Blues brews & BBQs

[AndyS]

Mt Maunganui this Thursday. Anyone going? I'll be working there in the Carlsberg tent so I should be in a happy place after about half an hour

[bluesbass]

Cool.
Let us know what you think of it if you get to see or hear any of the bands.

[raz]

Mt Maunganui this Thursday. Anyone going? I'll be working there in the Carlsberg tent so I should be in a happy place after about half an hour

Talk about the perfect job. Actually I've always wanted to be the Guinness mystery shopper, the almost mythological guy that travels the world sampling Guinness and reporting back to St James Gate on the quality.

Have fun mate.

[rocklander]

Mt Maunganui this Thursday. Anyone going? I'll be working there in the Carlsberg tent so I should be in a happy place after about half an hour

Talk about the perfect job. Actually I've always wanted to be the Guinness mystery shopper, the almost mythological guy that travels the world sampling Guinness and reporting back to St James Gate on the quality.

Have fun mate.

really? I mean a good pint of guinness is just fantastic, but a bad pint (and let's face it, that's what you'd mostly be getting pretty much anywhere other than eire) is just so manky. puts me off the guinness for the night at least...

[raz]

Mt Maunganui this Thursday. Anyone going? I'll be working there in the Carlsberg tent so I should be in a happy place after about half an hour

Talk about the perfect job. Actually I've always wanted to be the Guinness mystery shopper, the almost mythological guy that travels the world sampling Guinness and reporting back to St James Gate on the quality.

Have fun mate.

really? I mean a good pint of guinness is just fantastic, but a bad pint (and let's face it, that's what you'd mostly be getting pretty much anywhere other than eire) is just so manky. puts me off the guinness for the night at least...

They are pretty passionate about Guinness quality though. I wonder if you get a bad pint, are you allowed to burn the bar to the ground? That might compensate for the disappointment.

[rocklander]

well I had a number of bad pints in dublin, but then, it's dublin where all the tourists go so they don't care so much. out in the country and outer-city pubs they are somewhat more discerning.

you may need a lot of gasoline and matches.

of course, cemtex would be a more appropriate measure surely?

surprisingly, the best pint I ever had was in belfast of all places, but I suppose if one is to serve a pint of beer in britain that was brewed in the republic, it best be good huh?

[bluesbass]

According to Guinness, every pint of their product is absolutely consistent worldwide.

The secret to this is their Master Brewers quality control and of course... Guinness Essence, which if memeory serves first appeared in the early 1960s.
Guinness Essence is about 2% of what accually makes it into the bottle, but enables brewers the world over to reproduce the unique flavour and absolute quality of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout all around the globe.

The Guinness brewery at St James's Gate in Dublin brews the beer for Ireland, the UK, Europe and the United States.
The Essence is also brewed there and is a vital ingredient in all the Guinness beer brewed everywhere else.
So (according to the tag line) what you get in the bottle in Dominica, Durban or Dubai is what you get in Dublin.

This is a bit like the MacDonald's policy... consistant quality the world over but as we all know (or at least think we know) its bollocks.
But... there is more to beer than just what it is made of.

[raz]

well I had a number of bad pints in dublin, but then, it's dublin where all the tourists go so they don't care so much. out in the country and outer-city pubs they are somewhat more discerning.

you may need a lot of gasoline and matches.

of course, cemtex would be a more appropriate measure surely?

surprisingly, the best pint I ever had was in belfast of all places, but I suppose if one is to serve a pint of beer in britain that was brewed in the republic, it best be good huh?

I wonder if it's coincidental that Belfast was also the cemtex capital of Ireland?

[rocklander]

invariably the bad pints I have had were serving issues. wrong head, old kegs, or worse dirty pipes. at temple bar (and worst pint I ever had, buddah bar in blanchardtown) they got mostly toursity types, or ponsy suit types that either didn't drink guinness or didn't know what a shoddy pint was, and forced the crap down that these venues were serving, telling themselves "it's dublin, it must be supposed to taste like this". I was living just outside clonee (which is on the border of county dublin) and the locals there were pretty sharp on ensuring the publicans served the beer right. likely same goes for other outer-central dublin pubs. but NZ brews have been consistently poor to my taste. taste-wise, henneseys here in rotovegas does well, but the head is like a bubble bath... that's okay, the head isn't what I drink, but it's still not quite right y'know?

[rocklander]

I wonder if it's coincidental that Belfast was also the cemtex capital of Ireland?

it's not part of Ireland.. it's an occupied county, but part of Britain

but that may just be symmantex.. simmantex... cemtex

[bluesbass]

at temple bar (and worst pint I ever had, buddah bar in blanchardtown) they got mostly toursity types, or ponsy suit types that either didn't drink guinness or didn't know what a shoddy pint was, and forced the crap down that these venues were serving, telling themselves "it's dublin, it must be supposed to taste like this".

Quite right - Temple Bar has really gone down hill over the last few years.
Which is a real shame.
Allthough it's not all bad for Dublin.
Have you been to a pub called The Cobblestone on the north side of the river in Smithfield (near the Jameson's Distillery)?

Fanstastic place - good beer, great craic and there are traditional sessions in the bar every night with trad musicians from every part of the country playing reall quality music.
I throughly recommend it next time your there.

[rocklander]

not familiar with the place. was 6 years ago I was living there to be honest, and being on the outskirts, the cost (and moreso availability) of cabs at the end of the night meant not too many inner city trips (and of course the crappy pints heh). when we did head to town I usually ended up at the hairy lemon which was not a bad pub actual. starting at either macturkels (sp?), hogans or obriens too (nice concept 3 pubs in a row to offer different levels of - well - expense heh).
I remember one night at hogans when the DJ failed to turn up on time so the bar staff got into the disco part and threw on a live Iron Maiden album and just hit play! it was great!
but usually drank at the local out clonee. the blokes I hung out with weren't so musically inclined to want to see trad stuff (in fact some hated it - suggesting the best device to play a bodhran (sp?) was a pocket knife )
can't see me heading back in a hurry without lotto going my way either heh.

[bluesbass]

Shame.
The Luas (the Dublin tram) solves a lot of problems traveling into town - although not all.
I have had plenty of good nights in Obriens - although I was fortunatle enough to be there when Iron Maiden wasn't on

[rocklander]

heh - Iron Maiden was in hogans (my bad if I screwed that up) but the DART was nowhere near our place... bummer alright.

[Bg]

should be a good day, I forgot it was on else I'd have been there