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Mongolia and Irish bars!

Irish bars

I spent about a year living and working in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It was a great year of fun and good times. Mongolians are a jolly bunch, lively and friendly. One thing that did stand out was the amount of Irish (“Oirish”) pubs in the city. I counted just under 20, but was assured that the real figure was close to 40. I can’t really explain why there are so many Irish pubs in the city. I figured some Mongolian Googled the words “good bars” and the search engine came up with “Irish pubs”. So perhaps Mongolians think that “Irish” actually means “decent pub”. I say that as I felt a lot of Mongolians really didn’t know much about Ireland.

Another factor could be that during Ireland’s mini economic boom, the “Celtic Tiger”, many Mongolians got work permits to go and work in Ireland, as it was easier than getting a visa for the UK. As the Irish economy faltered a few years after, the Mongolians without work returned and quite a few of them started opening Irish themed bars. I did meet an awful lot of Mongolians with rather cool Irish accents.

Either way most of the Irish bars in UB were mostly a load of rubbish, as most “Oirish” pubs are. (Read here for my opinions on Irish bars in general). Overpriced, teeming with foreigners, and lacking in soul and some real Irish spirit. Having said that, Ulaanbaatar’s night life is pretty damn good and if you are prepared to hang out with the locals you will have a mad time. For a country with just over 2.5 million people there sure are a lot of decent pubs, clubs and restaurants going around.

Grand Khaan

The biggest Irish bar was The Grand Khaan Irish Pub, a good place for food, with great service, and where all the hot shots of the city hang out. A bit expensive and really doesn’t offer much in terms of decent entertainment, but not that bad for a quiet drink and a chat in the day time.

Dublin Irish bar

My favourite Irish bar was The Dublin Irish Pub, which for an “Oirish bar” wasn’t too bad. They say they were the first Irish bar in the city, but truth be told the city still has to have a real authentic Irish pub. I was a regular customer there and managed to get a tab running, which is always a bonus. Had decent food, good music on the jukebox, had a chilled out atmosphere and sometimes on special nights an impromptu music session would get going. The only negative was the bar staff had terrible English and were a bit dim.

Of course some of the bars do have Guinness, which isn’t too bad in all fairness. But I usually stuck to Tiger beer or the local brew Chinggis Beer, much cheaper than overpriced western styled beers.
Anyway I will return someday to UB as I loved the people of Mongolia, tough people but full of friendship and kindness.

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Beermats and Coasters.

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Beermats

I am a bit of a Tegestologist. Some might call me a bit of something else, but that’s the name you give to people who like to collect beer mats or coasters. Tegestology, a term coined from the Latin word “teges” which refers to a mat, is defined as the practice of collecting beermats or coasters. You would actually be quite surprised to see how many of us are out there. It’s not the hardest thing to collect, as beer mats are after all very easy to get, they are free in bars and pubs all around the country. I am not an avid collector, as I really only collect when I see a really impressive beer mat, or want a nice memento when drinking abroad, but I have amassed just under 500 beer mats all the same. Not in Leo Pisker’s league though. The Austrian is listed in the “Guinness Book of Records” for having a collection of over 150,000 different beermats from across the world, including examples from over 160 countries. Bet he isn’t much of a drinker! Others that take it seriously are the many member associations including the British Beermat Collectors Society and the International Collectors Association based in Germany, also there are several books, guides and internet blogs dedicated to tegestology

The History bit

It all started in Germany way back in 1880’s. The first beermats made of cardboard were introduced by the German printing company, Friedrich Horn, as a way for drinkers to protect their precious ales from insects and other annoying debris. In 1892, Robert Sputh of Dresden manufactured the first beermat made of wood pulp. Overtime, and with the help of mass printing techniques, beer mats were produced on a huge scale, and in colour, making them very attractive to marketing executives looking to advertise beer to a targeted consumer directly in the pubs. Traditionally beer mats advertised just alcohol but nowadays beer mats can advertise pretty much anything from sports, businesses or special events.
Today, Coaster Factory and Canada Coaster, based in North America, and The Katz Group, based in Weisenbach, Germany, produce approximately 75% of the estimated 5.5 billion beermats in the world, including about two-thirds of the European market and 97% of the US market. That’s a lot of beer mats, and, with the explosion in craft brewing, expect to see coasters continue to be popular for both brewery and collector alike.

