days when we're out hiking or walking; a well chilled shandy (so, not even proper beer) is the best refreshment I can think of.
ReplyDeleteI also like rosé and white wine as well as sparkling wine only really cold - and believe me, I can still taste them.
I think Newcastle Brown Ale is a bit different Meike. It was never drunk very very cold, always slightly off cold. I would say that for lager type beers cold is definitely the order of the day.
DeleteYes, I think English beer is better unchilled. It would never have been cold when I was younger. Perhaps lighter ales and beers may benefit from cooling. I rarely have them. I had enough of that Stella Artois stuff as a teenager visiting Belgium. I've avoided it ever since.
DeleteRight now, I am dreaming of a bottle of Newcastle Ale,
ReplyDeletenot too brain-numbingly cold as you say, with an afternoon snack.
Fresh sardines with a lime dressing served on toast ?
Haggerty
Go get one now. As for sardines, were you a member of the Cambridge Apostles?
DeleteGrilled fresh sardines in a tangy lime/lemon dressing :
DeleteI found them on a menu in an Asian caff in London.
Cambridge men ate oily little sardines,
from the tins whose key breaks off in the opening.
Kipling, our best short story writer along with Lawrence,
Katherine Mansfield, A.E. Coppard & Sillitoe, enjoyed
his sardines fresh.
Between good bread toasted & English butter,
fresh sardines make a cold March day tolerable.
Haggerty
VS. Pritchett, H.E. Bates, William Sansom, Elizabeth Taylor,
DeleteDoris Lessing, Robert Aickman and Angela Carter must be
included in any list of great English short story writers.
Four or five of Aickman's strange stories have been reissued
in paperback.
Haggerty