How about a pint of good old 4.1% full of flavour Brit Carling the Oink? what a great pint.....

Nice.

Presumably most production is destined for the Essex market?

Yes. We used to do that during the first stint in the country. We did well with something called, iirc, a Cincinnati Red Ale. It only really worked in the winter though as there's a need to "chill the wort" which is easily done if you've two people and a bank of snow into which to plunge the cauldron but not so easily done when it's 90+ degrees outside.

Lots of bottles were needed, large ones without screw caps so, somewhat ironically, we had to drink gallons of Corona before we could start brewing.

I'd much rather have a pint of Batemans !
It used to be on tap at one of the pubs that I frequented in downtown, maybe one of the Duke's, but I don't remember. It was a few years, and a phew pints ago.

I have been there a couple of times, its worth a visit as they usually have one cask on somethimes two, and it was very good....however it is quite expensive over 7 bucks a pint.

Pigs Ear tavern......Canada's answer to the 70s British working mans club, however the student have taken it over, as with every other place in Ptbo. But....they do have pickled eggs!

Never seen Mad Tom in cask form...i bet that would be great...as i do enjoy it and ive seen it on tap, but never in cask form, where did you try that? that must have been in the Muskoka region somewhere?

I took a friend who was visiting me from the UK on a cask ale tour of Toronto, that was a good route we planned out. One place i visited was called "Ces't what" on Front Street, they brew their own cask ales and had 4 different ones in when I was there. Very enjoyable, wish i had chance to visit more often.

Good selection of cider there too.

Id actually rather drink sprite than that Carling stuff they sell in the UK....it is vile. Stereotypical chav lager. Insipid flavourless pig swill. Its the UKs equivalent if Queers lite or Molson Canadian.

Batemans? thats quite a small brewery...im suprised that made it over here! Batemans made some great ales.

I was 16 once............

Yes they have too! one of the crowd I was with actually tried the cider....wasnt bad at all...makes a change to the usual Strongbow whcih is cider's equivalnet to Carling!

Well, I'm not the cider drinker but I've come to know that Blackthorn is as good as Strongbow. I won't bring that home again, $3.05 per tin and we shove them up chicken's arses for the barbecue.

Some nice French cidres however...

As far as lagers go (in support of Oi(n)k)...my preference is Kronenbourg 1664 otherwise it's a dark ale. But this being summer, I'm on the Sauvignon Blanc (presently)

I'd like to try that. Mad Tom is available in bottle form from the NLC. It's nice but not a session beer, too hoppy for that. For a summer session beer I've become quite partial to Muskoka Detour in cans.


I was 19 or so when I had my formative cider experience. It involved 4 litres of unpastured Inches scrumpy direct from the brewery, a university party and too much apple flavoured vomit. I haven't been able to touch it since. In fact last month while in a hipster gastropub in Hoxton I spied what I though was a beer on a handpump I hadn't seen before and ordered a pint. When it came I thought "that's a bit cloudy" but it was some scrumpy by the name of "Hedgerow" or something similar. I got through about three mouthfuls before the flashback hit me and I had to leave it and go buy some beer instead.

If it’s cold enough its lovely, just put some ice in it. Anyway, when one looks at choice theory and graphs preference relationships, I think that beer, more specifically lager, has a rather special indifference curve, as the utility seems different. Not sure what the equation looks like now, but essentially, unlike most consumable goods, the utility actually rises with an increase in supply.

You do know that carling is a originaly a Canadian beer...

Have you noticed that the Candian cans now have the 'lions' on them, and on close inspection you may find they look similar to the old wembley lions... amazing how a brand gets all messed up and lost...

Is it? When was that...?