Practicalities

A beer mat has a few important functions. First and foremost it should protect the surface of a table or any other surface where the user might place their beverage. A beer mat has good water absorbency, good for soaking up the foam dripping down the sides of your beer.
Other functions can include putting the beer mat on top of your class before heading to the toilet to ward off any eager bar staff that might collect your pint (always annoying), useful for scribbling down the phone number and address of a nice woman you might have met (or at least before the advent of smart mobiles, but I still have a shitty Nokia so….), or for playing with if the conversation has gone dead (who hasn’t tried beer mat earrings?).
If you think it’s all getting a bit silly and a bit nerdy just remember that on Ebay recently an old beer coaster went for nearly $1,500. So it might be worth just clearing out the old cupboard to see if you have an old beer mat from when you first went to Spain back in the early 80s or something…..

Please have a look at my collection
Highlights include
The Mick McCarthy collection with Harp Lager. On the high of Italia 1990 Mick became a bit of an unlikely pin up in Ireland. I still have a paper where he has a two page spread showing off the Penny’s (Primark in the UK) summer collection. Mad.

The Mick McCarthy collection Harp

Teachers whisky looks classy and shows warmth, very enticing.

Teachers Whisky

Guinness, tops at marketing, always have a few great beer mats on view.

Guinness

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St Mel’s Brewery, the long return

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St Mel’s Brewery, the long return

St Mel’s Brewery, Longford

Something is stirring in the centre of Ireland. A new and exciting brewery is opening, the first in the midlands region in about 150 years. St Mel’s Brewery, based in Longford Town, has decided to dip its toe into the ever increasing market in the country for craft brewing.

St Mels brewery is a new venture started by Liam Hanlon and Eoin Tynan. Two local lads who have decided to set up their own brewing enterprise, bringing it home. Liam, who has an MSc in Brewing and Distiling Science from the prestigious Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, is the Master Brewer and has over 10 years of experience in the brewing business, gaining invaluable knowledge as a former Head Brewer with Ireland’s craft beer kings, O’ Hara’s. Eoin is a relative novice to the industry, but he has a master’s in Business Management with a wealth of experience in the investment trade. They certainly knew what they are doing and have the skills and expertise to make Longford an unlikely place for a craft beer hit in the making. The main thing both guys are bringing to the industry is a deep love for craft beer and a willingness to get involved in Ireland’s Craft beer revolution.

The St Mel’s duo

(Photo: Courtesy of the Longford Leader. Read article here)

The beers they are introducing onto the market are a Helles Lager, a Brown Ale and a Pale Ale. They are all bottled, so they are not available on tap just yet, but there are plans to produce draught in the near future. At their launch their mission statement was to “brew the highest quality beers from the best possible ingredients, combining innovation, passion and tradition.”

Even though St Mel’s Brewery have only started production recently (less than two/three months), so far the feedback to their brews has been fantastic. Longford, and the surrounding towns as a whole, have embraced the beers. Beer Appreciation Clubs are appearing, something that isn’t very usual, in the sleepy towns of the midlands, and St Mels is able to compete against the big boys as their produce is now on the shelves in many of the local supermarket chains. Further afield, the beers are already stocked in about 50 pubs in Dublin, and have shown up in bars all over the country. Slowly St Mel’s is making waves. No doubt in part to the great reaction the beers are getting. They had a very successful pre Tasting launch in Dublin, and just recently were considered “Beer of the week” with the Irish Examiner, one of Ireland’s national newspapers. (See Irish Examiner review here)

St Mel’s are hoping to go fully nationwide by the end of the year and, if all goes well, try and export within the next three years.

St Mel’s Crozier

One thing that’s impressive is that St Mel’s brewery have a very close connection to its surroundings. St Mel’s is named after the local saint, who helped St. Patrick his uncle, bring and spread Christianity to Ireland. He settled down in Longford and the town’s cathedral is dedicated to him. (Useless fact attack: Another famous Mel, Mel Gibson got his first name from his Longford mother!) The logo is of St Mel’s crozier, a very famous antiquity that dates back to the 11^th century, and used to highlight the power of Bishops.

Where the magic happens!

The spring in Longford has soft water, which is perfect when looking to produce good variety of tastes in beers, the bottles are sourced from Cavan, and the energy used in the brewery will involve Energia supplying over 10,000Kwh of renewable electricity to its production facilities in Longford Town. It is definitely a case of think local, drink local!

With many of the pubs in the town having the St Mel’s stock, I might just have to do a St Mel’s Beer crawl next time I am back in Ireland, with at least ten of the local bars in Longford town carrying the beers.

