Today I had a glass of beer with my light lunch of brie and apples.
I have some difficulty in finding small bottles of beer and try to grab one when I see it. They have some fascinating names - and a wide variety of alcohol content; I showed one bottle to TBSITW and she said "Did you notice that that one was 8%?" Well, of course I hadn't, but now I look more carefully.
Today's was Brew Dog Punk IPA.
And then the memories came flooding back.
Of when I was a student nurse and then a staff nurse and spent most of my social life with other nurses, rather younger than me.
The drink 'du jour' was beer, in pint glasses, straight glass, none of those half pints or fancy glasses with handles. I remember Theakston's Old Peculiar was much sought after, however IPA, or India Pale Ale was what was most commonly available,
You could add, as our tastes matured, 'real ale' most of it being 80/-.
And then we progressed to making our own in 5 gallon buckets, initially with beer kits from Boots or someplace, then moving on to acquiring real ingredients. I remember a great shop in the old village of Corstorphine, Edinburgh which sold wonderful ingredients.
Home made wine was absolutely dire, even for cooking, but we were poor then and had to get our alcohol somewhere! However, home brew beer was excellent and we acquired proper bottles and stoppers.
The last memory of drinking beer was when I went in for diving (sub aqua) and I used to get back to the clubhouse with a very dry mouth from breathing in all that compressed air. A pint of 70/- went down almost as fast as I can type it!
After that I mostly gave up as a 'beer belly' is not so named for nothing.
Nowadays I have only an occasional glass on a hot day. In Scotland these days are few and far between.....
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6 comments:
I have still to read your blog for the last week - as you know I have been away for a break to get over the loss of our little furry friend. But please may I borrow your blog today to say thank you to all who left sympathetic comments a week ago, some of whom I know and others who are kind strangers.
Thank you so much TBSITW for that message - I am sure many people will appreciate it as much as I do.
Welcome home!
You mentioned a board game - I bet the reason I don't remember it is that I probably had my nose buried in a book while you were playing it!
When we come up in October (oh, by the way, we will be up in Scotland at the end of October for a weekend) Im sure Douglas would enjoy sharing a glass of beer with you.
Good to see TBSITW back.. sending hugs to her and you,
Anna xx
I remember my parents making foul smelling wine when I was a kid. They made beer once too and when most of the caps popped off one night my mother said "Never again". The wine making went on for years though.
Home brew! Those were the days. Ours was dire stuff, but we struggled through, as you do.
to linda and a. those were the days, and it must have been about 30 years back!
I think it is a youth thing (together with poverty, which tends to go along with youth)
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