Beoz

I was referring to teeth count.

spouse of scouse

Bugger faux patriotism, I'm Aussie and I wouldn't drink Coopers if you paid me. Tastes like cat pee.

OzTennis

The weather bit was done so you changed it to whether (let me guess, a f.c.u.k. thing) You aren't sure whether there are wealth differences in other cities, do you think there will be cities nominated for egalitarianism?

Officially Greater Sydney's population is approaching 5 million (4.84 mill in 2014) and without over-generalising, these people are either 'cafe culture'/richer in the east or 'mall culture'/poorer in the west.

I'd add that the important thing is climate, not weather. If someone visits a city or state for a few days they experience weather (not the climate). To then pontificate on places based on limited personal experience isn't really helpful. (it always rains in Manchester, you get 4 seasons in one day in Melbourne, it rains all day in Melbourne when it rains, Tasmania is too cold etc type thing).

Ultimately climate is a personal thing which varies from person to person eg personally I prefer dry heat to humid heat; I don't mind rain, Australia is the driest continent on earth and sometimes we need it to fill up dams and water our lawn and garden and public parks.

ozzieeagle

Quote:
Originally Posted by astera View Post
It's a bit of a social & identity thing over here, drawing lines and then coming up with differences across state borders. The best one is when people start talking beer. Victorians don't like NSW piss, those in NSW think Melbourne beer is undrinkable, etc. It all tastes the same but they love to get all wound up about it.

Sadly, as patriotic and "Aussie" as everyone pretends to be, I don't see many people joining me in purchasing Coopers beer (in my case Coopers Clear) at the bottle shop. It's the only big brewer still left in Australian hands and yet everyone is content feeding foreign corporations who own the rest...


Most Melburnians I know would say Melbourne beer or CUB is crap as well.... Which begs the question who the hell are you mixing with ? I think I know the answer... The rejects up north from down these parts... LOL.

The Melbourne I know is all about small breweries and craft beers now and has been for the past 5 years or so. People actually laugh at people buying CUB down here.... They really do.

astera

SoS, never tasted cat pee so unable to make the comparison. What beer(s) do you drink on the other side of the country?

Eagle, I've only heard Melbournites diss Tooheys, never actually said they drink their own CUB instead.

I've currently got a case of beer from Burleigh Heads Brewery called 'Big Head', costs about $10-15 more but well worth it if you're looking for something low-carb (in fact this is supposedly Australia's first... no-carb beer).

The craft beer scene is popular in many parts of the world, just depends on the person and not so much the place. Some will also stick solely to Tooheys Old because they're used to it and don't like the taste of other beers.

One thing I have to say is that Aussies like their booze. I mean stepping into Dan Murphy's was probably the only eye-opening retail experience for me in Australia.

BadgeIsBack

I would have expected bottle shops in the UK to have choice now.
Question: if people buy booze in Safeways etc, does the UK have larger off-licenses - the off-licenses were always quite modest from memory.

Alborg

All the supermarkets have a very good range of booze nowadays, normally 4 or 5 isles of it. Wine from around the world, ale, cider etc. They stock a lot of good independent labels as well as the usual large producers. We also have chain bottle shops as you call them e.g.. majestic wines, odd bins etc. and also smaller independent specialist wine shops. Then there's the smaller corner shop off licences that always have booze, albeit a smaller selection.

Beoz

Do Sainsbury's still put Jacobs Creek front and centre? Closely followed by Fosters? You know ...... all the Aussie reject stuff?

Amazulu

Basically it's pretty easy to buy decent booze in both countries

Not an issue unless you have an agenda

DC10

Except that beer costs roughly twice as much in Aus, even after the 40% (and counting) AUD devaluation. Does that count as an "agenda"?

Beoz

How do you figure that?

DC10

Easy:

Tesco's standard price for 20x440ml (equivalent to 24x Aussie stubbies) of Carlsberg is currently GBP 11.50, which is about AUD $24

Your standard Aussie carton (24 stubbies) is $45-50 (for a far inferior brew)

Apparently for obscure historical reasons beer is taxed much more harshly than wine in Aus - something like a fixed rate per bottle which increases with CPI whereas wine does not have the same rules

spouse of scouse

Eh? I'm just back from the UK (Liverpool). A pint was 3 pounds 30p. A pint at my local in Perth is 9 dollars. On todays fx rates, AUD$9 equals 4 pounds 21p. Unless my maths has gone to the wall, that doesn't sound like 'twice as much' to me.

Beoz

Ah right. I don't buy beer in cartons. I drink wine at home. But I do drink beer when I'm out. I always thought prices were comparable - that is Sydney to London. Sydney probably cheaper now if you go on FX rate.

I fall over when I buy a beer (or food for that matter) in Perth. Not sure what's going on there - must be the isolation.

DC10

I agree that beer in pubs has just about sorted itself out with the devaluation.

But when I arrived back here in 2011 it was about 4 quid a pint in London (2 at my favourite student haunts...!) compared to $10+ here (about 7 quid at the time). Interestingly (and thankfully), pints seem to have become much more widely available here over that time.