For more information on St Mel’s please check out their website www.stmelsbrewing.com, their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/stmelsbrewing and their Twitter account @StMelsBrewing

So lets do a beer review then!

Review: Bottle of St Mel’s Brown Ale, 5.2%ABV

St Mel’s Brown Ale

St. Mel’s Brown Ale might be one of the country’s very few craft brown ales produced at the moment so unsurprisingly it might take a while for the public to adjust their taste-buds to this, but for the connoisseur and experienced craft beer drinker this chocolate and caramel tasting beer hits the spot.

The appearance on pour shows a good frothy head with a brown body, not a bad looking beer. Definitely enticing.

The aroma had a proper beer smell to it. Smelling of a good touch of cocoa, some toasty malts, and some light citrus smells.

The taste was very interesting. I picked up a good variety of tastes and flavours, and found that once you got more into the drink the flavours picked up. There was a chocolate and fruity caramel flavour giving it a nice taste, and on the aftertaste a citrus kick was noticed. A little bitter but very drinkable. Of the three beers from the St Mel’s range I have to say this was my favourite as it has a good body of flavours, had strength and a lovely taste. I really look forward to when St Mel’s develop this into a draught beer as a pint of this would be lovely as a thirst quencher.

Review: Bottle of St Mel’s Helles lager, 5.0%ABV

St Mel’s Helles Lager

The Helles lager is the most popular of the three beers in the St Mel’s Collection, their best seller. It’s always a bit difficult when an Irish brewer tries to replicate a German Style beer but I think St Mel’s definitely have got the right balance of authenticity and respect to traditions here.

The aroma was not over bearing, and was of a good bready malty smell, decent on the nose.

On pour the head did dissipate rather quickly, leaving a golden brown colour with some carbonation.

The flavour was of sweet pale malts, wheaty, a little bread, with some sour notes and fizz. The aftertaste was strong and slightly bitter, but enjoyable. It was a quality beer to drink and a beer I can imagine would work well with a nice meal. If a punter is going to try a new experience and drink a craft beer then this beer would be a great introduction. A good local Irish lager.

Review: Bottle of St Mel’s Pale Ale 4.8%ABV

St Mel’s Pale Ale

The last of the three beers, this Pale Ale was hopped three times during the boil and then dry hopped using cascade hops. This session ale has a fine balance of flavouring and taste.

It had a nice pleasant smell of pale malt, straw, and some decent fruity hoppiness

On pour a lovely white head appeared but dissipates to leave a golden amber look, with a somewhat cloudy appearance.

Full of flavours on taste which had a good feel in the mouth. The taste comprised of pale malt, citrus, straw, light bread dough. and very sweet fruity malts. A lot was going on, from start to finish, very sweet, very bitter, lots of tastes and overall it was a very balanced enjoyable drink. A craft beer that will awaken your taste buds.

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Dublin bar crawl. Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs

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Temple Bar prices

Dublin is a great drinking city, we all know that. You won’t walk too far without passing a top quality boozer, serving the best Guinness in the world. Many tourists head straight to the Southside of the Liffey over to the Temple Bar area to experience overpriced drinks and watered down “craic”. To be fair Temple Bar isn’t as bad as many Irish make it out to be. There are some decent pubs in the area and there can be wild fun to be had late at night, but by god it’s pricey and has an overabundance of stupid cunts in a very small sized area. I prefer the Northside, it has more character, better pubs, and decent priced booze. Ok it might get a little hairy at times, but heh that’s half the fun, right?

Arrived very early into Dublin from a cheap Ryanair flight, planning on heading to an evening football match in the FAI Cup first round. The match was between Belgrove and Drumcondra to be played out in the grounds of Dublin’s most famous schoolboy club, Home Farm, and wasn’t kicking off until 7.45p.m. I had ages of time to kill so I decided, after a nice stroll along O Connell Street, to have 10 pint of Guinness in ten top drinking establishments on the way to the game. But in Ireland the pubs don’t serve alcohol until 11.30 a.m. which is fecking ridiculous and unless you want to head to some early morning bars near Smithfield then you will have to wait.

Graingers Bar

Address: 51 Talbot Street, Dublin

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Graingers Bar, Talbot Street

After another few strolls around the centre of Dublin, eventually the time came to drink and I was hungry and needed to fill the belly, and there really is only one pub I know that serves great food with a good pint in a nice relaxed atmosphere. Graingers Bar on Talbot Street. Near both the national bus and train Station this bar always has good food on offer. Great friendly service and a good way to start my Guinness bar crawl. In fact the Guinness was so good here it was very tempting to go all out and have a few, but I didn’t and just had the one. One of my favourite bars for a quiet pint and some food. Recommended.

Graingers Bar on Talbot Street, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

Graingers, good food, great Guinness

Molloy’s Bar

Address: Talbot Street Dublin

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Molloy’s Bar

Pint number two was to be in another one of my old favourites, Molloy’s Bar, just a few steps down from Grainger’s, also on Talbot Street. This bar has a good lively atmosphere and is close to two betting shops. The pint was great, and had a good time just relaxing, reading the paper, checking my (losing) bets and taking it all in. Usually the bar staff are top notch in this place but on the day I was there they had an English woman at the counter and she was a right fecking eejit (fool). Think she was trying too hard with her “banter”. But anyway, Molloy’s, always worth a few pints and great pub for gambling and drinking. Recommended.

A pint of plain

Briodys

Address: Marlborough Street, Dublin 1

A good pointer

For my third pint I headed up to Marlborough Street, to have a pint in Briody’s, a very small pub right beside a bookies. Good pint, relaxing place to have a beer, small and comfortable. One thing that is common with a lot of these decent pubs is the look of the toilet area. Cheap old fashioned steel sheeting always means its a decent boozer. That’s always a given.

Relaxation therapy

Sean O Casey’s

Address: Marlborough Street Dublin 1

Sean O Casey’s, top class Dublin pub

Fourth pint was also on Marlborough Street in Sean O Casey’s on the corner. Love this pub. Think the owners are from Kerry, old folk and really friendly. Good pub for watching sport, and they generally will show any kind of sport if asked nicely. Good pint (do I really have to keep mentioning this, as all pints of Guinness in Dublin are great!?), good bar chat, and one of my favourite pubs in the city. Strongly recommended.

Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

A lovely pint!

Lovely!

Hop House/The Shakespeare Korean Pub

Address: 160-161 Parnell Street, Dublin 1

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Next I headed up to Parnell Street at the end of O’Connell Street, an area with a lot of decent boozers and good for a spot of food. Originally planned on having a pint in the Hop House/The Shakespeare Korean Pub, which is a weird Korean restaurant/old man’s Irish pub combo. It sounds strange but it really works well and it is the best of both worlds, good food washed down with good beer. But the best thing is that it has still retained a lot of the pubs old clientele which is great. But unfortunately it was not opened when I was about, which was a damn shame.

O’Reilly’s

Address: Parnell Street Dublin 1

O’Reilly’s, Parnell Street.

On my fifth pint I was in O’Reilly’s on Parnell Street. A very lively pub in the inner city of Dublin. While I was there three separate fights were going on in and around the bar, nothing too serious but it was midday and the pub was heaving. Great pub for the chat and the banter, and right beside a betting shop and some of Dublin best Chinese restaurants, you can’t go too wrong here. Many the time I spent time in this pub whiling away the hours before I headed home on the train. Has a small reputation but I like it. Recommended, especially if you like horse racing.

O’Reilly’s

Bermingham’s

Address: 111 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin 1

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After Parnell Street I ventured up to Dorset Street to see if I could find Bermingham’s, an old style Dublin pub, that hasn’t changed since the time of dawn. Cracking pub with good banter and even better pints. But imagine my horror to see that the bar has closed and is not open anymore. It seems the owner passed away last year (Dec, 2013) and with it the closing of one of Dublin’s finest boozers. A pity. RIP

Bermingham’s, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

Bermingham’s, RIP

Mayes Pub

Address: Dorset Street Upper, Dublin 1

Mayes Pub, Dorset Street

So I headed over to Mayes Pub also on Dorset Street with its distinctive signage and good central location. First time drinking here, and a good pint and good banter, not a bad pub and was good to get the break and rest the feet after wandering around looking for a non-existent Bermingham’s.

Mayes Pub

The Auld Triangle

Address: 29 Dorset Street Lower, Dublin 1

The Auld TriangleFor my 7th pint I went into The Auld Triangle, a well-known Republican bar with a H Block mural featuring on its walls. Not a bad pub, good pint, good banter, some rebel music on the jukebox and a nice place to relax and take a breather as I was getting a bit tired with all the walking around and betting and drinking. Just as I was finishing the pint some of the regulars started an old sing a long, was a pity I had to go, but time was of the essence.

The Auld Triangle, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

A republican pint

Quinns

Address: Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9

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Quinns in Drumcondra, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

Quinns, Drumcondra,

8th pint was had in Quinns in Drumcondra, a good lively bar, a well known and popular bar which is always busy when there is a GAA game nearby in Croke Park. I like this bar, good friendly staff and a good pint. Good pub and much better than the nearby Fagan’s a shithole which is to be avoided. Recommended, especially if attending a game at Croker. Can get busy at night time, and is a student favourite (but don’t let that put you off!).

Quinns

Millmount House

Address: Drumcondra Road, Dublin

Millmount House, Drumcondra,

Millmount House, also in Drumcondra, Dublin bar crawl, Ten pints of Guinness, ten pubs, Irish bars

Millmount House, great for a game of pool

9th pint was in the Millmount House, also in Drumcondra. A good bar for a quiet drink in the day and a game of pool and a decent pint. Good crowd at the bar, friendly staff and good Guinness. One of my favourite bars this side of Dublin. At night time it gets pretty lively, and on occasions has some good live music. Recommended.

Millmount House

Home Farm Whitehall

Address: 97a Swords Road, Whitehall, Dublin 9

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Finally managed to walk up to Home Farm Football Club for the match and had my final pint at half time in the clubhouse. Good banter at the game, and a very friendly and chatty bar staff. Had a nice pint, probably had more than one but can’t remember as I was just glad to have arrived at my final destination. Was completely knackered after all the walking, but was glad to get some football in my itinerary. Belgrove won one nil by the way!

Home Farm Football Club

Football and Beer

So after my ten pints ten pubs I walked back to the Bus Station near Connolly and got my late bus home to the midlands, happy with my achievement but tired. All of the pubs on my crawl were decent boozers, the Guinness was top notch in all the pubs (seriously it would have to be in Dublin!), and all the bars were enjoyable in their own unique ways. Must do this again but with a different ten! Got to love Dublin!

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Argentina V Germany Fifa World Cup Final 2014

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Argentina V Germany Fifa World Cup Final 2014

Germany: winners of my Beer World Cup

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Beer World Cup Final:

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-final-n-3rd4th-play-offs/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? London Pride from England has made it to the World Cup Beer final after putting in some great battling performances to beat beers from from the USA, Italy, Costa Rica, Colombia and Australia. LP now goes up against the formidable German trio of Karlskrone, Lowenbrau and Friedenfelser, who have got to the final by beating beers from Chile, Argentina, France, Portugal and the USA. All three beers are brewed under strict German brewing quality regulations and will be tough to beat. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

4-3 To the German beers, but just about. London Pride was up against three tough German competitors but did well considering the amount of beers that were sampled!

Overall London Pride is a decent ale, tops. And was more than equal to the Germans, but I just give the victory to Germany for the Karlskrone and Friedenfelser Hefe-Weizen which slightly put them ahead. Needless to say the next morning I had a raging hangover, thank god the World Cup of football and beer is over as I need to return to normality and reintroduce myself to the wife!

Read full review here

PreGame:

Argentina: After about a month of drinking beer and watching football it comes all down to this match tonight, Argentina against Germany to be crowned the best in the world. Germany have the team while Argentina have the player. This is the game that Messi has longed for all his life. You can forget about the Champions Leagues and Spanish trophy’s, this is the one that matters to him the most. Tonight he has the chance to be remembered in the same manner as Diego. Take a deep breath Lionel tonight will be some game.

Argentina are a team that don’t give away too many goals. Goalkeeper Sergio Romero has kept a tournament-high four clean sheets in Brazil while Zabaleta and Mascherano are peaking at the right moment in defence. Mascherano pretty much saved his team against the Dutch when he put in a phenomenal last ditch tackle to deny Robben, at the far post, whose position had goal written all over it. The tackle of the tournament, unforgettable. That’s how you do it Rafael Marquez!

Argentina are in a World Cup final, and I hold my hand up I really didn’t expect it after watching some of their performances. I mean Switzerland, Nigeria and the Netherlands could have beaten them if they had got their act together. But its good to see Messi in a final and I would love to see the best player in the world lift the cup, but them Germans are hard to beat!

Germany: In the semi finals game we experienced a once in a life time amazing annihilation of Brazil by a German team who put seven goals past them in a match that saw several records smashed. Klose finally got Ronaldo’s record, Brazil suffered their biggest World Cup defeat of all time, and their first competitive home defeat in 39 years. Can another record go tonight, with Muller getting a goal to become the first player to be back to back world cup leading goals scorer. Probably.

The Germans were brilliant against Brazil, five goals up after half an hour, without working up too much of a sweat. Amazing. It was all too easy for them. Thomas Muller, unmarked, gave them an early goal from a Kroos’ corner, stepping up to put the ball in the back of the net, with a smart finish. You could have heard a pin drop such was the shock from all around the stadium. Klose scored at the second attempt to set a new World Cup record of 16 goals, and go down in history as the best penalty box player of all time, or goal hanger as we say! Still, take nothing away from his achievement, its truly a great record to have.

And as we were about to digest all this record breaking, Toni Kroos scored not one goal but two in the space of 179 seconds, and just before half time Khedira, who had a cracking game, strolled up, and from a lovely lay off by Ozil, calmly placed the ball into the bottom corner to make it five nil.

Even when Brazil did manage a shot on target the man mountain Manuel Neuer was equal to their efforts, keeping the Brazilians at bay with a few fine stops.

Super sub Shurrle came off the bench and promptly added two more goals to the Germany tally. One of his goals was a real cracker, in off the near post from a tight angle.

The Germans have had an extra day off and didn’t exert themselves too much against Brazil, whereas Argentina had a full 120 minutes with penalties to put away a rugged Netherlands team. Will this make any difference to the game? I feel the Germans have their mind solely focused on lifting the trophy whereas for Argentina maybe a few of their players are just happy enough with a world cup final. My head says Germany but my heart says Messi!

And so the World Cup goes to Germany, for the first time since 1990. They have achieved what was thought near impossible, a European team to win on South American soil, and they fully deserved their victory as they collected the trophy for the fourth time to be champions of the World. Germany were easily the best team at this years World Cup, playing with confidence, showing great attacking ability and powering through teams with ease. They seem to have a team that might go onto to win this trophy again and again in the future, such is the ability of their relatively young squad.

It would be a travesty if Argentina had got their hands on the World Cup. They played pretty poor football throughout the whole competition, struggling to beat teams, and showing very little to get too excited about. Messi was great early on, but withered away in the later rounds of the competition, and failed to step up to the plate in the final. I don’t care if the marketing men in Fifa think he was the best player of the World Cup, he way short of that accolade in truth. In the final they failed to get one shot on target in the entire game which is a pretty woeful statistic for any team, let alone a team gunning for a third World Cup victory.

Higuain fluffed a very easy chance at the start and that really was as good as it got for Argentina all game. They huffed and puffed a little but Germany were not really under too much pressure from them. They had no pace to cause the Germans any problems and Messi was easily contained in midfield. In fact it was Germany who had the best chance of the first half when Howedes hit the post with a good header with Romero well beaten.

Early second half Neuer did a great impression of Toni Schumacher when he nearly put Higuain in hospital with a reckless challenge for the ball. I guess he was going for the ball, but it looked awful in the replays and he was lucky to escape with a card. In fact he even got the free kick! Luckily for Higuain it wasn’t too serious and he was able to recover.

The game fizzled out a bit, was intense but the chances were few and far between and it got to extra-time until the deadlock was broken. Götze calmly chested down a lovely Schurrle pass to sweep in a left-foot finish seven minutes from time. A great goal to win a World Cup final. Well done Germany, you deserved it.

Music to get you in the mood

Scooter V Entre Ríos

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Guinness Special Export, Nigeria’s Favourite Drink

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Guinness
Special Export Stout

http://www.guinness-nigeria.com/

Brewed by St. James’s Gate (Diageo)
Style: Foreign Stout
Dublin, Ireland

We all know that Guinness is from Ireland, right? Well no. If you go to Nigeria and ask them about Guinness they speak of it as their own national drink. Guinness is so massively popular in Nigeria that the locals assume it must be an Nigerian beer. You might laugh at this but to be fair they do have some strong justification for these views. Guinness has a long history with Nigeria since the early 1960’s. It is brewed in the country, with local harvested products, and has a very different taste to what you can find in Dublin. It’s Guinness alright, but Nigerian Guinness.

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout was first exported by Guinness in 1801 from their famous brewery in St. James’s Gate in Dublin. Today the Foreign Extra Stout accounts for almost half of Guinness sales worldwide.

To survive the long journey overseas, which were then taken by ship, it was brewed with extra hops and a higher alcohol content, which were intended as a natural preservative for the beer. Exported in barrels, the product was then bottled locally, which helped to reduce costs. In 1827, the first official shipment of Guinness on the African continent arrived in Sierra Leone. and by the early 1960’s it had arrived in Nigeria.

By 1962, Nigeria had become the largest export market for Guinness, with around 100,000 barrels exported to the country every year. With growing demand, the company built a brewery in Ikeja in western Nigeria. It was to be the first brewery outside of Great Britain and Ireland

The Nigerian product is very different to the stuff you would buy back in Dublin. The product essentials are the same, branding and trademarks, but the inside of the bottle is different. Instead of barley, it’s typically brewed with locally harvested maize or sorghum, producing a more bitter taste which is more suited to the African palate. It is also sold in ice-cold liter-sized bottles with a 7.5 percent alcohol content boasting a higher content compared to the roughly 4-5 percent found in Guinness draught and Guinness Extra Stout.

Nigeria is very important to Guinness. The country has a massive population of 140 million, and a mostly young populace who are increasingly driven by consumer spending. it is a huge market for Guinness to tap into. In 2004, Guinness sales in Africa beat those in the United Kingdom and Ireland, making up about 35% of the global take. In 2007, Africa surpassed Ireland as the second largest market for Guinness worldwide, behind the United Kingdom, and sales have only climbed since then. So nowadays Nigerians consume more Guinness than Irish people! It is then no wonder why Nigerians talk of Guinness as a Nigerian Product.

Review: Bottle of Guinness Special Extra Stout, 7.5%ABV

Comes in the well known dark bottle, Guinness Special Extra Stout is a beer with its own unique taste. Can I find the classic Guinness taste in this Foreign Extra version?

Pours the expected pitch black colour with a tan whitish head that didn’t last too long, with little lacing.

A very strong aroma of dark cocoa, coffee and roasted malts. The smell is quite strong on the nose.

The taste was powerful. Now I know why in Africa they use the slogan “Guinness gives you power!” It was a very strong tasting stout, with a long bitter aftertaste, that had a bite to it. Overall a good strong stout, tasting of roasted malt with traces of coffee. As you would expect with a Guinness stout the flavours are complex and well balanced, making it one of the worlds richest tasting beers. Still not as good as a pint of the real black stuff beside the Liffey, Dublin town.

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World Cup Brazil 2014 Opening Ceremony

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Opening Ceremony

Quick run for the hills

In South Africa they had the awful Vuvuzela’s and Shakira, but very little else. Through the whole tournament of 2010 I had seen very little or heard anything at all that might signify that the World Cup was on the continent of Africa for the first time ever. It was a terrible advert for African football. Compared to the amazing scenes in Korea and Japan in 2002, or the fan zones of 2006 in Germany. The World Cup atmosphere of 2010 will only be remembered for fans who would rather blow a trumpet than actual look at the game. Pity.

Korean Red Devils

So will Brazil be different? You would like to think so, but Shakira is back with Pitbull for the World Cup Song, “La La La”. Not only did they not get a Brazilian to headline, they also are singing in English and Spanish. Why does everything have to be diluted into corporate nonsense? Pitbull? Really?

So I probably wont be looking at the opening ceremony. The music might be trash, and I couldn’t really stomach seeing Blatter and the gang guffawing in the prawn sandwich seats.

But to be fair, generally opening ceremony’s be they in Olympics or World Cups are a bit dull. The best for me was definitely the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. They had an open air concert, with a good combo of traditional and modern music. The worst was Beijing, everything was faked even the fireworks. Makes you wonder why they even bothered.

Pavarotti

As for music, surely the best ever was Pavarotti and his rendition of “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini‘s Turandot. Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras, “The Three Tenors” of 1990, will linger long in the memory.

The Open Ceremony, Brazil 2014? Nah, will pass. The football should be more than enough to get me in the mood. But if I did miss something be sure to tell me!

Pavarotti with the best World Cup song EVER

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Hite Beer, Korean Lager

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Hite Beer

http://www.hite.com/

Brewed by The Hite Company
Style: Pale Lager
Seoul, South Korea

The top-selling beer in South Korea (beer in Korean is maekju). Brewed & bottled in Korea at HITE Brewery co. ltd. Seoul. Well known as the only Korean beer one can really find in Korean restaurants in the West

Hite lager, 4.5% ABV., is a golden coloured beer that is styled on traditional European and American lagers, although it differs significantly from them in taste as it is brewed with rice in addition to barley, which results in a lighter-bodied, slightly sweeter beer that has less of a head than other beers.

Hite Brewery Company Limited is a South Korean brewery company headquartered in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Its main products are beer, rice wine, and mineral water. The company was established as Chosun Breweries way back in 1933. In 2002 its share of the domestic beer market was some 55%, making it the number one beer in South Korea

Review: Bottle of Hite Pale Lager 4.5%ABV

Hite lager is a nice, pleasant tasting beer from South Korea, that’s so good with Korean food.

Pours a golden yellow clear colour with a small light head and some lacing.

A nice sweet aroma of light malt and grains were found making the smell one of the highlights of this Korean brew. On closer inspection the smell is quite unusual, a strong tinge of a shot, possibly the rice.

it is an extremely easy tasting drink: sweet, clear and crisp. Its smoothness making it go down very well. There was a lingering grain sweetness throughout in the beer that stays nice till the end, no bitterness found in this beer. It tasted of a little rice and pale malt, some grains and a light hop flavour. Very refreshing and clean throughout, I enjoyed this beer. This beer is pleasant. and perfect for the light beer drinker. Definitely a top class session beer, perfect for a night out with friends to a restaurant, say perhaps a Korean restaurant! Would work very well with some light food.

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Samuel Adams, Boston Lager

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Samuel Adams Boston Lager

http://www.samueladams.com/

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Amber Lager/Vienna
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Samuel Adams is an American brand of beer brewed by the Boston Beer Company.

The original recipe was developed in 1860 in Minster, Ohio by Louis Koch originally known as The Wooden Shoe Brew. Jim Koch, the sixth-generation, first-born son to follow in his family’s brewing footsteps, brewed his first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen, using the original family recipe for Louis Koch Lager. Along with with Harry Rubin and Lorenzo Lamadrid. the three men founded Samuel Adams Beer in 1984 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

The brand name of Samuel Adams was chosen in honor of Samuel Adams, the Boston patriot, famous for his role in the American Revolution and the Boston Tea Party and who also had inherited a brewing tradition from his father.

In 1985, it was voted “Best Beer in America” at the Great American Beer Festival, in which 93 national and regional beers competed. Thus success catapulted it onto the craft brewing world stage. Sales increased dramatically, and today it is one of the largest American-owned beer company’s in the United States.

Review: Bottle of Samuel Adams Lager 4.90%ABV

I was eager to try Samuel Adams, a beer that has a good reputation, an American craft beer classic. Comes in a lovely looking bottle, so lets have a gander at what this Boston beer is all about.

The appearance is great. It pours a nice dark golden colour with a good sized frothy head that hangs around a while leaving decent lacing. It has the look of a real beer, cant wait to drink it while standing back and admiring the froth.

I got a faint smell of malts and a bit of floral hops. The smell was pleasant and not overbearing.

The Samuel Adams taste had a variety of strong flavours from the hops and malt which were well balanced, all tingling away at my taste buds. Caramel was one taste that stood out. The finish is strong with a long lasting heavy aftertaste. Overall a nice solid beer and a great delicious taste. Samuel Adams is a beer that you will remember.

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Imperial Beer, Little Eagle

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Imperial Beer

http://www.florida.co.cr/website/

Brewed by Florida Bebidas
Style: Pale Lager
La Ribera de Belén, Heredia, Costa Rica

Imperial is a Costa Rican brand of beer, manufactured by the Florida Ice & Farm Company. Imperial was first produced by the Ortega brewery in 1924, and is now produced in the Cerveceria, Costa Rica.

Imperial is also known by Costa Ricans as “Aguila” or “Aguilita”, which translates into English as “Eagle” or “Little Eagle” in reference to its logo, which is the Imperial Eagle.

Imperial is created from a balanced formula combining malts, grains and hops, without a pronounced overtone in its taste. It is what is known as a “centralized” beer. Adapted to a warm and spring-like climate, Imperial has thus become the favorite beer of Costa Rica, both nationally and internationally.

Review: Bottle of Imperial Pale Lager, 4.60%ABV

An interesting beer from Costa Rica, Imperial is a very pleasant refreshing light lager.

Appearance was a crystal clear, pale golden straw colour, what a normal looking lager should look like. When pouring a small frothy whitehead appeared that dissipated relatively fast with some lacing remaining.

Sweet aroma of lightly toasted malt with corn. Smell was great, very enticing.

Similar to the smell, there is a slightly bitter grassy flavour of a creamy aftertaste of dry corn sweetness, that leaves a dry feeling in the mouth

Overall, Imperial Beer is a standard, good lager.

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The History bit

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St Mel’s Brewery, the long return

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Argentina V Germany Fifa World Cup Final 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

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Guinness Special Export Stout

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Opening Ceremony

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Hite Beer

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Imperial Beer

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Guinness
Special Export Stout